Killing in the Caribbean

by Jennifer Fischetto

  She handed it to me and looked guilty. "I heard it beeping from your locker and peeked. I wouldn't have, but you never get texts unless they're from me. In fact, you never get calls either."

  I took the phone and pretended that not getting calls wasn't weird. It was a text from Whitney.

  "Is it her?" Cady asked.

  I glanced up, and excitement danced in my friend's eyes.

  We'll go to dinner with you. Let me know a time. Thx for the invite.

  "It's on," I said. My voice bubbled with enthusiasm.

  "What's on?" Shawn asked.

  Cady filled him in while I responded to meet us at the Ocean Grille in two hours. I wanted time to get ready and then to get there and settle down before they arrived. I preferred to be there first. I needed to be in control.

  "I told her two hours," I said.

  Cady nodded and ran backstage, shouting, "I'll call Aiden."

  She was going to have to talk to him today. I hoped it was after our gathering.

  "Mind another guest at this dinner?" Shawn asked.

  I'd admit I was surprised by his question but pleasantly so. And I was certain my super cheesy grin showed that.

  "Sure. Can you be ready in an hour?" I asked.

  "Absolutely." There was a wicked glint to his grin.

  Then again, maybe that was what I wanted to see. It didn't go unnoticed by me that I hadn't fumbled my speech during this conversation. Maybe I was getting better at being near him.

  "Great, see you soon," I said with extra cheese to my smile for proving I wasn't a blubbering idiot.

  He walked offstage and toward the main entrance, while I went to grab my things from my locker.

  * * *

  I showered and dressed in a sleeveless black minidress in an oversized white and pink flower print with a halter neckline. I wanted to look extra nice tonight. This was definitely overdressed for Aiden's place, but it was our last night in Barbados. Might as well impress the locals.

  I looped a dangling white cubic zirconia earring into my right lobe and then the left. I was a diamond kinda girl on a rhinestone kinda budget. There. Done. I looked pretty good if I said so myself.

  I grabbed my small black purse and opened my door, when I heard a chirp. I stopped, turned around, and listened. There it was again, coming from my closet. It had to be the other phone. I thought I'd turned off all notifications though. I hadn't wanted it to go off while Cady was in my room with me.

  I opened the closet, grabbed the burner phone, and flipped it open. There was a voice mail. I dialed and listened to Kyle tell me to call him back. I hard pressed the number three, where I'd set up his number on redial. Number two was home, in case I ever needed to contact them.

  He picked up immediately. "Agent Doyle."

  "Hey, it's me," I said. "What's going on?"

  "I spoke with that agent," he said.

  I figured that. "Great."

  "He said that Greer was being investigated for embezzling money from his job."

  I knew that too.

  "The agent had spoken with Barclay, wanting him to find out information on Greer and give it to the agent."

  "Why would Agent Jones think Barclay would roll over on a friend?" I asked.

  "I didn't ask. He probably took a gamble."

  Whatever the reason, Barclay sounded like a crappy person for ratting out someone he was close to. Then again, this didn't surprise me. The SD card already established Barclay didn't know the first thing about being a friend.

  Kyle cleared his throat. "I have to tell you something. Are you sitting?"

  My body stiffened. This couldn't be good. My thoughts immediately went to my family in the little white house I grew up in.

  "Mom, Timmy, are they okay?" I hoarsely whispered.

  "Yes, they're fine. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

  I let out several near-hysterical breaths and tried to calm down. Anything else he had to say would be easy to hear. "So what's going on?"

  "They found the axed man."

  What? Excitement coursed through me, and I started to laugh. This was great news. It meant I was free. Finally! Wow, it had been so long. I could go home and see Mom and…

  I stared at my bed and thought of Cady, Shawn, and everyone on the ship. This was amazing and so sad.

  "How did it happen?" I asked. I had so many questions, but the realization of who I'd be leaving behind hit me hard. I'd known this moment had been coming, but knowing and feeling were two different things.

