Book 2 in the Tide Harbor Suspense Series
A marine biologist investigating a polluting fish farm finds love and murder on the shores of Nova Scotia.
Cat Silva loves grilled salmon as much as the next person. But the quirky marine biologist doesn’t like how fish farming pollutes the ocean. So, leaving the big city and her overbearing momma behind, she heads off to Tide Harbor, Nova Scotia, to prove her point.
Single dad, Alex Harris, is in line for the lucrative head manager position at Cowling Fish Farms. As sole support for his five-year-old daughter, Alex’s promotion can come none too soon. Determined to show his boss he can handle the job, Alex sets out to investigate reports of a scuba diver hanging around the fish pens, never expecting to find a pink-haired, irresistible woman.
But when his boss orders him to derail Cat’s investigation and a killer unexpectedly attacks, Alex must choose between financial security or saving the woman he and his daughter have come to love.
This fast-paced sweet romance features a bold heroine, a protective hero, and plenty of edge-of-your seat danger from both man and the sea.
Release Day Celebration Events
Mark your calendar!
I’d love to have you join me in celebrating my newest release.
MAY 7th Lost Beneath the Tide releases on all online sites. Amazon Preorders delivered
May 9th Beach-Theme Facebook Party
May 9th One Day Giveaway
May 14 to 16 Romance Devoured Features Lost Beneath the Tide
May 14th to 16th Celebration Sale Lost Beneath the Tide e-book will be $.99 for this week only.
Read an Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Minas Basin, Nova Scotia
They found the body floating facedown, washed up against the side of the fish pen closest to the shore. An accident, Alex Harris thought. Had to be. A swimmer caught in the tide as it rose. Or an inexperienced boater fallen overboard in the dark. It was July, and there were plenty of out-of-towners in the area who didn’t understand the danger of the high tides in the Minas Basin.
Behind him, the flashing red, blue, and white lights of the emergency vehicles brought back too many bad memories. He shaded his eyes with his hands and focused on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who stood on the dock, waiting for the Cowling Fisheries boat to approach the pier with the body.
The battered, red-and-white aluminum boat that serviced the salmon pens docked, and the paramedics lifted the body over the side and placed it on a gurney. It couldn’t be someone he knew. It couldn’t be . . .
He shoved his boss’s frantic phone call and gut-twisting request to the back of his mind and moved forward. He’d find out in moments.
Chapter 1
ALEX
1st Sunday in August
As Alex Harris steered his pickup onto the bumpy road leading to the abandoned dock, he looked over at his daughter. “This will just take a minute, Ellie.”
Wearing a pout worthy of the starring role in a kid’s TV drama, the six-year-old crossed her arms in front of her and shook her head. “But you promised we’d go. There’s gonna be popcorn and ice cream and everything.”
“Soon as I check out what’s going on at the fish pens, we’ll head right over to the town hall. We still have time.” He squinted at the clock on the dashboard and grimaced. Between working overtime and doing extra leg work for the boss, he would have to step on it to make it to the annual Tide Harbor ice cream social. Not that he had any desire to sit around, chatting with the local moms while the kids got wound up and sticky, and the divorcees who eyed him like he was tastier than the ice cream they were doling out. But he hated to disappoint his daughter.
She was why he got up in the morning. Why he worked at a job he despised. Why he was driving down this dead-end, sand-buggy track to check out what was probably a great big nothing for a paranoid boss who saw eco-terrorists around every corner.
He jerked the wheel to avoid a pothole. The ancient pickup he’d inherited from his father needed to be coddled, not gunned down a washed-out dirt road. But the spit at the head of the harbor had the best view of the fish pens from land. If some eco-freak was messing with the pens, he’d see them. His boss had made it clear. Cowling Fish Farms didn’t need another dead body tainting its reputation.
Thomas Cowling had also made it clear that if he was going to promote him to the lucrative head of security position at the Halifax offices of Cowling Fish Farms, despite their boyhood friendship, nothing else had better happen on his watch. So, if Thomas wanted him to check on the pens after hours, then check the pens he would.
He clutched the steering wheel tighter. Two more weeks of peace and quiet. That was all he needed to snag that job and be on his way to Halifax, leaving Tide Harbor and its haunting memories behind.
He glanced over at Ellie. His daughter would have so many more advantages in the city. She’d go to a big fancy school. Make new friends who weren’t going to grow up to be fishermen. Best of all, with an office job, he’d be home every night. No more dragging his little girl with him on wild goose chases. He could be the father she deserved.
The truck thudded over a rock in the road and came down hard.
Ellie latched on to his arm. “Daddy, why we driving down this bumpy road? Dorchester doesn’t like it.”
“Huh? Who’s Dorchester?”
“My puppy.”
Alex made a quick scan of the cab then raised an eyebrow. “Where’re you hiding a puppy?”
Ellie laughed. “Dorchester’s not real, Daddy. He’s a pretend puppy.” She moved her hand as if she were petting a dog. “I’m practicing so I’ll be ready for a real puppy someday. And don’t you worry. Dorchester is very good. He won’t cause any trouble.”
Alex slowed the truck to a crawl and put a hand on Ellie’s shoulder. He didn’t have many bright spots in his life, but his daughter was one of them—the most important one. “I promise we’ll get a puppy as soon as I get that promotion. Say, why don’t you be my lookout and tell me if you see any more rocks in the road.”
Ellie sat up straighter on her booster seat and gave him a salute. “Aye, aye, Daddy. I’ll pretend I’m Uncle Matt in the crow’s nest, looking for swordfishes.” She made a tiny barking sound. “Dorchester can help look, too.”
