Page 39 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

“One day you will kiss a man you can’t breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.”

—Karen Marie Moning, Bloodfever

When I put my nearly dead phone on the charger, I noticed four texts from Brie, each sentence a separate message.

omg are you ok?

seriously what a dick

i can’t come by my dad is NOT happy

ttyl

The first two were sent thirty minutes ago when Gino pulled me away from the others. The last two were sent only a couple

of minutes ago.

I felt bad putting Brie in this situation in the first place, but I was too overwhelmed by the events of the evening—of the

last two days—to think about anything but a hot shower. I really needed to decompress.

The bathroom mirror was not my friend. Caked mud everywhere I could see, leaves in my hair, my dress—the first time I’d worn

it—a lost cause, stained and torn. Why hadn’t I changed when Brie and I decided to follow Amber and Parker? I loved this dress.

I turned on the glorious rain shower, stripped off my clothes and, near tears, threw everything in the trash. I stepped under

the hot spray and winced when the water hit dozens of small cuts, but I didn’t move until the water ran clear. Slowly washed

my body and hair, thinking about what Gino had said and how his subtle threat both scared and angered me.

When I was stuck at the bottom of that damn hole, I’d been ready to turn over everything I had to Gino and Tristan and be

done with it. But how could I turn over what I knew of Diana’s book if Gino was the one who killed her? I didn’t know he’d killed her. Maybe he was just a jerk. Yet he was pushing so hard on the theory that she’d been killed on St. John, maybe

to divert attention away from him? And if I told him about the young teen who had brought Diana back to the island, would

he be convinced that Diana had died on St. Claire—or would I put the kid in danger?

He had motive and opportunity, and his behavior was more than a little suspicious. He had purposefully intimidated me, and

I couldn’t discount his heated conversation with Amber and the argument Brie had witnessed between him and Diana. Plus the threat. Especially the threat. That he would do anything to find out “what I was up to” could just be macho crap, but it was the way he said

it. He wanted to scare me.

And clearly, I couldn’t trust his good friend Juan Diego, the St. John police chief.

Would Tristan listen to me? He had shown nothing but concern for my well-being and that of his staff and guests. My initial

fear that he might be inclined to cover up a murder because it would be bad publicity seemed weak. It was more logical that

he’d want a quick, quiet resolution to head off bad publicity. I needed to think how to approach him with what I knew.

Then there was Sherry. Where did her bizarre behavior fit in?

I understood the insecurity and overprotectiveness toward her boyfriend.

Some people are just wired to be possessive.

But she’d really overstepped at the spa, then intimidating me on the ferry.

She was up to something, but was it dangerous?

Had Diana blackmailed her so she hired that creepy guy on St. John to kill her?

While I was stuck about what I should do, I knew what I shouldn’t do, so that was a plus, right?

Food. Sleep. Then maybe a solution would present itself in the morning.

I regretted picking up the damn book in the first place. If I’d never seen Diana’s musings, never suspected blackmail, never

followed Amber and Parker up the mountain, I would be naked with Jason Mallory right now.

When I stepped out of the shower, I felt more human. I dried off, lathered my body with lavender-shea body lotion, then brushed

out my hair, leaving it wet down my back while I wrapped myself in one of the plush bathrobes.

A brisk knock on my door made me jump.

I held my robe tight against me and looked through the peephole.

Andrew Locke?

I opened the door. “Can I help you?”

“We need to talk about my daughter,” he said. He made a move to come inside, then hesitated and asked, “May I?”

I nodded. He stepped inside and stood in the small sitting area, clearly uncomfortable. I offered an olive branch. “Brie is

terrific,” I said. “I like her a lot. We kind of bonded, I guess because we were both raised by our dads.”

I was nervous, so I rambled. I could see why he might be upset that his daughter was hanging out with someone who got her

in trouble with resort security.

“I don’t want to make a big deal about this, but I’m very concerned about what happened tonight. My daughter says you were

hiking, but she didn’t tell me she was leaving the resort, and I didn’t know where she was. She could have been hurt—you both

could have been hurt. I talked to Tristan about the situation. He blames himself and staff for not clearly marking the pit.

I don’t blame you. It was an accident, and Brie wasn’t injured. Still, I think you should minimize your time together.”

