C S Challinor [Rex Graves 03] Phi Beta Murder (epub)

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.“Caterwauling, then.Urgh, this water’s warm.”“It was cold when I bought it at the petrol station.By the way, this SUV is a great big gas guzzler.Why on earth did you get something so expensive to run?”“It’s useful for stowing my boards in.”“What’s first on your schedule tomorrow?” Rex asked, exasperated as always by his son’s lack of financial acumen and deciding to change the subject before they got in a row.“Stats, worst luck.”“Good lecturer?”“Pretty cool, though not as cool as my marine science teacher.”The Americanism sounded funny in Campbell’s fluted Scots accent, which was noticeably less pronounced than when he had left Edinburgh twenty months ago.“Last night was fun,” Rex said conversationally.He had taken Campbell and Consuela to dinner.Rex secretly referred to his son’s girlfriend as the Cuban Princess.A spoiled diva with an incredibly extended family that lived in South Beach, she had, as far as he could tell, little going on between her pretty, diamond-studded ears.He felt sure she was a distraction to Campbell’s studies, the distance between their two colleges at opposite ends of the state adding a strain to the relationship.They passed a green sign for St.Augustine, which Rex had in mind to visit if he had time, curious to see what the “oldest” city in the continental United States was like.“So, what’s going on in your life?” he asked, having received no response to his comment about dinner.“The usual.”“I don’t know what ‘usual’ is in your world.”“I told you pretty much everything last night.” Campbell could be surly when he got too little sleep.“I thought there might be something you wanted to tell me in private.”“Like what?” His son stared out the side window.Rex checked the rearview mirror and, slowing down abruptly, pulled onto the grass shoulder lined with spindly trees.“Here—you drive.” He got out of the SUV and walked around to the front passenger door.Eighteen-wheelers rumbled by at high speed.Campbell took his father’s place at the wheel.“What’s the matter, Dad?” he asked as he yanked on his seat belt.“It’s been a long trip and a long week,” Rex explained.“And I don’t have the energy to pursue a one-sided conversation.We’re approaching Jacksonville.You know where we’re going better than I do.”He had decided to stay at the beach, a twenty-minute drive from the university.That way, Campbell could surf and, as he put it, “hang out” at the Siesta Inn, which had a pool and a minigolf complex next door.Campbell eased into the inside lane.“Should we go straight to the motel?”“Aye, I’d like to get a swim in.Then we can have something to eat and you can go to your dorm.”“Sounds good.I could pick you up after class tomorrow and we could do something.I’ll be through by midday.I’m glad you came,” Campbell added in a conciliatory tone.“Me too,” Rex told him.Aside from seeing Campbell, he was looking forward to swimming every day, walking the beach, and eating American fare.He could never get over how big the portions were and he liked the casual attitude toward dining in Florida.They drove under a concrete porch into the Siesta Inn parking lot, and he went to check in at the front office.The stucco walls of the motel were painted a warm shade of ochre and decorated with Mexican pottery visible between the arched walkways.He had requested the room he had stayed in when his son first started college, located up one flight of concrete steps, with a balcony overlooking the ocean.Unzipping his suitcase on one of a pair of queen-size beds, he extracted his Bermuda trunks.“Do you have an electric kettle I can borrow?” he asked, surveying the kitchenette.“Tea doesn’t taste right when it’s done in a microwave.”Campbell had opened the glass sliders to the balcony.“I think I may have one somewhere.If not, we can pick one up.”Rex joined Campbell on the balcony, which was just large enough to accommodate two plastic chairs and a table.Blending into blue sky, the Atlantic stretched in a deep shade of indigo beyond a broad swath of sand accessed by a boardwalk.White-crested waves rolled onto the shore.While Campbell took off to the beach with his surf board, Rex walked to the motel pool to perform his laps.The fenced-in pool was heated and empty, the sun warm on his back.He missed the sensual feeling of swimming nude in the Caribbean, where he had felt as free as a fish in the sea, but this was still a huge improvement on the heavily chlorinated indoor public baths he had to make do with at home.After counting off fifty laps, he got out feeling invigorated and refreshed, and set out to join his son.Sea oats fringed the near side of the beach, composed of powdery dunes.Farther out, the sand became more compacted, allowing for vehicles to drive up and down the shore.To the north a pier extended into the ocean.Motels, affluent homes, and older rental properties stared out to sea along the beachfront.He arrived just in time to see Campbell skim in on his board, poised like a bird for flight, and jump off into the shallows.“Not rough enough today,” his son called out, approaching with his surf board in the crook of his arm and sweeping his dripping blond hair from his eyes.His shoulders had developed breadth from paddling out on the board, but in other respects he looked thinner than when Rex had seen him at Christmas.Campbell had complained that the food “sucked” on campus, and Rex planned to feed him up for the duration of his stay.“You’re covered in goose bumps,” he chided.“Go take a hot shower, then we’ll get some dinner.”While he waited on the motel room balcony, he glanced through a copy of USA Today, which he had picked up at reception.An article caught his eye: “Suicide Ranks After Traffic Accidents as Second Leading Cause of Death among American College Students.” He didn’t have time to finish reading the piece before Campbell wandered out of the bathroom, his narrow hips girded with a white motel bath towel.“Hungry?”“You bet.” Campbell grinned, and Rex felt reassured.Perhaps his son had just been going through a rough patch with Consuela, and that was why he had sounded depressed on the phone.He seemed better now and, certainly, he and his girlfriend had been lovey-dovey at dinner the previous night, feeding each other off the same plate and all but ignoring him.The oceanfront bar and restaurant Campbell selected that evening was a far cry from the swanky joint on Miami Beach, and just what they were both in the mood for.They ordered conch fritters with mango jalapeno salsa, followed by oak-grilled New York Strip and fries, accompanied by a pitcher of beer.Campbell produced a fake I.D.upon request.“I forgot it’s illegal for you to drink,” Rex admonished when the server had left.“Where on earth did you get that?”“I’m almost twenty-one.”“You just had your birthday!”“All college students drink.In the UK, you can consume alcohol in restaurants at sixteen.”“I’m well aware of that, but we happen to be in the States [ Pobierz całość w formacie 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