  "The man was found in a dumpster in the Bronx."

  Poor guy. "How do you know it was the man I saw?"

  "His shoes. Liz, you described them to the letter, and Frankie was stupid enough to leave them on the body."

  Aqua and white splattered leather loafers with shiny metal, pointed toes with spikes. They were completely unique, and Frankie would've had to have been stupid or blackout drunk to leave them on the man. So I had been helpful. I felt a mixture of pride and uncertainty.

  "What does this mean?" I asked, almost afraid to find out.

  "They've identified him as Sal Barbieri, who apparently owed Frankie money."

  Just like my brother.

  "And?" I asked.

  "Pack your bags. You're coming home." The excitement in Kyle's voice was undeniable. We had both been waiting for this moment.

  Suddenly I felt a little light-headed. I wanted this to end so I could be free to do as I wished, as well as not be fearful of being discovered, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to say good-bye to Athena and the people on it. Not today anyway. Ask me again tomorrow.

  There was a slip of silence before he asked, "Why do you not sound happy?"

  "I am. Really," I said and forced a smile so he could maybe hear it in my voice. "I am just in the middle of something here."

  "It can't be more important than coming home."

  "Well, actually it is tonight."

  "You're being safe, right? No more crazy antics?" Kyle asked.

  "Nope, going to dinner with some friends." He didn't need to know everything.

  "That sounds like fun. Think of it as a farewell celebration and then hit the airport."

  "Yeah," I said. Maybe. I needed time to think all of this through. It would be rude to just leave tonight. I owed the cruise line some notification. And Cady. And Shawn. Or would it be better if I simply skipped out and disappeared so I wouldn't have to see their anger at my lies?

  "I-I wish I was there too." The tone of Kyle's voice changed, deepened, and almost sounded sad.

  I hadn't expected that, so I didn't know how to respond.

  "Do you still love knishes?" he asked.

  Oh no, we were going down memory lane. He'd gotten like this other times in these last eight months. I usually didn't mind, but I didn't have much time now.

  A potato knish was like a dumpling, except the potato was inside of thick dough and either baked, grilled, or deep-fried. The best were fried, of course, and served with spicy brown mustard. I used to eat my weight in them when we were in high school.

  "Yes, but I haven't had any in ages. Not since the time you and I cut school around homecoming senior year."

  "We thought we were being so grown, so cool, and we ran into Mr. Watson, our science teacher, who was also playing hooky," Kyle said.

  "And he promised to not rat us out as long as we pretended we hadn't seen him and his new boyfriend." I finished the memory.

  We both laughed heartily. It felt good.

  I pulled the phone away from my ear long enough to glance at the time. I needed to meet the others.

  "I should go, but I owe you. Again. Thanks, Kyle."

  "No problem. Hey, Liz, I miss you," he said.

  My stomach knotted. It was sweet, but I didn't want him thinking we were getting back together when I returned to New York. I was probably overreacting though. We were thinking about our teen years. It was hard to not yearn for a time when life was carefree. Sure, we were hormonal and full
of angst back then, and we thought our worlds were destroyed over the littlest thing, but our biggest problems were geometry and chemistry homework. I understood the appeal. If I'd known then that I'd one day be on the run from the mob, I wouldn't have cared so much about my SAT scores.

  "I miss you too," I said, because in some way I did.

  "Call me when you're home," he said.

  "I will. See you soon." I just wasn't sure when soon would be.

  We hung up, and with a smile still on my face, I turned to see Shawn standing in my doorway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  His heavy brow made him look confused, and the narrow slant to his eyes suggested suspicion. Neither of those were inappropriate emotions for him to feel. His gaze slid to my hands.

  I quickly put them behind me, trying to hide the phone. The issue with Frank Esposito may have ended, but I wasn't ready to admit to anything until I'd thought it all through. It was the wrong move at a very wrong speed. He didn't miss my actions.

  "Ready?" he asked, and my guilt soared.

