Gloria's Inn

by Robin Alexander

  “Okay, what is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you during sex? Abigail asked keeping the game going.

  “I think you all know mine.” Madyson said. Her face was still red.

  Shelby piped up. “One time I farted. We weren’t doing anything but kissing though.”

  “Oh shit Shelby that’s gross! Adrienne laughed.

  “Tell me about it! We had Mexican that night.” Myra said with tears streaming down her face.

  “Okay enough of this. I am going to be hurting in the morning. Do you realize we have gone thru four whole bottles of rum while sitting here?” Shelby said rubbing her glass against her forehead.

  We all decided to call it a night and turn in. Shelby and Myra were kind enough to help Adrienne and I straighten up the bar and then we went our separate ways. I giggled all the way back to our cottage.

  “You seem to be adapting well to entertaining the guests.” Adrienne said as I leaned heavily on her as she opened the door.

  “Its not as bad as I thought it was going to be.” I admitted.

  We both fell onto the bed and lay there for a while both hoping the room would stop spinning. “Hayden I cant go to sleep like this. I am gonna be sick if I do. Lets grab some towels and go down to the beach and take a swim.”

  “Are you nuts? I may pass out and float out to sea.”

  She tugged on my hand till I stood up with her. “I kind of like this. I can see two of you Adrienne and you both look good.” I said as I clumsily grabbed her around the waist.

  “Come on, a swim will help clear our heads a little. Besides, you might get lucky.” She said wiggling her eyebrows. Of course I followed her down to the water like a drooling dog. We stripped off our clothes and walked into the cool water.

  “Damn! This is cold I said as we waded in waist deep. “There is only one way to get used to it.” She said and she shoved me under the water. The shock of the cold water helped clear my head a little but I had to retaliate. I sprang out of the water like a cat and returned the favor pulling her under with me.

  The horseplay led to other things and we made love right there in the wet sand. I remembered why it wasn’t a good idea to have sex on the beach. I had sand in places I didn’t want to mention. She exhausted me and it nearly killed us both to make the climb back up the bluff. I celebrated making it to the top by tossing my cookies next to a banana tree. The party was over for me.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning I awoke feeling like I had been run over by a truck, not to mention the fact that I looked like I had been. I actually wanted to be run over. It would have eased the nausea, and the pounding in my head.

  Iris was kind enough to send us some tea and toast, which we ate in bed. Neither of us had the strength to move. “Lets make a pact right here and now that we will never get that drunk again.” Adrienne moaned as she sipped her tea. After we had food in our stomachs we took something for the pain. I took a long shower standing on what I thought was a sandbar. We must have been caked with it last night.

  I went out to get the guests on their way for the day as Adrienne took her shower.

  After they had eaten their breakfast I ushered those going on the Mt. Alvernia trip into the van along with the ice chests containing their picnic lunches. I was shocked to see tow of the couples that spent most of the night with us loading up for the trip. I grumbled to myself that I must be getting old as I watched them go about their business bright eyed and bushy tailed.

  I thought it strange that Brandon was nowhere in sight. I was still feeling too puny to ponder it any further. I made a mental not to check on him later, and went about my chores for the day.

  During the hottest part of the day Iris, Shelby and Myra joined us in the bar, where we lounged on the chaise lounges. “Has anyone seen Brandon today?” I wondered out loud.

  “My head still hurts to bad to notice anything, but no I haven’t seen him.” Myra groaned.

  I found it curious that no one had seen or heard from him either. What was even more disturbing was that Iris sent someone to his room that morning to see if wanted breakfast served there and received no answer. Adrienne was strangely quiet, which I mistakenly attributed to her being hung over.

  “Maybe he struck out on his own this morning. He does seem to be sort of a loaner.” Shelby said thoughtfully.

  I considered what Shelby mentioned and figured he did just that. Although, I had a gnawing feeling in my gut, something about that man troubled me. It made no sense to me why a single man would come here alone. Our brochures made it abundantly clear that this place was geared more for couples.

  The other thing that bothered me was that I assumed Brandon was not gay. He seemed to take an interest in the women, and stared at them with what I considered a lustful gaze.

  When I found him looking at Adrienne that way it made my hackles rise.

  Brandon was not present for dinner that night either. Curiosity turned to worry when I noticed he wasn’t there. I went to his cottage and knocked on the door, receiving no answer I gingerly tried the door and was alarmed when it opened. I called his name a few times before venturing in. His bed had obviously not been slept in, since it was still made. The cleaning staff had made mention of that earlier.

  I walked deeper into the room and noticed his suitcase had not been unpacked. Quick inspection of the bathroom revealed that he had not been in there either. His entire cottage was seemingly untouched.

  I met Adrienne back in the bar. She looked at me questioningly, and I shook my head no relaying to her that I had not located him. I watched as her brow furrowed in worry. Neither of us wanted to discuss the matter in front of the other guests, though no one seemed to notice that one of the group was missing.

