The Body in the Boat Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organization, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2018 Ami Diane

  All rights reserved.

  Printed and bound in USA. First Printing October 2018

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief passages

  (200 words or fewer) in a review.

  Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  Cover design by Ruda Studio. Images courtesy of Adobe Stock photos.

  V.10102018.1

  Copyright © 2018 Ami Diane

  All rights reserved.

  To Abby. Thank you for teaching me true friendship.

  CHAPTER 1

  ELLA Barton watched a fiery sun march over the horizon, bathing the village below in hues of fire and beauty. It was the start to what promised to be a perfect day. It was also the day she would die.

  “This is a bad idea.”

  Wink brushed aside her blue hair sighed in a way that let Ella know the older woman had heard those words one too many times. “You said that already.”

  “Did I? Well, it’s still true.” Ella’s gaze drifted to the road that wound down Twin Hills. “You know, I think I forgot something back in my room. I’m just going to go get it.”

  Wink snatched Ella’s elbow and redirected her to the waiting glider of death perched in front of them. “No you don’t.”

  She released Ella and focused again on her pre-flight inspection.

  “No really. It’ll only take a second.”

  The diner owner’s lips moved in silent words, her hands running over wires and other parts Ella could only guess the names of, as she ignored Ella.

  Before leaving the inn that morning, she’d written a message to Pauline, the town coroner, and slipped it into her pocket. In it, she requested what should ever happen if the town flashed back to her time but also had several unsavory, choice words about Wink.

  Ella’s breath came out shaky, and she looked up at her last sunrise. “Why am I doing this?”

  “Because you lost a bet.” She strapped a helmet on Ella and handed her goggles.

  “Oh, right. But why am I doing this?”

  Wink let out a frustrated sigh. “Honestly, you’d think you were going to die or something.”

  “Don’t say that! Why would you say that right before we take off in this death trap?” Ella sucked in a few calming breaths that did more to help her hyperventilate than actually sooth her. She was grateful she’d taken one of Wink’s adult diapers she claimed she didn’t have but had found in her bathroom.

  All too soon, Wink was strapping Ella into a second harness before getting in the first herself. Ella felt like a fly caught in a spider web, trapped in the very thing that would be the cause of her death.

  While Wink zipped up her harness, she spoke with the breathy excitement of an adrenaline junkie. “This is a tandem glider. I ever tell you how I got this contraption?”

  Ella shook her head. For some strange reason, her teeth had taken to chattering on their own accord despite the warm, humid morning.

  “The pilot got stranded here… I think it was when Pauline and Kay did too. It’s hard to keep all the jumps straight.”

  Ella noticed she hadn’t included their recently departed mayor in the group. Probably because he was a murderous SOB and didn’t count.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “he came soaring to his landing site just as the town was appearing. Landed right in the cornfield. When his ride didn’t show up, we got anxious, so the sheriff spilled our big secret. The guy freaked out—as you say—and went straight to Lou’s.”

  “That so?” Her fingers had begun tingling. “And the guy actually made it out of Keystone in a car that ran?”

  “Far as we know, he made it over the boundary line, and that was good enough for us.”

  “I’m guessing he didn’t take the glider?”

  One of Wink’s hands caressed the bar in front of them. “Yep, and I’ve been gliding ever since. If they had had these in my time…”

  “You realize you have an unhealthy obsession with an inanimate object, right?”

  Wink pulled her hand away and cleared her throat. “Ready?”

  “Not even a little.”

  “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  “Five hundred feet down.” Ella swallowed, hoping to work some saliva down her parched throat. “Hey, Wink?”

  “If you say this is a bad idea one more time—”

  “This is a bad idea.”

  Wink lifted the bar in front of them and ordered Ella to run. Her reluctant feet where nearly dragged behind her as Wink sprinted beside her. The sail above them filled with air, and a new sensation pulled in her stomach. A moment later, her feet left the ground, and the hill seemed to fall away beneath them.

  Ella’s voice caught in her throat in a silent scream. The town grew smaller as Wink angled their flight path around Twin Hills, following Main Street out of town.

  Several dozen roofs of dotted both sides of the road in the town’s massive collection of greenhouses. Wink had Ella lean right with her, and they turned before they reached the border. Pines and firs rushed beneath them in a kaleidoscope of green hues.

  As Ella’s muscles began to unclench, she grew to appreciate their flight. They soared over treetops like a giant bird, getting to see Keystone in a light no one but they could. She chose not to voice for fear Wink might think her game for future flights.

  Wink pulled the bar in front of them towards her, and Ella’s stomach lurched into her spine as they sped up.

  “Whoah! Are they sword fighting down there?” Ella craned her head to the right as they passed the backside of the forest where it butted against the rainforest they currently resided in. In a small clearing amongst the evergreens, a fur-laden man Ella had seen about town a couple of times was wielding an ax against a man with a broadsword.

