“Are you ready to do this?” Harry asked me, using a low voice. He was uncharacteristically serious as he handed me the one item I had asked him to hold on to for the duration of this trip. “You can still change your mind, bro.”
“Do you honestly think I should?” I asked, as I dropped my voice and matched his sincerity. “I thought you said I was making the right decision.”
“I did,” Harry insisted, “and I still do. I’m just worried about you, man. You seem all flustered, like you’re nervous.”
“Who wouldn’t be nervous about something like this?” I stammered. “I never thought I’d be asking another person this particular question. I mean, after I lost Samantha, I would’ve sworn I’d never feel this way about another woman. It’s just… well, it’s… I mean…”
Harry placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, “You have nothing to worry about, man. Jillian is crazy about you. Besides, I think you pulled off this little surprise quite well. Jules doesn’t even know what’s gonna happen, and you know how much she hates me keeping surprises from her.”
“I’m hoping she’ll understand this one time.”
“She will, bro. She will. Okay, they’re sitting right over there, near the bar.”
“And her parents?”
Harry pointed at an elderly couple sitting nearby, with conveniently placed menus obscuring their faces.
“Oh, that’s not obvious at all,” I groaned.
“They’ll be fine,” Harry said.
“Was Vance and Tori able to make it?”
Harry turned and pointed at another table on the other side of the room. I glanced over just in time to see Vance give me a thumbs up. His wife, Tori, was there, and smiled warmly at me. Then, I saw Vance glance over at Jillian’s table, say something, and just like that, their faces were hidden behind a couple of menus, too. Jillian must have looked their way, but thankfully, didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Are you ready for this?”
I opened the ring box. Inside was a platinum tanzanite engagement ring with diamond accents, set in a classic setting. The stone was just over two carats, which if you’ve ever shopped for those pricey bluish purple stones, you’ll know that it wasn’t cheap. Both the metal and stones had been polished to a radiant shine. Snapping the box closed, I pocketed it, looked at my friend, and swallowed nervously.
“You bet. Let’s do this.”
Harry nodded, “Roger that, bro. All right, give me just a few minutes, and I’ll get Jules out of the way.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
Harry then strode up to the table, pulled out his chair, and plunked his butt down.
“Where’s Zachary?” Jillian worriedly asked.
“I think he’s back there,” Harry confided, pointing in the completely opposite direction. “I think he’s trying to arrange to secretly pay for tonight’s dinner. Little does he know I already took care of it.”
“That’s awful sweet of you,” Jillian proclaimed, placing a hand over Harry’s and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Right then, I arrived. I gave Jillian a quick kiss, knocked fists with Harry when the girls weren’t looking, and gave Julie a smile.
“Hey, guys,” I began. “I have to be honest here. I’m really starting to enjoy going on vacation with other people. I mean, this trip is gonna be one for the books.”
Jillian started ticking off points on her fingers, “It’s not often you solve a murder, uncover an illegal treasure hunting operation, solve a stolen coin case, and then become lifelong members of what is probably one of the most famous aquariums in the world.”
“I’d like to know what we’re all gonna do next year, man,” Harry added. “How are we gonna top this one?”
“Excuse me,” a British female voice interrupted. “Mrs. Julie Watt?”
We all turned to stare at Julie, who was staring incredulously at the waitress.
“Yes? That’s me. What can I do for you?”
The waitress held out a slip of paper.
“I am the general manager of the hotel, Mrs. Watt. I was told I could find you in here. Do you recognize this charge, madam?”
Curious, Julie accepted the slip. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the amount.
“No, I don’t. What’s going on? Has someone got ahold of one of my credit cards?”
“If you’ll come this way, madam,” the British lady was saying, holding out an arm and indicating which direction she needed to go, “then I’m sure we can get to the bottom of this.”
“What? Oh, of course. Would you excuse me? I need to find out what’s going on here.”
Harry also pushed away from the table.
