Page 77 of Sunburned

He blinked at me, unsettled. “You think that’s necessary?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” A tear escaped his eye, and he quickly wiped it away. “Thanks, Audrey.”

“Have you called your parents?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I should do that.”

“I’ll leave you to it.” I knew Tyson’s relationship with his parents had been strained, but my heart went out to them, and to Cody, having to tell them they’d lost a son. I paused with my hand on the doorknob. “I’m sorry, Cody. You’ve always been there for me. If there’s anything you need, please know I’m here.”

He didn’t turn. “Thanks.”

Chapter 26

I descended the main staircase to see the police boat docked at the back of the yacht. My heartbeat quickened as a gangly older man with an impressive mustache stomped into the salon, followed by an officer so good-looking that if he turned up at a party in the figure-hugging shorts uniform he was wearing, I’d be more inclined to think he was a stripper than a real police officer.

Marielle was on their heels.“Can I offer you anything? A glass of water?”she inquired, rushing to head them off.

The older one plodded over to the coffee table and plucked a canapé from a tray.“What are these?”he asked, his bushy eyebrows knitting as he inspected it.

“It’s a brie tart with fig jam,”she answered.“I have ham and cheese mini-quiches as well if you’d like?”

He popped the tart into his mouth and nodded appreciatively as the younger officer smiled at her, revealing a dimple, the highlights in his brunette locks glinting in the sun.“Water, please, for both of us,”he said.“Thank you.”

Marielle returned his smile, flustered.

“And yes to the quiches,”the older one said once he’d swallowed.

As Marielle scurried away, their eyes landed on me. “I am Officer Lambert,” the older one said, switching to English, “and he is Officer Gauthier.”

“I’m Audrey Collet,” I said. I peered past them, looking for Laurent. “Are the rescue divers with you?”

“They are showering on the lower deck,” Officer Gauthier said.

“What is your relation to Monsieur Dale?” Officer Lambert asked, assessing me with a penetrating gaze.

“We were old friends. He invited me here to celebrate his birthday.”

Officer Gauthier glanced around. “Where are the others?”

“I don’t know. Can I ask…do you know what happened to him?”

“We will need to interview all of you,” Lambert replied, sidestepping my question. He turned to Marielle, who had returned with a cold bottle of water for each of them. Switching back to French, he asked her,“What room can we use?”

“Give me just a moment, I will find a room for you.”And she was off again, bustling up the stairs.

“I can talk to you now if you like,” I volunteered, wanting to appear helpful while gleaning whatever information I could.

Officer Lambert looked down his prominent nose at me, then threw his hands up and sat in a nearby chair, gesturing for me to take the couch opposite. I did as directed and Officer Gauthier sat in another chair, extracting a tape recorder and a notepad from the backpack I hadn’t noticed was slung over his broad shoulder.

I considered the tape recorder, wondering whether I needed a lawyer. But I’d just volunteered to talk to them; backing out now would make me seem suspicious.

“This is Audrey Collet,” Gauthier said into the tape recorder.

“Audrey, can you tell us about the dive?” Lambert asked.

While I talked, Gauthier took notes and Lambert kept his eyes trained on me, mustache swishing as he gnawed at one cheek and then the other. When I reached the part where we’d gotten caught in the murk, he stopped me, asking me to carefully recount who I’d seen, following up with questions about timing. I answered everything asbest I could, with the caveat that it had been quite cloudy, and I’d been more focused on my own safety than who I saw when.

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