  Fortunately, our guests turned in earlier than they did the previous night, giving Adrienne and I a chance to enjoy a drink and talk. I poured us a couple of iced teas not wanting a replay of last night and joined her at the table where she had made herself welcome to my cigarettes. She was nervously puffing away when I sat down.

  “What is troubling you baby?” I asked in concern.

  “Brandon will not be back Hayden.” She said exhaling the smoke and taking a large gulp of her drink. I noticed how her hands shook as she lifted the cigarette to her lips.

  “What do you mean?” I asked in concern.

  “He’s dead.” She said flatly.

  It took a minute for her words to sink in. I sat dumfounded. When she noticed me starring at her intently she continued.

  “Hayden, Hank killed him. When I woke up I could hear his thoughts pounding through my head. He was so angry, and was relived when he took Brandon’s life. I don’t have any idea what he has done with his body, but I do know that he beat him to death.” Adrienne said as she shuddered.

  “Why haven’t you told me this before now?” I asked still dazed by her words.

  “I had hoped that I was wrong, but when you confirmed he never slept in his room I knew for sure then.”

  “Why on earth would he do such a thing?” I asked before taking a huge gulp of my drink.

  Adrienne pressed her drink to her forehead. “Hank was very angry. I think he knew Brandon. I only know he was angry, and it occurred to him that he would have to kill Brandon. I believe Brandon knew something about Hank that caused him to take his life.”

  “We have to call the police Adrienne.”

  “What exactly do I tell them? If they don’t think I did it, then they will assume I have gone crazy!”

  “Well we can’t let a murderer roam loose among us.” I was trying hard not to push Adrienne’s buttons, but I was having a hard time keeping my cool. My agitation was being fueled by my fear, and I was finding it hard to be supportive.

  “Hayden we do not have a police station on the island. There is one member of the Bahamian Police who resides here, however I am reluctant to confide in him until we find a body.”

  “When you say “we.” What exactly does that mean?”
I was so hoping she was not going to say that we had to go in search of a corpse.

  “To get Colie to do a formal inquiry, we need to be able to produce a body.” She said as she opened a fresh pack of cigarettes.

  “What if we go to… Who is Colie? I asked in confusion.

  “Colie is the policeman who lives on the island.”

  “Okay how about we go to Colie, and tell him that we have a guest who is missing from the Inn. Perhaps he will find Brandon’s body, and then he will call the mainland for help with the investigation.”

  Adrienne smiled for the first time all day. “That is a great idea. I will call him first thing in the morning. No sense in calling him out here in the middle of the night. I’m sure he will not appreciate it, and chalk it up to a single man just out having a good time.”

  Neither of us slept well at all that night. I went through the motion of locking our cottage door, but a child could get through that flimsy lock if they so desired. When Saber made it known that he wanted to go out, he slapped the bedside clock off the table nearly sent us both into the ceiling fan.

  “Why doesn’t he just meow like a normal cat?” Adrienne exclaimed holding her hand over her heart.

  “I’m not sure, but if he does that again, I am going to kill him with my bare hands after I get out of the Cardiac Care Unit.” I groused crawling back into bed.

  When the sun cast its first rays across the eastern sky, we both climbed out of bed feeling more exhausted than when we first lay down. I passed on breakfast that morning and assisted the porters in loading the van for the day’s excursion. The whole group wanted to see Boiling Hole. Annie and Liz had chosen to remain behind and sun on the beach again.

  I kind of felt guilty hoping that the over grown gay version of Harry Potter might get a visit from ole mister snake. I didn’t feel guilty for Billy, but for the snake. I pitied anything that had to put its mouth on him, especially his lover Chris.

  After they finished breakfast I went into drill sergeant mode. I had them in that van before they knew what hit them. I did however toss a bottle of bug repellent in with them feeling a little bad for snatching the biscuit out of Billy’s mouth and shoving him into the waiting vehicle.

  “Okay lets call Colie.” I said as I entered the bar, not realizing that Shelby and Myra had joined Adrienne there. Both of them turned looking at me questioningly.

  “Adrienne, please call Colie while I bring the ladies up to speed. I could see the relief on Adrienne’s face when she realized that she would not have to be the one to tell them about Hank and Brandon. She stepped over to the phone as I pulled chairs out for the girls and asked them to sit.

  By the time she had completed the call, I had explained what we knew so far. Both sat in stunned silence. Adrienne joined us at the table and immediately lit up a cigarette.

  “What did he say?” I asked as I lit my own.

  “He will be right over. He is going to have his sister start calling the other Inns just in case.” Adrienne said avoiding looking at the two speechless women sitting next to me.

  When Shelby regained her ability of speech she asked. “I am sorry if I sound like an ass asking this but did you know anything about this man before you hired him as your handyman?”

  “Gloria hired him before I came here. I don’t know what she knew of him. Aside from his looks I thought he was all right if Gloria felt comfortable with him.” Adrienne answered politely.

  A thought occurred to me and I made them an offer. “Look, I know this has got to be alarming to you both. Please don’t feel like you have to stay here if you are afraid for your safety.”