I blinked, not knowing how to respond. He was chastising me in the nicest way possible, so there really was nothing to say.

If he was over-the-top angry, I could easily point out that Brie was an adult and could make her own decisions about who she socialized with.

But he was being a dad, and I thought about my own dad and how concerned he had been for my well-being.

He would have done the exact same thing as Andrew.

So I nodded in agreement.

“Thank you, Mia.”

I opened the door to let him leave, then said, “I really do enjoy spending time with Brie. This vacation is unusual for me,

and I’m here alone. She’s one of the few people who has made an effort to include me. I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, then smiled. “Brie is a great kid, isn’t she? I know she’s eighteen and going off to college,

but she’s still my little girl. She wasn’t happy that I brought Sherry with us, but I’m hoping that now that we’re getting

married, she’ll accept her. Sherry can’t replace her mother, I know that—Brie knows that. It’s a new beginning for both of

us.”

Brie’s fears were right—Andrew had proposed to Sherry.

“Congratulations,” I said automatically. “I didn’t know you were engaged.”

“Tonight. It was a bit spontaneous, but I’ve had the ring for a few weeks, and it seemed like the right time. I hope Brie

can forge a relationship with Sherry like she did with you.” He held out his hand, and I shook it. “I’m glad you’re okay,

Mia.”

He left, and I closed and locked the door. Okay, that was a lot to unpack from a short conversation. Steer clear of my daughter, she’s a great kid, by the way I’m getting married.

A little weird, but he was so nice about it. Did he think I was a bad influence? A small giggle escaped me. Me , Mia Crawford, doing anything that wasn’t proper, legal, and right. I couldn’t even have a successful one-night stand.

No, he was just worried about Brie and all the bad things that could have happened to her on an island that had already coughed

up one dead body.

My head hurt. Tomorrow was soon enough to make decisions.

I had five minutes to order room service before they closed the kitchen. I should have been starving, but my stomach was still

twisted in knots between Gino intentionally intimidating me and Andrew Locke playing protective dad and me being trapped in

a muddy hole for what seemed like hours but was only forty-two minutes. I ordered a shrimp salad and bottle of pinot grigio

because there was no way I wanted to go to either of the restaurants or the bar and eat alone. Or, worse, have people ask

about what had happened.

I had a voicemail on my cell phone. Tears welled as I listened to Amanda, Braden, Jane, and her fiancé singing happy birthday.

They laughed at the end, and I smiled through my tears.

“Thank God you didn’t answer, or we would be on the next plane down to St. Claire!” Jane said.

“Love you, Mia!” Amanda trilled. “Take pictures! We need all the deets.”

“Bye!” the four said in unison, and then there was silence.

A rush of complex and unexpected emotions ran through me as I stared at my phone.

I came to this island for a week of sun, sea, and sex. Everyone told me how easy it would be to find an unattached guy. Then

there was Jason, who said he had plans for us tonight, who kissed like a dream, and instead of meeting him on a romantic cruise,

I pursued two people because I thought they’d broken into my room and stolen my book.

Was I so insecure and unsure about my decision to let myself go wild that I intentionally sabotaged the one opportunity I

had to enjoy the moment and not think about the future?

Except... I really detested people like Diana Harden who used people’s faults against them. When I first read her notes,

I’d admired her boldness and observations. Now I realized she was trouble. Not that most of the people she was blackmailing

were any better than she was.

Then I thought of Anja Stockton, who had made a difficult decision but ultimately what she felt was the best decision for her and her baby.

She didn’t deserve to be humiliated or blackmailed or threatened.

What of the other people Diana was blackmailing?

Maybe they made a mistake. Maybe there was more to their stories just like there was more to Anja’s.

Then I thought of Sherry and whether the dirt Diana had on her had driven Sherry to murder.

Did Diana deserve to die for it? Why did I even care?

I stood in the threshold of the open sliding glass doors and listened to the waves. I heard music far away at the Blue Dahlia.

Distant laughter. I realized in that moment that I did care. I didn’t like what I knew about Diana Harden, but she didn’t deserve to be strangled. I remembered the personal notes

she’d written, about being lied to and betrayed. While that might not justify her actions, it made sense that she would want

to expose liars and cheats.