Caribbean Fire

by Rick Murcer

  Glancing down at his still blinking phone, he realized that he hadn’t checked the other message.

  Josh pushed the message button, and then stopped it, struck with an idea he seldom entertained. He was going to go home early.

  One insane situation for the day sufficed. He had to finish getting Belle Simmons on board, and that would remain his priority. But he could make that call to her while leaving the building. God knew he had about a billion vacation days to take. Today was as good as any.

  The thought of spending the rest of the day with his wife and boys and getting started early on a good book had taken over. He was now on a mission.

  One more glance at the blinking light on his phone told him he was right.

  Impetuous wasn’t really in his makeup, but it would be today.

  “Tomorrow is another day,” he whispered and stood and left his office, taking the note with Munoz’s information with him.

  CHAPTER-7

  After spending twenty minutes in the resort’s large van, the driver’s ability to successfully negotiate San Miguel’s traffic brought into question more than once, Manny found himself in the unique lobby of the Casa Palms Beach Resort.

  The design was quiet yet alive with Caribbean and Mexican culture. The full-wall mural on the south side of the lobby depicted the orange sun setting over the teal Caribbean waters, shadowed by a sailboat heading directly into the larger-than-life orb. The mural was not only well done but gave a sense of sailing off into the peaceful embrace of the horizon.

  He ran his hand through his hair and did his best to take the symbolism to heart. He felt himself relax a bit more.

  Chloe clasped his hand.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  “Sure. I’m pretty cheap.”

  “And easy,” said Chloe, smiling.

  “That too,” he said, mirroring her grin.

  “I’m just trying to get into all of this. I sometimes forget just how perpetually wound up this life we lead can become. I’m reminding myself to relax and kick out the junk at least for a few days.”

  “I’ll see what I can do to help. I think the first thing we should do, after the other four get back from scouting out the pool, is get a strong pina colada, put on our bathing suits, and get a wee bit sunburned,” said Chloe.

  “The first thing?” he asked, winking.

  “Oh, yeah . . . well the second thing then,” she giggled.

  “That sounds great. And you’ve had that whole pool thing planned, right?”

  “I have. We just need to get this luggage to the room, and I need to make a call to Mum.”

  Manny looked at his wife. “You mean when we make the call, right?”

  “Yeah, whatever. I just have to make sure he ate and—”

  Chloe, and the rest of the guests, were interrupted by the rising sounds of a distraught woman at the far end of the marble counter. Distraught didn’t cover it actually.

  More like terrified.

  The fiftyish lady in the red-and-blue-flowered dress shifted her weight and removed her wide-brimmed hat, releasing her long, brown hair. She reached out to grasp the arm of the thin clerk.

  “You don’t understand. He would never be gone this long without letting me know where he is, never.”

  Her accent indicated she was English. Her articulation indicated she was probably well educated.

  “Missus Rathburn. I’m terribly sorry that you can’t locate your husband. But we have searched the property, and he is not where we can locate him,” answered the clerk, trying to maintain a professional air.

  She wasn’t making it easy, and her tears were adding more pressure.

  “Pedro. You said your security people didn’t see him leave. That means he’s here somewhere. Right? I demand that you look again. He may have fallen or God knows what.”

  Pedro grew more nervous. “Please come to the office. We can discuss what to do there, Missus Rathburn.”

  Her voice rose higher. “I don’t want to come back to your bloody office. I want you to call the authorities and keep looking for my Aaron. We’ve been coming here for over twenty years. You owe me that much, Pedro.”

  Manny sighed. So much for taking the relaxing to the next level.

  Leaving the lobby and going up to their fourth-floor room was the smart thing to do. This wasn’t his problem. Her husband was probably sitting on some secluded section of the beach, right?

  That sounded fine, yet his instinct told him that wasn’t true.

  Releasing a breath, he looked at the ceiling fan. For the love of God, he was on vacation.

  But Manny’s whole being ran on helping people who couldn’t solve issues on their own. Studying her actions, his empathy had kicked up a notch. He knew he’d want some help if he were in that same situation and who better than he and his crew to offer that aid?

  He glanced at Chloe. She released his hand and sighed. “Ya just can’t help it, can ya?” she whispered.

  There was no anger in her voice. Only understanding. She got it. She got him.

  He kissed her full on the lips then walked over to the counter.

  “Excuse me. Maybe I can help.”

  The woman turned toward Manny, and his heart broke. His life’s work had consisted of reading people in all states of flux and circumstances. Some were calm, some were extremely emotional, but in every case, as he’d relayed to Sophie more than once, a person’s eyes will unveil more in a few seconds than their tongue could in hours.

  This woman loved her husband. He was almost as important to her as air to life. He guessed they’d been together for a time and probably had no children. The possibility of losing him was only rivaled by the horrifying concept of being without her best friend, alone, for the rest of her life. Either all that was true or she was the best actress on the island. He didn’t think she’d taken any acting lessons.

  She had no idea where he was. If something seriously had happened to him, she wouldn’t be a suspect. Their bond seemed far too strong for that.

