So Then There Were None

by Annie Adams

  "Wow. That's a great explanation," Alex said.

  I was surprised.

  "It's not very likely, but it's creative."

  That stung just a bit.

  "I don't know,” Kourtnee said. “Jill's a slob. I can't imagine her making her bed. She hasn't the whole time she's been here.” She sighed, “I don't even care. I just need to get out of this place. I'm taking my stuff outside, and I'm going to find out how to leave this island."

  "I'm sure this is all part of the game." I glanced at Alex. "Despite what my fiancé thinks. And even if it isn’t, she’s an adult—she can leave whenever she wants to."

  "Okay, I'll play along for now," Alex said. "Let's say this is part of the mystery. Why would Jill give up on the chance for $10,000 for one thing? And where did she disappear to?"

  "Jill does need the money," Kourtnee said. "She wouldn't miss out on a chance to win it. Plus she's competitive."

  "Well, maybe they paid her to play the victim," I said hopefully.

  "This mystery game seems mighty spendy for Mike and Christie, or their friends," Alex said.

  “Christie's Dad is loaded, he's got the money," Kourtnee said.

  "See, that's probably it. Jill is in on it," I said.

  "Okay, then," Alex held his hands out, "where did she go?"

  "She's probably hiding somewhere in this house," I said.

  Alex hitched one side of his face. "She's going to hide all weekend?"

  "Well…no," I stammered. "She probably left already."

  "Did she swim?" Alex asked.

  I gave him an exasperated look. "She took a boat, of course."

  "Let's go down and look. There were only so many boats docked here last night when I came back from trying to drop K.C. off, and we were the last in. The guys took two boats this morning, and there was one boat left. All we have to do is go down and see that there are no boats docked and we'll have proof that you're right, Quincy."

  He was sounding very smug at that particular moment.

  "In fact, I think we should make a little wager."

  "Okay," I said, "a wager is fine by me."

  Kourtnee grabbed her backpack. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go."

  "But if my lovely fiancé is correct, there won't be any boats for you to leave in," Alex said.

  "I'm just going to set up outside. I hate living inside, to tell you the truth. If I could have my way, I’d sleep outside all the time."

  I eyed her backpack. "Is that a tent in there?"

  "Yeah. I'm gonna go set up in that little wooded area outside. That’s my element. I'll come get my other stuff once I get set up."

  "Are you sure you want to stay outside?" Alex asked.

  "Believe me, I'm sure. If I didn't have to hold down a job, I would literally live in the mountains full-time. That’s why I work for an outdoor equipment company. I get to test everything before we can sell it. Anyway, I'll see you guys. Good luck with your bet. My money's on...hell, I don't know. I'm just getting out, it’s too heavy in here for me."

  She hoisted the pack onto her back and left.

  I blew out a deep breath.

  Alex glanced at the door she had just gone through, then went to check and make sure it was closed. He led me to the far corner of the room.

  In a quiet voice he said, "Did you notice the discrepancies in her story?"

  "No, I wasn't here for the original interview."

  "Well, there were a couple of things that changed from what she told me the first time. But maybe I'll think about it some more before I get too concerned." He paused. "Now, about that wager..."

  "Oh yeah." The competitive spirit stoked inside of me. "What are we betting on, and what do I get when I win?"

  "Oh-ho, feeling confident are we?"

  "Very," I said.

  "You think there won't be any boats outside."

  I nodded.

  "And I think there will be at least one, unless those guys have come back and then there will be three. But I know which two they took, so that won't be a problem."

  "Except that there will be no boats, so it will be a problem for you."

  He grinned, making the dimples appear on both sides of his mouth and his eyes crinkled. He looked very cute when his eyes crinkled like that.

  "So what do I win when we find that there are no boats?" I stared at him diabolically.

  He took my hands in his and gazed down into my eyes. "Hmm, if I'm right, and we find at least one boat downstairs...we will set a wedding date on the spot, right down there on the beach." He nodded toward a window.

  "That's not so bad. Even if I thought I was wrong—which I don't—I'm ready to set a date. So the stakes aren’t really that high."

  "Well, if that's the case, what's the date?"

  "Let's just finish the task at hand. What if I'm right?"

  He waggled his finger at me. "I wasn't finished, my dear."

  I folded my arms and tapped my toe.

  "Once the date is set, you will arrange to go shopping—"

  "No!"

  "—with my mother, for wedding stuff."

  I gave him a good, long, calculating stare. "Good thing I'm right. Now, what is your consequence of being oh, so wrong?”

  He looked down at his fingernails and gave them a shine on his shirt front. "I never entertained that possibility."

  "Aren't you the confident one?”

  "I am." He smirked.

  "Since you are so confident—you won't worry at all about going shopping for wedding stuff with my mom…annnd my sisters!" I watched with glee as his face contorted into a pained mask.

  "Not that."

  "Oh, yes. That." I laughed wickedly. "Feeling a little worried, yet?"

  “Who me? Nah. I’m feeling…” He gathered me in his arms and pulled me close. "You really want to set a date?"

  "I do." I smiled, and a wave of relief washed over me from head to toe. Finally, setting a date for our wedding felt perfectly right. I suddenly felt so happy.

