Dead In The Water (Rebecca Schwartz Mystery #4) (The Rebecca Schwartz Series)

windows like a bunch of teenage vandals. The acrylic gets so scarred-up you can’t even see through it. Know how much it costs to feed one of those critters? About six thousand dollars a year.”
    It was hard to imagine these cute little devils as vandals. Their perennially worried expressions made them look responsible.
    “They like to raft with the same sex,” said Julio. “Those are females.”
    Only I was brave enough to ask the question: “How can you tell?”
    The kids looked alarmed.
    He pointed: “They have pups. Also, some of them have crummy-looking noses. When they mate, the mate bites the female’s nose.”
    “Oh, no. Spousal violence.”
    “Well, I guess he needs something to hang on to.”
    I considered, and found myself more or less thinking aloud. “Come to think of it, it’s not the easiest thing to do … in a swimming pool, say.”
    As if by signal, Libby and Esperanza clapped their hands over their ears. “EEEEEEWWWWWW! Gross!”
    Even Keil looked a little undone.
    I probably blushed; I certainly shrank against the side of the boat, horrified that I’d shocked these innocent children.
    But Julio only laughed; in fact, couldn’t seem to stop laughing. “They do that to me all the time. Remember the good old days? When it was the kids who had to watch their language?”
    Libby said, “I don’t see any pups,” which neatly changed the subject.
    The pups were discovered and admired, and Julio treated us to lore about what good moms sea otters are (though they’re pretty indifferent dads), and also told us more about the criminal tendencies of the little
gonifs
. Not only are they window-scratching vandals, they aren’t above stealing food from each other, even knowing it costs their pals several dives and hard work with a rock to snare a tender morsel. The worst part is that one of the prime times for robbery is the third or fourth day of a courtship, when the romance begins to pall.
    Hearing that kind of made me proud to be a human being.
    I’d rather have to listen to “I’ll call you tomorrow” than watch my so-called sweetie swim away with my hard-earned clams.
    Libby and Keil asked a million questions about everything except mating habits, and I contributed quite a few myself, but Esperanza, if anything, seemed to sink deeper into herself. Julio tried to stay upbeat, but I could see him glancing at her now and then, brow furrowed. Finally he looked at the sky and said it was time to go home. Predictably, Libby and Keil howled.
    Esperanza, unless I was mistaken, looked relieved. I though she must have agreed to come for Julio’s sake, playing parent to her own father. Her mood had her like a starfish, sucking at its prey with relentless tube feet.
    On the way back, Libby was permitted to change places with Keil, be Julio’s co-captain. There was a good breeze. The sails puffed prettily and we glided peacefully, in one of those rare blissful intervals when everything goes right and I understand why people love sailing so much. Esperanza’s toes still trailed, kicking up little bits of white foam. And then she was gone.
    Libby screamed. Julio moved so quickly I could barely follow his actions, but in retrospect, I think he must have done this: released the mainsail, crossed to the bow, popped off the jib, hollered, “Lifejackets!” and dived overboard. I think Keil was gone even before Julio. I was too stunned to stop him, even to notice he was about to jump.
    I was trying to take in what had happened, that Esperanza had simply shoved herself in with a little push of her arms, as if dropping from the side of a pool. She had done it so fast I wasn’t aware of movement until she was already in the water. Keil and Julio had moved nearly as fast. And now Libby was moving, leaning under the bow, coming up with orange life jackets, throwing them overboard. Somebody grabbed one—Keil, I thought—and I grabbed the tiller so as to be doing something, anything at all. But the boat didn’t seem to be moving much, drifting slightly with the wind, that was all.
    I held my breath as Keil struggled into his life jacket and caught the other two. Both Julio and Esperanza had disappeared.
    I watched, heart pounding in my throat and making it close, as Keil got farther away. Though we weren’t moving much, he seemed to be floating downwind with the swells.
    Julio was never going to find her
,
not in that murk
.
    He surfaced. I let my breath out. He looked like a mother otter, pup