In the Dark (5 page)

Nothing, no sound at all. Had she been deceived? The sound might have come from elsewhere….

Or might not have come at all.

She almost let out a loud sigh of pure frustration, but swallowed it back, and slowly, silently, tiptoed from her bedroom.

Into the hall…through to the kitchen. From there she could see both the living room and the little Florida room and the glass doors that led out back. The curtain was partially open. Had she left it that way?

The noise had come from the roof. There was a fireplace in the living area of each of the cottages. Despite the fact that this was sunny Florida, in the winter, during the few days that dipped into the forties or even the thirties, a fire was incredibly nice. But the chimney was far too small for a man to slip through.

So she was safe. There was nothing.

She was letting the simple sounds of nature slip into her psyche and scare her because she was still so unnerved by the happenings of the day.

A coconut had probably fallen off a palm. Still, just to be sure…

She walked to the back, trying to stay behind the curtain, then peeked out the glass. She pulled the drape back just a little more….

And screamed.

E
veryone was gone, Laurie thought. First Alex and John, then David. There were people around, but the Tiki Hut seemed empty. The band had reverted to calypso, very pleasant but also, in her current state of mind, sleep inducing.

Alex was crazy. She’d been married to David Denham and divorced him.

Alex had never been to Date Tournament. Had she realized what was out there, she would undoubtedly still be married.

Maybe Alex thought that nights spent at a place like Date Tournament were simply not in her future. Then again, maybe she would never have such a night—because there was something about Alex that attracted men.

Laurie wished she had that innate…thing, whatever it was. Maybe it would come with age, but Alex was only
three years her senior. Well, maybe things weren’t as perfect as they seemed for Alex, either.

“You’re up late, aren’t you?”

She started. It was Hank Adamson. She hadn’t seen him before, but the Tiki Hut had been hopping, earlier, so he could have been lost in the crowd.

She saw Jay Galway on the other side of the bar, conversing with Seth Granger and a few of the other guests. He was staring at her—glaring, really—and giving her a big smile. Sign language, Jay Galway style. She was supposed to be as nice as possible, suck up big-time.

She gave an imperceptible nod to Jay and smiled as instructed at Hank. He slid out the chair opposite her and sat. “Okay if I join you and ask a few questions?”

“Sure.”

In his lanky way, he was actually very attractive, she realized.

He grinned. “You look so wary.”

“Do I? Well, we all know that the pen is very powerful.”

“Update to computer,” he said dryly.

“Okay, the written word—no matter how it’s written.”

“Honestly, you don’t have to be so cautious. I didn’t come to do a simple review. I’m going to do a whole piece on the place.”

“A good piece—or a bad piece?”

“Good, bad…truthful.”

“We’re a good place,” she said.

His grin deepened. “Actually, yes, Moon Bay does seem to follow through on every promise it makes. That’s what’s important. A little mom-and-pop estab
lishment can get a great write-up, as long as it delivers on what it offers.”

“Um, we’re not exactly mom-and-pop,” Laurie murmured.

“No, but so far, I’ve gotten a good bang for my buck, and that’s what matters.”

Laurie smiled. “That’s great. I love Moon Bay. It’s not just that I work here—I really love it. It’s a wonderful place for a vacation.”

“With the happiness and well-being of the guests foremost in everyone’s mind at all times?”

“Yes, of course…” Laurie murmured, looking down at her hands suddenly. Was that true? What if that hadn’t been a prank on the beach today? If Alex had been right, and a woman had been dead—and what if the killer had come back, aware that the body had washed up, and moved it?

“What is it?” She suddenly knew why Hank Adamson was considered so good. He asked casual questions; people gave casual answers. So casual you didn’t realize that your mind was wandering off and that you were about to betray your real thoughts.

“What is what?” she asked innocently.

“You were about to say something. Do you feel that maybe, just sometimes, management isn’t as concerned with safety as they should be? I’d never quote you by name.”

Laurie stared at him and smiled slowly. “Well…” She leaned on the table, edging closer to him.

He did the same, anxious to hear whatever dirt she had to dish.

She leaned back. “Sorry, I don’t have a bad thing to say about the place.”

Adamson sat back, as well, obviously disappointed. He shook his head. “If there was something going on…something big, do you think that the employees would get wind of it?”