“I’d better go and see what the problem is. Someone is trying to use her personal card? That can’t be good, man.”
“We’ll be fine,” I assured our friends, as – together – they walked away from the table. Had Jillian been studying Harry’s face, then the jig would have been up, since she would have seen him sporting a huge smile.
“I hope everything is all right,” Jillian said nervously. “Maybe Harry used the wrong card? What do you think, Zachary? Oh! Wh-what…?”
When Jillian turned to look back at me, I watched her eyes widen with surprise as she saw me down on one knee, with the ring box open and held out to her.
“Jillian,” I hesitantly began, “I never thought I’d be in this position again. Uh, literally. I was always under the impression that lightning just wasn’t capable of striking the same person twice. Yet, it happened. To me. And, I like to believe, to you as well. So, here we are, in Monterey, California, and I have a question for you.”
I saw Jillian’s mouth open, as if to say something, but nothing came out.
“Jillian Leigh Cooper, will you marry me?”
Jillian’s mouth opened again, but as before, nothing was heard. With her eyes open wide, she frantically looked at the table and reached for her water. Finding it low, I slid my glass over to her.
“You’re… I… oh, my. I can’t seem to speak!”
“While I would ordinarily take that as a good sign,” I said, as I grinned at my girlfriend, “I kinda need an answer here.”
Jillian slid her chair back from the table and rose to her feet. The moment she did, she threw her arms around me and hugged me tight.
“Of course I’ll marry you! I love you, Zachary! I think I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you in my store!”
Grinning like a love-struck teenager, I pulled the ring from its box and slid it on Jillian’s left hand.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Jillian whispered, as she held her hand this way and that, so she could admire the ring from every direction. “And is that tanzanite?”
I nodded, “Yep. I know it is your favorite.”
Jillian hugged me again. She started to sit back down when she saw Harry and Julie coming towards us. Harry was holding a bottle of champagne. A very expensive bottle of champagne, Crystal Rose. I had special-ordered a bottle of Jillian’s exquisite champagne and it had been delivered earlier today. I figured, if I didn’t chicken out, then it’d be the perfect way to celebrate.
Harry was all smiles, “Congrats, you two! Seriously, bro, it couldn’t happen to a nicer dude. I know you two will be very happy!”
Jillian turned to look back at the direction Harry and Julie had just come from. There, walking toward her, holding a tray of crystal flutes and the second bottle of Crystal Rose I had later added to my order, was my second confidante, namely the British lady from before. I only knew her as ‘Maggie H.’, and that was because it was on her nametag.
I pointed at the second bottle of bubbly, “That’s a good idea. I’m thinking we’re all going to need it.”
“I have two other bottles in reserve,” Maggie confided. “When you’ve hosted as many events as I have, you get a feeling for how many bottles of champagne are needed for a party this size.”
I shrugged, “If you say so. Just leave me the…”
“It’s already taken care of,” Maggie assured me. “Compliments of the MPD.”
“I’m definitely going to have to send them a case or two of wine,” I mumbled to myself.
“A party this size?” Jillian repeated. “Excuse me, Maggie, is it? What did you mean by that?”
Maggie smiled, and then turned away.
“What’s going on?” Jillian suspiciously asked, as she turned to look at me. I grinned at her and shrugged. Jillian then looked over at Julie. “Is everything okay with you and Harry?”
“It was, just as soon as he explained what Zack was about to do,” Julie confided. She and Jillian embraced. “I’m so happy for you. No one deserves to be happy more than you and Zack.”
Maggie set the tray of flutes on the table and began pouring champagne. Also at that time, a group of four waiters and waitresses appeared, and rapidly slid several other tables next to ours, effectively increasing our seating by eight. Jillian turned to me and pointed at the tables.
“I don’t understand. ‘A party this size?’ Additional tables? Is someone else joining us?”
I nodded, “I couldn’t ask you to marry me without asking your dad first. And, they asked if they could be included.”
