Deep Waters

about it some other time." Elias released her gently. He eyed the shirt she had loosely buttoned around herself. "Why don't you call Tybern? And then you'd better get dressed."
    Crazy Otis snorted. Charity glanced at him and saw that his cage cover had come partially off during the struggle. He leered at her.
    "Dirty bird." Charity shook off the dazed sensation that had settled on her. "Tybern. Right." She lunged for the phone on the kitchen wall. "By the way, I'm not the only one who should put on some clothes before the cops get here, Elias. That Tal Kek Chara thing doesn't even qualify as a thong bikini."
    "I'll get dressed in a minute." Elias crouched beside one of the fallen men.
    Charity hesitated, her hand hovering over the phone. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"
    "Hayden and I moved around a lot out in the Pacific. Some of the places we did business were not what you'd call tropical paradises."
    "I see." Charity swallowed and started to punch in the telephone number that would summon Hank Tybern.
    "I don't like guests who fail to remove their shoes before they come into my house," Elias said as he began to go through the pockets of his victims.
    Crazy Otis peered out through the bars of his cage. "Heh, heh, heh."
    Half an hour later Charity stood with Elias and Hank Tybern in the front drive. They all watched as Jeff Collings, Hank's only officer, bundled the hand- \ cuffed intruders into the backseat of one of the town's two police cars.
    "A couple of small-time thugs," Hank said. "Not what you'd call pros."
    "That's Swinton's style," Elias said. "Small time. He wouldn't have the kind of contacts it takes to find heavy muscle. And even if he did, he wouldn't want to pay for it."
    "Swinton?" Charity whirled around to look at him. "You think Rick Swinton was behind this?"
    He shrugged. "That's my best guess."
    Hank studied him with a shrewd look. "Be my guess, too. Unless you've got some other enemies you forgot to tell me about?"
    "None that would go this route."
    Charity scowled at him. He sounded far too philosophical on the subject for her taste. "What does that mean?"
    Elias gave her a humorless smile. "It's a good policy to study the reflections of your enemies in still water.
    I've always made it a habit to know mine well. This was an act of simple revenge, nothing more. Swinton, being Swinton, wouldn't want to take any personal risks, so he hired someone else to do the heavy lifting."
    Hank folded his notebook and stuffed it back into his shirt pocket. "Got to admit Swinton's the most likely candidate. Probably wanted to teach you a lesson. He wasn't real happy with the Mr. Nice Guy role you convinced him to play."
    "No," Elias agreed. "He wasn't happy."
    Hank nodded. "I'll go out to the campground and have a talk with him."
    "I'll go with you," Elias said.
    "The hell you will," Hank said dryly. "You let me do my job, Winters. You've already done enough tonight. It hasn't escaped my notice that we've had more trouble around here since you hit town than we've had in the past ten years."
    Charity was incensed. "You can't blame any of this on Elias. You said, yourself, he did everyone a favor when he forced Rick Swinton to pay back the money. And it's hardly Elias's fault that those two vicious men broke into his house and tried to brain him with a baseball bat and a tire iron. If you think for one minute—"
    "It's all right, Charity." Elias looked amused. "I'm sure Hank was just making a casual observation."
    "It sounded more like a nasty insinuation to me," she snapped.
    Hank grinned briefly. "Winters is right. I wasn't implying a cause and effect connection. Just a simple observation."
    Charity glared at him. "Well, it would be more accurate to observe that the real trouble in Whispering Waters Cove started after the Voyagers hit town."
    Hank nodded. "Can't argue with that. Gwen Pitt and Swinton have plenty to answer for around here, and now one of 'em's dead. An interesting turn of events." He started toward his car and then paused. "Looks like I'll need you to stop by my office again, Winters. More paperwork. Say tomorrow morning?"
    "I'll come in before I open the shop," Elias said.
    Hank rested one hand on the top of the open car door. "Sort of peculiar, the way you were able to take on two guys in the dark. Not many folks could have managed that."
    Elias shrugged. "I've had a little training."
    "Would that be military training?"
    "No. Hayden Stone."
    Hank exchanged a long, silent glance