  “Probably. That’s Erik and Leif. Lean left.”

  Ella craned her head to keep them in her sight. “Norsemen? Are they Vikings? Not that all Norsemen are Vikings. I just mean—”

  “Ella! You’re throwing us off course! Lean left!”

  A towering ponderosa pine stood directly in their flight path. Ella threw her body left, nearly colliding with Wink. The glider was sluggish to respond but slowly drifted their way, narrowly avoiding a collision. One of the pine’s branches brushed what Ella was calling the “wing” as they passed. Wink worked the bar below them, pushing it away, slowing their descent.

&
nbsp; “Hey, I thought you said we were supposed to be landing in the park?” They were currently on a flight path that would land them directly in the lake. “I didn’t wear my swimsuit.” The more concerning thought was what would happen to her diaper if she took a dip and poor Pauline wondering if Ella was incontinent.

  “Quick, lean!”

  They both leaned in the opposite direction. The glassy water underneath was growing larger at an alarming rate. Off to their right, a familiar figure stood on the dock, hand shielding his eyes from the sun’s rays, watching their descent.

  “Hey, it’s Will. Think he sees us?”

  Wink was too busy trying to control their landing, directing Ella one way or another, and pushing the bar away.

  Ella bit her lip, hoping the sun made them unrecognizable silhouettes. Never mind the fact Wink was the only one in the entire town who hang glide.

  He waved.

  “Yeah, I think he sees us.”

  The dark surface rushed up. Ella had just enough time to think of her last words, something wise and inspiring for her departure from this world.

  “I hate you. So much.”

  At the last moment, Wink managed to steer them towards the bank. Relief flooded Ella momentarily. She wasn’t sure the packed earth was much of an improvement, but at least she wouldn’t take on so much water she’d sink like an anchor.

  The relief proved to be short-lived as their as their new landing zone appeared to be a thick wall of arborvitae at least two shrubs deep behind Sal’s Barbershop.

  Wink jutted the bar as far as it would go. The nose tipped up, causing the glider to stall.

  “Oh crap,” Ella strangled out in a half-scream as they dropped like a rock.

  Branches clawed through her clothes and scratched her skin. But with each new injury, their momentum slowed. Both glider and women came to a final resting point in the thickest part of the hedge.

  Ella’s chest heaved for several seconds as it slowly dawned on her that she was still alive—or at least she thought she was unless heaven was a tangle of branches and glider and screaming women.

  “Ow! Why did you pinch me?”

  “Just making sure we weren’t dead.”

  “So, you decided to pinch me?”

  Ella’s shrug was entirely lost in the wan light of the shrub and her harness. “Figured it couldn’t hurt.”

  Struggling to unzip her harness, she eventually managed it and dropped several inches in the thicket as she was freed.

  She rolled and kicked towards daylight. It was like being in quicksand or the ball pits she used to play in when she was younger.

  When she reached the edge, she dropped to the damp grass, ending in an awkward somersault that had her teetering to her feet. Standing, she threw her hands up for a gymnast finish and said, “Ta-da!”

  Will looked from her to the thick, evergreen wall of shrubbery, his mouth hanging open. When he didn’t clap for her, her hands dropped to her sides, and she tried to hide her disappointment.

  “Wh-how?” he stammered. His eyes closed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  Ella looked past him to the expansive scenery of the jungle beyond the tree line, sucking in a breath of air that had moved across the lake. “Beautiful day, huh?”

  The arborvitae behind her shook, followed by several mutterings of “drats” and “confound it.”

  “Yep,” Ella said a little louder to drowned out Wink, keeping her back to the shrub. “Beautiful day, indeed.” Sweeping her hands over her curly-now-frizzed hair, she plucked out a twig.

  “Does she need help?”

  “Who? Wink? Naw, she’s fine. One of those independent types—”

  “I need help!” Wink’s mangled voice cried from somewhere in the shadows.

  Will rushed forward. Sighing, Ella plunged her hands into the monstrous plant and searched for her boss.

  “She deserves this, you know,” Ella muttered to Will. “Making me go up in that thing.”

  “I heard that!” the shrub said. “Just get me outta here, will you?”

  The branches had swallowed Will’s head all the way past his shoulders. His voice came out muffled from the bowels of the hedge. “I think I see her.”

  “Marco!” Ella called.

  Nobody responded, but that didn’t stop her from calling the explorer’s name a few more times.

  A strange vibration preceded an even stranger rattling sound. Ella turned towards the source of the noise, and her eyes bugged out.

  Flo sat atop a rickety wagon, holding the reins of a team of horses, and flying at them like one of the great horsemen of the apocalypse. As she crested the bank, her mountain of a beehive leaned with the wind then resettled in an upright position. She pulled the reins and the wagon jerked to a stop, rolling over several ferns as it did.

