Read Online Marriage & the Mermaid (Hapless Heroes) by Louise Cusack - Free Book Online

felt his confidence rise. So far, so good.
    “You pop out into the kitchen and get a pot of tea on, dad,” Baz said, knowing it would take his father an hour to find the kettle. “I’ll fix this up.”
    “Alrightie then.” Ted tottered off down the hallway. “I like visitors.”
    “He’ll be fine when the sedative wears off,” Baz told the two men. “Venus is still resting. I’m afraid you’ll have to interview her in her room. She can’t get out of bed. Wobbly legs.”
    The blond constable nodded. “Shock.” Then he asked, “Is she healthy apart from that?”
    “Doctor said she was fine.” Baz felt as if he was standing outside himself, listening to someone else make up bullshit. “Sunburn and shock. That’s all. Told her off for skinny–dipping, though.”
    Waikeri cut in with, “You didn’t tell me she was your housekeeper. In fact,” he looked in his notebook, “You told me you didn’t know her.” His quiet tone disguised the importance of the question, but Baz knew both men would be remembering everything that was said.
    “I’d never met her,” he replied, and gestured for them to follow him down to the guest suite, setting off ahead of them so they wouldn’t see his face. “It wasn’t until she woke up and introduced herself that I realised she was the housekeeper we’d been expecting.”
    “You didn’t interview her?”
    Quick, think of something. “We’re so isolated here, it seemed a long way to come out to twice, and she was well recommended,” Baz said. “Daughter of a friend. Great references.”
    Moore said in his irritatingly deep voice, “And she stopped at the beach for a swim on the way here?”
    “Apparently so,” Baz said blithely. “I’d have certainly warned her not to swim there alone if I’d known she was going to. Young girls.” He shrugged, then was saved from further questioning when they arrived at the guest suite door. Baz pulled the key out of his pocket.
    “You keep her door locked?” the blond, Moore, asked in a deceptively casual voice. But Baz wasn’t fooled. He saw Waikeri and Moore looked at each other.
    He slipped the key into the lock. “Dad’s unpredictable,” he said. “I don’t want Venus getting any surprises before she gets used to him.”
    Moore was still frowning. “But you know the shark attack victim was robbed yesterday, by a blonde woman?”
    Baz felt a prickle of unease. “His brother told me Venus wasn’t that girl. He’d never seen her before.”
    Moore and Waikeri exchanged another glance before Waikeri said in his gruff voice, “The girl we’re looking for has robbed three men now. We’ve got a good description of her. I’m sure we’ll see she’s not your housekeeper.”
    “Then why did you mention it?”
    Moore shrugged his wide shoulders. “Just being thorough,” he said, but Baz was suddenly sure there was more happening here than he knew about. He wanted the world to stop then, for the two policemen to not walk through the guest suite door — something cataclysmic, maybe a tsunami, an earthquake, or even a phone call. But nothing came to save him, and neither could Baz think of a clever distraction to stall them, so he forced himself to turn the key, to open the door and let them in.
    “Venus,” he called out, “I’m here with the policemen who want to talk to you.” He hoped she was still fully dressed. Then he turned to Moore and said quietly, “She’s been sleepy. I’m not sure how much help she’ll be.”
    In the gloomy entryway there was an intensity to Moore’s eyes that unnerved Baz. “I need to know what she saw,” he said quietly. “If there’s a shark out there terrorizing the coastline, I need information about it.”
    Okay, so Moore’s priority was the shark, and making sure other people weren’t attacked. Baz should have felt relieved about that, but he didn’t like the tall blond with his muscly chest accentuated by a crisp white uniform shirt. Baz’s own baggy grey tee