TBA

 

 

 

An excerpt from  Desperate Straits

PROLOGUE:

“Don’t be such a wuss,” Lester Fulton told his wife, a sneer contorting his ruggedly handsome face. He strode out into the heavy surf, reached up to adjust his snorkel and mask, and added, “ If you’re afraid to snorkel with me, then go wait in the car.” His lithe, tan body knifed the surface and, his fins splashing foam, he swam out to the distant coral reef.

Margie sighed, reluctantly pulled on her fins, and waddled out to the water’s edge like an overweight duck. The surf at Maui’s Airport Beach was unusually high and unpredictable, which made her hesitate again. She gazed out at her husband, now standing on the coral reef, hands on hips.

When he saw her looking at him, he impatiently beckoned to her.

“I’m coming,” she called out, knowing her voice couldn’t carry over the sound of the crashing waves.

Margie rinsed her facemask to get a good seal, set her snorkel in place, and waded through the rolling surf until the water reached her waist. She usually enjoyed being in the ocean; it made her feel light as a feather for the first time in her life. She pushed off with her face in the water, swimming steadily toward the coral reef.

Margie never heard the WaveRunner, appearing from nowhere and bearing down upon her. After the watercraft struck her in the head and roared out of sight, she slipped beneath the surface.

Lester bellowed at the WaveRunner driver, dived off the coral reef, and swam to his wife’s rescue. It took him several minutes to locate her body and tow it to the beach.

A crowd gathered while he tried to resuscitate her. Moments later, a screaming emergency vehicle pulled up a few yards away, and two Emergency Medical Technicians took over from Lester. Despite their best efforts, it was too late.

When the Maui Police arrived and pushed back the crowd, Lester told them what happened and described the WaveRunner. They wrote up Margie’s death as a probable hit-and-run accident, and left quickly to respond to another call.