“You talked to my parents? Where? When? They’ve been gone to…” Jillian trailed off as a shocked smile appeared on her face. “Omigosh! Is that why they said they were coming back early? Did you arrange this?”
I pointed at a table three spaces away. Jillian gasped as she recognized the faces of her parents, who slowly rose to their feet. Her mother, a kind, caring woman in her mid-seventies, pulled her daughter in for a hug.
“Mom?” Jillian squeaked out, between sobs. “What are you doing here? How long have you known Zachary was going to do this?”
“About three months now,” Jillian’s father answered, as he stepped forward to pull her in for a hug. Wyatt Cooper was a stern-looking, older gentleman in his late seventies. “Zack called me up out of the blue, asked permission to marry you, which I heartily gave, mind you, and wanted to know if we’d like to witness the proposal, here in California. Who was I to turn that down? We cut our trip short and hurried home.”
Jillian held up her hands in a time-out, “Wait. Just wait a moment. Are you saying you’ve been back for over two months?”
“And it’s been very hard not telling you anything,” her mother, Clara, said. “I don’t like keeping secrets from anyone, but for this? I could see fit to bend my own rules.”
Wyatt approached me and held out a hand, which I immediately took. The older man’s handshake was firm and resolute. He looked me in the eye and nodded.
“I’m happy for you two. And, if I’m allowed to say this… it’s about damn time. What took you so long, you knucklehead?”
“Dad!” Jillian cried, embarrassed.
“Oh, I’m just teasing the boy,” Wyatt assured her, giving me a wink.
Jillian placed a hand on her head and immediately sat down, “Oh, my head is spinning. This is almost too much to take in at the same time. I… now I know I’m losing it. Those two look like Vance and Tori. They… Zachary Michael, you didn’t!”
We all turned to see my detective friend, Vance Samuelson, and his wife, Tori, approach the table. They were both grinning. More handshakes ensued, and more tears were shed.
“I cannot believe Zachary had the fortitude to pull this off without me knowing anything about it!” Jillian exclaimed, as she looked around the large table filled with our family and friends. “I’m surprised you didn’t invite your parents to come up here. I would have liked to see them again.”
I grinned and jammed my hands into my pants pockets, “Who says I didn’t?”
Right on cue, two more people approached the table and slid out chairs. Jillian gasped again as she looked into the smiling faces of my father, William Anderson, and my mother, Dana.
“Were you hiding somewhere in here, too?” Jillian mock-accused.
My father grinned and pointed at the other end of the restaurant.
“We saw it all, my dear. Zachary, we’re proud of you.”
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to take that, since I wasn’t a child anymore. Smile and nod? Sure, that ought to work.
“Umm, thanks,” I said, as I nodded. “To be honest, I’ve been wanting to ask that question for a while now.”
“You have?” Jillian repeated, amazed.
“You have?” Vance echoed.
I shrugged, “Of course. Once I realized I was open to the idea of getting married again, it was all I could seem to think about. So, I figured this setting would be perfect, thus allowing everyone to relax and enjoy the sun, beach, and water.”
“But we’re leaving tomorrow!” Jillian protested.
“Are we?” I slyly asked. “We’ve pretty much worked our whole vacation. I already arranged it with the hotel. We’ll be leaving in four more days. That is, if you’re amendable to spending more time here with me.”
“Absolutely!” Jillian exclaimed. She drew me in for a kiss, which earned us some hoots and hollers from our friends. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I thought we could take our first set of SCUBA lessons here.”
“Wait, I thought we were all gonna try to lose some weight first,” Harry protested.
“You can if you want to,” I told my friend. “However, I should also inform you that… how do I put this? Muscles weigh much more than…”
“…fat?” Harry finished for me. “Is that what you were gonna say, bro?”
“Harry, I’m trying to tell you that, right now, you have the advantage. Don’t you remember our swim test? We had to tread water for at least fifteen minutes. Both of us had a very difficult time with that.”
