Page 35 of The Girls in the Lake
‘You’d better come inside; he’s just out the back. Is it a personal favour or police business?’
Sam answered, ‘Both.’
Karen led them through to the staff room at the back of the building. A young man turned to see who she was bringing in. He had two mugs of coffee in his hands.
Sam smiled. ‘Looks as if we timed this right for a change; mine’s not too strong with two sweeteners and he’ll have a strong coffee with a heaped spoonful of sugar.’ She added, ‘please,’ as an afterthought.
Karen introduced them. ‘Cal, this is Josh and the cheeky one is Sam.’
He grinned at them both. ‘What brings you here? Are you that desperate for a brew you’ve had to come find her?’ He pointed at his mum.
Josh began to explain. ‘No, not at all. I need a favour if you can do it. I don’t know if you do this sort of stuff. I’m sure you’re aware of the two bodies that have been found in the lake recently.’
Cal nodded. ‘Yes, I wasn’t on duty for either of them. It’s so sad.’
‘The thing is, although both post-mortems haven’t found anything suspicious around their deaths, both the pathologist and I are suitably concerned that they could be. This is between us. I don’t want to start a panic, but both victims are blonde women from out of town. It’s either a tragic coincidence, or they were targeted. One of them was last seen on a boat calledThe Tequila Sunrisethe other was on her way to the marina to enquire about a job on a boat, which could have been the same one.Are you familiar with it?’
‘Yes, very. The owner is a bit of an idiot. He seems to host a lot of parties on there.’
Josh glanced at Sam, who looked miserable. ‘Is he flouting the conditions of his licence?’
Cal shook his head. ‘Oh, no, not from a business side of things. Everything is all above board when it comes to the private charters he takes out sailing. We’ve never been able to fault him for that. It’s more his, er… personal entertaining that is the issue.’
‘That’s very interesting. Can you not revoke his licence or whatever you do?’
‘It’s being looked into; safety on the lake is paramount. If two deaths are being linked to the boat, I’m pretty sure it will speed things up.’
Sam’s eyes lit up. ‘Can you tell him not to take the boat out tonight?’
Cal turned to her. ‘I’m afraid not. I don’t have that sort of authority. Can’t the police do that?’
Josh shrugged. ‘Mate, I’m at a loss about what we can and can’t do regarding James Marshall. I have someone looking into it all now. If I can, I will. But in case we don’t have the authority to do that either, which I don’t think we do, I have a plan B.’
Karen eyed him suspiciously. ‘What might that plan involve?’
‘I was wondering if the lake wardens could take their boat out and keep an eye onThe Tequilato make sure no more young women decide to go for late-night swims. Then if they do, someone will be there to help them before they get into serious trouble.’
Cal didn’t even pause to think about it. ‘Yes, I will. I don’t know if I’m supposed to or if it’s even in my remit, but I’d be horrified if someone else died. I need someone to help me though, I’m the only one on shift. That’s why Mum’s here; she’s been manning the office for me on her afternoon off.’
‘I’ll come out with you, but I don’t know anything about boats.’ Josh smiled at Sam. ‘You go home, get your daughter to the boat and you won’t have to worry about a thing because Cal and I will be out on the lake keeping a close eye on it.’
Karen butted in. ‘You’re not a babysitting service, Cal, you might get in trouble. I mean is this sort of stuff even in the job description?’ She looked at Sam.
‘Mum, we’re responsible for the safety of the lake users. If there’s a party on a boat and the possibility someone else could come to some harm then, yes, I think it would be part of my job description. Leave it with me; I’ll speak to my supervisor and get the okay.’
She tutted as she glared at Josh. Cal left them to go into the office and use the phone.
She whispered, ‘What the hell are you playing at, Josh, this is ridiculous.’
‘Is it though? Something fishy is going on. Two women have drowned and I want to make sure there isn’t a third. You’re not at work now; Cal is the one in charge.’
He wondered for a moment if she was going to run at him and smack him in the mouth; her eyes were sparkling with what he knew was fury. They stared at each other in some kind of stand-off until Sam interjected.
‘Should I take the car and come back for you once I’ve dropped Grace off?’
Josh threw her the keys. ‘You might as well.’ Judging by the disgusted look Karen was giving him, he wondered if she might push him into the water and drown him. Sam left them to it, obviously not wanting to get into a pissing contest with the pair of them. She had other concerns.
Cal came out of the office, a huge smile on his face. ‘Sorted, my supervisor said it’s definitely okay to do what Josh has asked. You can get off home, Mum, thanks for your help this afternoon, I really appreciate it.’