With Ellie and her imaginary pet guiding them, and by inching forward at the speed of a sea slug, Alex managed to avoid several more rocks and a pothole the size of a dory. Finally, they arrived at the site of the old dock.
Alex stomped on the brakes, and the old pickup rattled to a stop, all four tires thankfully still intact and a few feet away from where the rickety boards began. He peered out the windshield. A postcard-perfect sunset loomed on the horizon, the kind his mother used to call a soda pop sky, because the oranges, purples, and golds illuminating the clouds mirrored the artificially colored sodas she refused to buy for him and his brothers.
He glanced over at Ellie, who was talking in a tiny voice to her imaginary pet. He sure missed having his mama around. He had no idea how to handle pretend pets or a little girl who longed for her dead mother. But the one thing he did know, he needed to do better at being a father.
Letting out a huff, Alex pulled out his binoculars from his pack and rolled down the window. From here, the five, ninety-foot-diameter circular net pens that held the Cowling salmon fry were only several hundred feet away, as close as one could get without using a boat. Which was fine by him. He hadn’t been in a boat in a long time—being out on the water brought back the day he’d watched his beloved wife sink beneath the sea . . . every single time.
Alex scanned the water around the nearest pen. Nothing.
Then the next. Nothing.
He focused on the third ring.
There. A black object bobbed up and down near it, making occasional splashes.
His boss had been right. Something was out by the pens.
His stomach unclenched slightly. Something alive, thank goodness.
Now, was it a seal or a shark?
He adjusted the binoculars’ focus.
Behind him, the passenger side door squealed open then slammed shut.
He spun around, only to see his daughter dash toward the old wooden pier.
“No! Ellie, come back. The dock’s not safe.” Heart in his throat, Alex jumped from the truck and charged after her. “Ellie, sweetheart, stop.” He grabbed her arm just as she stepped onto the rickety planks of the old dock and pulled her back.
“Let go, Daddy.” She shook off his hand. “I’m just going to get that shell. It can be Dorchester’s water dish.” She pointed to a small clamshell wedged between the planks, just a few feet from the shore.
“You’ve got plenty of shells like that one at home. Now stay right next to me.”
Ellie looked up at him, her hazel eyes so like her dead mother’s. “Can you get it for me?”
He looked at the gleaming white shell and the water slapping against the seaworn concrete piers. A cold shiver ran down his back. It might as well be on the outer islands.
He put the binoculars up to his eyes. “No. It’s just an old shell. I’m here to make sure the salmon are safe.”
She scuffed her sneaker in the gravel. “Stupid fish. All you ever do is worry about the salmon.”
“The salmon pay our bills, Ellie.” He watched the bobbing object disappear under the water. “Might be a big bad seal out there, trying to eat them. We can’t let that happen, can we?”
For a few moments, she stood quietly next to him, then she pulled on his sleeve. “We aren’t going to make it to the ice cream social, are we?”
He shook his head.
Her little mouth puckered. “I never get to have any fun. Aunt Olivia was gonna take Rory, Peter, and Teddy. You should have let me go with them.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie. Tell you what. We can stop at the supermarket and buy popcorn and ice cream and have our own party at home. I’ll read you your favorite book.”
“The one about the mermaid that Mommy bought me?”
Heavens, he hated that book, and the memories it rekindled, but what choice did he have?
Alex nodded. “Whatever book you want.”
“Okay.” She tugged on his sleeve. “Can I look, too?”
How could he refuse after letting her down?
Alex lowered the binoculars and placed the strap around her neck. Then he stood behind her and held the lenses to her eyes as he adjusted the focus. Narrowing his gaze against the glow of the setting sun, he guided her to the spot he’d last seen the object. “There. That black blob. Can you see it?”
She gave a little jump and pointed. “Yeah, there it is. Oh, it’s coming toward us.” She bounced up and down. “Here, Mr. Seal.” She wiggled her fingers. “Here. Don’t eat my daddy’s fishies.”
Alex peered out over his daughter’s head. The seal—or whatever it was—dipped and splashed toward the shore. Now, that was rare. Sea mammals usually moved sleekly through the water.
A bad feeling washed over him.
“Can I use the binoculars for a minute, sweetheart? Not sure that’s a seal.”
Ellie passed them up, and he went back to studying the creature as it neared the far end of the crumbling pier. For a moment, it sank below the surface then popped up again. With a twist, a black-suited scuba diver hitched up onto the dock and sat with his feet hanging over the side.
Silhouetted by the setting sun, the diver removed his facemask, tore off his hood, and shook out his hair. Long, wavy strands of hair glowed pink in the sunset.
Alex focused in. The swimmer was all feminine curves. Not a he. A she.
For a second, he was stunned. Then he gave himself a shake. What was a strange scuba diver doing nosing around the fish pens, especially after that out-of-town student had been found dead out there? It didn’t matter that it was a woman, a gorgeous one, at that.
Whoever the diver was, she’d better have a good explanation, or she would be in deep trouble. Nobody was going to mess with Thomas Cowling’s fish pens and steal his promotion away.
Ellie slipped her fingers into his and tugged.
He glanced down. His daughter’s face was round in wonderment. Her eyes fixed on the diver.
“Look, Daddy. It’s a mermaid. Maybe she’s seen Mommy?”
He gazed again at the woman. She’d removed her oxygen tanks and was now busy checking the gauges. In a minute, she’d turn and see them.
His heart raced. Ellie didn’t need her memories of her mother crushed by some tourist.
Alex scooped up his daughter and hurried back to the truck. He’d talk to Miss Scuba tomorrow, when Ellie wasn’t around.
He took one long look back.
Scuba Diver Lady would be trouble, all right. Trouble he didn’t want to have.