Page 59 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

A golf cart was speeding up the hill toward us. A wild-eyed Brie was driving it.

“Stop!” I screamed, not knowing if I was yelling at Jason or Brie. I threw my arms up, expecting a collision.

There was no crash. Brie stopped the cart and ran over to us. She was soaking wet and had blood on her cheek and arm. “What

happened?” Jason asked. “Who did this?”

“That... that... the guy. Sherry hired. I. I got away.”

“You’re wet,” I said.

“She has my phone! The video! I lost it, and my dad—”

“I have Diana’s phone,” I said. “I’ll make Amber give me the passcode.”

Jason drove us back to the Sky Bar as fast as he dared, where Andrew and Sherry were already standing at the altar. I ran

to Amber at the bar and opened my purse to show her I had the file. “Diana’s passcode or I give these to Ethan Valentine.”

“Dragon,” she said automatically, holding out her hand.

I ignored her hand, typed in the code, and handed the phone to Brie. She’d be able to find the video faster.

“Dad, wait,” Brie cried out, running down the short aisle.

Sherry’s expression was a mix of shock and rage and calculation.

Andrew’s eyes widened at his daughter’s state. “Brie! My God, what happened? Are you okay?”

“I’ll tell you everything, but please, watch this first.”

“Andrew, she’s clearly making a scene to delay the inevitable. I love you. Let’s finish our vows, and then we’ll have a family

vacation, just the three of us.”

Sherry smiled broadly, but her eyes were full of fear.

Brie ignored Sherry and held the phone out to her father. She turned the volume up to max, and Sherry’s voice was picked up

through the microphone.

“And when I’m done with Tom, Andrew’s kid will be gone, and that’ll be the perfect time for me to slip in... And after

Andrew, there will be plenty more to choose from. Men are so easy to manipulate.”

Complete silence. Everyone turned in unison and looked at Sherry.

“It’s fake,” Sherry said, her voice unsteady.

Andrew looked from Brie, to Sherry, back to Brie. “No,” he said quietly, “it’s not.” He put his arm around his daughter and

walked her back down the aisle, not giving Sherry another glance.

I loved happy endings.

Sherry stormed off the altar. “Andrew!”

Amber stuck out her foot, and Sherry tripped over it, taking the small wedding cake and champagne flutes down with her as

she fell.

Kalise rushed to Sherry’s side and helped her up, then hurried with her back to the tent.

Tristan motioned to the band, and music started. Then people began to chatter, staff came out to remove the altar and chairs,

and within five minutes, there was no trace that a wedding had even been planned for the evening.

Something bugged me, though, and I couldn’t figure out what. I mulled things over.

Sherry could have killed Diana to keep that video hidden, but she must have known it had been shared among other Delta Gamma

sisters. And based on Diana’s comments, she was willing to wait for her payday.

I don’t know why, after days of thinking that Gino was the most likely suspect in Diana’s death, I was suddenly concerned

he wasn’t guilty. If not Gino, that meant Georgie, a kid barely out of his teens, might have done it.

What had I missed?

The honeymooners came over and sat down across from me.

“You heard about Gino?” Mrs. Kent said.

“One of the other staff members killed him! Killed that woman too!” Mr. Kent exclaimed.

“We don’t know that,” I said.

“That’s what everyone is saying,” Mrs. Kent said.

I felt for Georgie. Everyone thought he was guilty.

Tristan sat down next to me. “Hello, hello, hello,” he said to everyone at the table. Parker and Amber sat at the end. Amber

was looking at me, imploring me to give her the papers. I shook my head. I knew what the papers meant, and I was pretty certain

that when the truth came out about what Parker Briggs did to Ethan Valentine, he would have no clout to kill her career.

“How are you this evening, Ms. Crawford?” Tristan asked.

“Great,” I said.

He nodded, steepled his fingers in front of him. “I’m glad to see you’ve bounced back from your ordeal the other night. And

this little hiccup tonight, hopefully everyone will have a pleasant evening.”

There had been a lot of “hiccups” recently.

“I heard the police have a suspect in Diana’s murder,” I said to Tristan. I made sure the rest of the table could hear me.

I wanted to see their reactions. Mostly, I wanted to see Amber’s reaction. She still hadn’t told anyone that Diana was her

girlfriend, and she didn’t seem to be all that broken up about her death. She was more concerned about what Parker might do

to her career—even though she was sitting with him at the table.

These people were so unlikeable.

“Yes,” Tristan said, “I knew between Gino and the St. John police that they would resolve this situation. I’m still shocked

that Gino is dead. He was more than a colleague. He was a friend.”

Mrs. Kent said, “I heard it was a staff member who killed her.”

