Blackie closed his eyes, clearly making no promises.
The next couple days sped by and Cindy woke Monday morning with butterflies in her stomach. She was far more nervous than she had thought she would be. She put on a new white pencil skirt that was shorter than the little black dress and paired it with a sleeveless, pink blouse of raw silk. She slid on a new pair of pink pumps. After fluffing her hair and putting on some make-up she squared her shoulders as she faced herself in the mirror.
“You can do this,” she told her reflection. “Find the bad guys, save the day, wow the guy. You totally can do this.”
She heard a car pull up outside. That would be Mark come to pick her up. She took a deep breath, walked into the family room, grabbed her bags and headed out.
Jeremiah was already in the backseat and she hesitated.
“Love birds sit together in the back,” Mark said as he helped her put her luggage in the trunk. “Just pretend I’m your chauffer.”
“Should we call you James?” she asked, smirking.
“Do and I’ll turn this car right around,” he threatened.
Moments later she was in the backseat. Jeremiah quietly reached out and grabbed her hand, surprising her slightly. She gave it a squeeze, expecting him to let go, but he held on.
“New outfit?” he asked.
“Yes, do you like it?”
“It’s very nice.”
They were on the road in a minute.
“Okay, my captain’s friend who went missing was named Malcolm Griffith. Here’s a picture,” Mark said, passing a photograph back to them.
He was an older looking man, with salt and pepper hair but he looked extremely fit. He looked like the type who was into healthy living, jogging, and all that.
“He went missing a week ago. He was at a health and wellness retreat by himself. Every six months or so he does one of those. Detox, destress, all that stuff,” Mark said. “He never came home, and his wife is frantic. Now the center claims to have no knowledge of what happened to him.”
“Do we know when exactly he disappeared?” Cindy asked.
“Not with one hundred percent certainty. He was in the habit of phoning his wife twice a day during these retreats and sending her pictures all throughout the day showing him doing whatever. On the fourth day of a seven day retreat he never checked in. That evening she called over there and was told that he was in a treatment session and couldn’t be disturbed. She got the same thing on the fifth day and on the sixth they said he wasn’t there, but that they didn’t know where he’d gone.”
“Poor woman,” Cindy said. “It would be terrible not to know what had happened, waiting to hear something, anything.”
“Well, hopefully we can give her some closure. The captain’s hoping for a happy ending, but I’m not holding out much hope of that myself. Now I want you to check in twice a day with me. If you miss a check in I’ll be on my way out as fast as I can. Remember, you’re at a resort, but you’re not exactly on American soil anymore. Tread carefully.”
“Anything else?” Jeremiah asked quietly.
Mark glanced in the rear view mirror. “Yes, for goodness sake, take the time to figure out what the deal is with you two. It would save us all a lot of grief.”
5
Mark couldn’t help but wonder as they drove which one of the three of them was going to explode first. The tension in the car was palpable. He knew why he was about ready to have a fit, but he didn’t know exactly what was up with the other two. It had that relationship weirdness vibe to it. Actually that was probably a good thing given where they were headed. There was no way people wouldn’t think they were a couple.
The drive took a little less than two hours. When they reached the tribal lands the first structure they passed was a tourist center. The second was a large casino with an attached hotel. A couple miles past that they found the retreat center.
Mark couldn’t help but think it looked just like you would expect. Trees, a fountain, all designed to look like a little oasis where the buildings were all one story and placed so as to not intrude on the landscape. Isolated. A nice place to kill someone and get away with it.
“It’s not too late to tell my boss where to go,” Mark said.
“We’re here. We’ll do it,” Cindy told him.
Mark pulled to a stop in front of the main building. “Be careful,” he said, voice low.
“We will,” Jeremiah assured him before getting out of the car. Mark popped the trunk and climbed out as well to help with the bags. He couldn’t shake his feeling of unease at the idea of leaving his friends here. He told himself he was being ridiculous. Jeremiah was more than capable of handling anything that might come at them.
Maybe it was all the feelings about Paul and his death that had been dredged up again that was making him loathe to let the rabbi and the secretary out of his sight. After the bags were out of the trunk, he startled all three of them by giving them quick hugs before getting back in the car.
As he drove off he kept glancing back in the rearview mirror until they were lost to sight. He should have told Cindy to send up an extra prayer for their safety from him.
Cindy couldn’t contain a little thrill of excitement as she and Jeremiah stepped up to the front desk to check in. Even as she felt it she realized that what she should be feeling was fear or trepidation. Sometimes it hit her just how different she was now than when she and Jeremiah had first met. She wasn’t frightened as easily. She took risks. More than all of that, though, the feelings that Jeremiah had stirred within her were the most miraculous change of all.
“Are you okay?” Jeremiah asked quietly.
“I am,” she said, unable to suppress a sudden smile. She, for one, planned on taking Mark’s advice to heart that she and Jeremiah use the time to figure things out. With the wardrobe that Dave had helped her choose in her luggage she was feeling pretty confident that she’d have Jeremiah’s full attention while talking things through.
