Page 58 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

“It often seems to me that’s all detective work is, wiping out your false starts and beginning again.”

“Yes, it is very true, that. And it is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has

to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not

fit in that are significant.”

—Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

The Sky Bar was lit up so brightly that I was pretty certain Jason and I would have been able to see it if the party had been

two nights ago while we were on the boat.

I was on the first shuttle up to the Sky Bar with only a handful of people. I kept looking at my phone, but Brie hadn’t texted

me for help—I hoped she was okay.

When I stepped into the open-air bar, my mouth practically fell open. It was stunning.

Kalise had gone all out in one day to make Andrew and Sherry’s wedding as beautiful and luxurious as possible.

Balloons, elegant streamers, flowers, artfully arranged potted plants.

The altar was raised a foot with a beautiful jasmine-covered arch for the bride and groom to stand under.

Chairs were arranged to watch the couple, with the backdrop being the western view and the soon-to-be setting sun.

Unlike the other night, when the space had been arranged like a cocktail party with tall, round tables interspersed throughout

the area, tonight five tables that each sat twelve people had been set up.

I walked around and looked for my name tag. I was at the table farthest from the dance floor and band—the dance floor that

currently had a couple dozen chairs arranged to watch the nuptials, but would quickly be cleared for dancing. I didn’t recognize

most of the names. A small table for two was set near the bar, with a small wedding cake and his-and-hers champagne flutes.

Kalise really had thought of everything.

I found Parker’s and Amber’s names on two separate tables. Wouldn’t it be fun to see their reaction when I revealed the files?

Parker Briggs was an asshole. I hope he lost everything.

I quickly moved their cards to my table, removing a couple I didn’t know. I glanced around and hoped no one saw me.

Luis walked over and smiled at the flowers and altar. “I haven’t seen you in a few days,” I said.

“I’ve been around,” he said cryptically. “A wedding tonight.”

“So it seems,” I said.

“I think I’ll have a beer. Join me?”

I linked my arm in his, and we walked to the bar, where Jason was preparing the tools of his trade. Jason looked up, smiled

at me. That smile... he brightened my world. Corny, yeah. Sure. But that didn’t make it less true.

Jason turned to Luis. “Beer?”

Luis nodded once, and then frowned. “Jason, Jason, Jason,” he said with a sigh, then picked up his beer and went down the

trail that led to the bench I’d sat on my first night here.

Jason watched him leave with a blank expression.

“Did I miss something?” I asked.

“No. I didn’t do something he wanted me to do, and, well, I’ll make it up to him.”

“I like him. And I’m sure he’ll forgive you.” I smiled and said in a flirty tone, “Do you think you can mix me up your better-than-I’ve-ever-had sangria?”

He winked. “Anything for you.”

This week had flown by, but at the same time, I felt like I’d been here for a month. I wanted to take Jason up on his offer

to use Ethan Valentine’s secure internet and work from here the rest of the week. I pictured myself with my laptop on Valentine’s

deck with that amazing view. Then I imagined myself in bed with Jason every night.

Jason poured me a frothy glass of sangria, his fingers brushing against mine, before he went back to others who were demanding

his time. He was so confident, comfortable. He seemed to be a truly happy person. Because he took risks and had fun? Because

he lived one day at a time? Because he didn’t worry about his retirement thirty years from now?

Could I love a man who had no thought for the future?

I froze. Love? Where had that thought come from?

Where? Maybe in bed last night when I didn’t want to let him go. Maybe this morning when I read his note that ended Love, Jason . Maybe the first night we almost kissed in the lagoon after he caught me skinny dipping.

Maybe all the romance novels were right and Jason was my destiny. The one perfect person for me.

Quickly, I slid off the stool, these emotions foreign and confusing. What if he didn’t feel the same? What if, for him, it

was just a fling? A fun, sexy fling, and I’d leave, and he wouldn’t remember me in two weeks?

Stop , I told myself, but then I glanced over at him. He was looking at me with a serious expression. When he met my eyes, he blew

me a kiss. My stomach fluttered. Unbidden, the song from Cinderella popped into my head.

So this is love...

I couldn’t stop staring, certain he would think I was jumping ten steps into the future if I told him. I didn’t take risks,

and love was the ultimate risk.

Jason broke eye contact when Doug and David went up to the bar. Relieved, I turned and saw Parker and Amber walk into the open room together. Both looked miserable.

