some of them around here. My own Sheba is just a rustic old girl, but I catch all the fish I want.” He grinned nearly a toothless grin. “Sell ’em to old Nick up there.”
“Good for you. Nick likes to make sure his fish is fresh. Would you like to try the catch of the day, Keith?” she suggested.
“Sometime. I’ve eaten,” Keith said.
“Oh, yes. I did see you digging right into that buffet.”
“I know.”
“Well, excuse me, then,” Beth said, her voice tightening. “You gentlemen go on and enjoy your conversation. Have a nice day.”
With that she turned around and walked away. She was suddenly so angry—with him and herself—that she completely forgot Ashley. She walked straight to her car, got in and drove away.
KEITH WATCHED BETH LEAVE, frowning. No matter how cool her tone, how casual her words, she was angry, and he knew it.
And he was sorry.
Glancing at the tables, he saw Ashley watching as her friend left.
Then he saw that the couple who had been sitting near the wall of the restaurant in the shade had risen, as well.
They, too, were headed for the parking lot.
He frowned. He’d never seen them before. The guy was bald; the woman had really long dark hair.
He’d never seen them before, he thought again. They were just out for brunch. They’d eaten, and now they were leaving. Odd. He still felt there was something familiar about the pair.
Disturbed, he hesitated. Lee was going to wonder what the hell was going on, but that was just the way it was going to have to be.
Keith headed for the parking lot himself. BETH DIDN’T KNOW EXACTLY where she was going as she drove out of the lot. Perhaps it was simple habit, but in a few minutes she was heading toward the club.
Once she was there, she wondered what she was doing, but since she’d already waved to the guard and parked in her space, she went in. She regretted the fact that she’d walked out on Ashley. What she’d done was incredibly rude, but then again, Ashley wasn’t being honest with her, and she knew it. Ashley knew Keith Henson. Or knew about him. Knew something she wasn’t telling.
She was about to go straight up to her office, when she heard her name called. Manny.
“Hey, gorgeous. You’re not working today, are you?”
“I’m…just working on the Summer Sizzler,” she told him. “Commodore Berry wants it to be so good, so…”
“You’ve eaten?” he asked her.
“I’m not particularly hungry.”
Manny frowned, studying her a little intently. “You look upset.”
“No…a few things rushing around in my mind, that’s all.”
“You should get out on the water,” he suggested.
She laughed. “Being out on the water doesn’t solve everything,” she told him.
He shrugged. “Out on my boat, the world is a better place. I can smoke my cigars and sip my brandy…watch the sea and sky roll by. What’s better? Lots of space. It puts everything into perspective!”
“I’m sure.”
“You come out with me sometime,” he told her gravely. “I promise, you’ll feel much better.”
“Okay,” she told him. “It’s a date. But I work all week, remember.”
“Start work early, then leave early. We’ll cast off around four, four-thirty.”
“All right,” she said.
“Sometime soon.”
“Sure, soon.” She smiled, gave him a wave and started up to her office.
As she climbed the stairs, she wondered again what the hell she was doing there. But she had arrived, and if nothing else, her office was a nice haven.
She had left it locked for the weekend. She dug in her purse for the keys, opened the door, walked in and tossed her handbag on a chair.
She closed the door thoughtfully as she reached for the light switch, then turned toward her desk.
Then she saw it.
Her heart seemed to stop in her chest.
Dead center on her desk.
A skull.
12
THE GUARD AT THE LITTLE outpost had seen Keith before. He tried a quick wave, but the fellow frowned and stopped him.
“Yes?”
“Hey,” Keith said, offering an engaging smile. “You saw me this morning, remember?”
“Yes?” The man didn’t smile. He waited.
“I’m a guest of the Masons.”
“Your name?”
“Keith Henson.”
“I’ll have to call the Masons,” the guard told him.
It wasn’t as if the man were big and brawny, or as if he had a gun, Keith thought. If he had really needed to get through, he would have just gunned the engine.
But he wanted to keep his presence here on the level.
“Go ahead. Amanda is still here, isn’t she?” he asked pleasantly.
The man stared at him again, then relented. “Yes, Miss Mason is still here. Go on.”
Apparently Amanda had invited men to the club before. He must have fit the profile of her previous guests.
He wasn’t sure that pleased him.
Didn’t matter. He parked his car and hurried toward the front entrance. He hadn’t been able to move quickly enough to see what car the couple from Nick’s had taken from the lot, nor had he managed to follow Beth and discover if the couple had been following her, as well. He wasn’t even sure she was here.
As he walked in, he was startled when she came running down the stairs and directly into him.
“You!” she said, backing away as if he had suddenly become poison. He was startled. She wasn’t staring at him with the simmering anger she had afforded him just a little while ago. She was staring at him as if he were some kind of heinous beast.
“What?” he demanded sharply.
“Henry!”