She did feel a moment of trepidation as Jeremiah handed over the fake driver’s licenses that Mark had provided with their assumed names on them. The woman behind the desk didn’t even give them a second glance, though.
“I have you booked in a room with two double beds,” she informed Cindy and Jeremiah. “Do you want me to see if I can find an available room with a queen?”
“No, the two doubles is good,” Jeremiah said.
“Okay, then you’re all set in bungalow 14,” she told them, handing Jeremiah two keys along with some paperwork. “Everything you need to know is in there, including your schedule and a map,” she instructed them. “There is an afternoon meet and greet followed by dinner with your instructors and fellow attendees. To get to your room you go out these doors on my left, take a right and it will be the last bungalow.”
“Thank you,” Jeremiah said.
They grabbed their bags and headed for the bungalow. As they walked Cindy tried to take everything in. It seemed like out of the doors there were bungalows in both directions. Arrows on the walls showed that 1-14 were on the right, 15-28 were on the left and straight ahead somewhere in the gardens were 29 and 30. She wondered if those two were larger, like suites, and that was why they were separate.
The bungalows were spaced out enough to give everyone a bit of privacy, feel like they were in their own oasis without having the neighbors right there sharing a wall or even a view. It would make it easier for her and Jeremiah to talk freely when they were in theirs, but it would also make it harder for them to spy on their neighbors.
Of course, it was unlikely that their neighbors, fellow retreat attendees, would need spying on. They wouldn’t have been there when Malcolm was there. No, it would be the staffers that they would need to spy on.
It took them a couple of minutes to walk to their bungalow. Once inside Cindy quickly moved to take the bed closest to the bathroom, leaving Jeremiah the bed near the sliding glass doors that led to a little outdoor sitting area. The room was done
up in white with an occasional touch of tan, making it very plain.
“Not a lot to look at,” she commented as she put her bag in the closet.
“I think that’s the point. They don’t want anything that will be a distraction to those staying here. You know, clear people’s minds, minimize the clutter, and the chaos.”
“And the color,” she added drily.
She noted there wasn’t a television in the room either. At a couples’ retreat that was probably a good thing, forcing people to talk to each other instead of stare mindlessly at the television when they got back to their rooms. Aside from the two beds there was a dresser and a table with two chairs. It was pretty Spartan.
She went into the bathroom and was pleased to discover that there were two sinks and plenty of tiny bottles of soaps, shampoos, and lotions. The room itself was also white with an occasional tan accent tile. She knew it was supposed to be soothing, help her clear her mind, but the lack of color just disturbed her somehow.
“I could never attend one of these things for real,” she muttered.
“I know, it’s odd, isn’t it?” Jeremiah asked from the other room.
She shook her head. His super-keen hearing was something he hadn’t bothered trying to hide from her since their experiences in Israel. Sometimes she still forgot, though, that when she was talking to herself he could hear her.
“No privacy at all around this place,” she whispered, smiling at herself in the mirror.
“We’ll know for sure in a minute,” Jeremiah said as he walked into the bathroom.
His eyes were sweeping the room and he started checking under the counter, the light fixtures, everything. She knew he was searching for recording devices. She moved back into the bedroom to get out of his way while he was doing that. She picked up the schedule of events from the table where Jeremiah had put it down. She sat down on the edge of her bed as she looked it over.
“The meet and greet starts at 4:30 with dinner at 6:00,” she told him. “Those are the only things scheduled for today. Apparently tomorrow morning breakfast is served at 7:30 and at 9:00 we do some kind of group session before breaking at noon for lunch. It looks like at 2:00 we have yoga. There’s a small group session at 3:00. We have our first meeting with Dr. Carpenter at 4:00. Then we have dinner at 6:00 followed by another group meeting at 7:30.”
“Sounds like they’re going to keep us busy,” Jeremiah said as he walked into the room.
“It will be interesting to see what we do. I’ve never been to anything like this before.”
“Neither have I.”
“I’ve done one or two religious retreats and my parents made me go to summer camp once, but that’s it,” she said.
Jeremiah was moving around the bedroom, still on his bug hunt. She kept reading the schedule, hoping she sounded casual. “It says there will be a horseback riding opportunity on Thursday. I think I’m going to be skipping that.”
“I wouldn’t blame you,” Jeremiah said. “You haven’t exactly had a lot of fun on those kinds of outings.”
She made a face at his back before continuing to read. “Apparently there are nature hikes, yoga classes, and clean eating demonstrations you can participate in.”
“From the sounds of the schedule when would we have the time?” he asked.
“There must be some free time scheduled in.”
“Which we will be using to find out what happened to Malcolm,” he said, turning toward her.