“True,” Harry slowly admitted. “I don’t know, man. This is kinda sudden.”
“Did I mention that the aquarium is not only picking up the tab, but will also be loaning us the equipment? We don’t even have to rent anything.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Vance wanted to know.
“Zachary and Harry already have their open water certification,” Jillian explained. “Julie and I don’t. We were going to get certified so we could dive together.”
“Dude, you’re a diver?” Vance asked me, impressed. “I didn’t know.”
I grinned, “Hey, I’m versatile. What about you, pal? Want to take the class with us? Do you think your mom could watch your girls for another couple of days?”
Tori triumphantly held up her phone, “I already asked, and yes. The answer is ‘yes.’ How exciting! I’ve always wanted to go scuba diving!”
“There’s one other thing I ought to tell you,” I said, as I looked at my group of family and friends. “The SCUBA lessons? They’re being held in the aquarium, in one of the tanks.”
“Ooo, count me in!” Tori exclaimed. “Vance, what do you say?”
“Sure, why not? Sounds like fun!”
I looked over at my parents. “Mom, dad, I assume you’re heading back to Phoenix?”
My parents both nodded. “But not until tomorrow,” my mother added.
“Good. We would like to show you around, starting with a new playmate we discovered for the dogs.”
“Where are Sherlock and Watson?” my father wanted to know.
“They’re back at the hotel. I was planning on stopping by to pick them up.”
“And towels,” Jillian reminded me. “Don’t forget to bring towels.”
“And towels,” I sighed. “Dogs. There’s never a dull moment.”
“So when are you going to tell us what you’ve been up to?” Vance inquired, as he took the bottle of beer that was just placed before him and took a healthy swig. “From what I hear, you four have been having the time of your lives!”
Harry, Julie, Jillian, and I shared a conspiratorial look before bursting with laughter. I nodded, raised my own beer, and took a drink.
“What’s so funny?” my detective friend wanted to know.
“Dude, I have no idea where to begin.”
Tori clapped her hands and settled back in her chair, “Ooo, I do like a long story. Especially when you’re telling it, Zack.”
Vance’s smile melted off his face and he frowned at his wife.
“Really, Tor? Must you bring up that here?”
“Bring what up here?” my mother wanted to know.
“Since you let it slip about what type of books I write,” I began, as I smiled at my mom, “all of my friends have taken the liberty to see how well I write. Tori was already a fan.”
“I looooove his stories!” Tori confirmed, winking at her husband.
“I feel like you’re hitting on my wife whenever she does that,” Vance grumbled, which caused me to nearly choke on my beer.
“I’m doing no such thing!” I protested.
Tori reached across the table and laid her hand over mine, “Don’t you let him bother you. He’s just teasing, aren’t you? Vance?”
“Yeah, sure. Jerk.”
Thankfully, he had a grin on his face when he said that, which caused the rest of the table to erupt with laughter.
“Let’s see,” I said, after I took another pull from my bottle. “This vacation started with us discovering a dead body.”
Vance’s attention was suddenly focused entirely on me.
“You’re kidding.”
I shook my head, “Nope. He was a diver. We found him floating not far from here, in McAbee Bay.”
“Who was he?” Wyatt asked.
“A well-known SCUBA diver by the name of Jack Carlton,” Jillian answered, looking at her future father-in-law. “He was employed at Monterey Bay Aquarium, but he also worked for National Geographic. They sent him all over the world.”
“That’s cool,” Vance decided. Realizing how that must have sounded to the rest of us, he paled. “I mean, not that he’s dead, but what he did for a living.”
“Then,” I continued, “Sherlock and Watson made some new friends. A whole raft of them.”
Jillian smiled as I referenced the otters, especially since I used the correct term for them and only a very few of us knew what that meant. As I expected, the rest of the table looked at me with blank expressions on their faces. My mother was first to raise a hand.