  I should've come clean at this moment. Let him in on the biggest secret in my life, but I wanted our focus on this dinner. I'd fill him and Cady in after…before the airport.

  "Um, yeah, I need to grab something. I'll meet you up on deck." I really just needed a moment alone.

  He didn't move, just stood there and stared, but he nodded.

  I offered a smile, but I was certain it didn't appease his curiosity.

  Then he turned on his heel and walked off.

  I waited three slow breaths and then rushed to my door and shut it firmly. What had he overheard? Did it matter now? I was so used to hiding this part of my life. My hands trembled. I hid the phone in its usual spot, grabbed my purse, and left.

  When I arrived up top, Shawn and Cady were waiting. He stared out at the water, and she was busy on her phone. They had each dressed for a nice dinner, with him in loose-fitting gray pants and navy V-neck top and her in a knee-length pastel pink, tank-style slip dress and beige ankle boots. I wasn't sure if the woman owned a pair of sandals.

  They glanced over as I approached. Cady slipped her phone into her purse and gave me a big smile, and he looked away. Was he mad at me about a personal phone call? I didn't do anything.

  We walked to Ocean Grille in silence, and I pushed the idea of never seeing either of them again out of my mind. At least until dinner was over. I needed to concentrate on outing a killer.

  A glance to Cady showed she was in deep thought, probably going over what she was going to say to Aiden. Even though she didn't believe Aiden was dealing drugs, this was probably still an awkward conversation to have. Shawn kept his attention straight ahead. His shoulders were tense, and I wondered if he wanted to ditch us and go on his own. His attitude did not say he was ready to par-tay.

  There were three tables of customers and two people at the bar when we stepped inside. Aiden was behind it, pouring drinks with a grin on his face. He saw us, and that grin turned into a full-fledged smile.

  "Hey," he shouted.

  Cady stepped forward. "We're meeting the others. We're going to put some tables together, okay?"

  His eyes lit up at the mention of more customers. "Sure. I received some exotic fruit today. Want to try some?"

  She winked and said, "I can't say no to fruit."

  While she went to the bar to examine his fruit, I moved the chairs out from two tables to push them together.

  Shawn went around to the other side, and when it came time for us to drag the tables closer, he gripped his end but didn't move. "Is there something you're hiding?" he asked.

  Crap. He had heard.

  "No." I didn't need to take the time to carefully consider what I was going to say. This wasn't the time for this conversation.

  We pushed the table beside the other and reassembled the chairs.

  I took the same seat I'd used last time Shawn was here, in the center on the left side of the table, and pulled my phone from my purse. My plan was to use the camera to record what was said when we were all settled. I made sure all notification sounds and the ringer were off. I didn't want it buzzing while we were talking. Not that it would. As Cady had already pointed out, I never got calls or texts on it that weren't from her. I'd probably hold the phone under the table while it recorded. This was going to work. It had to.

  Shawn sat beside me and stared at my phone. "You had a different one in your room, and the person you were talking to… Well, you sounded chummy."

  He wasn't going to let this go. I needed to give him something to appease his curiosity for now.

  I turned and lowered my voice. "It's not a big deal. Really."

  "It is if you're married, engaged, or have a boyfriend back home."

  Was that what this was about? My love life?

  "I told you I like you and I want to get to know you, but I won't do that if you're attached in any way," he said.

  I couldn't help but smile. He was sweet and kind, and had a healthy dose of confidence that was very attractive. Of course, this wasn't going to make my decision of when to go home any easier.

  I shook my head. "No, that was just a friend. He's been helping my mom with an issue while I've been gone, and he was letting me know that everything is fine."

  Shawn visibly relaxed. "Good. And why do you have two phones?"

  "Would it be okay if I don't explain that right now?" I asked. "Can we discuss it later, after this dinner?"

  His nod was slow, almost hesitant, and we held eye contact. "Sure."

  Good. I felt relieved that I was done, more or less, with lying. But then I wondered about him.

