Read Online The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine - Free Book Online Page B

remark. And I’m glad my sister’s a nutcase, or you wouldn’t be living with me.”
    The path ended at the house, the highest point on the small island. On one side of the house, a helicopter pad. On the other, a negative-edge swimming pool. And down a slight grade, a private beach of white sand. As they walked, Junior told them of his love of the water. He was a windsurfer and a kitesurfer, a distance swimmer and a scuba diver. But most of all, he loved free diving off Cabo San Lucas, sinking as deep as possible with no oxygen except what you can hold in your lungs.
    He told them about his rigorous physical training, claimed he could hold his breath for five minutes and twenty seconds and consciously reduce his pulse rate to twenty beats per minute. He told them about the terrifying thrill of being attached to a weighted sled and descending to 400 feet—the world record was 558 feet, but that diver died—and the searing pain in his chest as his lungs shriveled to the size of a fist. He told them about rocketing back to the surface like a human missile on the air-powered sled, about the hallucinations from nitrogen narcosis, about the fear that his heart would burst, his brain explode. And that was the exhilarating kick, the electrical charge of the sport, the knowledge that every time you slipped into your wet suit, you taunted the angel of death.
    And when he was done, it was Victoria who said, “Wow.”
    As they approached the coral rock steps leading to the front door of Casa de la Sol, Steve asked: “What was Ben Stubbs doing on your father’s boat?”
    He asked the question so quickly, Victoria had been caught off guard.
    Dammit! Breaking his promise that I take the lead.
    “Now, that’s a long story,” Junior said.
    “Does it have something to do with Oceania?” Victoria asked. Trying to seize the momentum from Steve.
    “Everything to do with it,” Junior agreed cheerfully. “In case Dad didn’t explain it, Oceania’s going to be a floating hotel.”
    “Isn’t that a cruise ship?” Steve asked.
    “Trust me, nothing like it.”
    “Where would the hotel be built?” Victoria fired off the question before Steve could follow up.
    “In the Gulf. Four miles west of Boca Chica.”
    While Steve and Victoria tried to picture exactly where that would be, Bobby piped up: “That’s a marine sanctuary. There’s a big coral reef and a zillion fish.”
    “Right,” Steve said. “Federally protected. How can you build out there?”
    “That’s why Stubbs was so important. He was the EPA guy who could say yea or nay.”
    “Which was it?” Victoria asked.
    “Thumbs-up. He’d already prepared a draft of his report. With all the safeguards to protect the reef, Stubbs was on board. All he needed was to talk to you two about the paperwork for the permits.”
    “So your father had no motive to hurt him?” Victoria said, as they paused at the top step.
    “Just the opposite,” Junior answered. “Stubbs was crucial to our getting the project approved. Whoever killed him wanted to stop Oceania.”
    “Did your father tell you what happened on the boat?” Steve asked.
    “Only that he came down the ladder, saw Stubbs with the spear in his chest, tried to get back up to the bridge, then somehow got knocked unconscious. He came to, passed out again. Next thing he knew, they’d crashed on the beach.”
    Exactly what Uncle Grif told us, Victoria thought. “What about all that money on the boat?”
    “That’s just Dad. He likes the feel of having lots of cash around.”
    “The money was in waterproof bags,” Steve said. “What was that about?”
    Junior shrugged. “On a boat, that makes sense, doesn’t it?”
    “Actually, there’s a lot that doesn’t make any sense. A hundred thousand on the boat. Forty thousand in Stubbs’ hotel room. The spear in Stubbs’ chest.”
    “There’s something I should tell you,” Junior said. “Something I feel terrible about.”
    “What?” Victoria asked.
    “In