I went over to them and smiled. “Hi, Amber. Glad you could make it to the party tonight. It should be fun.”

Parker scowled at me and went to the bar. Charlie went over to serve him as Jason was busy at the other end.

Amber said, “I need a drink.”

She, too, went to the bar.

I’d thought for ten seconds about giving Amber the documents I’d found folded in the pages of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , but considering what they said, I couldn’t in good conscience keep the information to myself. I would be an accomplice to

fraud, now that I knew the truth.

I sidled over to the appetizer table and made a plate, more from nerves than hunger. The truth—the truths —would come out tonight. But I began to worry about Brie. She hadn’t called or texted me. I hoped her conversation with her

dad went okay. I hoped she wasn’t upset.

Kalise walked onto the small stage where the band had set up and took the microphone.

“For our early arrivals, in ten minutes, please have a seat for a brief but joyous wedding at our beautiful Sky Bar. Then

we’ll take a few moments to remove the chairs and set up the buffet for dinner.”

Where was Brie? Where were Andrew and Sherry? Had they not told Kalise the wedding was off? Had Brie not convinced her dad

to dump Sherry?

I approached Kalise. “I haven’t seen the bride or groom.”

“Ms. Morrison is in the tent.” Kalise motioned to the opposite side of the space, in the direction of the hole I’d fallen

in. “And Tristan is escorting Mr. Locke. Please, be seated.”

“I’m waiting for Brie,” I said.

I walked out of the main area to where the shuttle dropped people off. A minute later, I saw Tristan driving one of the shuttles

with Andrew in the back. Brie wasn’t with him.

I texted her.

Where are you? Your dad is here at the Sky Bar dressed in a suit.

No response. My stomach fell, and Parker Briggs’s crime was no longer my first priority.

I walked over to Andrew as he got out of the shuttle. “Where’s Brie?” I asked.

He glared at me. “I should be asking you the same question.”

“She was going to meet you at the dock this afternoon.”

He looked both sad and angry. “She won’t come. What did you say to her?”

I was confused. “Nothing. I told her to meet you at the dock, and...” My heart fell. “Andrew, something’s wrong.”

“I understand you and Brie are friendly, but this is my life, and Brie is an adult, as she has told me time and time again

this week. She has chosen to boycott my wedding.”

“Maybe you should postpone,” I said. “She’s your daughter. She loves you—”

“I need you to back off, Ms. Crawford.”

“Something’s wrong,” I said. “She would be here.”

He pulled out his phone and read from it. “‘Sorry, Dad, I can’t support you and Sherry. She’ll never replace my mom.’”

“She didn’t write that,” I said automatically.

“She did, and I think you had something to do with it.”

Brie was in trouble, I knew it, but I had no idea where to start looking.

“Didn’t she show you the video?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tristan was watching us, a concerned look on his face. “Mr. Locke? We’re ready.”

“Thank you, Tristan,” he said. “David and Doug Butcher agreed to be our official witnesses.”

“Very well,” Tristan said, and led Andrew to the altar.

I couldn’t worry about the mistake that Andrew was making—I needed to find Brie.

I ran to the tent where Sherry was getting ready, pushed through the opening. “Where is Brie?” I demanded. “What did you do to her?”

Kalise and Mrs. Kent were helping Sherry with her dress and hair.

Sherry preened in the mirror. “I’ve been here all afternoon.”

That look... that smug expression of victory. “You hired that thug on the island to do something to Brie. I swear, if you

hurt her, I’ll—”

Kalise stepped in front of Sherry as I was about to slap her. “Ms. Crawford, perhaps you should leave until the dinner begins.”

I spun around and walked out, straight to the bar. “Jason,” I said. “Brie’s in trouble. I don’t know where she is.”

He said something to Charlie, then came out from behind the bar, and we ran over to the closest shuttle.

“What happened?” he asked as he jumped behind the wheel.

I told him everything about the video and Brie’s plans to talk to her dad that afternoon. “But she never met him at the ferry,

and she hasn’t answered my calls or texts all afternoon. Sherry did something. She gave money to a man on the island. What

if he hurt her? What if—oh God, she killed Diana and now she killed Brie, and—”

“Slow down,” Jason said as he sped down the road. “You’re jumping the gun here.”

“The video. We have a video that Diana blackmailed Sherry with.” I told him that Diana had planned to wait until after the

wedding for her “payday,” but Sherry was just biding her time. “Who else has motive?”

“Anyone else she apparently blackmailed,” he said.