It startled her, his saying the man’s name that way. “So, I take it you didn’t find anything?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
“No, room’s clean. For now, at least.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“Anyway, it looks like we have a few hours now before we’re expected anywhere. Let’s get to work,” he said. He picked up the map of the facility from the table, folded it, and put it in his pocket. “The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can go home.”
“Okay, where do we start?”
“First, we walk around, meet as many of the staff as we can without looking suspicious, and I’ll take a look at their security, taking special note of cameras, things like that. That way it will be easier when I break into the computers tonight and see what I can find out about Malcolm.
Cindy felt her heart start to race a little. “Won’t that be dangerous?”
He gave her a long look. “We’re here undercover, aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so let’s play spy.”
Her heart was racing even faster now. Except one of us won’t be playing, she thought.
He held out a hand to her.
She stood, feeling a little breathless, and took it. He laced his fingers through hers and she could feel his warmth, his strength. It seemed to flood through her as though just by holding hands she was sharing in that warmth and strength. She did know that she was feeling insanely happy. Far too happy for someone who was there trying to find a missing man and possibly his killer.
They left their bungalow and strolled slowly back to the main building. They walked for a minute in silence and Cindy found herself looking at everything she could, wondering where security cameras might be lurking. She thought she saw a small red light in one of the bushes near bungalow 10, but she blinked and it seemed to disappear. Maybe she was winding herself up too much.
“Speaking of horseback riding, how is your brother doing?” Jeremiah asked.
“Kyle?” she asked with a frown. Jeremiah usually didn’t ask her about her family. He knew the relationships there were complex and could be difficult and frustrating for her. Although after the experience meeting his family, her family dynamic seemed downright normal.
“Do you have another one?” he teased lightly.
“No, he’s okay. I mean, I think deep down he’s still struggling a little bit with what happened with Lisa. That was a year ago, though, and I think he’s finally starting to put it all behind him.”
“Oh, what makes you say that?”
“Mom told me he’s dating again.”
“Does she approve?” Jeremiah asked.
“It’s Kyle. You know he can do no wrong in her eyes.”
“Work’s going well for him, though?”
“Yeah. He’s working overtime on the show and apparently the episodes coming up over the summer are going to be legendary, like nothing mortal man has ever dared put on television before,” she said, realizing that she couldn’t keep the mocking tone out of her voice.
She glanced at Jeremiah and realized that while he had his head tilted slightly toward her, he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were darting around and she realized he was taking everything in, seeing what she didn’t. There were times she thought she’d love to spend a day knowing what it was like to be him, to see with his eyes. Then there were days when she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would never want to see the world the way he had to.
When they made it back to the main building they strolled inside still hand-in-hand. It felt so good to be that way, holding hands with him in public, not caring that people saw them. It felt as though a burden was lifting off her and she realized just how stressful hiding their relationship had been for the past several months.
“So, where are you taking me on Valentine’s Day?” she asked.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said.
She allowed herself a brief fantasy, him in a suit, roses, a candlelight dinner in a nice restaurant, and holding hands on the table, brazen as could be for all the world to see.
Across from the reception desk was the dining room. Next to it were two smaller rooms, one full of gym equipment and the other full of yoga mats. There was a small rack of brochures showcasing the different retreats the center held. Cindy grabbed one of each before they headed out.
They turned to the left, heading down the other row of bungalows. Cindy had the urge to lean her head against Jeremiah’s shoulder, but knew that she shouldn’t do anything to
distract him from what he was doing. Hopefully he was seeing everything he needed to and would be able to figure out how to break into the computer system without getting caught.
When they reached the end of that row of bungalows they found another path and they turned down it. A minute later they arrived at a large building made mostly of glass panes that let the light stream inside. The door was open and they walked in. The room reminded Cindy of their bungalow, white floor and walls with large, tan pillows arranged on the floor.
“I think this might be where we have the large meetings,” she commented.
“So, they’re going to have us sit on the pillows and spend time gazing into each other’s eyes?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I guess. Like I said, I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Well, it will be easy for me. After all, you have such pretty eyes,” he said.
She felt herself flush and she smiled up at him. He still wasn’t looking at her, instead turning his head slowly so that he took in the entire room. She knew he needed to, but she still felt a twinge of disappointment. She could have gone for some eye gazing right then.
“They say the eyes are the windows to the soul,” she said softly.
“They are what they need to be,” he responded cryptically.
“Hello, may I help you?”
Cindy turned to see a man walking into the room. He was dressed from head to toe in loose, white clothing. He had long, straight dark hair and green eyes that stared at her intently.
“We’re just touring the grounds. We’re here for the couples’ retreat,” she said with a smile.
“Welcome. I’m Arnold, I’ll be one of your guides on your journey,” he said, walking forward with hand extended.
“Jeremiah and Cindy,” Jeremiah said as they each shook the man’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome you here to our little oasis of serenity,” the man said with a slightly syrupy grin. Cindy didn’t like him and she struggled to keep the smile on her face.
Thou Art With Me Page 5