  “You told me to meet you over there.” Flo pointed a gnarled finger in the direction of the park.

  Wink, who’d just been successfully extricated from the arborvitae, huffed, “That was the plan but this scaredy-cat here messed up our landing.”

  Soon, Ella felt all three pairs of eyes on her. “What? I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening. I’m still trying to figure this—” she motioned at the wagon “—out. Was this supposed to be our ride back to Wink’s?”

  Flo’s chin jutted out. “What’s wrong with it? It’s the only thing I could find that the glider would fit in.”

  “Well, for starters, it looks like it would give my backside a good bruising.”

  “Your backside looks padded enough to me.”

  Ella shot Flo a rude hand gesture. “And secondly,” she emphasized the word, “I thought you didn’t know anything about horses.”

  “Who said that?” Flo looked at Wink. “I ever say that?”

  Wink shook her head, her hands working through her blue bob, retrieving parts of shrubbery.

  Ella opened her mouth, closed it, and shook her head. The more she hung around Flo, the more fitting her nickname, Crazy Flo, seemed to be.

  “As much as I’d love to experience this Little House on the Prairie moment with you, I promised Rose I’d help her with some things. Wink? You got this?”

  Her boss waved her away. “Go. Flo and I will get the glider back.”

  “I’ll help,” Will volunteered.

  “Why thank you, Will.” Flo batted some heavy, spidery lashes at him from behind her thick glasses. “Such a nice, handsome young man—”

  “He’s not your type, Flo.” Wink paused. “Actually, he’s breathing, so he’s exactly your type. Let me rephrase. You’re not his type.”

  Ella came to Will’s rescue from becoming husband number… actually, she couldn’t get a straight answer from Flo as to how many times she’d walked down the aisle. Ella suspected the batty woman had lost track but was too embarrassed to admit it.

  She looked over at the glider, only a portion of the sail visible. “Is it broken?” Her tone was a mixture of both concern and hope.

  Wink’s gaze swept up the arborvitae to the bit of fabric poking out. “No. I think it’s fine.”

  “Oh.” Ella tried to hide her disappointment.

  Will murmured, “Subtle.”

  Before joining the two women excavating the glider from the branches, he cautioned Ella about hanging out with the two of them. “You’ve no idea the kind of trouble they get into.”

  “I think I’m beginning to get it. See you tonight?”

  Keystone’s town hall meeting was set for that evening. Ordinarily, she wasn’t into local politics, but the first and only meeting she’d attended had been as entertaining than prime time television.

  “I hope so. It depends on how much work I get done.”

  She squinted at the dock behind him. “What are you working on?”

  His eyes glinted. “A secret project. If it works, I’ll show you.”

  “Deal. Be careful with those two.”

  She gave one last lingering look at the women who were quickly becoming two of he
r closest friends. Between Wink’s addiction to adventure and Flo’s preponderance for weapons, Ella would have to keep on her toes if she wanted to stay alive in Keystone.

  CHAPTER 2

  MAIN Street was buzzing with groups of people migrating towards the white-steepled church for December’s first town hall meeting. The small group of inhabitants from Keystone Inn scooted over the sidewalk.

  Ella hissed out a breath, watching a toddler and mother pass them, and glared over her shoulder. “Cheeseburgers, Flo. Could you walk any slower? I know you’re capable of it. I’ve seen you run.”

  Jimmy’s head whipped in Ella’s direction. “You’ve seen her run?”

  Ella turned her hand side to side in a weighing motion. “‘Run’ maybe isn’t the best word for it. It was more like a drunk turtle crawling over quicksand.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” a cranky voice floated up to them. Flo was as slow as summer and as feisty as a yellow jacket—which was probably why Ella got along with her so well. “What’s with your hair, anyhow? Looks like a rat’s nesting in it.”

  “Get your head stuck in a cotton candy machine?” Ella retorted.

  “If you ask her to walk faster,” Jimmy muttered under his breath, “she’ll just go slower.”

  Rose nodded, hooking her arm around her husband’s. “Once, she took a solid twenty minutes to get from the inn to the church.”

  “What? Those five blocks? Twenty minutes? Did she stop in China first?”

  Rose’s ruby lips turned down. “We weren’t in China at the time.”

  “No, I mean—never mind. Hey, how come Edwin didn’t come with us?” Ella asked, referring to the other boarder.

  Rose shook her head then was forced to adjust a pin curl that had broken loose. “Doesn’t feel well.”

  By the time they finally stepped into the church, it was a struggle to locate enough seats together to accommodate their group. Ella leaned to the side to see over a rather tall, gaudy hat that probably came from the Elizabethan era. While Rose negotiated with a man in coattails for his extra seat, Ella scanned the room in search of Will.