“Like what? The president arriving, or something like that?”

“No…like Moon Bay being involved in…something.”

“Drugs? Here? Never,” she assured him.

“I wasn’t referring to drugs,” he assured her.

She laughed softly. “Illegal immigrants? Not with Jay around. He wouldn’t hire an illegal if his life depended on it.”

“Not illegals,” Hank said.

“Just what are you getting at?” she demanded.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was hoping you did.”

“That makes no sense. This is a resort, specially licensed for work with sea mammals. What could be going on?” Other than a body that appeared on the beach, then disappeared.

“Have you ever heard of a woman named Alicia Farr?” Adamson asked her.

“Sure. She’s almost like a young, female Jacques Cousteau.”

“Have you ever met her?”

“Nope. I think she’s friends, kind of, with Alex. She’s worked with David Denham. I’m pretty sure Jay Galway has worked with her, too.”

“She hasn’t been here, then, in the last couple of weeks?”

“Not unless she’s been hiding in the bushes.” Laurie was actually enjoying her conversation with him now. She’d had a few Tiki Hut specials, but she always
watched her drinking here. And she could stand up to a grilling by a man like Hank Adamson. “Is she supposed to be here?”

“There was a rumor she was going to be, but I guess it wasn’t true.”

“I guess not.”

“You’re sure she’s not here?” he persisted.

“There are private cottages here, twenty of them. Eight of them belong to the staff, and twelve are rented out. But this is an island. Room service is the only way to get food. There’s a little convenience shop in the lobby, a boutique…but, honestly, I think it would be pretty hard for someone to hide out in one of the cottages. Maid service is in and out, engineering…. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t here. We’re off the Middle Keys, and there are lots of secluded places on the other islands. Maybe she’s on one of them. I’m sorry to disappoint you—were you really trying to get a story on her?”

“I am doing an article on Moon Bay,” he told her. “You know how it is, though. Lots of times, reporters get wind of a bigger story while they’re in the middle of something more routine.”

“So if you’d run into Alicia Farr here, that would have been nice, right?”

“It would have been interesting,” he said. “You do know what she looks like, right? You’d know her if you saw her?”

“Sure. I’ve seen lots of articles on her. And I’ve seen her on television,” Laurie said with a shrug.

She yawned suddenly, and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry.” She was. He was appealing in his lanky way, but he wasn’t interested in her—only what she might know. And she had no intention of telling
him anything. She’d been ordered not to mention Alex’s certainty that she’d seen a corpse, and she wouldn’t.

She rose. “Please excuse me. Saturdays are very long here. People coming down from Dade County, locals who just like to come eat at the restaurant. The place is always busy.”

He had risen along with her. “Thanks,” he told her quietly.

“Sure. This place really is wonderful. I’m not lying, or just trying to keep my job by saying that. And Alex…well, there’s no one better.”

“So they say,” he murmured, then asked politely, “Can I walk you to your cottage?”

“I don’t rate a cottage—not yet,” she told him with a shrug. “I just take the trail back to the fork in the road and head for the staff quarters. I’ll be fine.” She grinned to take the sting out of her next words, moved a step closer to him, and whispered, “Feel free to go question another employee. You’ll find out every word I said was true.”

He had the grace to flush. She gave him a wave and made her way past two couples on the dance floor, both a little inebriated, but heck, they weren’t driving anywhere. If you were going to feel the influence of alcohol, this was the place to do it.

She could hear the band long after she had left the Tiki Hut behind. She started off thinking nothing of the night or the shadows, the trails were lit by torches—not like the ones at the Tiki Hut, which were real, but electrical torches made to give the grounds an island feel. Still…

Once the Tiki Hut was well behind her and the noise from it had dimmed, she thought the night seemed es
pecially dark. Strange, because her dad had shown her once before how the glow that radiated from Miami—sixty or seventy miles away, still extended this far when the sky was clear. But clouds were out tonight. It was storm season, of course. They’d had several nice days in the last week, though, she mused.

Nice days. A few with calm seas, a few others when the water was choppy. But then, the water didn’t have to be wild to carry something—like a corpse—to the shore.

She stopped dead suddenly and instinctively, some inner defense aware of a rustling noise. She felt the hair rising at her nape.

She spun around. Nothing. But the bushes seemed to be very, very dark.

