Baiting the Shark

When Theresa McCarrie, known to friends as Teri, was seven years old, her life's ambition was to become a superhero. A commendable ambition, true, but a bit impractical for mere mortals. Therefore, not surprisingly, by her mid-twenties, Teri had settled into a conventional, albeit tedious, job at a bank. She dutifully heads to work, day after day, until one cold February morning, when she realizes that, due to a severe case of mind-numbing boredom, she's miserable working at the bank. It is at this low point in her life that her childhood superhero slips unnoticed into her cubicle. Dressed in a white sweatshirt with pink piping, matching sweatpants, floral-print high-top sneakers and a blue cape, he convinces Teri that all she needs to pull herself out of her slump is a change of vocation. And the new career? Newspaper reporter. Teri immediately quits her bank job and looks for work in the exciting world of journalism, not an easy task considering she has neither a journalism degree nor any experience writing. But she perseveres and eventually finds herself at an interview for a position at a weekly newspaper, the Ravenwood Warbler. After surviving an interrogation by the intimidating editor of the Warbler, Matilda Barrington, Teri becomes an official guppy reporter. And, her first assignment? Covering the annual flower show at the new convention center. Sounds simple enough, so Teri heads off to interview Billy Wilson for her article, but what she doesn't count on is finding Billy, lying in a Japanese sand garden, dead. Before running for help, Teri's journalism instincts kick in and she snaps two photos of Billy's body. A moment later, her guppy-reporter instincts return, sending her off, screaming for help, and into the arms of Philip Reardon, a handsome landscaper and volunteer at the flower show. When she and Philip return to the sand garden, they find several people gathered around Billy — Dr. Edgar Thackery, a botany professor at the local college; his secretary, Lenore Holtsby; Billy's co-worker, Mike Davencote; and Teri's new boss, Matilda Barrington. When Lenore spots a ladder lying near Billy, it's assumed he fell while working on the overhead lighting, hitting his head and killing himself. A terrible accident. But after viewing her photos of the body, Teri is convinced that Billy's death wasn't an accident. She's sure he was murdered. And she's certain her photos are the key to solving the mystery, because, written in the sand, just above Billy's right shoulder, are the letters PR. Teri believes Billy wrote the letters as he lay dying and that they're the initials of his killer. Unfortunately, the only person she can think of with the initials PR is Philip Reardon. Her quest to determine Philip's guilt or innocence sends Teri down a road filled with twists and turns. She quickly finds herself sharing the road with her guppy-eating, ambitious co-worker, Arthur Gavon, whose first-hand knowledge of Billy's stories about pink diamonds smuggled from Australia might just be another piece of the puzzle. Her determination to prove Philip’s innocence and Arthur’s obsession to scoop the big story send Teri and Arthur to a Chesapeake Bay marina where she finally learns the truth behind Billy Wilson’s murder. But, as Teri sinks into the depths of the Chesapeake Bay, a bullet in her right shoulder, only one question remains. Will her very own superhero come to her rescue or will she take the truth to her grave?