“That is who the police suspect,” Tristan said, his voice calm and clear. “He’s not on the island. No one has anything to

worry about. In fact, St. Claire is giving everyone a complimentary weekend to use anytime in the next two years. This week

has been highly unusual, and on behalf of the staff, we want you to leave feeling refreshed and satisfied.”

He smiled broadly, the consummate salesman.

Sherry burst out of the tent, Kalise at her heels. “You’ve all ruined my life!” she exclaimed. “But I’ll come out on top.

I always do.”

“Shut up,” Amber snapped at her.

“Oh, Amber Jones,” Sherry mocked, “the actress, the model, the whore .”

“Pot, meet kettle,” Amber said.

“Get a lawyer,” I told Sherry. “I have photos of you paying a man on St. John, and when Brie makes her statement and identifies

him in a lineup, I’m pretty certain he’ll squeal to avoid serious jail time.”

Sherry stared at me with deep hatred. “ You. ” She rushed me, but Jason intervened and motioned for staff to remove Sherry from the Sky Bar.

Tristan jumped up and announced, “Dinner is served.” He motioned to the servers to take care of our table first.

I had to hand it to him. Tristan did a good job of mediating what could have been an awful scene.

The food smelled amazing as the servers placed a perfect plate of steak and seared fish in front of me. I sampled a bite of

each and almost moaned. Delicious.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about what Parker Briggs had done to Ethan Valentine. I didn’t know if he would go to jail for

it, but he would definitely be censured by his board, and no one in the financial world would trust him.

Stealing intellectual property was a crime.

I couldn’t give Amber or him the papers and let the truth remain buried. It would make me as awful as they were. So I said,

loud enough for Parker to hear, “Tristan, do you know how to reach Ethan Valentine?”

“Of course, I can reach him at any time, but why would I need to?”

He sounded nervous. Maybe he hadn’t told Valentine about Diana’s murder or everything else happening on the island—including

Gino’s embezzlement of funds, if I had read Diana’s notes correctly. But he would definitely want to tell Valentine about

what I’d found.

I pulled the papers from my purse, held them up. “Mr. Valentine might be interested in these documents,” I said loud and clear.

I handed them to Tristan, confident that he would be the best person to get them to their rightful owner.

Tristan looked at them, confused.

I could feel Parker’s and Amber’s eyes on me, and it was clear Parker recognized what I had.

“Those are mine!” he screamed. “I will sue you, you little bitch!”

He jumped up, knocking several glasses over, scrambling to take the papers from Tristan, who dropped them as he put his hands up to defend himself. I quickly bent down and gathered up the pages, frustrated that Tristan didn’t understand what they were.

Jason rushed to my side in a protective gesture. “Watch it,” he said to Parker with a ferocity I didn’t expect from him. “You’re

on thin ice, Briggs.”

Parker did a double take as if he, too, couldn’t believe the cold anger radiating from the bartender. He stared at Jason as

if it was the first time he’d ever laid eyes on him. I really hoped Jason didn’t get himself fired.

Parker made a move toward the papers, and I put them behind my back.

“She stole those papers from me!” Parker said.

“Diana stole them,” I corrected him. “And now I know why.”

“Diana stole them and blackmailed me,” Parker said, the veins bulging in his neck. “When I wouldn’t pay, she came here and

hid them. They’re still mine.”

Tristan couldn’t mask his interest. “What are they?” he asked.

I said, “Documents that prove Parker Briggs stole an idea from Ethan Valentine three years ago.”

Tristan looked at me. Then his eyes flickered to Jason.

“Ms. Harden had them? That’s why she was at his house?”

Everyone was arguing around the table, David and Doug in shocked surprise, Mr. and Mrs. Kent with loud chatter. Then Parker

made another move to grab the papers from me, stumbled, and fell into the table, causing it to collapse, plates and food flying.

Mr. Kent grabbed his wife and whirled her away in an impressively smooth move. Luis scooted his chair back but didn’t get

up. Amber started talking at the same time Parker wailed, and I couldn’t understand what either of them were saying.

“Jason,” I said over the commotion as something clicked in my mind. “Did you tell anyone that Diana went to Ethan’s house

on Sunday night?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“You didn’t tell Tristan when I left the boat?”

“I was worried that someone was trying to sabotage the resort. We talked about that—about the cell tower, the boat, and Georgie—” Jason narrowed his eyes at Tristan, as if he’d had the exact same thought I had.

I turned to Tristan. “How did you know Diana was at Ethan Valentine’s the night she died?”

“I— That’s not what I meant. Kalise! Leesa! Clean up!”

“Tristan?” Jason demanded. “What did you do?”