Page 90 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

I laughed, though I shouldn’t have.

“Hey, look,” Brie said, and pointed to the base of a trail markedSt. 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—Iwashaving 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.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Sometimes we need to take big risks if we want to find out who we are.”

—Meg Cabot,Queen of Babble

Thick trees with heavy, wide leaves shadowed the St. Claire Peak trail. The dank dirt made me sneeze, and I quickly put a hand to my mouth, hoping Amber and Parker hadn’t heard me.

“Don’t worry,” Brie whispered. “They’re too far ahead of us to hear anything.”

She couldn’t know that, I thought.

Brie gestured to the packed dirt trail. Because it was damp, we could easily follow their tracks.

The trail wound up the mountain in a steady incline. I felt it in my calves, still sore from our hike yesterday and traipsing around St. John this morning.