She had a sudden, vivid and ridiculous image of a corpse stalking her along the trail….

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said aloud to herself.

But then…a rustling in the bushes…

She stared in the direction from which the noise had come, her heart racing a million miles an hour. Slowly, she made a circle where she stood, looking around.

The noise came again. She spun sharply, staring into the brush once again.

Then…a fat possum waddled out from the bushes and moved slowly across the path.

She let out her pent-up breath and giggled.

Then she turned, ready to set out along the path again. Instead she plowed into something dark and solid, and before her numbed mind could react, arms reached around her.

“Alex, for the love of God!”

David’s voice was muted by the glass, but his impa
tience was evident. She was so relieved to realize that he was the figure on the porch that she didn’t really think. She opened the sliding-glass doors, but she had to yell.

“You son of a bitch! What the hell are you doing out there? You nearly scared the life out of me.”

He pushed his way in. It was dark, only the lights in front of the house illuminating the area around them. She could see that he still looked like a million bucks, dressed in dark chinos, a red tailored shirt and a light jacket.

She rued the fact that she was wearing a tattered T-shirt with the words “Moon Bay” embroidered in powder blue against a deep aqua background. She was equally sorry that it was very short. Silly. Even if they hadn’t been married and she didn’t have every inch of his anatomy etched into her memory forever, they spent their lives in bathing suits. She wondered why the T-shirt made her feel so naked. And vulnerable.

He walked through the cottage, checking the front door, looking around. “Is there any other way in here?” he asked, turning around slowly and studying the living room.

“Abracadabra?” she suggested.

“Cute, Alex. Is there any other way in here?”

“Front door, back door, as you can see.”

He ignored her and headed for the small hallway that led to the bedrooms and bath.

“Hey!” she protested. She started to follow him, then paused, determined that the last place she wanted to be with him was a bedroom.

A moment later, he was back.

She frowned slightly, realizing he looked as if he had
been running his fingers through his hair. She turned on the kitchen lights and stared at him once again. He looked tense. He reminded her of a shark, giving the impression of deceptive ease, while eyeing his prey to strike.

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

“There was someone walking around your cottage, looking in the windows. I chased him around one side…and lost him,” he told her.

“If there’s anyone slinking around here,” she said softly, “it’s you.”

He threw up his hands. “Alex, I’m serious.”

“And I’m serious, too.”

“Get this straight—I’m concerned.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she said firmly, “David, get this straight. You don’t need to be concerned about me. I don’t care about a technicality. We’re not married anymore. I might not have been here alone.”

“Actually, knowing you, you do care about a technicality,” he informed her.

He was far too relaxed. “You followed me,” she accused him. “You followed me when I was with another man, who was more than capable of taking care of me if I’d been in any danger.”

“Alex, I don’t really know that guy, and neither do you, and most important,” he said very softly and seriously, “we are talking about a life-and-death situation.”

She suddenly saw the man she knew from television, interviews and even, once upon a time, her personal life. The ultimate professional. Reeking of authority and command. Absolute in his conviction.

And for some reason, she shivered.

The woman on the beach had been dead. No matter
what anyone tried to tell her. There had, beyond a doubt, been a corpse.

And it had disappeared.

“Maybe you’d like to explain it to me,” she said.

He stared at her for a long moment. “I keep thinking you’re better off, the less you know,” he said quietly.

“Why? You already think I’m in some kind of danger.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

“You found a body on the beach. A body that disappeared.”

She shook her head, watching him warily. “We’ve been through this. Jay and the sheriff were both certain I was duped.”

“But you know it was real.”

She wished so badly that she didn’t feel such a desperate desire to keep her distance from him at all costs. Because she did know him. And she knew that he believed her. It wasn’t necessary for him to have been there—he believed her.

“If you’re so convinced, there must be a reason,” she said flatly.

“Want to put some coffee on?” he suggested.

“No.”

“Mind if I do?”

“Yes.” Even as she spoke, she knew he would ignore her. He gave her a glance as if she was behaving like a spoiled child and moved into the kitchen. His arm brushed hers as he strode past her, and she felt as if she’d been burned.

Apparently he hadn’t even noticed. He was heading for the cupboard above the coffeepot.

“Would you stop making yourself at home here, please?” she said, walking past him and shoving him out of the way. “I’ll make coffee. You talk.”