Page 36 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

“If there’s a justification for my actions right now, it’s this: I have gone completely mad.”

—Veronica Mars

Brie was sitting on a recliner on the edge of the patio, drinking something pink. I sat on the chair next to her. “I’m sorry.

I was talking to my office, and time got away from me.” I looked at my watch. “Okay, I have twenty minutes before the shuttle

leaves for the ferry.”

“You’re going on the cruise?”

“Yeah. Jason’s working, and it’s my birthday so...”

“Oh, happy birthday.”

“Thanks. Thirty. I don’t feel different.” I think I’d felt—and acted—thirty from the minute I took my position at McMann &

Cohn five years ago. I’d skipped over my fun twenties. The thought depressed me.

Brie stared at the water and drank her daiquiri.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I think my dad is going to propose to Sherry tonight. I’m just—well, it’s fucked. Fuckity fuck fuck.”

“Do you know much about her? Her background?” My mind raced. Sherry wasn’t who she seemed. Her attitude with me, her sneaking

around the island, paying a creepy guy cash for who knew what.

Brie shrugged. “Enough to know that she’s awful. I don’t want my dad to marry her. I know she’s after his money. Okay, I don’t know , but I think she is, and her last husband is dead, and I don’t want my dad to... to...”

Her voice caught, and I said, “Have you told him how you feel?”

“Yes! No. Sort of. I mean, Sherry is the first woman he’s ever brought here . I just think she’s two-faced. She’s fun and nice and all casual when she’s with my dad, but when he’s not around? She’s

conniving. Snotty. She criticized the housekeeping staff for being mediocre, that we didn’t pay a thousand dollars a day to

live in filth. My dad pays a thousand dollars a day. Not her. I don’t think she has any money other than what she got from her husbands.”

“Two-faced,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“Diana wrote in the book that she was meeting ‘two-face’ at eight on Sunday. Maybe you’re not the only person who thinks that

Sherry is two-faced.”

“You could be right. But we can’t prove it.” Brie was right, but I didn’t discount the idea. She said, “You know, it’s just

been dad and me for years, and I don’t want him to be alone.”

“Give him more credit,” I said. I hesitated, then told her what Sherry said to me in the spa. “She thought I was flirting

with your dad, and that I had befriended you in order to get close to him.”

“What?”

“Then I saw her today in St. John, and she was acting... well, suspicious.” I didn’t tell her what Sherry said on the ferry,

or how she intentionally scared me. I still wasn’t certain I hadn’t turned a light warning into a serious threat. “I followed

her.”

“You followed her where?”

“I saw her in a taxi. She met up with a suspicious guy in the middle of nowhere and gave him an envelope of cash.”

“I knew she was up to something! And?”

“I don’t know. I wish I did.”

“Mia,” Brie said, and bit her lip. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

“You took Diana’s book from my room.” Instantly I was relieved. That meant it wasn’t gone.

Brie frowned. “No! Why would I? Is it missing?”

“Someone broke into my room. They made a mess and took the book, which I’d taped behind the dresser, just as you suggested. Just tell me the truth. Do you have it?”

“No,” she said. Then she glanced away. “Well, shit.”

My heart fell. “I really hoped it was you. I would have been mad, but also happy that it wasn’t gone.”

“I didn’t take it,” she insisted. “But—I did go into your room last night. The patio door was unlocked. I shouldn’t have, I know! But

I wanted to see what you didn’t want me to see.”

I was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Yesterday, you totally didn’t want me to go through the book, and I thought there might have been something written in there

about my dad that you didn’t want me to know. The door was unlocked . And I didn’t touch anything else. I looked behind the dresser. It was there. I read it, put it back exactly where I found

it.”

That had a ring of truth.

“How long were you there?”

“Ten minutes, twelve tops. I watched you leave, waited a couple minutes, then went in, figuring you’d be gone at least an

hour.”

I didn’t like that Brie had violated my space or my trust, but I believed her.

“Okay,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “Did somebody really take it?”

“Yes.” That put me back to thinking Amber, Sherry, or Gino. Gino had seen me with the book on the beach. Maybe because Amber

had been asking about it, Gino had taken it upon himself to look for it.

My headache grew, and I rubbed my temples. It could be someone I hadn’t thought of yet, someone else she had been blackmailing.

“Maybe you won’t be as mad at me when you find out we didn’t lose everything.” She pulled out her phone. She scrolled through

her images, then handed me the phone. “I took pictures of all the pages Diana wrote on.”

My heart swelled, and I couldn’t help but smile. “All is forgiven if you send those to me.”

She immediately did, then pulled up one of the pages. “This is about my dad,” she said, pointing to one of the first notes

in the book listing values of property and net worth.

“I think so,” I said. “The number 112? I figured out her code—at least some of it. 112—Andrew Locke. 2012—Trevor Lance. 77—Gino

Garmon. 1419—Nelson Stockton. There’s more. Some I can’t figure out without a list of guests and staff.”