  “We can handle this, senor,” answered Pedro with a tight smile. “I’m—”

  “No! You can’t handle this, Pedro. He should be on this bloody resort somewhere.” Mrs. Rathburn turned back to Manny. “Who are you, and how in heaven can you help?”

  He stuck out his hand. “I’m Manny Williams, and I’m a special agent for the FBI. I have some experience in locating missing folks and the like.”

  “FBI?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears again.

  “Yes. I’m here on a short vacation. Listen. I’m sure your husband is fine.”

  “You don’t know that. This is not like him. I’m . . . I’m scared.”

  He took her hand and she let him. “Come sit with me over at those chairs, and tell me what’s going on, okay?” he urged softly.

  Without another word, and with a grateful nod from Pedro, Manny led her over to two chairs, and they sat down across from each other. As they did, Manny noticed a slight man with sunglasses and a bright yellow and green shirt watching both of them intently.

  The man, who looked as if he could be a local, saw that Manny had noticed him, quickly turned away, and headed down the hallway toward the pool. The same hallway Sophie, Dean, Alex, and Barb would be walking to get back to the lobby.

  Filing what he’d seen away for later consideration, he turned his full attention to Mrs. Rathburn.

  “Do you want some water or tea?” he asked.

  She shook her head, her demeanor still distraught, but she seemed better. “No, thank you.”

  “Okay. Again, my name is Manny. I didn’t catch yours.”

  “Oh. I apologize. I’m in such a state. My name in Penelope, but call me Penny, please.”

  “Penny it is. Penny, I want you to take a deep breath and tell me why you’re concerned, and when you first believed something was wrong.”

  The lobby began to return to normal activity while Chloe and the others, who’d made it to the lobby, stood close enough to
hear his conversation, but not too close. Nothing like having trained FBI agents in your inner circle.

  He caught a glimpse of Sophie’s face and noticed her wink. Times like this, he thought she knew him better than anyone else on the planet. Hell, she probably did.

  “Aaron always goes for an early morning jog. Except this morning he said he was taking a day off and wanted to go down and walk the beach. He told me he’d be back to take me to brunch. That was five hours ago, Mister Williams. He’s NEVER done that before. Do you understand?”

  Manny did. Once again, he was captured by the complete emotional attachment she had for her husband. Soul mates was an overused phrase in his mind, yet she seemed to have found hers.

  “So that was around ten. When did you get the hotel’s staff involved?”

  Reaching up to whisk a stray tear away, Penny leaned toward Manny. “I . . . I called Pedro’s office about noon. He should have been back far before then. No one’s seen him since.”

  “Did you ask the staff to review any security cameras they might have on the beach or property lines?”

  She nodded. “I didn’t think of that. But Pedro mentioned that the security people had reviewed the video and didn’t see him anywhere in the area he said he was going.”

  “How about a car? Did you and Aaron rent a car?”

  “Why, yes, we did. He likes to have his own transportation. He sometimes embarks on little treasure hunting trips to the shops on the island. He likes unusual souvenirs. I hardly ever go with him, however. I’d rather read a good book at the beach or the pool.”

  “What kind of souvenirs?”

  Penny stared at Manny, her impatience spiking higher, as she looped her hair behind her ear. “Please don’t take this the odd way, Mister Williams, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “Probably nothing. I only want to get an idea of what your husband is like. It helps me get a mental picture of where his priorities and actions could take him.”

  The dubious look stayed a few more moments. She then raised her eyebrows and clasped her hands together. “You’re the expert, I suppose. Aaron collects figures of jaguars and black panthers. We have two cats and a dog in our home, and he’s much more of a cat person than me. He has a sort of fixation with jaguars. He says collecting the figurines reminds him of his babies.”

  “I see. I get that. I’m a big dog man myself.”

  Manny reached out and touched her arm; she seemed to unwind more. He’d learned to never underestimate the touch of another human when folks are distraught. It could force people to realize that they weren’t alone, even though their perceptions could lead them down that road.

  “I’m sorry, Penny, but I have to ask. Did you and Aaron have an argument or some tiff?”

  “No. We did not. We seldom disagree on things, let alone argue about them. No, Mister Williams, that is not how Aaron and I operate our relationship. We believe life simply too short to engage in that kind of thing.”

  “Great. And that’s an admirable trait. Has he been under any stress lately? Job? Family?”

  She exhaled. “Yes. We recently lost a close family member. It was quite devastating. I believe the worst is over, and he’s seemed to be back to normal the last month or so.”

  “That can be tough. My condolences.”

  “Thank you, Agent.”

  “Okay. I have one more question. Did you see if the car was still parked where he left it?”

  “I didn’t. But one of the security team said it was still on the property.”

  “Good enough. Now, I need you to do something for me, okay?”

  She tilted her head and actually gave him a quick smile. “Thank you for helping, Mister Williams. I finally have the mind that something will be done to locate my Aaron. So of course. What is it?”

  “I’d like you to go down to the beach and look around. Take your time and go over every inch of where Aaron said he was going, okay?” Manny asked softly.

  She raised her hands in protest. “I’ve been there twice. I don’t see the point.”

