Sisters in Crime

ONE

Dedicated to @Dinosaur-Rawr for the amazing cover. Thanks a million!!!

"Emma! You're here!" Susan Victors reached out and hugged her old friend Emma Moore, after Emma walked through security at the San Diego airport.

"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been able to come!" Susan exclaimed. "Thank you somuch."

"I'm happy to be here, Susan," Emma responded as she returned the warm hug and then stood back to look at her old friend.

"Tan, in February!" Emma exclaimed, pointing to the deep golden coloring on Susan's arms beneath her short-sleeved pink T-shirt. "You look wonderful! Now I know why you wanted to go to college in California!"

Susan, who had always been quiet and studious at Meadow Valley, looked very different to Emma now that she was a student at San Diego University.

"And you cut your hair," Emma added, looking at her friends short, dark curly hair. All through high school, Susan had worn her hair in a long ponytail. "It looks great."

Glancing down at her own clothes---An over sized gray cable-knit sweater with a bright blue cowl neck sweater under it, and navy pants, Emma said, "Its still winter in Meadow Valley."

"And you still look wonderful," Susan said, looking at her fair-skinned friend with the shoulder-length reddish blond hair. "No matter what the season." Emma had a slim build was perhaps four inches taller than Susan's five feet three.

As they headed toward the baggage claim area, Susan said, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate your coming, Emma. I really do need you." Turning and looking at Susan's eyes, Emma saw the pain that she had heard in her friend's voice during her urgent phone call the day before.

When they were seated in Susan's little yellow car, Susan turned to Emma. "You're the only one who can help me," she said softly. "The only one who can possibly uncover the truth about Rina's death."

Emma nodded her head. "I'll do my best," she promised.

Susan pointed to the book, Scuba Diving Safety, that Emma was holding on her lap. "I see you've started to do your research already."

"I wanted to make sure I'd understand all the technicalities and jargo," Emma said. "The police still can't believe it was an accident?"

Susan nodded. "They say she was washed up with an empty air tank near the place she likes to dive---I mean, where she used to like to dive." Susan shook her head as she corrected herself. Emma could see it was hard for Susan to believe that her roommate, Rina, was really dead.

"They found her on the beach wearing her wet suit and weight belt," Susan said sadly. "They say that she must have read the air gauge incorrectly. That's all."

"But that's not all?" Emma prodded.

Emma Moore, at eighteen, was already established as a top-notch private detective. For years everyone in her hometown had known of her excellent work, especially that done in cooperation with her father, Carson Moore, the famous criminal lawyer.

Now her reputation and skills were taking her farther from home. Southern California was a long way from Meadow Valley, where she had recently solved a mystery at the exclusive Meadow Valley Country Club.

"I have no hard evidence, Emma. I wish I did." Susan sighed. "But I know her death wasn't that simple," she said with determination. "I just know there's more to it than a poorly read air gauge."

"Tell me what you think," Emma said, encouraging her gently.

Although Susan had the car keys out and in her hand, she made no attempt to start driving. Slowly she began the story that had brought her friend across the country.