скачать книгу бесплатно
9
BETH WAS GLAD SHE HAD KEPT her mouth shut about the girls messing with her computer. When she joined her brother and niece out at the pool, she found a number of families engaged in a game of chicken.
Ben, with Amber on his shoulders, was trouncing the opposition. There was a lot of laughter and camaraderie going on. Nice.
She sat on the sidelines, watching, until Amber saw her and waved, then tapped her dad on the top of the head and alerted Ben to her presence, as well.
The competition tried to take advantage of Ben’s distracted state, but Amber turned back, ready to take on the world. Her opponent went down, and Amber laughed delightedly.
Like a child.
Then the two of them, after high-fiving each other in victory, laughed and left the pool, joining Beth on the sidelines.
“Congratulations,” Beth said.
“Thanks,” Amber said. “You’re cool with this, right? Hamburgers okay with you? I’ll go put our orders in. Would you rather have fish, Aunt Beth, or the salad bar?”
Beth shaded her eyes to stare at her niece. “Are you suggesting I should choose the salad bar?”
“No!”
“I’m going to have a hamburger and fries and iced tea,” she told Amber. “Ben?”
“The same.”
Amber nodded, grinned and went off to the counter to order.
Ben stared at his sister. “Dancing?”
“You could learn to dance,” she said defensively. “Salsa, I’ve decided. For a party—‘Summer Sizzler.’”
“I think it’s great,” he assured her. “Summer Sizzler—salsa. What’s not to like?”
“Good.”
“But are you sure that’s all you have in mind?” He leaned closer. “Tell me you’re not still trying to find out more about the Monocos.”
“I happened to see Maria Lopez at lunch. She’s a salsa queen. I spoke with her. It will be fun, good exercise, and Eduardo Shea gave me a great deal, because he thinks some of the members will sign up for dance lessons.”
Ben let out a sigh, shook his head and leaned back in his chair again.
To Beth’s dismay, one of the members, a woman named Tania Whirlque, came over and immediately brought up the same subject.
“Hey, Beth, I hear we’re having a dance workshop at the Sizzler.”
She hadn’t even put the flyers out yet.
“Do you like the idea, Tania?”
“Love it, especially if they’re going to arrange for a few teachers. I’m not so sure I’ll get my husband out on the floor, though.”
“We’ll have to work on the guys,” Beth said.
“You know, when I heard Eduardo Shea’s name, I got thinking about the Monocos,” Tania said. She took a seat next to Beth.
Beth couldn’t keep from casting a slightly guilty glance at Ben. “It seems that no one has heard from them.”
“Quite frankly, I fear the worst.” Tania hesitated. “We have friends from Virginia who lost a boat to pirates.”
“Really? What happened?” Beth asked, all her suspicions on the alert again.
“They were off Chesapeake Bay, in a forty-five-footer by themselves. They were anchored, sunning…I think Betty was cooking dinner. They were attacked by thieves who climbed aboard in dive gear. They thought the divers were in trouble at first, lost…whatever. Anyway, turned out they were armed. While Betty and Sal were being welcoming, the divers pulled knives, forced them overboard and stole the boat.”
“How horrible! But they survived?” Beth said.
“They’re both strong swimmers, and they were able to reach another boat in the area. They called in the Coast Guard, but the thieves got away.”
“When did it happen?” Beth asked.
“About a year ago now. The boat has never been found. But then, you can disguise a boat just like you can disguise a car.”
A year ago. Before the Monocos disappeared.
“Could they describe the…pirates?” Beth asked, finding she still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around such a crazy concept.
“One was male, one was female,” Tania said. “And that’s about it. They both had on wet suits and head covers. I talked to Betty about it. She says when she looks back now, it all happened so fast that she can’t really remember much about the incident. Frankly, she’s just glad to be alive. Where they were…well, even though they’re strong swimmers, they could easily have drowned.”
“The thieves probably meant for them to drown,” Beth murmured.
Ben moved uncomfortably, obviously disturbed. She wondered if it was because of the story Tania had told or because he thought it would fuel her desire to find out the truth about the Monocos.
“Ben is always armed,” Beth said.
“Ben has good reason to be armed—he put away a few unsavory characters when he was with the D.A.,” Tania reminded them. “You’re a crack shot, right?” she asked him.
