Page 138 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

We helped ourselves to food and sat down at one of the few vacant tables. I looked for Amber or Parker. Amber wasn’t there, but Parker was sitting at the bar, shoulders slumped, back to the room. Charlie, not Jason, was working the bar.

Brie was watching her dad and Sherry talking to Tristan. “Probably planning the wedding,” she muttered.

“Amber’s not here,” I said.

Brie stuffed a shrimp in her mouth and said, “I’ll find her.”

She got up before I could warn her to be careful.

Jason walked in through the lobby. He was wet and looked beat. I jumped up and went over to him. “Hey.”

“Hi,” he said. “It’s miserable out there.”

I looked him over. “I can see.”

“But the resort is secure. Employees who were off-duty went back to their apartments, and those who are working will crash in the library upstairs because the lodge is booked. No one should be out on the beach tonight.” He touched my damp hair. “You went out?”

“Only from my room to here.”

“Still up for having me come by later?”

“I’m counting on it,” I said.

“Good.” He seemed preoccupied.

“What’s wrong?”

He looked around, then took my arm and escorted me into the bar. He bumped fists with Charlie, then took me into the stock room and closed the door.

“Georgie didn’t kill Diana,” he said. “He reached out to me. He’s terrified. He told me he stole a page from your book because Gino asked him to.”

“Where is it?” I asked.

“He gave it to Gino. Gino burned it right in front of him.”

“But Gino’s dead.”

“They’re saying it’s an accident,” Jason said. “But they had to remove the body because of the storm, so if there was any evidence on the rocks, it’s gone now.”

“Do you believe that? That it was an accident?”

“I don’t know. But if it’s not, the police are going to look at Georgie, because Gino already called in an APB on him. He’s twenty years old, Mia. His whole life is turned upside down. And I don’t know how to prove he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“One of the nice things about the American legal system is that you’re innocent until proven guilty, right? The police have to prove he killed Diana.”

“Gino found her phone in his apartment, turned it over to Tristan.”

“Ginosaidthat’s where he found it,” I told him. “What if—what if Gino was framing him? And Gino’s death really was an accident? If Georgie comes clean and explains everything, that might clear him.”

“He’s scared and hiding.”

“He called you, right?”

“Yeah,” Jason conceded. “But that doesn’t mean he’ll reach out again. I tried calling Georgie after I heard about Gino, and he didn’t answer.”

I reached out and touched him. “I’m sorry.”

“I feel helpless.” He started rubbing my arm, as if to bothseek and give comfort. It endeared him to me in a way I couldn’t explain, even to myself. “He just started here this season, but he’s a hard worker. Born in Miami and saving money to go to college.”