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He winked and walked away. I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t. He took my breath away.
Damn. I liked the daredevil bartender. A lot.
I watched Jason as he made his way back to the bar and relieved Callie. He turned and looked at me, gave me his award-winning half smile, and I waved back. Then he was busy with serving others.
Reluctantly, I averted my attention to the crowd.
Jane and Amanda would tell me to get out on the dancefloor, talk, be social. Instead, I sat here sipping champagne and people-watching. I wasn’t sad and I didn’t feel left out. I hadn’t lied when I told Jason I didn’t like crowds. Ididlike observing.
Quickly, I realized not everyone was happyorsocial.
Anja and Nelson stood off to the side, aloof, her with wine, him with beer, not talking to anyoneortoeach other. That seemed odd, considering they had been joined at the hip (though not as close as the honeymooners) since we arrived. I recalled the comment about Anja’s mistake, and in light of reading Diana’s comments, I wondered whether she could have been blackmailing them even though she’d disappeared before they arrived. Someone like Nelson Stockton might make the gossip rags. Maybe Diana knew they were planning the trip.
David and Doug were sitting together at the edge of the luau with a large group of people, all drinking and laughing.
CeeCee and Trevor were sitting with the honeymooners, which I thought was an odd foursome. For the first time, the Kents didn’t have their hands all over each other.
I couldn’t see any security personnel, including Gino Garmon. Kalise moved fluidly from group to group, the perfect activities director, making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. Tristan assisted staff at the crowded pool bar. Servers moved with grace through the throngs of people who seemed to pay them no attention, grabbing flutes of champagne or food from their trays.
I didn’t see Amber or Parker. I hadn’t seen Amber since this afternoon when she walked off after her confrontation with Gino, and I hadn’t seen Parker since yesterday afternoon, before I went to the Sky Bar. But everyone else I’d met—and the many I hadn’t—were here.
I walked over to the buffet and helped myself to a little bite of everything, then headed in the direction of David and Doug. They were comfortable, and I wouldn’t have to talk—I could simply listen to the large group. Instead of cutting through the crowded dance floor, I walked around the perimeter of the party. I heard a familiar voice.
Sherry.
“I couldn’t get away today,” she was saying. I didn’t see her or who she was talking to. She paused for a few seconds, then said, “I hired you. You’ll do what I say.” She was on the phone with someone. I still couldn’t see her; she stood behind a vine-covered trellis. “Noon, tomorrow, same place.”
I kept walking before she saw me, and I missed the end of the conversation.
Her tone had been... well, cold. Cold and all business. I worried about Brie and her dad, because Sherry was up to something.
Or maybe the call was innocuous, like a vendor in her interior design business. Clearly, my imagination was in overdrive. Therewasa killer on the island, so I saw—and heard—malevolence in every conversation.
Didn’t mean Sherry was up to something.
Didn’t mean she wasn’t.
Chapter Fifteen
“I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth—then shut up.”
—Robert A. Heinlein,Stranger in a Strange Land
Before I left for the lagoon, I added Brie’s notes to my own, then emailed my assistant Braden and asked him to look at the companies and public financial statements for Trevor Lance and Parker Briggs. I did a quick search on both, but there was too much information to go through tonight. I bookmarked some of the articles to read later, including one about Trevor Lance’s divorce and remarriage. His ex-wife was older, attractive, classy. His new wife was beyond gorgeous and had a lucrative career as the face of a major cosmetic line. And yet he was here with another woman.
I did not understand men. Sometimes, I didn’t want to.
I was about to close down my laptop when I saw a message from my boss, so clicked on it. Reading the message wasn’t actuallyworking, I told myself. It was probably ahave funnote or a group message about a new law that would impact our industry.
Hello Mia,
I just received the mock-up of our new masthead. Ron and I also decided we needed to update our logo, andwhat better time than when we bring on a new partner? What do you think? We won’t approve it without your okay, of course.
I hope you’re having a lovely time at St. Claire. Gayle and I went two years ago for our thirtieth anniversary and it was perfect.
Stuart
Attached was a JPEG. It took a couple seconds to load, but then I saw the new branding for McMann & Cohn.