He nodded grimly. Then he said, “Let’s drop this, please? Amber is coming back with our burgers. I don’t want to scare her.”
Despite the fact that he laughed and teased his daughter as the evening wore on, Beth could see that he remained uneasy.
Finally she realized it was getting late. “I’ve got to go back to my office before I go home. I left my stuff up there. See you tomorrow sometime?”
“Probably. Are you working?”
“For a bit. I usually come in just to see how things are going on the weekends. You know that.”
“Want me to walk you out to the parking lot?”
“You guys have to change, and I’m tired. I just want to go home, and we have a security guard in the parking lot, remember? But thanks. And, Ben, I’m okay—I haven’t gone off the deep end.”
Beth said good-night to Amber, then left, hurried up to her office for her handbag and jacket. After scooping up her things, she turned out the light, and headed downstairs and out the front door.
The club hadn’t completely shut down for the night. The dining room would still be serving until around ten or ten-thirty, and then it would take another hour to an hour and a half to close down completely. And that night, out by the pool, the snack bar was serving late, as well.
There were still plenty of people around, talking and laughing. Even so, Beth heard her heels click on the concrete.
As she walked, she could hear the breeze as it rustled through the trees and bushes that grew around the borders of the club and the reflecting pool by the front steps.
Suddenly she thought she heard footsteps coming up behind her.
She told herself there was no reason for the sound of footsteps to frighten her. The club was still full of people, one of whom might have chosen to leave at the same time.
Was it in her own mind though, or were these footsteps echoing her own almost perfectly?
She paused, turning back.
The breeze lifted her hair and felt cool against her neck.
No, it felt chilling.
“Hello?” she called. “Anyone there?”
There was no reply.
The bushes, which seemed so benign by day, suddenly seemed thick and dark, able to hide a million dangers.
She straightened her shoulders and gave herself a mental shake. “Hello?” she called again. Once more there was no reply.
She started walking again, looking toward the front of the lot, where the security guard should have been in his little glass-windowed booth.
She couldn’t see him. He might have been sitting, with his head in a book, perhaps.
Or someone might have taken him out.
“Oh, right,” she murmured aloud, disgusted that she was letting her mind go off in such a paranoid direction. He was there somewhere. Or maybe he had gone off to help someone who was having car trouble.
Her car was only another fifty feet or so away.
She stared at it, hugging her purse against her side, reaching inside until she found the comforting shape of the pepper-spray canister.
The parking lot was well lit, but bright lights always allowed for shadows.
And those bushes, so big and lush, admired by everyone who came.
She didn’t like them anymore. Not one bit.
Aim for the car, she told herself. She had to get over this feeling.
The sounds from the club had faded completely. Click, click. She could hear her heels against the asphalt again, and then…
Footsteps, following.
She turned back once more.
This time she was almost certain she saw a shadow go flying behind a tree.
“Hello?” she called.
No one answered.
The car was nearly in front of her, and she made a hasty decision.
Screw rationality.
Run.
She did, and she was ready, keys in her hand, to click open the lock and jerk open the door as she reached the car.
Quickly she slid into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. She started to exhale, then remembered to hit the automatic lock.
She let out a sigh and leaned back, allowing herself to feel a little ridiculous. When she looked to the side, she could see the guard in his little booth.
She closed her eyes again, took a deep breath and opened them. She frowned. The guard was gone again. She leaned to look out the passenger window to see where he had gone.
That was when someone loomed up in the driver’s window.
BEN KNEW THEY SHOULD LEAVE, but he was really enjoying the evening. Amber was smiling and playful, almost like she had been when she was younger.
She was a good kid, he reminded himself. Talented, driven. He was lucky.
“Did you notice that yacht anchored on the other side of the Sea Witch?” Mark asked Ben.
“Huh? Sorry…I was drifting, I guess,” Ben apologized.
“It’s a night for that, isn’t it?” Mark said.
“I don’t think I’ve noticed any new boats around,” Ben said.
“She’s a real beauty. I’d love an invitation on to her!”
“What is she?”
“Motor yacht. Looks like she’s fitted for anything in the world you could think of doing out on the water,” Mark said.
“Oh, yeah? Some guys out on Calliope over the weekend had a boat like that,” Ben said.
“Were you on it?”
“You bet. It really was fitted out for anything in the world.”