  "Do you have anyone back home waiting on you? Anyone anywhere for that matter."

  His dimple emerged as he said, "No, no one."

  My smile grew at the prospect of getting to know this man that I was about to never see again. I was a mess.

  * * *

  When I spotted Whitney in the doorway, my stomach flipped several times. Beside her walked Finley, and right behind them were Greer and Mimi.

  Showtime!

  They each wore a smile, including Greer, although his was less illuminating than the women's, and while their faces looked relaxed, the rest of their body language said otherwise. Hunched shoulders up to their ears, fists by their sides. But when I reintroduced Shawn, they each seemed to loosen up a bit. As if his presence meant what I wanted to share with them wouldn't be shocking. They seemed to think he was their buffer to a good time. Little did they know just how wrong they were about that.

  Aiden served a round of ice water and took drink and food orders. I tried to not mentally subtotal the bill as everyone gave him their choices. Now I was the tense one.

  "Does he cook and tend bar by himself?" Mimi asked softly. She was seated across from Cady again, at the right end of our makeshift table. In fact, all four of us women, as well as Shawn, had taken the identical seats as last time. Finley moved to the head of the table, where Barclay had sat, and Greer was directly across from me. Fun.

  "No. He normally has a part-time chef, but he's not here tonight," Cady said.

  Finley asked Shawn about life as a doctor on the open seas, and Shawn told story after story about his experiences, even though we'd touched this topic the last time Shawn shared a meal with us. I guessed it was a safe conversation.

  When Shawn ran out of stories to share, the weather was brought up and how lovely the days had been in Barbados. No rain during their entire vacation. They'd lucked out.

  Aside from the dead body and all, but let's not mention that.

  We fell into a silence before the food arrived, and then we softly cheered upon seeing it. To strangers we probably seemed famished, but we had run out of neutral topics to discuss, so anything was a welcome change.

  Despite my decision to lay everything out before them, I was starting to get cold feet. I was no longer sure this was the best choice.

  "Where is your ship headed to next?" Whitney asked befor
e biting into her sandwich.

  I stabbed my fork into a fish cake. I hadn't wanted more fried food, but it was pretty much all there was on Aiden's menu.

  Cady cleared her throat before answering. "The Cannes, Riviera is next."

  Everyone except Greer murmured happy moans.

  Whitney touched Finley's hand on the table. "We should book our honeymoon there."

  "I thought you wanted to go to Hawaii." He sipped his beer.

  She shrugged and giggled. "As long as it's warm and tropical and I'm Mrs. Patterson, I don't care."

  They leaned into each other and kissed.

  Greer made some grumble in his throat and rolled his eyes.

  "When is the wedding?" Cady asked.

  The couple parted, and Finley gazed our way. "We haven't set an official date yet. We're waiting until after the election."

  "Doesn't that take a year to plan?" Cady asked.

  "Which works out perfectly because the election isn't for another year, right?" I asked.

  "Yes, but we're going for last minute with our closest friends and family," Whitney said in a strained tone.

  Someone wasn't happy about their decision. A decision she hadn't mentioned yesterday on the beach. I wondered if they'd discussed this change last night or she hadn't wanted to mention it because she didn't approve.

  "Do you have a dress picked out?" Cady asked with that bubbly tone I loved.

  "Not yet, but I've peeked, and I think I know the one I want. I'm going to try it on when we return," Whitney said with an equal amount of pop and fizzle in her voice.

  Finley frowned. "I thought you were going to wait. I have a campaign to continue."

  "Picking out a dress has nothing to do with you, dear." Her tone was back to being filled with grit.

  "It's never too early to plan a wedding," Cady said.

  Whitney smiled, and Finley squeezed her hand.

  "What about you, Mimi?" Cady asked. "What plans do you have when you return home?"

  Mimi glanced around the table and then lowered her lashes and shrugged. "None really. Just back to family and friends."

  "Do you work?" Shawn asked.