Last Chance Harvey-Part 10

Jerry climbed in the boat, looking like he’d lost a knife fight. Three gashes were visible, the largest sporting a makeshift tourniquet. Three inches long and shallow enough not to need stitches. It did use all the gauze they had, though. Given the circumstances, they had to go back. The last bit of tape went over the cut as the rain started.
Thunder rolled as they skidded across the lake. A smudged rainbow arced behind them as pulled up, belying the storm to come. After tying up, they grabbed the camera and booked it up to Jim’s cabin for showers. Afterward, they settled with some Chinese delivery to see what they captured.
The video flickered on the laptop screen. Sienna brown punctuated with an occasional curious bass, just like the first dive. The rhythmic in and out of Jerry's regulator soothed their ragged nerves. Jim thought of late night TV ads he would see hawking sleep aids. Maybe there was a market for this.
About three minutes in the wreck came into view, the gaping hole just above the mud. The storm hadn't changed anything. At this depth, it would have taken something catastrophic to have made a difference. They paused and replayed the area around the hull, noting melted fiberglass at the edges. The cracks radiating from the center confirmed the internal explosion.
“Amazing the thing is upright”
Jerry backed up the video up and hit replay.
“It should have turtled.” He took a drink. “But it looks like it went straight down.”
“Extra ballast?”
“Harvey would have thought of that. Looking for it would be wasted time, though.”
“He was good at hiding his tracks.”
The rest of the video didn’t tell them anything they hadn’t already logged. The bottom of the cabin window had buckled from the sinking, but no other revelations were obvious. Loose dishes and bottles were scattered around the floor of main cabin. A kewpie doll dangled from the lone blade of the ceiling fan, a lone observer to the carnage.
The camera paused on the panties hanging on the door, original pink darkening to magenta through the lens. Funny how they were still there, like an invitation, rather than scattered to the deep. There was a view of Jerry’s hand reaching out for the door knob, only to be pulled back hurriedly.
The glass wasn’t obvious, lodged in the door jamb on the starboard wall. The tear it made was more frightening than it was. They could see Jerry take a rag out of his equipment belt and tie it around the gap. He then swam back out the way he came.
It was almost an afterthought to turn the camera back toward the front window of the boat. It was a slightly different angle than the first time, but the view was surprisingly clear. The rail was there, but no handcuffs. With a sigh, Jerry shut off the laptop and leaned back.
“I was dreaming of finding a body.”
Jim responded with a snort.
“Our imaginations got away from us, especially with the panties on the door.” He took a drink from his beer. “So what do we do now?”
“Hell if I know.” Jerry got up to go to the kitchen. “I know I’d kiss the girl if she showed up right now.”
There was a knock. Tripping on the corner of the table, Jim almost went face first into the door. On the other side was a woman dressed in business clothes. Behind her was a tallish balding man in an open collared shirt.
“James Herrington?” She produced a badge. “My name is Sgt. Lopez with the Hall County Sheriff. This my partner Det. Williams. We’d like to talk to you about Corinne Shiffer.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Topic-Dahlia Ramone
Pic-Tyler Myrth
Pic guesses: Kewpie doll (in blog), hula, dancing, sparkly,

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