Robert Walker - Fatal Instinct

Alan, holding onto her, asking after her, took the note from her clenched fingers. He read the note, saying, “Amen.”

“ Yes, amen,” she agreed.

“ Guess we'll never know what drove him to it.”

“ Demons,” she said. “That much we know.”

“ Get changed. We'll have dinner and then…”

He let his words hang in the air, teasing. “And then we'll book a flight back?” she asked.

“ Yeah, that… but we'll also make love.”

She kissed him. “I do love you, Alan.”

He was taken aback. “That's… that's news to me.”

“ Me, too.”

“ What're we going to do about it?”

“ Do we have to do anything about it?”

He breathed deeply. “I want to be with you as many hours in the day as possible,” he confessed. He sounded like a schoolboy, she thought, and she loved him for his enthusiasm.

“ If it's really love, Alan, it can survive time and distance. Weil find a way.”

“ Chief coroner spot's still open in New York. You could-”

“ No, no sudden changes. Not right now. I've got to have time and it's got to be right.” He nodded. “Sure, sure… I understand.”

Someone called her name, a man coming toward them through the spacious lobby of the hotel, a black man in an island police uniform. “You are Dr. Coran? Captain Rychman?”

“ NYPD,” said Rychman.

“ Yes, I am Dr. Coran.”

“ FBI?” he asked.

“ Apparently, you know more about me than I know about you, Officer ahhh-”

“ Okinleye, Ja Okinleye, Lieutenant Investigatory, Cayman. There's… there's been a murder. Someone knew of your being here. Could you look at the body, Dr. Coran? We hear of your work in the United States. The deceased is… was an important man in the islands, a grower and an owner in this hotel you are staying in.”

“ You have no coroner?”

“ He comes from Martinique, but it will be a day, maybe two.”

“ Give me time to change,” she said.

Alan stopped her. “You sure you want to get involved in this?”

“ Got to get my feet wet again sometime. May as well take the leap.”

“ Wait up. I'll go with you.”

“ You'd best answer your calls and book our flight.”

“ Yeah, maybe you're right.”

Lieutenant Investigator Okinleye could not help but see that the two Americans were very much in love. He said abruptly, “Of course, I hate to intrude on your holiday, and I would not have, except that… well, this is the third such murder on the island, and the man died in so… such… an unusual manner.”

“ Really?” she asked. “Tell me about it.”