So Then There Were None

by Annie Adams

  “My key was right here in this pocket,” he said with a trace of alarm.

  “Seems our Pam has many skills, including pick-pocketing.”

  His sigh of frustration was forceful enough to rattle the cupboard doors in the kitchen. “So, next question. Give it to me, I’m ready.”

  “Okay, Eva.”

  “What about—”

  “Hey, Alex, we’re done with the grills, we can take over in here.” Chad had found Johnny earlier, and they’d taken care of cleaning up the pool deck and barbeque grills. Now they stood in the doorway.

  Alex started to say something—probably telling Chad and Johnny not to worry about it. But then he stopped, glanced at me and said, “That would be great. We’ve got something to do right away.”

  The two younger men happily came into the kitchen and I followed Alex out without a clue as to what he had in mind. Once in the hallway, he grabbed my hand and said, “C’mon,” with a grin on his face and an excited twinkle in his eye.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Upstairs, to our room. I don’t want to say anything else out loud until we get into our room where there’s no chance someone will overhear and ruin our plans by showing up.”

  I didn’t have anywhere else to be, so I followed him. Once inside our room, he went into the bathroom, then came back out holding our swimsuits, which had been hanging up to dry.

  “Here, put this on. We’ve got the hot tub all to ourselves. The guys will be in their cabin and—”

  “Cabin? They have cabins here too? How big is this island?”

  “It’s just a little shack,” Alex said as if he’d made regular visits. I looked at him questioningly. “I’…ve heard,” he said.

  “Did you ever watch Fantasy Island as a kid?”

  “No, my parents didn’t want us to, plus I thought it was dumb. I’d rather have played baseball outside with the neighborhood kids.”

  “We weren’t allowed to watch either, which is why I would sneak and watch it at Aunt Rosie’s place. My point is that this island is starting to sound a lot like the one on TV. It seems to have never ending boundaries.”

  “Speaking of boundaries, the people who are always crossing ours are on the beach having a bonfire. Let’s hurry.”

  He was right. We changed in record time and ran downstairs. Only, instead of putting on the suit I’d worn earlier, I pulled a special bikini I’d purchased just for the trip out of my luggage. I used the same cover-up as before, so that there was no chance of anyone but Alex seeing me in a two-piece bathing suit. And I figured he’d like the surprise once we got to the pool.

  We crossed through the garden room, where Alex turned on a lamp in the opposite corner of the room from the French doors, then we went outside.

  “How come you turned on the lamp?” I asked.

  “Because I don’t want to have the lights around the hot tub broadcast to everyone that we’re here. If the light is on in there, they’re less likely to see us out here.”

  “So smart,” I said.

  On the pool deck, I found the switch that turned the bubbles on and set our towels on nearby deck chairs. I heard a scraping noise and turned to see Alex dragging another deck chair and placing it in front of the French doors.

  He ambled over with a proud look on his face. “Extra deterrent, just in case.”

  “Wow, very serious,” I said.

  “I’m serious about having this hot tub to ourselves.” Alex walked straight down the steps into the deepest part of the hot tub and gestured for me to join him.

  “How do you do that?”

  “What?”

  “Just step into the water like that, like it’s a barely-warm bath.” I stuck my toe in and gasped.

  “I guess I’m just hot blooded.” He winked at me and smiled.

  That’s when I took off the cover-up and tossed it onto the deck chair. I guess K.C. wasn’t the only one on the island with a flair for the dramatic.

  “Whoa, babe. Talk about hot-blooded. I think I might pass out.”

  I think I probably blushed then, but to be honest, my entire body had a rosy glow due to the boiling cauldron I was trying to grow accustomed to.

  “Come over here.” He moved both hands to my waist and gently pulled me toward him. He hooked a finger under the strap of fabric on my hip. “Wow, how come you didn’t wear this earlier?”

  “I…”

  “’Cause if you had, the other women would have felt so intimidated, they would have left and we would have had the pool all to ourselves.”

  “I think someone is trying to sweet-talk me.”

  He flicked his eyebrows up seductively. “Absolutely. How am I doing?”

  I sat down next to him and leaned back against his outstretched arm.

  “I’m not sure yet. You’ll have to keep going.”

  He laughed. “Okay. I could tell you how pretty and sexy you are all day long, no problem.”

  I rewarded him with a kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Q.”

  I leaned back again and let myself relax. I released a sigh that seemed to go on forever. Alex laughed. “Feel better?” he said.

  “I guess I didn’t realize how much stress I was holding in.”

  “We can’t have you stressed out, that was the whole point of having a weekend together. Here, turn away from me.” I obliged and he began to massage my shoulders. “I’m sorry this trip hasn’t been very fun,” he said quietly.

  I turned back to look at him but he directed my shoulders forward and kept massaging. “This weekend has been fun—there have just been some—interesting things going on.”

  I could hear his low, quick, laugh next to my ear. “And by interesting you mean—”

  “Unusual, I guess. But we’re here together now, so we should enjoy the moment.”

  “I agree,” he replied in a soft voice, just before he kissed a spot right below my ear. It sent shivers from the top of my loosely clasped hair to the tips of my toenails.

