Ring of Lies (39 page)

‘
No
.
Hair and eye
colo
u
r
are easy to change
. C
olo
u
r
ed contacts, a cheap bottle of hair dye, or inexpensive wig and she could transform her appearance in minutes.
But height and build
,
that’s a different matter
.
Whoever this is, she either had major plastic surgery or came straight out of the box looking like Grace.
’

‘
I
’ve got Mancuso checking the flight manifests.
If Lattide was travelling with a companion, we’ll know soon enough.
Anything
else, or can I call it a night?
’

‘
This place is too big for me to cover alone
.
I need some
back up
.
Whoever you send will have to camp on the beach, so you’ll need to speak to the parks
department
,
there are strict no
-
camping rules on the island
.
A
ny chance
you
could persuade
the coastguard to patrol the area
behind the house
?
I don’t want someone sneaking ashore
in the
dark
.
’

‘
Anderson and Kennedy
will be with you by morning
.
Can you handle things until then?
’

‘
Yeah, I’ll manage.
’

‘
Okay, Jack.
I’ll
get
the sheriff to do a drive-by now and again.
As soon as anything breaks I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, be safe.
’

Mike broke the connection
.
Other than himself
,
Jack, and now this
Jacobs
character, only
Zachary Parous and Cody, the banker
,
knew Grace was going to Gasparilla Island.
Either one of them could be responsible
.
Or neither.

He sighed.
Jack West was one of
hi
s best agents.
Occasionally headstrong, his impetuosity had got him into a few scrapes, and he had more than a few enemies within the upper echelons of the Bureau
. H
is instincts and invest
igative skills were excellent
, b
ut Mike had a feeling that there was more to Jack’s relationship with Grace than he was letting on.
He just hoped it wasn’t
affect
ing his judgement.

Jack knocked at the
office
marked ‘Seaplane Charters’ expecting it to be
staffed
by Pete
Jacobs
.
Instead
,
a
plump
woman barely five feet
tall
opened the door
.
Her dark brown skin and chocolate
colo
u
r
ed eyes were framed by a mass of
jet-black
curly hair.
She
looked up at Jack.

‘
Won’t you come in?
I don’t normally lock the door, but
I was i
n the back office making coffee.
’

‘
That’s okay.
Is Pete around, we’d like to talk t
o him, if he can spare the time?
’

‘
He’s
down
at
the
marina
refuelling the plane ready to
fly
a group of Canadian tourists
over the island
later this afternoon
.
If
you take a seat
,
Mr
.
—
’

‘
West.
Jack West, and this is
Grace
Lattide.
’

‘
I’m
Mercedes
, although folks usually call me
Mercy
.
I run the office; take bookings, keep the
accounts
, that sort of thing.
So you want to book a
special charter?
’

‘
Yeah, that’s right,
’
Jack lied.
‘
I promised Grace a trip down to the
K
eys.
’

‘
That’s nice
.
It’s lovely
down there
at this time of year
.
’

‘
You worked here long, Mercy
?
’

‘
Pete
hired me a couple of weeks ago after his last assistant left.
I guess
island life
wasn’t her thing.
That sounds like the plane now.
If you’ll wait here, I’ll go and see if
he
’s available
.
’

While they waited for
Jacobs
, Grace strolled around the
room.
It was small, barely sixteen feet square, three chairs stood against
one wall. A
series of
aerial photographs
hung on the walls
.
One in particular caught her attention.

‘
Isn’t that Sand Dollars?
’
she said, and tapped the frame.

Jack scrutinized the foot square photograph.
‘
Could be.
I wonder when it was taken.
’

‘
I took that
eight months ago when the previous owner decided to sell
,
’
Jacobs
said
, as he entered
.
He wiped his hand on an oily rag
and crossed the room to stand next to Grace.
‘
Photography is a hobby of mine.
When I’m not flying charters, I work for the island’s realty companies
.
I gave your husband a
copy a couple of months back.
’

‘
That was kind of you.
’

‘
No bother at all.
Come through to my office.
’

Grace and Jack followed
Jacobs
down a narrow corridor to an even small
er
room at the
rear
of the building.
A huge plate glass window looked out across the
bayou
to
ward
Charlotte Harbor.

‘
Take a seat.
Can I get you some coffee?
’
Jacobs
asked.

Grace shook her head.
‘
No
t
for me, thank you.
’

‘
I’ll pass, too,
’
Jack said.
‘
Yesterday, you
mention
ed
that
you flew
Mr
.
Lattide down to the Keys on a regular
basis
.
’

‘
That’s right.
’

‘
W
as there anything different about the
last
trip
?
’

Jacobs
shifted
in his chair
.
‘
What
’s
this
all about?
’

Grace chose her words carefully.
‘
I was
at
home when my husband died
.
I’m just trying to get a clearer picture of
his
movements during the days preceding his death.
’

‘
I’m sorry.
I don’t like giving o
ut information about my clients
.
’