  Most of the decisions in my life up until then had been made because of concern about how others felt or what others thought I should be doing. This decision was all mine and had been made for the right reasons.

  "Let's get a calendar and check on all the high school dance dates, and cross off any holidays and the weddings I’ve got booked. Oh, and we should talk to everyone in our families and see if there are any major events so we don't conflict with those."

  "Whatever you say, my love." He smiled and then kissed me gently. He began to speak while our lips still touched. "You do have my mom’s phone number, don’t you?"

  I craned my neck and leaned my head back to look at him. "Yes. Why?"

  He turned us around and pointed out the window. "Look right there. That's the boat in question, still docked."

  "No fair! You knew it was there the whole time!"

  He didn't say anything. He almost seemed to fight the grin that took over his mouth. Almost.

  “Seriously, though. If she didn’t sail back to land, and she’s not passed out in her bed, what do you think is going on?” I asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I don’t see any evidence of harm or foul play. Jill didn’t complain to anyone of anything. It’s possible she just wanted to go home. Kourtnee claims she came right downstairs and told everyone, but what if she didn’t? Maybe she finished getting ready and just thought she’d let Jill sleep it off? Kourtnee’s told me two different versions of the story.”

  “I just remembered—Regan said she overheard Kourtnee say something about pills when she came out to talk to you in the hall. Is that true?”

  He squinted as if trying to retrieve the memory. “I don’t remember seeing Regan. She could have been within earshot and I just didn’t see her.”

  “And Jill could have left at any time this morning.”

  “Yeah. Or even last night with one of the boat loads of guests, if Kourtnee didn’t really see Jill. I’m wondering if anyone saw the guy
s leave this morning. We should ask around and see if anyone saw Jill get on one of those two boats and just failed to mention it.”

  A thought hit me when Alex said Jill could have left the night before. I went over to the night stand. “I know we need to worry about fingerprints, but—”

  “It’s water. I carefully dipped my finger in and then smelled it and tasted it.”

  “What if it was poisoned?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  I gave my best effort at sighing so that he knew how much I didn’t like that type of logic.

  “You’re so cute when you try to pretend to be mad at me.”

  I gave him a little tap to the shoulder with my fist.

  “Ow! Okay, I had my suspicions before I tested it. There were a couple of times I got close enough to Jill yesterday, that if she’d been drinking as much as she pretended to be, she would have smelled like a brewery. She didn’t smell like booze at all.”

  “That close, huh?”

  “Close enough. Those pills are for heartburn, by the way, and the bottle looks pretty full.” He cast his eyes downward. “Listen, I think you’re right about this being part of the whole pretend mystery game.” He held his hands up defensively. “Now don’t celebrate too hard. You might hurt yourself.” He winked at me and then backed off so I couldn’t reach him.

  “I’m celebrating on the inside. And, by the way, since Jill is probably gone, there is a high likelihood she left on some kind of a boat—so, I didn’t lose the bet—but someone in this room did. Enjoy shopping with my mom and my sisters. You’ll want to wear comfortable shoes. They like to make a whole day of their shopping trips.”

  I laughed mockingly as I walked toward him. He looked as if he were suffering physical pain. I reached out and slid my arms around him. “I’m sure we could reach a compromise,” I said.

  “How’s about we go to our own room, and then you can put me in a compromising position,” he said.

  I smiled up at him and felt a shiver run through me to all the right places. “That’s not what I said.”

  “No? I distinctly remember you saying something about compromising me.” He blinked at me innocently.

  “There’s no time. We’re supposed to have been changing into our swimsuits. They’ll be waiting for us downstairs.”

  “We’ll see about that.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the door. I followed him into the hall willingly.

  We reached the door to our room. “Are you really wearing that underwear you described?” he asked.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  He unlocked the door, rushed us inside and then turned the deadbolt. His eyes sparkled when he turned and looked at me. A devilish grin curled into his lips as he pulled me into him.

  “I’m about to find out.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alex and I finally made it out to the pool deck, walking hand in hand. We’d eventually changed into our swimsuits. There hadn’t been any more talk of the mystery game or winning our bets. Actually, there hadn’t been much talk at all.

  “Well, look who finally showed up,” K.C. blurted out from the middle of the pool.

  Pam marched over to where we stood. “Took you a while to change. K.C. said you’d be right back.”

  My cheeks had so much heat coming off of them, I probably wouldn’t need any sun to look burned. I took a look at Alex. He wore a killer grin. Oh well, I thought. So what if people knew what we were doing? That’s what I tried to convince myself of, anyway. Call it religious guilt or maternal guilt, whatever the source, there always seemed to be a lot of guilt.

  “How is Jill?” more than one person said.

  I looked at Alex and he squeezed my hand. “She’ll be up and at ‘em in no time. I think it was a false alarm.”

  “Where’s Kourtnee?” Regan asked.

  “Um, she decided to go on a hike. She might set up her tent outside.” I realized Kourtnee might find a way to leave the island, and if she did, she wouldn’t be around to tell the truth about Jill.

  “We’ll probably never see her again, then,” Megan said.

