or something. Look, they took him up to Miami-Dade. One of the best guys they’ve got there is working on him, all right? They deal in fact, not supposition.”
“Yeah. Well, there’s one dead man for certain, and I know for a fact that Alicia is dead and rotting. And fact. She didn’t just drown or have a boating accident. Not unless she lived long enough to cast her feet in cement and throw herself in the water.”
“All right, David, I swear, the minute I’ve got an all clear on the weather, I’ll be out there myself with the boys from the Coast Guard, hauling her up. All right?”
“I don’t know if that will be soon enough,” David muttered.
“For what?”
“She was murdered—there’s a murderer loose. On Moon Bay. Can’t you do something? I need to get back there fast.”
“What do you want me to do, plow down the cars?”
“Put your siren on.”
“This isn’t an emergency.”
“Maybe it is.”
Nigel sighed, turned on his siren and steered his patrol car onto the shoulder of the road. “If I get a flat, you’re fixing it.”
David shook his head, offering him a half smile. “If you get a flat, I’m going to hitch a ride in the first Jeep I see.”
Still on edge, Alex and Gil returned to the resort area just as the ferry was about to leave with the last of the guests and personnel. Dismayed, Alex ran to the dock, looking for Laurie.
“Alex, you’re coming?” Jeb called to her from the crowded deck.
“No, but I need to see Laurie,” she called from the dock.
“She’s inside somewhere,” he said. “I’ll find her.”
Gil had run up behind her. “Damn, I hope someone got my stuff.” He turned to her. “You sure you want to stay? The dolphins will be just fine. Think about it, alone in that little place with Jay, Len and a handful of others? C’mon! Just hop on board the ferry. We’ll have fun in Miami.”
“No, no, I can’t leave,” she told him.
“It’s going to be like a paid vacation.”
Jeb came back to the rail. “Hey, Gil, I got your wallet and an overnight bag for you.”
“Great.”
“Where’s Laurie?” Alex asked.
“She said she was coming,” Jeb said.
Alex watched nervously as the ferry’s ties were loosed and she prepared to depart. She scanned the vessel for Laurie. Gil barely made it to the gangplank. An impatient seaman yelled at him, “I called an aboard five minutes ago!”
“Sorry,” Gil said.
The plank was up. Alex stared at the ferry in disbelief, ready to throttle Laurie herself. How could she say what she had—then disappear without a word?
Then, just as the ferry moved away from dock, Laurie appeared at last. She looked distressed. “Alex, stick with Jay, all right? Stick with Jay and Len and…whoever else.”
Alex stared back at Laurie, then whipped out her cell phone, holding it up so that Laurie would see her intention.
Laurie gave her a smile, digging in her bag for her own phone.
Then she frowned and put her thumb down. “No battery!” she shouted.
“Jeb, give her a phone!” Alex shouted.
Jeb did, and a minute later Alex’s phone rang. She answered it. “Laurie, what the hell’s going on?”
“Alex, don’t hang around David, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because something is going on. Something that has to do with salvage. Listen, you should be all right. Hank Adamson is staying on—he wants to write a story about battening down for a storm, and John will be there, too.”
“John Seymore? Why?”
“I told you about him.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“He’s the agent I told you about. He’s FBI. Well, I assume he’s FBI. Or working with them or something.”
“Laurie, how do you know this? Please, explain before the weather comes in and the phones go completely.”
“All right, I’m trying. I ran into him, so we went to his cottage and talked. Just talked. That was it. I swear.”
“I believe you,” Alex said. “Please, get to the point.”
“John said he liked you a lot, but he wasn’t stepping in when there was obviously something still going on between you and David. He was concerned, though, and wished you weren’t still emotionally involved with David. John’s afraid that Alicia Farr has disappeared. And that she’s met with foul play. He was worried about me, and he’s very worried about you, because apparently there’s a nurse in Miami who heard Daniel Fuller talking about you, a treasure and the dolphins. Honestly, Alex, I can see why you had such a crush on John—before David showed up again. John is wonderful. I stayed at his place—just in case anyone knew I’d seen the body you discovered and thought that I might know who it was or talk. That’s why you couldn’t get hold of me. I stayed there even when he was out on David’s boat. And last night…he told me about Seth Granger, and that he didn’t think Granger died by accident. So…he knows I was going to talk to you. Alex…Alex…are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here. Why does he suspect David?”
“Who else was close to Alicia Farr? Who else is famous for his treasure hunting expeditions? Really, you should have gotten off the island. Maybe you still can. Oh, and, Alex…”
Her voice faded, and there was a great deal of static on the line.
“Alex, did you hear me? Watch…” Static. “I know because…” Static.
Then the line went dead completely.
An arm slipped around her shoulders, and she nearly jumped a mile.
“Hey!” It was Jay. He’d actually doffed his suit and was in simple jeans and a red polo shirt so he could help batten things down. “You all right?”
“Yes, of course.” She wasn’t all right at all, but she sure intended to fake it. “Jay, who is still on Moon Bay?”
“There’s Len and me, you, the reporter—Hank Adamson. He’s been incredibly helpful, and he wants to write about the storm. It’s not going to be that big a hurricane, at least.”
“Right. Hopefully, she’ll stay small. But who else is here, Jay? Anyone?”
