Heather Graham - Protector, Lover...Husband?

“No, but I need to see Laurie,” she called from the dock.

“She’s inside somewhere,” he said. “I’ll find her.”

Gil had run up behind her. “Damn, I hope someone got my stuff.” He turned to her. “You sure you want to stay? The dolphins will be just fine. Think about it, alone in that little place with Jay, Len and a handful of others? C’mon! Just hop on board the ferry. We’ll have fun in Miami.”

“No, no, I can’t leave,” she told him.

“It’s going to be like a paid vacation.”

Jeb came back to the rail. “Hey, Gil, I got your wallet and an overnight bag for you.”

“Great.”

“Where’s Laurie?” Alex asked.

“She said she was coming,” Jeb said.

Alex watched nervously as the ferry’s ties were loosed and she prepared to depart. She scanned the vessel for Laurie. Gil barely made it to the gangplank. An impatient seaman yelled at him, “I called an aboard five minutes ago!”

“Sorry,” Gil said.

The plank was up. Alex stared at the ferry in disbelief, ready to throttle Laurie herself. How could she say what she had—then disappear without a word?

Then, just as the ferry moved away from dock, Laurie appeared at last. She looked distressed. “Alex, stick with Jay, all right? Stick with Jay and Len and…whoever else.”

Alex stared back at Laurie, then whipped out her cell phone, holding it up so that Laurie would see her intention.

Laurie gave her a smile, digging in her bag for her own phone.

Then she frowned and put her thumb down. “No battery!” she shouted.

“Jeb, give her a phone!” Alex shouted.

Jeb did, and a minute later Alex’s phone rang. She answered it. “Laurie, what the hell’s going on?”

“Alex, don’t hang around David, okay?”

“Why?”

“Because something is going on. Something that has to do with salvage. Listen, you should be all right. Hank Adamson is staying on—he wants to write a story about battening down for a storm, and John will be there, too.”

“John Seymore? Why?”

“I told you about him.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“He’s the agent I told you about. He’s FBI. Well, I assume he’s FBI. Or working with them or something.”

“Laurie, how do you know this? Please, explain before the weather comes in and the phones go completely.”

“All right, I’m trying. I ran into him, so we went to his cottage and talked. Just talked. That was it. I swear.”

“I believe you,” Alex said. “Please, get to the point.”

“John said he liked you a lot, but he wasn’t stepping in when there was obviously something still going on between you and David. He was concerned, though, and wished you weren’t still emotionally involved with David. John’s afraid that Alicia Farr has disappeared. And that she’s met with foul play. He was worried about me, and he’s very worried about you, because apparently there’s a nurse in Miami who heard Daniel Fuller talking about you, a treasure and the dolphins. Honestly, Alex, I can see why you had such a crush on John—before David showed up again. John is wonderful. I stayed at his place—just in case anyone knew I’d seen the body you discovered and thought that I might know who it was or talk. That’s why you couldn’t get hold of me. I stayed there even when he was out on David’s boat. And last night…he told me about Seth Granger, and that he didn’t think Granger died by accident. So…he knows I was going to talk to you. Alex…Alex…are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here. Why does he suspect David?”

“Who else was close to Alicia Farr? Who else is famous for his treasure hunting expeditions? Really, you should have gotten off the island. Maybe you still can. Oh, and, Alex…”

Her voice faded, and there was a great deal of static on the line.

“Alex, did you hear me? Watch…” Static. “I know because…” Static.

Then the line went dead completely.

An arm slipped around her shoulders, and she nearly jumped a mile.

“Hey!” It was Jay. He’d actually doffed his suit and was in simple jeans and a red polo shirt so he could help batten things down. “You all right?”

“Yes, of course.” She wasn’t all right at all, but she sure intended to fake it. “Jay, who is still on Moon Bay?”

“There’s Len and me, you, the reporter—Hank Adamson. He’s been incredibly helpful, and he wants to write about the storm. It’s not going to be that big a hurricane, at least.”

“Right. Hopefully, she’ll stay small. But who else is here, Jay? Anyone?”

“John Seymore—and your ex–old man.”

“You let those two stay—and made your staff evacuate?”

“David has hit storms like this at sea, he can surely weather it. And John Seymore was a SEAL. They both wanted to stay. I had the power, and I said yes. Do you have a problem with this?”

Yes.

But she couldn’t explain that she doubted both men—or why. She couldn’t forget her conversation with Laurie. John Seymore claimed to be some sort of agent, but was he really? Had Laurie seen any credentials?

And what about David? David, who kept warning her that she was in danger.

Had he known she had found a body on the beach because he had been the one to murder the woman?

No, surely not. She winced, realizing that she was refusing to believe it because she was in love with him. She had been since she had met him. The divorce hadn’t really meant anything, and she would probably be in love with him the rest of her life.

However long, or short, a time that might be.

Where the hell was Alex? John Seymore wondered. Jay Galway had said that he’d sent her and Gil out to check the trails, but they should have been back long ago.

He went out in search of them himself.

For a small island, there were an awful lot of trails. He began to understand what had taken them so long.

As he walked, he was easily able to assure himself that everyone else had gotten off the island. He called out now and then, looked everywhere and didn’t find a soul.

But, returning, he smelled a foul odor on the air and instantly recognized it. The smell of death.

As he hurried forward, his heart shuddered hard against his chest. He stood still, looking around for any sign of company.

After a moment, convinced he was alone, he stepped forward to examine the source of the odor.

A moment later, he stepped back, relieved to have discovered only a dead possum, then hurried along the rest of the trails. When he reached the Tiki Hut, it was empty. Walking around to the docks, he saw no one, and far out to sea, the last ferry was just visible.

He turned, hesitating for a moment. Alex might have gone to the lodge. But though the winds had picked up a great deal, growing stronger by the minute now, so it seemed, they were still hardly in serious weather.

He heard a distant splash.

The dolphin lagoons.

With quick steps, he hurried toward them. He arrived in time to see Alex on the second platform, talking to her charges and handing out fish. He started along the path to the platforms. Halfway there, she met him, empty fish bucket in her hand. She stopped short, staring at him.

“Alex.” He said her name with relief.

She still looked at him suspiciously.

“Alex, you…you have to be careful.”

“Yes, I know,” she said, sounding wary. Then she stiffened. “I hear you’re an agent.”

“You hear I’m what?”

“An agent. A government agent. An FBI man—or so Laurie assumes.”

“I’m not on the payroll, but yes, I work with the FBI.”

“If you’re working for the government, then why not just announce it?”

“Because there are those who shouldn’t know—just yet. Because I don’t know what has really happened—or might happen.”