  More of that insistent impatience rising to the top. He could see she was struggling to control it and doing a pretty good job, considering her state of mind.

  “You were upset and worried about Aaron. You were looking but not really seeing. Does that make sense?”

  Penny stared at her hands for a few seconds. “When you say it that way, it does make sense.”

  Her bright, dark eyes sought his. “If I might ask, Mister Williams, what will you be doing whilst I go back to the beach?”

  He gave her his best reassuring smile. “I’m going to talk to Pedro and the head of security and give them a couple of ideas of where to search.”

  Penny’s eyes grew larger. “Search? So you believe he’s missing?”

  Quickly shaking his head, Manny continued to smile. “Absolutely not. My guess is that your husband is sitting in a quiet little place, drinking tea, and relaxing in this incredible sunshine. People are sometimes prone, in environments like Cozumel, to reflect on life and want to be alone. We just have to find out where that is.”

  “Do you really believe that? You are right. He can be a deep thinker.”

  “I do.”

  Manny motioned for Pedro, who’d been leaning on one of the lobby’s pillars.

  “Pedro will send one of his folks out with you, and you can search together. Two sets of eyes are better.”

  He stood, and she followed suit. Then she stepped over to him and threw her arms around his neck.

  “Thank you, Mister Williams. I feel bloody better about finding him.”

  “You’re welcome. I look forward to meeting your husband.”

  “As do I . . . introducing him to you,” she answered softly.

  With that, she turned away from Manny and joined a female security guard, and they headed toward the pool door and the property’s beach.

  Pedro, accompanied by another man, a larger local with a shaved head and piercing, brown eyes accenting his grey uniform, stepped to him.

  “Thank you for helping to calm her down, Mister Williams. I’m sure her husband will show up shortly. This is Ramon Torres, our head of security.” Manny shook hands with both of them as he sensed Sophie and the others gather behind him.

  “Glad to help. Listen. I think that Aaron Rathburn never made it to the beach.”

  Torres nodded. “I think that is right.”

  His accent was heavy, but he spoke clear English.

  “Having said that, I’d like to see your parking lot’s security video from this morning, if you don’t mind.”

  “Why?” asked Pedro.

  “Just a hunch.”

  Just then, the bellhop appeared from around the corner near the elevators, the wheels of his cart squeaking as he approached.

  Manny turned to Chloe. “We need to help this woman. I’ll be up in fifteen minutes. I promise.”

  “Of course you will.” She kissed him again. “If it’s sixteen, it’ll be a cold night in paradise, don’t you know.”

  Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear. “I love you, and this will be the best five nights of your life.”

  “It better be.”

  He turned toward Torres and felt Sophie approach on his left.

  “I’m going with you. Dean will get us settled in. I’m going to make sure you get this done and then lecture your ass on the fine art of vacationing. Got it, Williams?”

  “I do. And thanks.”

  “You two have at it. I’m heading to the beach,” said Alex.

  “We’ll be there shortly,” said Manny.

  Five minutes later, they were sitting at the security monitors in the back office. The odor of stale smoke and fresh coffee reminded Manny of how things were when he first broke into law enforcement. The smoke was gone, but coffee seemed to be the life force of every cop on the planet.

  Torres sat down and hit a button and the first monitor came to life. The videos were in color, even though
the feed was grainy.

  “So, did you actually go through all of the footage or just check to see if the vehicle was still in the lot?” asked Manny.

  The security chief looked down at his hands and back to Manny.

  “We did not search the video. We didn’t think it necessary. I sent one of my people to verify that the car was still there.”

  Fighting the urge to grab him by the shirt, Manny turned to Sophie and gave her a quick glance: what the hell is wrong with these people? Obviously, the hotel’s security staff wasn’t taking this very seriously. He thought that could be a mistake.

  “Mister Torres, I’d like to see the footage from ten this morning until an hour ago. Can you get that quickly?”

  Torres’s face reflected his almost indignant attitude. He heaved a deep sigh.

  “Yes, I can. Our technology allows it. But I still think it unnecessary.”

  “Noted. Please humor us, okay?”

  Torres sat down at one of the monitor stations and hammered the keyboard for a few seconds. The monitor came to life, showing three cars near a line of palm trees on the west side of the parking lot.

  “Mister Rathburn rented the white Lexus on the end of that row,” said Torres.

  He pointed to the lower left corner of the screen. “At forty minutes after eight this morning, the car was sitting in that spot near the tree line. Our guests like to park there to keep their vehicles out of the sun.”

  He hit another button, and the images raced ahead. He stopped fast-forwarding as the time stamp changed to twelve thirty.

  The white Lexus suddenly reappeared as the video eased to a complete stop.

  “As you can see, senor, the automobile is still there.”

  Manny leaned forward and then quickly glanced at Sophie.

  “Do you see that?”

  “See what? The car? Of course I see the damn—”

  With her index finger, she reached out and touched the screen.

  “Shit, Manny,” she said.

  “What is wrong?” asked Torres, his voice rising higher.

  Exhaling, Manny ran his fingers through his hair. “See those trees? The car is now in a different position since this morning . . . you can tell by looking at the trees. The Lexus was moved.”