  “I enjoyed that,” I heard myself say.

  His hands traveled down my arms and then to other places. Somehow I found myself sitting across his lap and we indulged in some nuzzling and kissing until I felt the back of my bikini top come untied.

  “Alex!”

  “What?” he said with angelic eyes and a devilish smile.

  “What if someone sees me?”

  He smiled again, this time even wider. “That’s the whole point, my dear.” He looked down at the small gap between us. My top floated on the surface of the water, even though the straps were still looped over my shoulders.

  “You sound like the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood—the one that had fur—not the real one. We can’t just go topless here.”

  “Why not? I am.”

  “Very funny. But I don’t think it’s allowed.”

  He made a show of looking around the perimeter. “I don’t see any signs that say no going topless. As long as we don’t run or bring food or drink into the pool, and notice that there is no lifeguard on duty, I think we’re good.”

  I wasn’t winning this battle, and I probably wasn’t helping my case by wavering in my objections. I mean, I was with my fiancé, in a beautiful setting, with no one around and my head was the only part of me above the water anyway. Why not let loose a little? At that moment I imagined how appalled my religious mother would be just to know I had even entertained the idea of going topless. And just the fact that I, an adult woman was so programmed to feel guilty at a moment like this annoyed me so much, that it sealed the deal. Topless it would be.

  I took a step back into the middle of the hot tub and ducked down until my shoulders were under the water.

  “Where are you going?”

  I grinned at Alex while sliding the straps off of my shoulders.

  “What are you up to?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said, letting go of the bikini top.

  “I’m gonna find out,” he sai
d as he lunged forward. I shrieked and turned away. And he pursued, which of course, was only about three feet, us being in a hot tub and all. It was all very silly, but fun. And isn’t that what get away vacations are all about?

  Alex grabbed me and lifted me up. “Well, hello Ms. Riding Hood. It seems you’ve lost your cape.”

  We returned to the seating ledge and Alex slowly and carefully ran kisses down my neck. I closed my eyes and reached for the nape of his neck to run my fingers through his hair, but stopped when I heard a sound.

  I couldn’t help but gasp when I saw movement on the other side of the French doors.

  “You like that?” Alex cooed.

  “No it’s—”

  Alex stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. “Sorry, I thought you liked—”

  “No. Look!” I said.

  My eyes came into focus just as a loud knock sounded, caused by the door slamming into the deck chair Alex had used to block the entrance.

  Oh no. I crossed my arms over my chest. “My top, where is it?”

  I did a hurried visual search around the hot tub, hoping that by some miracle it would just be floating there on the surface. It wasn’t.

  I looked up. “Alex, a little help here.” I couldn’t get his attention. I grabbed his shoulders. “Alex!” That seemed to jolt him out of whatever he was fixated on.

  “What?”

  “My swimsuit! Do you see it anywhere?”

  He looked at me with glazed over eyes, as if he’d been in a trance and I’d just snapped my fingers to wake him up.

  “Oh, um…” he blinked a couple of times. “I…don’t think…you’ll need it.”

  What? I was all for being playful together, but no way was I going to be seen like this by anyone else.

  Suddenly there was a chorus of shrieks. I looked up to see a banshee horde breach the last bastion to our private oasis of solitude and come marauding across the pool deck. There was nary a swimsuit to be seen, top or bottom.

  I saw things bounce and sway that I will never be able to unsee.

  If there was any relief, it was in seeing some of the bridesmaids jump into the pool. The relief was short-lived. Audra swooped in from the side, followed by Regan.

  “Hey Alex, I’ve got something to show you,” Audra said as she towered at the lip of the hot tub, all of her features daring anyone to look away.

  “We found Candee’s phone,” Regan said while posing statuesquely next to Audra.

  “Here, take a look,” Audra said, extending her hand, which did actually hold a cell phone, and bending over so that her large, very visible breasts were likely to tip her over into my lap.

  I still sat on Alex’s lap with my back to his chest. I felt him slip an arm around the front of me and my hair being released from its clip. He buried his face in my hair and proceeded to kiss the nape of my neck.

  “We’re kind of busy here, do you mind?” he said.

  I smiled triumphantly and shrugged. If you’re busy, you’re busy, right?

  The two bathing beauties retreated and joined the others.

  I turned my head and spoke over my shoulder. “I love you so much, you know. And they’re gone.”

  He pulled me around to face him. “I love you too. And while I feel that I have exhibited super-human strength, I can’t avert my eyes any longer. I’ve got to get out of here.”

  I touched my forehead to his and smiled. “You go first. Wait.”

  “What now?” he said wearily.

  I reached down and patted him on the leg. “Oh good, you still have your suit on. You can leave.”

  “Nice one. I might remember to toss you a towel before you get out of the pool.”

  Despite the cavorting nymphs who were behind my back in the main pool, I took the time to kiss my sweet fiancé one last time.

  I placed my hands on either side of his face, the long day’s stubble scraping delightfully under my palms. And as I gently touched my lips to his, there was a new noise, and it came from inside the house.

  At first, I thought it was another of my “ghostly” encounters, but the voices I had been hearing were of the eerie, whispery, kind, not the “woooo-ey” kind that you hear in cartoons or spook-alleys. This was more human, and as it grew closer and louder, it became more familiar.

