stared at Ashley, furious at both of them—especially Keith. This had obviously been arranged, even though she had told him in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want to talk to him until he was willing to do some explaining.
Ashley was her dive partner, but their group wasn’t far away. She could have turned and propelled herself right back to join them, and she was sorely tempted to do so. She didn’t understand what his appearance here—twenty feet down—meant. He could hardly do much explaining where they were.
He gave them the divers’ sign to rise, and Ashley nodded, then looked at Beth. Beth lifted her hands. Fine. They would rise.
They surfaced by a boat. Beth was startled to realize that it was Manny’s. He and Maria were both there, as if they were awaiting their arrival.
She lifted her mask, held on to the ladder and pulled off her fins.
Keith pulled himself out of the water easily, then reached down to help her and Ashley. Manny stood by, ready to assist, as well. “Welcome, gorgeous,” he said, with a smile. “Let me help you with your tank.”
“Wait…I need this tank to get back to the boat I’m supposed to be on,” she protested, staring at them all one by one, confused and angry. Her last reproving glance was for Ashley. How the hell had this happened?
“No, it’s all right. I’ll radio over that you and Ashley decided to come up here and visit with Maria,” Manny said. “Let me take that. We should go below.”
She stared at the sea around them. There were a number of boats around. Dive flags littered the area.
Hank’s boat was a good distance from them, no activity evident on board. Everyone must still be down at the wreck, she thought, and allowed Manny to help her with her tank.
“Come on down. I’ve got coffee and tea ready,” Maria said, offering them towels. “Not that it’s anything but a lovely day. Still, you’re wet, and the air-conditioning is on in the cabin.”
Beth followed the others down to the cabin. It was nice, not huge. Manny’s boat could sleep two. There was a head, a small galley and a dining/living area, with a table against the port side. Beth stared at Keith, damning both him and herself. She’d hated herself for wishing he would reappear at any moment.
Now that he had, she just wanted to run over to him. But she couldn’t let herself. She had to remind herself that the man had an agenda. An agenda that included disappearing whenever he needed to do so and it included spending all kinds of time with Amanda.
He stared back at her with no apology.
“Sit, please?” he said.
“I didn’t know the three of you were so well acquainted,” Beth said, speaking at last and looking from Manny to Maria and then to Keith once again.
“We’ve just recently become friends,” Keith said.
“Interesting,” she murmured.
“I didn’t tell Manny anything,” Keith said evenly. “He knew who I was.”
“Clue me in, why don’t you?” Beth said, her tone heated and her heart wondering if he’d reveal his secrets to her.
“I’m with a company called Rescue, and most of our contracts are military,” Keith explained. “No one was supposed to know who we were or what we were doing,” Keith explained.
“I see,” she said, looking around at the group. It amazed her that even Maria was in on it, while she had been in the dark.
“Beth, you must understand. I already knew who he was,” Manny explained.
“And Maria knew, too. But you couldn’t tell me,” Beth said icily.
“You didn’t want to call the police when you were accosted at both gun-and knifepoint. If you had, they might have caught Brad and Sandy,” Keith said. “There’s plenty of blame to go around here.”
Beth glared at him angrily. “Not fair. Amber’s life was threatened.” She stared at Ashley. “And excuse me, but how the hell did this all come about?” she asked, gesturing at the group and their surroundings.
Manny cleared his throat. “I arranged for all this to happen today. You needed to see Keith.”
She hoped she hadn’t given away the fact that she’d begun to feel desperate to see the man. It felt as if her cheeks were burning.
“Why?” she demanded.
She didn’t get the answer she had hoped for or expected.
“I need to be at your Summer Sizzler tomorrow night,” he told her.
She almost laughed aloud—at herself. She managed not to, and instead stared at Keith, shaking her head. “You’ve gotten into the club on your own several times. Membership doesn’t seem to mean a lot where you’re concerned. You’re best friends with Manny and Maria. And Amanda would be happy to invite you to the party. You sure as hell don’t need me to get in.”
“You need to tell her everything you’ve discovered,” Manny said.
“Sit down, Beth. Have some tea. Please,” Maria said. She flashed Beth an apologetic smile. “It’s partially my fault that you’re here.”
“Oh?”
“Please, sit, Beth. I’ll explain,” Keith said.
She sat. He sat opposite her.
His eyes were on her, dead steady. “Beth, Manny knows me the same way Jake and Ashley do, through a previous situation here in Miami-Dade, that’s all.”
“And I know about him because Manny told me when I went to him for help,” Maria explained.
“Wonderful,” Beth murmured, still lost. She looked at Keith. “So you were never on the island looking for the Monocos from the start?”
“No.”
She stared straight at him. “Then you were looking for the ship.”
“What ship?” Maria murmured.
“La Doña,” Beth said flatly, staring at Keith.
He stared back at her. She realized that no one had known what he was really doing—they had just known who he was. And he didn’t appreciate the fact that she had spoken.
“It doesn’t matter,” Beth said, offering Maria a quick glance, then turning back to Keith. “Go on.”
“The point is, I want to be at the Sizzler from the start. I need to watch. And I don’t want anyone to know I’m there. I want access to your office, and I want to get behind the scenes, so I can watch what’s going on. Matt and Lee will be there. We’ve all been invited already.”
“The Masons?” Beth asked.
He nodded. “Amanda called and invited us,” he told her.
She
