Shiver on the Sky: Owen Tremaine Supernatural Mysteries, Book 1

Complete Novel

Dedication

To Mary Anne. She knows why. But for the rest of you...she makes the good things in my life possible. As for me? I just try to keep up.

Author's Note

I've taken some liberties with Corpus Christi's geography. Mainly I've altered driving times for convenience, and created a new City Marina. As for Viktor's house, it's really there. Somewhere.

For more information, and to see what else I'm up to, please visit me at http://davidhaywoodyoung.com.

Table of Contents

UPDATE ME

Chapter One

(Sunday Afternoon-Owen)

Shadow quit struggling when they got past the boat. Owen set him back down on the dock, nearly tripping himself over somebody's bait bucket.

He braced on one knee and scratched Leon's dog behind the ears. Once they were past the worst of it, he figured seventy pounds of muscle and bone, split about equally between Black Lab and Great Dane, ought to be able to walk on its own.

But he didn't blame Shadow for balking earlier-Owen half-longed to plant himself on the concrete and whimper right alongside him. If he could just get a little more distance first.

The smell ought to have faded by now. He stood, inhaling a warm soup of Texas Gulf Coast humidity, diesel exhaust, and the almost-visible stink of rotting fish. Anything beyond that, this far from the boat, had to be a memory...stuck in his nose. He tried breathing through his mouth instead.

It didn't help. It just reminded him that his mouth still tasted vile, and his teeth felt fuzzy under his tongue.

But the marina was full of people going about their business as if they didn't notice a thing. Owen practiced forcing himself to breathe normally until he was fairly sure he wouldn't pass out, then twitched Shadow's leash. He led the dog down the dock, up the ramp and across the parking lot, unable to meet the eyes of anyone he passed. Shadow bumped into his legs all the way.

He hooked the leash over a post of the Coast Guard's "Kids Don't Float!" sign next to the payphone, for once barely registering the slogan's enthusiastic nonsense. Shadow sat on his feet.

Owen wiped at his face with his T-shirt, but the sweat kept dripping. The shirt was too stiff with dried saltwater to help much. He found the police non-emergency number and dialed. His knees shook and he pulled over a cheap plastic chair.

"CCPDmayIhelpyou?"

He almost smiled, and something in his chest opened. He forgot about sitting down. She sounded so bored. Efficient, too. She probably sat at a clean desk, in a cubicle in an air-conditioned building, living in a chill world where phone calls were dull. He wanted to kiss her. "This is Owen, uh, Tremaine. There's a-"

"Sirhowdoyouspell 'Tremaine'?"

"T-r-e-maine, like the state. Look, there's a dead body on my boat." He closed his eyes, wishing his memory of Leon's face would subside, and feeling guilty that he wanted it to. "No way it was an accident. Somebody killed him. I'm at-"

"Sir, what is your location?" She sounded more alert. But what did she think he'd been about to tell her? So much for efficiency.

Owen sensed bureaucratic machinery jerking into motion on the other end of the line, and sighed. The official wheels, once started, would grind in their own way, however disconnected they might become from any reality he could grasp. He reached down to pet Shadow, who licked his fingers gratefully. God, he wished he could get back into his kayak and paddle away from all this. Out in the Laguna Madre, he could go for days without talking to anybody.