  I braced my hands on either side of Alex’s face, and looked at him, our noses almost touching. His back was to the house, and although I hadn’t seen anything yet, I was pretty sure I knew what was about to happen.

  “Q, why don’t we continue this upstairs in our room? You know, where we can deadbolt the door?”

  “Don’t move,” I told him. “Remember the movie where everyone had to close their eyes when they opened the Lost Ark?”

  “Yes…?”

  The sound grew louder and took on the quality of a disturbed animal. “What is going on back there?” He tried to turn his head but I held firm. “Babe,” I said, feeling desperation creeping into my voice, “remember what happened to the Nazi at the end?” My words spat out rapid fire with the intensity of the sun’s rays.

  His eyes crinkled around the edges and he grinned. “The one wh—?”

  “Whose face melted off. Yeah. Close your eyes, and whatever you do, don’t open them. Or the same thing will happen to you.”

  He laughed and closed his eyes just as the fiend revealed herself at the doorway. She stood, arms raised, proclaiming her arrival. She took off and her footsteps pounded on the concrete of the pool deck as she passed by, every bare inch of her. My eyes followed, unable to look away from the spectacle.

  A chorus of bacchanalian screams let loose from the pool.

  It all happened so slowly then. The naked bridesmaids scattered to the perimeter of the pool, clearing a landing spot in the middle of the water.

  She climbed onto the diving board and started the beginning of an eternity of flesh-flopping bounces on the flexible fiberglass, each descent from the apex of her jump leaving the voluminous pair of feminine parts of her body suspended in air, reaching above her head for a gravity-defying split second. And then, they made their logic-defying, missile-like plunge toward the pool with each ensuing upward spring her feet made off of the board. Her body seesawed this way time, after time, after time.

  “Oh…my…God…” Alex’s voice uttered next to my ear, just as K.C. shot herself over the water, folded into a ball and yelled, “Naked cannonball!”

  The ensuing splash seemed to empty a quarter of the water onto the pool deck. We took that moment of supreme distraction to beat it out of there. I paused only long enough to grab my cover-up and towel. There was no time to put the cover-up on, I just clutched it to my chest and ran into the building.

  We didn’t stop until we reached our room.

  “Please tell me you have a room key,” I said.

  He pulled the keycard from a pocket in his trunks. He couldn’t get the key in fast enough. Finally, we got in and he switched the deadbolt shut then leaned his back against the door. With his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling, he looked like someone who’d just barely escaped the ax-wielding psychopath in a horror flick.

  Still clutching my towel and cover-up to my chest, I waited for him to open his eyes. Once he did we looked at each other and broke into uproarious laughter. My sides hurt and tears ran down my face. I went to him and he encircled me with his arms.

  “Did we really just see that?” I asked.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but it took an awful long time before anything came out. I think he was truly in shock. “I don’t believe I’m saying this, but—whatever happens the rest of this night—can we do it with our shirts on?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Promenade at the Pool had done well to dissolve any ideas I might have had regarding sexy-time antics…kind of like dropping chlorine tablets into a bubbling hot tub. I felt foolish for having lost my swim top and putting myself in a vulnerable position. Of course, if I were someone else, I would have jumped out of
the Jacuzzi and joined in on the party. But that just wasn’t me.

  I don’t know what Alex would have done in a similar situation if I weren’t there. I pondered this as I blew my hair dry while he took a shower. I imagined him in some undercover operation with a bunch of drug dealers, somewhere like L.A., at a lavish pool party. My anger grew as I imagined him, coolly taking a beer from some topless woman and pretending to have no problem at all being there—

  “Babe!”

  “Huh?” I looked up and realized I had been off in my own tortured world.

  “You look upset.”

  I was upset. With him. I was stuck in a day-dream haze. I shut off the hair-dryer and did a light shake of my head, trying to clear the fog. How could I be so angry with him for a fake scenario of my own creation? I stood up from the bed, wrapped my arms around him, and held him tight.

  “What’s the matter?” His tone, sweet and empathetic, made me feel even worse.

  “I’m just glad you’re here and not there.”

  He laughed. “Where is there?”

  “At the pool.”

  He shuddered. “I need to get that out of my head. Hurry, say the first thing that comes to mind that isn’t at all related to what happened there.”

  I thought for a moment. “How about…global warming.”

  He looked up and away in thought. “Mm, no good. The warmer it gets, the less clothing people will wear.”

  We shared a mutual grimace and then laughed.

  "Why don't we go for a walk?" he suggested.

  "Great idea, do you think we'll need jackets?"

  "I don't know, why don't you ask Pam?" he joked.

  We used the back stairway near Kourtnee’s—now K.C.’s—room. I stopped and put my ear to the door, wondering if she might be inside. I didn’t hear anything. Heaven forbid they were all still at the pool.

  Once outside, we walked toward the woodsy area where Kourtnee allegedly kept her camp site. The sun had already set and the last bits of light had given way to a soft, gentle twilight. We skirted the outer edge and made our way down toward the rocky beach where Chad had found Sydnee's body.