Chapter 2
The Widow
The air is thick today. A heavy, invisible weight that digs into the pores of your skin like fingers and pulls you toward the ground.
I’d like to say I’m used to it. It’s what you expect in southern Florida.
But some things are impossible to get used to.
You learn to accept them because they’re unchangeable.
Like the setting sun and the pull of the morning tide.
“Hey, Crystal. You think they’re gonna shut down Coral Fang?” Fred’s anxious voice carries through the breeze. He wraps rope around the bollards as he docks his boat, the Reefing Around. “That’ll cost us this season’s snorkeling income.”
Fred’s right to worry. Around here, everything runs on ecotourism and the beaches.
All year long. Any downtime, and the financial hit can be brutal.
To supplement his income, Fred also runs a water taxi service for the city’s Department of Coastal Resources.
He’s been taking me out to the reef daily for the last few weeks to investigate some recent coral deterioration reported by local divers.
With today’s samples, I think I’ve gotten all the information I need.
Fred squints at the shoreline, his bagged eyes weary. “The tide is wrong.”
I follow his gaze over the water. He’s right.
The tide is wrong. Waves fold too far up the beach, licking at sand that should still be dry.
Damn. I want to reassure him, but the data is troublesome.
Trends are clear, and it’s time to submit my report through the Office of Marine Research and Conservation.
Coral stress response. Unusual channel flow.
Subtle but noticeable signals. Like so many things in Maverick Key, it makes no sense.
But it’s happening.
“I’ll have Darcy run these samples stat and supervise the results myself.
” Picking up my case and dive bag, I walk to the stern.
“But Fred, I’m so sorry. I don’t like what I see.
Something’s warming the water to temperatures that aren’t sustainable for coral.
Unchecked, these changes could be detrimental to the reef. ”
Fred helps me step onto the dock. I get a whiff of sun-dried pine and diesel. Comforting and familiar, but it doesn’t calm my unease.
“I don’t have to tell you that times are hard around here. If there’s anything you can do…” He doesn’t meet my eyes.
The consequences of my findings for Fred and for others like him weigh on my mind. I love my job, but I also care about the people in this town, and I don’t want to be a part of anything that makes their lives harder.
“I’ll do what I can.” His face relaxes a bit, but he knows I have very little say in what will happen.
Before I reach the car, I glance back at the shore one last time. Growing up in the foster care system, I never put down roots in any place or person. The only stabilizing force I had back then was the connection I created with the ocean. It became my home. I never imagined I’d love anything more.
I was wrong.
But it was my first love, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect it.
This is serious, and we may be running out of time to reverse whatever’s ailing the ocean.
I’ll go straight to the lab to be sure, but I already know no one’s going to be able to get into the waters surrounding Coral Fang or Carter’s Drop until we find a solution.
After more than a year of sensational news stories, outsiders, and murder, Maverick Key may be about to get even more attention.
It’s been a long afternoon. As much as I wanted to be wrong, the lab results came back as I predicted.
My boss and I have another meeting lined up later tonight to brief county leaders.
Now there will be days of navigating red tape.
And sadly, the people who’ll be most affected will be the last to know and won’t have much time to react.
While I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut for the moment, there’s one person I can’t keep this from.
When I reach the Maverick Key Dive Club, I pull in beside a silver Land Rover I’ve never seen before. The windows are tinted, but I can make out what appears to be someone sitting inside.
I read the license plate: Washington, D.C. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
We always get a throng of out-of-state visitors in December. I’m sure it’s one of them eager to get their kids swim lessons before beach day.
As I step inside onto the pool deck, I smell the chlorine.
Four little children are in the pool, paddling their way from one side to the other. Maddie and Sandy watch attentively, ready to move in at a moment’s notice, but keeping enough of a distance to encourage the little swimmers.
I wait near the door as they finish up and their proud parents help them dry off.
After the last family leaves, Maddie calls me over.
“There she is! Miss Assistant Director of Environmental & Coastal Resources... come join us, fancy pants. Cool off.”
Maddie leans back on her arms at the pool’s edge. Her belly is bigger than the rest of her now. She’s overdue, but it hasn’t slowed her down one bit. My recent promotion is exciting. It’s what I’ve been working for—for how long? All my life? Now, three days in, I’m already challenged with a crisis.