“You think she was blackmailing all these people?” Brie asked.

I nodded. “Or planned to.”

“And she’s dead.” Brie leaned back, finished her daiquiri. “I read what she wrote about my dad and Sherry. Diana thought Sherry’s

involved with my dad for his money. I have always thought she was a gold digger. Maybe she’s running out of money. Maybe she’s about to lose her house. That won’t matter if

she marries dad and gets half of everything that’s his. She’ll use him. My dad—he’s an absolute great guy, totally generous

and the best person I know. But he’s way too trusting. He’s like head over heels for her. He’s going to propose. And I don’t

know what to do about it. I would die if anything happened to him.”

Brie was on the verge of tears. My heart went out to her, and I understood why she went into my room to look at the book.

If my dad were still alive, I would want to make sure anyone in his life loved him for him.

“We’ll think on it,” I said.

“You’d help me? Even after I betrayed your trust?”

I didn’t like Sherry, and I really liked Brie. “Of course I’ll help.” I looked at my watch. “The shuttle leaves in two minutes.

Can you walk with me? I want to show you something.”

We walked toward the roundabout outside the lobby. I showed her the photo I took of CeeCee and the woman at lunch. “I think I know this woman. I’ve seen her, but I don’t know who she is.”

I handed Brie my phone.

“Oh. Yeah. I think... yep. That’s Trevor Lance’s first wife. Remember? I showed you that article about his new wife, the

model who’s in Europe right now, and it had a picture of his first wife, but she was much younger then.”

I remembered now. I squinted at the picture. “You think?”

“Ninety-nine percent positive.” She handed me back my phone.

I think she was right. I’d also glimpsed a photo of the ex in one of the articles about Trevor I’d read the night before.

“Why would his mistress meet with his ex-wife?” I wondered out loud.

“I don’t get any of them. They’re all dickheads.”

I couldn’t disagree with her.

The last person was getting on the shuttle. Henry waved at me, and I put up my finger to hold him.

“Tomorrow morning, let’s go through these pages and my notes. Maybe between the two of us, we’ll figure out exactly who else

Diana blackmailed and what she had on Sherry, okay?”

“If you push her overboard, I wouldn’t be upset.”

I laughed, though I shouldn’t have.

“Hey, look,” Brie said, and pointed to the base of a trail marked St. Claire Peak .

Amber Jones—in chinos, a T-shirt, and sneakers—stood tapping her foot, her mouth in a thin line. I couldn’t see her eyes shaded

behind dark glasses, but she was clearly waiting for someone. As we watched, Parker Briggs strode up to her. He took her arm,

and she hit his hand. He, too, was dressed in walking shoes and casual clothes. They didn’t look like they were going on a

romantic excursion.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you thought Amber was looking for Diana’s book?” Brie said. “Maybe she took it.”

As we watched, Amber rummaged through her bag, and they walked up the pathway. They were too far away for me to see what she pulled out, but it looked like a book. The size of a trade paperback like the one that had been stolen from me.

“They’re up to something,” I said. “I think that’s my book.”

Henry honked, made a motion toward his watch. Doug waved at me from the shuttle to hurry.

“I gotta go,” I said, torn about what to do. Jason was on that cruise. I really wanted to spend some time with him. And I’d

told him I’d be there. “Keep an eye out for when they return, okay?”

“I’ll follow them.”

“No. That’s too dangerous. We don’t know what they’re doing.” But clearly, Amber wanted the book for a reason. What was in

it that was so valuable? And why would they be going up the mountain at the end of the day? What was up there?

“Come with me,” Brie said.

Henry honked again and called out, “Ten seconds, Ms. Crawford!”

“I thought you wanted me to push Sherry overboard?”

“I don’t want you to get kicked off the island.”

I bit my lip. Okay, Jason was working the cruise. He probably wouldn’t have much time to spend with me anyway. And everyone

else was couples. I’d be sitting at the bar watching him, out of place and stuck with nowhere to go and nothing to read.

“Okay,” I said. I must have been completely mad to give up time with Jason to hike up a mountain following two possible thieves.

“Let’s do it.”

I called out to Henry. “I’m sorry, I can’t go. Something came up.”

He looked put out, and I tried to apologize again, but Brie grabbed my arm. Amber and Parker were already out of sight.

As the shuttle drove off without me, I sent Jason a message.

Something came up. I’m really sorry. I’ll call you later.

I didn’t wait for a response and pocketed my phone. For some twisted reason, following Amber and Parker didn’t seem scary

or intimidating. I hadn’t been lying to Grams or Amanda—I was having fun. I hated to admit it because it was probably the riskiest thing I’d ever done, but unraveling this mystery was

the most fun I’d had in years—more so now that I had a partner.

We headed toward the trail.