“A what of otters?” Dana quietly asked.
“It’s what you call a group of otters in the water,” Julie explained. “Jillian, didn’t you say something about them being called a different name when they’re on land?”
“A romp,” Jillian confirmed. “On land, they’re a romp. In the water, they’re a raft.”
Vance nodded, “Weird, but okay. What do the otters have to do with anything?”
“I’m coming to that,” I said, grinning at my friend. “Now, it just so happened that these otters…”
“Don’t forget to tell them about Chet,” Jillian interrupted. “You might want to get that in there first.”
I snapped my fingers, “Oh, right. I need to backtrack just a bit. Now, it turns out that the dogs were recognized, here in Monterey. Can you believe that? The local police department even asked if we’d be willing to look at one of their cold cases, namely locate a missing coin stolen from a local coin collector eight months ago.”
“Is that this ‘Chet’ person?” Tori wanted to know.
“Chet Mayberry,” Jillian confirmed. “He and his husband, Roger, are affluent members of the city, and when one of Chet’s coins was stolen, an 18th century Spanish real, the local police investigated.”
“Investigated, but never located,” I added.
Vance shook his head, “Dog Wonder and his accomplice found it, didn’t they?”
“On the very next day, bro,” Harry confirmed. “Those two dogs are truly amazing.”
I cleared my throat.
“Technically speaking, Sherlock didn’t find the coin. He found a coin, yes, and it just so happened to be another Spanish real, same year, only we figure it was just a fluke coincidence.”
“Did we ever find out who stole Chet’s coin in the first place?” Julie asked.
I nodded, “Actually, we did. Mary called this morning, and… sorry. That’d be Officer Marianne Adolphson, of the Monterey Police Department. As I was saying, they got a full confession. Who did it? Well, that would be Mike, Beth’s boyfriend. Apparently, his dad worked at the company that installed the security system at Chet’s house. Mike admitted his father told him about the coins, so one day, Mike and his father paid Chet a visit, just to look at the coins. Don’t get me wrong, Mike’s father wasn’t scoping the joint out. He was actually interested in the coins. Mike, however, was only interested in coins that could be found in the water.”
“And Chet showed him the real,” Vance guessed.
“Right,” I nodded. “Later, once he and Beth hatched the plan to locate the San Augustin, Mike broke in and stole the coin.”
“Why?” Harry asked.
I shrugged, “Maybe Mike thought it’d help Beth with her research? I don’t know.”
“Then why the hell did he pass up so many more coins that were worth thousands more?” Harry sputtered. “Was he that much of a dumbass?”
“Harrison, watch your language,” Julie warned.
“That’s the only thing Chet can figure,” I said. “He said the thief probably didn’t know more valuable coins were nearby. So, yeah, he was a dumbass. Anyway, at some point, Beth and Mike located the sunken ship…”
“Ooo!” my mother exclaimed. “How wonderful!”
I shook my head, “Not really. They were planning on stealing the treasure for themselves.”
“Wouldn’t it be theirs if they were the ones who found it?” my father asked.
I shook my head again, “No. There’s an act in place that specifies any sunken treasure found within the United States’ boundaries becomes its property.”
“Sucks to be them,” Vance decided.
“Wanna know who else found the wreck?” Harry eagerly asked.
“The dogs!” my mother chimed in, delighted.
I stared at my mother with a look of surprise on my face.
“How, mom? The wreck was underwater! Do you think I rented the dogs a canine SCUBA setup?”
My mother’s face sobered, “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. Then, who else discovered the ship?”
“The otters!” Harry said, grinning. “Those little critters were all using Spanish coins as tools to bust open shellfish.”
Wyatt shook his head, “If the public ever learned about something like that, then it’d be pandemonium at that beach.”
“You got that right,” I confirmed. “That’s why we enlisted the help of the aquarium, who advised us to get the coins from the otters before that very thing happened.”
“And did you?” my father asked.
