Below The Surface. Karen Harper

to try walking out of here in her mermaid wet suit. In the tiny bathroom, she put slacks, shoes, a blouse and matching jacket on—you might know Amelia wouldn’t bring any of her more casual work clothes—when the phone on her bedside table rang. She’d have to answer it. Besides, it might be the coast guard or air patrol.

      She picked up the phone on its fourth ring. “Briana Devon.”

      “Briana! Cole DeRoca. I’m down in the lobby with a friend of yours who heard me ask if you could have visitors this afternoon, a guy named Manny. They say you can’t and that they can’t even release how you’re doing because of privacy laws.”

      Her heartbeat kicked up. Her prayers—some of them, at least—were being answered.

      “Cole,” she said, trying to keep from crying in relief. This was obviously a sign she should forge ahead with her plans. “You’re a godsend, because I’m leaving and I’d appreciate a ride home. Amelia’s not here right now. I’ll be down in a minute, but ask Manny to hang around, would you? And if there are reporters in the lobby—”

      “Three of them, two with camermen.”

      “In that case, get Manny to meet us at the shop in Turtle Bay and wait for me by the E.R. entrance, okay?”

      “Will do, but are you sure you’re strong enough?”

      “Strong enough to do whatever it takes to find my sister,” she said, and hung up before he could question her more about her sudden release.

      Making for the door, Bree felt like a felon escaping from the penitentiary. At the last minute, she turned back and scribbled her nurse a note, telling her she was fine and had gone for a walk. That was true enough; somehow, she was going for a dive, too.

      As she peeked into the hall, then strode out nonchalantly, she carried Cole’s gift of the orange orchid in her arms.

      5

      “Is Amelia coming to your place to stay with you?” Cole asked as he drove her away from the hospital. They turned onto the busy Tamiami Trail and headed south toward Turtle Bay. She wanted to recline the seat and go to sleep, but she sat erect, cursing the fact Amelia hadn’t brought her sunglasses. The light, the sounds of traffic—too bright, too much.

      “She’s with her two little boys right now,” she told him, pulling down the sun visor on her side. “I’m sure she’ll be over soon.” She couldn’t decide whether to just level with Cole or to get home first before she sprang her desperate plan on him and Manny. Cole had helped her before, but would he help her now? Besides, just his presence, his closeness, was making her even more nervous than she already was.

      “Have you ever scuba dived?” she asked.

      “Strictly for recreation, but I can hold my own. The last time was in Tahiti for a wedding anniversary. I’m single now.”

      “Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry, but she had no time for such thoughts.

      “Don’t be. Definitely the best for me and her, too, since she left me.”

      A woman had left this man? The entire world was crazy.

      “Briana, you look shaky. You aren’t going to be sick?”

      “Sick at heart. I’d warn you before I’d upchuck in this beautiful car.”

      He was driving a big burgundy sedan, probably one he used to impress his clients, because it didn’t seem like him and it certainly didn’t seem like Turtle Bay. This was a man she didn’t really know.

      The village of Turtle Bay was a fairly secluded enclave between the Tamiami Trail on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the west, the city of Naples to its north and Marco Island to its south. Turtle Bay had been built up years ago, with two clam-canning factories that were now defunct, and the usual condos and luxury waterfront homes had not intruded yet. A lot of locals feared the proposed gambling casino boat here could change all that. One of the old canneries was now quaint shops and seafood restaurants; the other had been converted to Sam Travers’s Search and Salvage. Tourists and fishermen came and went daily in Turtle Bay, but returned to their luxe hotels in Naples when the day’s jaunt was over. It was a tidal bay, so the main marina was built up on high posts, as were some of the modest houses, even those built farther back off the waterfront. Everything from dinghies to yachts and all sizes of sailboats bobbed in the bay.

      Manny was waiting for them at the Two Mermaids with the door open. Thank heavens, no reporters were in sight. “Let’s go upstairs,” she told the men and, though every muscle of her body ached, she tried to lead them upstairs gracefully.

      Her and Daria’s two-bedroom apartment above the shop was a light, airy and pleasant place with white wicker furniture, bright floral pillows and open vistas of the marina, bay and gulf. Without Daria, it seemed oppressive, so she was glad to have their company.

      She took the orchid Cole had carried up for her and put it on the glass-topped coffee table, which was cluttered with the books Daria had been studying for her accounting class. They’d finally admitted they’d been too careless with the financial end of their business. Manny had volunteered to handle that, but they’d decided one of them should specialize in it, and Daria had cheerfully volunteered. She’d seemed obsessed with the course work ever since. In college—Dad had insisted they go to his alma mater in Miami—neither of them had taken courses in anything like accounting or business. Bree had studied languages, and Daria was a philosophy major. The truth was, both of them had majored in giving scuba lessons and getting a tan on trendy South Beach.

      “Please sit, both of you,” Bree said, and went into the small galley kitchen. When she was certain they couldn’t see her, she grasped the edge of the counter-top and leaned against it, stiff armed, staring at Daria’s latest note—dated last Friday—on the bulletin board over the sink: Don’t worry about me. Going to study w/ friends after class and might be in late.

      She could not cry, Bree told herself, could not dissolve in frustration or fear. She must find strength she did not have, courage she did not feel. However hurting and exhausted, she had to get moving.

      She gulped a glass of orange juice, then poured Coke into three glasses, dumped a bag of taco chips into a bowl and carried all that in on a tray. She wanted desperately for these men to see her in control. Cole sat on the sofa, and Manny had taken her rocking chair, so she sat in Daria’s. They were talking about how Manny never dived but oversaw the shop, their two boats—the larger of which was now missing—and the heavy equipment. Man, Bree thought as she drank down half of her soda, but she needed this sugar and caffeine to stoke her strength.

      “So, what you planning?” Manny asked her. “I know you. Want me to get the coast guard and the air patrol on the phone?”

      “I’m going to call them, but I want to talk to both of you first.”

      She forced herself to look directly into Cole’s narrowed eyes, because she figured she could get Manny to do what she wanted. Yes, despite the dire situation, the instant arc of energy and tension crackled between them as fiercely as it had the day they’d had that impromptu lunch on the yacht months ago. She had to admit that Cole DeRoca was still the great unknown, deeper than the sea. He had been nothing but kind and caring, but she well knew there could be unknown fathoms beneath. She felt so intensely drawn to the man that she feared her spinning senses could too easily swamp her usually sensible nature. She couldn’t afford a distraction right now when she needed to be self-disciplined. She needed the man to help her and had to shut everything else out.

      “To try to find Daria,” she told them, gripping her sweating glass hard in both hands, “I need to figure out if she left the dive site of her own accord or unwillingly.”

      “Caramba,” Manny exclaimed, flinging gestures, “for sure, it was unwilling.”

      “So you plan to do what?” Cole asked, putting down his glass and leaning forward with his wrists on his knees.

      “I need to see if our boat’s anchor is missing