Dark Water (Cooper M. Reid Book 1) Read Free Page A

certain set of tasks that he knew might work out only to blow up in his face. When he knew for certain that what he had planned was going to either succeed or fail, then he’d tell her.
    Or so he told himself.
    “Things are different now,” was all he said.
    “Am I allowed to ask how?” she said.
    He shrugged and sipped from his beer. “I want to help other people,” he said. “All of the things I know, I want to try to put it to good use.” He nodded towards the book as he said this.
    “Helping others while still grasping the fringes , huh?”
    “Something like that.”
    “And the first people you want to help are here in Kill Devil Hills?”
    “Yeah. You said you got the address, right?”
    “Yes. It’s in the envelope. You mean to tell me that you haven’t even called them?”
    “No.”
    “So you’re just going to drop by?” she asked. “You’re just going to tell these people that you found a newspaper article about them and you think you can help. Is that about right?”
    “That’s it, exactly.”
    “Going in confident with guns blazing,” Stephanie said. “Some things don’t change, it seems.”
    “Guilty,” he said. “Hey, how long are you staying here at the beach?”
    “Two days. Then it’s back to work.”
    “You want to grab dinner tonight?”
    She eyed him skeptically. “Let me think about it.”
    “Where are you staying?”
    “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said. “Now shut up and eat your lunch.”
    He laughed and had to look away from her. It hurt him to realize that he may have missed his opportunity with Stephanie Owens. It made him wonder what other opportunities he had missed while chasing a ridiculous career and trying to be larger than life.
    He took another gulp of his beer and looked out to the ocean. He watched the waves rolling in and then glanced to Stephanie. She was looking at him like she used to, with a cute sort of curiosity but an underlying skepticism.
    It felt nice. It felt familiar.
    And for now, that was all Cooper could ask for.
     
     

 
     
    3
     
     
     
     
     
     
    With two beers and a large order of fish tacos in his stomach, Cooper pulled his car into the small dirt driveway in front of the Blackstock residence. There was another car in the driveway, a good sign that there might be someone home. This is where Stephanie’s address had led him and the moment he saw it, he knew it was the right place.
    The residence was a cozy beach house located about a quarter of a mile away from the last of the year-round rentals outside of Kill Devil Hills. Their driveway was bordered with crossties, decorative driftwood, and the scraggly beach weeds that seemed to grow on most every small dune on the east coast.
    He parked the car and stepped out, trying to imagine what it must be like to arrive home every day and see a limitless expanse of ocean from your driveway. He felt inside his pocket, making sure he had the article he had printed out. He doubted he’d need it, but it made him feel better prepared for the awkward encounter that was just moments away.
    As he walked to the front door, he studied the exquisitely maintained house. In comparison to the rentals he had passed on the way here, it was radiant. Even the small wooden porch was finely polished and clean.
    He knocked on the front door which was adorned by a small wooden sign in the shape of a sand dollar. The word BLACKSTOCK looked to have been written by a child’s finger in the sand.
    Cooper was admiring this when a woman answered the door. She looked sleepy and in a hurry. She gave Cooper an inquisitive stare and subtly inched back behind the partially opened door.
    “Hello?” Jenny Blackstock said. “Can I help you?”
    “I’m not sure,” Cooper said, realizing that he wasn’t quite sure how to approach the topic he needed to breach.
    “Ok…,” Jenny said.
    “I’m actually here because I think I might be able to help you,” Cooper said.
    Wow, that sounded cheesy as hell, he