Deep Waters

sky full of alien spaceships. Everyone, Voyagers and onlookers alike, froze.
    Charity glanced around wildly, searching for the screamer. "One of the disappointed Voyagers, do you think?"
    "I don't know. But it didn't come from the beach." Elias's hand tightened on hers. "It came from over there near the far end of the campground." He started forward.
    A second cry reverberated through the night.
    "What's going on?" Someone yelled. "Who's screaming?"
    For the second time that night Charity allowed Elias to draw her into the maze of campers, motor homes, and trailers that littered the old campground. The screams were replaced by shouts for help.
    "Someone call an ambulance," a man yelled. "For God's sake, hurry."
    Charity and Elias emerged from between a row of camper trucks and saw that a handful of Voyagers who must have been among the first to return from the beach had gathered at the entrance to a large blue and white RV.
    "That's Gwendolyn Pitt's motor home," someone said.
    As she and Elias drew closer, Charity saw that light blazed from the open door of the vehicle.
    Elias forged a path through the small crowd.
    "It was because the ships didn't come," a woman dressed in Voyager's garb moaned. "She did it because the ships didn't come."
    Charity saw Newlin and Arlene standing arm-in-arm at the edge of the small cluster of people gathered outside the motor home. "Newlin."
    He glanced at her. There was a peculiar expression of stunned shock on his face. "Charity. Mr. Winters. You aren't gonna believe what's happened,"
    Arlene buried her face against Newlin's shoulder. "It wasn't her fault the ships didn't come."
    Elias released Charity's hand. "Wait here." He went up the steps to look inside the motor home. He came to a halt in the doorway, gazing intently at something inside.
    Charity followed him up the steps and glanced past him into the interior of the motor home.
    She took one look and immediately wished that she had followed Elias's orders to wait outside.
    Gwendolyn Pitt was sprawled on the blue carpet. Her blue and white robes were drenched in blood. Rick Swinton was pressed back against the built-in desk, staring down at the body. He looked up and saw Elias and Charity.
    "We just found her like this," he said in a shaken voice. "A few of us came back here to see why she hadn't joined us down on the beach. And we found her like this. I sent someone to call an ambulance. Not that it will do any good."
    Without a word, Elias crossed the short distance and crouched beside the body. He pressed his fingers against the side of Gwendolyn's throat and shook his head.
    "You're right," Elias said quietly. "It's too late."
    "She must have killed herself because the spaceships didn't come," someone whispered.
    Elias met Charity's eyes. "This wasn't suicide."

9

    Blood in the water clouds the reflections on the surface, making it difficult to see the truth.

    —"On the Way of Water," from the journal of Hayden Stone

    "Murdered." Radiance leaned over Yappy's shoulder to read the article on the front page of the Cove Herald. "But last night everyone was saying that it was suicide."
    Bea gave Charity a meaningful look as she handed her a latte. "Not everyone."
    Yappy frowned as he scanned the article. "It says those who reached the scene first assumed Gwendolyn Pitt took her own life because she was despondent over the failure of the ships to arrive at midnight. But Hank Tybern states that it was obvious to him from the start that it was murder."
    "It was obvious to Elias, too." Charity sipped her tea and glanced at the faces of the others who were gathered around the small table inside the Whispering Waters Cafe. "Besides, none of us really believed that Gwendolyn Pitt actually expected the ships to arrive. We all suspected the whole operation was a scam. So why would she kill herself because of despair and disappointment?"
    "Good point. Things went just the way she had planned." Ted scratched his broad belly, which today was partially concealed behind a gray T-shirt decorated with the words What Goes Around, Comes Around. "She was into that cult thing for something besides a tour of the galaxy. Pretty clear she was murdered. But who would have killed her?"
    "Seems to me Chief Tybern has himself a whole slew of suspects," Yappy said. "Starting with all those disappointed Voyagers who must have realized at about one minute after midnight last night that they'd been conned."
    Charity and the others nodded solemnly in