I nodded, “We did. The problem was, every time we relieved the otters of their coins, they’d simply get new ones. It was the damnedest thing to see.”
“Where does the dead diver fit in?” Vance asked. “Was he searching for the treasure, too?”
“That’s what we all thought,” I told him. “As it happens, he really wasn’t involved in any search for missing treasure. He was collateral damage.”
“Then why was he killed?” Vance wanted to know.
“Jealousy,” Jillian announced. “Jack Carlton was very popular. He was famous among aquariums. Everyone wanted to volunteer for him, seeing how he was known to take trips across the world and take an assistant with him to help him out.”
“All expenses paid?” Wyatt asked. “That’s the way to travel, right there.”
“There were two volunteers,” Jillian continued. “A girl named Sherry, who was the target, and a young teenager named Beth, who we’ve mentioned before. She was the mastermind behind the whole thing. She put a juvenile, blue-ringed octopus in Sherry’s mask, intent on getting her out of the picture, only Jack grabbed the wrong mask by mistake.”
Vance raised a hand, “A what kind of octopus?”
“Blue-ringed,” I clarified. “They’re small, about the size of your fist, and are only found in tropical waters much warmer than this. The juveniles are about the size of a pea right now. That’s what was placed inside the mask. Sadly, it was easy to miss.”
“And he paid the price,” Jillian’s mother quietly observed.
“Something the size of pea can kill you?” Vance skeptically asked. “You’re pulling my leg.”
“It’s possible,” Jillian answered, “and it depends on how many times you were stung. But, more than likely, a juvenile would only have enough venom to paralyze you.”
“Which is still bad,” Vance decided. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the greatest, but it’s better than death.”
“Not really,” I added. “If you can’t move, then you can’t breathe. And if this happens while you happen to be underwater?”
Vance’s eyes widened, “Oh. I get it. The diver drowned, didn’t he? Cause of death was originally thought to be by drowning?”
I nodded, “Yep. But, it was later revealed that… hang on, I’m gonna get it right the first time. Tetrodotoxin. Hah. I did it. Anyway, tetrodotoxin was found in the bloodstream, and it didn’t take long to trace it to the one and only species at the aquarium which carried it.”
“That fancy octopus,” Vance recalled. “Crazy.”
“Beth placed the octopus in the mask, Jack Carlton grabbed the mask, and the rest is history.”
“I still can’t believe a high school student was responsible for pulling this whole shindig off,” Vance said, amazed.
“Such a tragedy,” Jillian agreed. “Such a young girl, with so much potential.”
“And that’s what got her,” I said. “She may be mature for her age in some areas, but she’s still a young girl at heart. An adult would have realized that a grown man would never get involved with a teenager.”
Vance wrinkled his face, “Eww! Is that what she wanted?”
The four of us nodded.
“Did that other girl ever turn back up?” Harry asked.
I looked over at my friend.
“Who, Sherry? Yes. She had been hiding out with her brother. Just so you know, her brother reported Beth to the police, only they blew it off. Yesterday was the first day she had left her brother’s house since the body had been discovered, and that was only because the police called to confirm they had Beth in custody.”
“Poor girl,” Jillian lamented.
My father suddenly picked up his glass of wine and held it high.
“A toast. To my son and his future bride.”
Everyone rose to their feet. I felt my face flush with embarrassment. Jillian slipped her arm through mine and leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you this happy again, son, and it warms our hearts. Jillian? Take good care of him. I believe I can speak for everyone here when I say… sorry. He’s your problem now.”
Laughing, everyone clinked glasses together and congratulated the two of us. Looking around at our circle of friends and family, I could only shake my head with amazement. I didn’t know how it was possible that I lucked out and found two beautiful women in one lifetime. I don’t know what I did to deserve Jillian, but I certainly planned on spending the rest of my life making sure she stayed by my side.
THE END
Zack and the corgis will return in
Case of the Dysfunctional Daredevils!