  I glanced at Alex, who—credit to his undercover skills—managed not to react.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “She goes on these long hikes. Sometimes she doesn’t come back for days.”

  “Oh.” I tried not to let my voice betray the relief I felt from hearing that information.

  “Let’s get in,” Alex said. He pulled his shirt off and all of his muscles rippled from biceps to six-pack. His golden skin glowed in the sun. I couldn’t help but notice all the appreciative looks he received.

  He dove, head-first into the deep end. He didn’t seem to have noticed all of the female adoration, which I appreciated, although I was very adoring of the sight of him diving myself.

  He burst out of the water and called for me to jump in. Before I could even think about it, my body froze and a sick feeling came over me. I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. I knew how to dive, and Alex was right there if anything were to go wrong, but all I could do was flash back to one of the times I almost drowned.

  I’d gone to the new waterslide park with my sisters and cousins. After being shot out the wrong side of the tube and landing in front of the return water pipe, I quickly felt my body being drawn into the opening. There was no safety grate. I grabbed the lip of the pipe. My nine-year-old hands were barely big enough to grasp the edge.

  My legs were being sucked up into the tube. I tried calling out, but my voice wouldn’t work. I waved one hand to get the attention of the teenage girl who was the lifeguard, standing only a few feet away, talking to a cute boy. When I let go to wave, I was sucked further into the tube.

  I couldn’t hold on much longer.

  After what seemed like forever, someone yanked on my arm. My Aunt Rosie held on with both hands, but still my legs were being sucked into the tube. Rosie yelled to the lifeguard girl to help. The girl held out the rescue pole she’d been holding, which accomplished nothing. My mother appeared next to Rosie and between the two of them they were able to pull me out against the crushing power of the moving water.

  Now, as an adult, I stood there on the deck of the pool, unable to talk, panic still rising in my chest, causing me to feel like I was suffocating. Remembering that it was one of the only days in my life when I’d ever heard my mother curse made me laugh and brought me back to the present moment.

  I realized Alex was there in the pool waiting for me.

  “I—missed a spot with my sunscreen, I’ll be right in.”

  He nodded and swam over to K.C., and I reapplied some SPF 50 to my nose. It probably wouldn’t hurt to add more anyway.

  I walked to the shallow end of the pool and carefully stepped down, into the water, using the hand rail, slowly getting used to the feel of the water on my body. I began to relax once I felt in control. Then I began to feel ridiculous—a grown woman being so scared of walking into a swimming pool—the water wasn’t even up to my waist yet.

  Audra held court in the hot tub with some of the ladies, while the rest of them sun-bathed on deck chairs. I joined Alex and K.C.

  “Okay, you two. I know it didn’t take that long to change into your suits. I want a detailed accounting of what went on up there while you were gone.”

  Alex looked like he was going to say something but he paused, his mouth just kind of hanging open. “K.C., I consider you to be family, but there are some things that even family doesn’t need to know.”

  K.C. replied in a quiet voice, so I knew she was serious. “Quincy, you promised me details. We had an agreement.”

  Alex looked at me, horrified.

  “I mean, I thought it was unfair that I couldn’t participate, but for you not to even tell me—” she continued.

  “K.C., I think—” I said.

  “Is it about the money?” she said.

  Alex looked at us as if we had lost our minds. “K.C., I don’t know what to say.”<
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  “I think you guys are talking about two completely different things,” I finally managed to get in.

  They looked at each other.

  “What were you talking about?” Alex asked.

  “Our friend Jill. The possible crime scene. What did you think I was talking about?”

  “Not that,” Alex said.

  “Well what else would I have been talking about? You were up there long enough to— oh my sweet pickles—you were up there barneymugging, weren’t you?”

  “Maybe?” Alex said. “I have no idea what that means.”

  “It means what you think I thought you were up to.”

  Alex looked thoroughly confused.

  K.C. inhaled sharply, “And you thought I would ask such a thing?”

  “Oh look there’s Pam.” I never thought I would be this grateful for one of Pam’s intrusions. She came sharking over to my boyfriend as he floated there like a baby seal.

  "Is Jill really okay?" Pam asked. She was up to her neck in the water, likely standing flat-footed, where the rest of us had to crouch down in order to cover our shoulders with the water. It added to her shark image—just a small portion of her showing above the water, just like a dorsal fin.

  Alex sighed. I could tell he was calculating what to tell her. "Listen, I want to talk to everyone about Jill. Aren't we meeting for lunch soon?"

  "We're about to start the games. I made an executive decision and decided not to wait for the other men to come back. We're sick of waiting on them, and besides, we want you all to ourselves." At that she moved in close like she was hugging him. His eyes suddenly opened wide, in surprise. “Just kidding,” she said, almost imperceptibly.

  "Whoa, I don't know...I'm a little too outnumbered, I think," he said as he extricated himself.

  "Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be fine." She made a clicking sound in her cheek and winked. "I'll go tell Eva to get started and you can tell us what we need to know then, Officer Cooper."

  He nodded, wearing a wan smile.

  After her head floated away, Alex blew out a breath. "Geez, what do they call those things that attack you under the water—a barracuda?”