Maddie and her husband Scott have worked so hard on their dive club and the Carter’s Drop cave exploration. I don’t want to give them this news.
“Sorry, can’t do it today. I need to head back to City Hall and get ready for another late night.” Walking by the desk, I see Maddie’s brand-new pink scuba tanks. A birthday gift from Scott. There’s a smiling green elephant painted on each one.
“They’re right there, but I can’t use them,” she grumbles.
She can’t dive until after the baby comes.
“I’ve done everything I can think of to induce labor—pineapples, long walks, lots of sex—it’s no use. But I guess the good news is, I can float around without breaking a sweat.”
Sandy laughs and gets out of the pool. “Gotta go, girls, Clint’s taking me to dinner.” She pulls her strawberry-blonde curls back in a tie and waves goodbye.
“See you Saturday,” Maddie says.
Sandy is Maddie’s assistant. She helps with the club’s swim lessons and with Maddie’s veterinarian house calls. She met Maddie after her boyfriend, Clint, started working for Scott as a boat captain. Clint and Sandy are young, sweet, and deeply in love. I remember what that felt like.
Don’t think about that right now, Crystal.
Turning back to Maddie, I point to the tanks. “Don’t worry. Christopher will be here before you know it. Then you won’t have any time to eat, sleep, or take showers, let alone dive.”
Frowning, she sticks out her tongue. “That’s not very nice.”
Christopher is named after Maddie and Nathan’s father.
Nathan.
The thought of him knocks me off-center.
Instead of pushing the memory away, I let myself imagine him for a moment.
That day at Lummus Park. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed him, but it was the first time he’d seen me.
He was walking along the shoreline. His chiseled chin in profile against the horizon, golden-brown hair aglow with the highlights of the fading sun.
My dreamer. And the most brilliant man I’ve ever known.
Dr. Nathan Carter. Natalie’s father.
My husband.
Clutching the platinum wedding bands and engagement ring that lie against my neck, I sigh. It’s been over six years since he’s been gone, and I still love him just as much.
Until recently, only Maddie and Scott knew Nathan and I were married.
It was a secret. One I agreed to keep because Nathan asked me to.
He insisted no one could know who I was to him.
That it was important. As much as I asked him to share the reasons with me, he refused.
It’s the one thing we ever fought about.
He was so damn stubborn. Nathan carried his secrets to the grave.
Leaving me alone, his hidden widow with a broken heart.
Then I married Mark, our friend. Burying the past that I shared with Nathan. Mark promised to take care of my unborn child and me until I could get back on my feet. Blinded by grief, I trusted him. I’d known him for as long as I’d known Nathan. At least I’d thought so.
Why couldn’t I have seen what should have been so obvious from the beginning?
Now they’re both dead, and I’m still Crystal Glassier. Keeping Mark’s name for Natalie’s sake and because of my uncertainty about what Nathan was hiding.
Mark.
When he died, and I learned what he did to Nathan, I gave the monster’s rings to a women’s shelter and threw away his ashes.
I despise my last name.
In my heart, I’ll always be Crystal Carter.
“Hey...” Maddie’s raised voice draws me from my thoughts.
“Where’d you go?”
“Sorry, there’s a lot on my mind. That’s actually why I stopped by.” I take out the lab report. “The coral in the waters surrounding the Key is showing signs of bleaching. Something’s causing the water surrounding the island to heat abnormally. We’ve got to figure this out quickly, Maddie.”
Maddie’s face drops.
I point to the symbiont density counts and the chlorophyll concentration.
Maddie gives me a puzzled look.
“Unfortunately, to reduce the stress on the coral as much as we can now, we need to shut down aquatic activity near the reef. It’ll happen soon. Before the end of the week.”
“No,” she says, closing her eyes. “We were just getting back to normal.”
“I’m so sorry. I know Scott and his team were getting ready to restart the dives into Carter’s Drop, but they may have to wait a little while.”
Maddie blows out a puff of air and shakes her head. “Yeah, but more than that, it’s going to cause some bigger problems. Dr. Phenias Clark arrives any day now, and Garrett’s head is going to explode if he doesn’t have any progress he can share.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Phenias Clark.”
The name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.