  “Myra was the first to speak, and Shelby nodded emphatically. “We are not leaving you two alone to deal with this. You have taken us in like family and we plan to stick by your side. Your offer was very considerate, but we are here for the duration.”

  I was truly moved by their pledge to remain with us. It was apparent to both Adrienne and I that they were both adamantly resolved to stay. It was comforting to say the least.

  “True to his word Colie arrived shortly after Adrienne made the call. He was at the very least six foot five inches. His skin was darker than Iris’s which I didn’t think that was possible. Judging from the size of his arms and chest he spent many hours building up his body. He was a very imposing figure, and I doubted that anyone was foolish enough to test his patience.

  However, when he spoke he was extremely polite and genteel. He politely accepted a cup of coffee from Iris, and rewarded her with a warm smile that did not go unnoticed by the occupants of the table. Had I not been so stressed by the recent events I might have been tempted to play cupid.

  “Colie. Please allow me to introduce you to everyone.” She motioned to me first, and said. “This is my partner Hayden, and this is Shelby and Myra.” He shook our hands with a firm grip, but when introduced to Iris, he simply smiled. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn that the giant of a man was a little smitten with her.

  He took out a note pad and prepared to take down information. We gave an account of what we knew. He scribbled in the note pad and asked a few questions. He asked for the reservation information that Brandon had sent in prior to his arrival. He also informed us that he had organized a local group for a search party and they were already combing the island.

  I was very impressed by the initiative he had already taken. Had we been in the States we would still probably be waiting to file a missing persons report. Although, I didn’t think that Colie had a lot to investigate on the island, hence the one man police force.

  He assured us that he would contact us the minute he had news before departing. All of us felt reassured by his diligence in the matter and breathed a small sigh of relief. We tried to keep our minds off of things by playing a couple of games of poker. I threw in the towel when Iris relieved me of the last of my cash. Our dear Iris was a true card shark.

  Adrienne was giving the card shark a run for her money and stayed in the game. I decided to go for a walk and stretch my legs. The breeze was starting to pick up and made my venture out pleasant. I walked down the path that led to the beach. The plants that we had planted along the bluff seemed to be flourishing in their new home. I spent a little time there looking over our handy work, and then headed down to the beach.

  My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I began to descend the staircase. Both Annie and Liz were lying out naked as the day they were born. From my vantage point my suspicions were confirmed, they had all of their parts pierced and adorned with jewelry. I winced inwardly think how much it must have hurt to have an area south of the belly button jammed through with a steel post. I admired the scenery for a moment and decided it would probably be a better idea to walk elsewhere.

  As I turned to make my way back up the path a pair of clear blue eyes starring in amusement met me. “What are you looking at Hayden?” She said with an eyebrow cocked up.

  I pointed to the beach. “Those naked women down there.”

  “Hayden! You’re a little pervert aren’t you?” She chastised.

  “I’ll show you a pervert.” I said as I chased her back to her cottage. For the rest of the afternoon I showed her everything I had in my perverted bag of tricks.

  At dinner that night the one question popped up that I had hoped to avoid. Jerri Burke asked around a mouthful of food. “Where is that guy, that came here by himself? I haven’t seen him since the night we got here?”

  I cleared my throat, and Adrienne looked at me expectantly to proceed. “We don’t know where Brandon is. We became concerned when he didn’t show for breakfast this morning and we called the local police.” They didn’t have to know that the local police consisted of just one man.

  They are looking for him at some of the other Inns, thinking that he may have met someone and decided to spend time there.” I said, doing my best to sound convincing.

  “He’s probably off getting a piece of ass.” Billy said smugly. “A man does have his nee
ds. Unlike women that’s just something we just have to have.”

  “Thank you for clearing that up for us Harry

  I mean Billy. We tend to forget that men are such sexual predators since we have nothing to do with them. You know, being lesbians and all.” I returned his smug expression.

  Shelby quickly jumped in and changed the subject, before I had a chance to really tag the pudgy bastard. I suppose I should have been grateful. It would have been bad for business had I crawled across the table and pummeled him with my dinner plate, which by the way had a cleverly hidden piece of conch hidden in the salad adding to my ire.

  After dinner as per our custom we all filed into the bar where Billy, Chris and the Burke’s settled down to their nightly game of cards. The rest of the gang bellied up to the bar to drink and chat. I was surprised the see Colie arrive and my heart sank when I noticed the grim expression on his face.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” He asked pulling me aside. “I gestured for Adrienne to follow. Myra and Shelby immediately took over in our place serving drinks and entertaining the guests. I owed them big time.

  “We went back to the cottage that Adrienne and I shared and sat at the table so we could enjoy the breeze. “I am sorry to bring you bad news.” He said as he sat. “We found Brandon’s wallet near “Bad Hole.” There was also blood on the ground near the hole. It looks as though he may have been dragged through the brush and dumped there. Although, we did not find any trace of his body.

  I don’t want to scare either of you, but my hunch is that someone killed him and dumped his body in the hole. As I am sure you may already know. The locals do not like to go to the Holes. If I were going to commit a murder on this island I could not think of a better place to dispose of a body.”

  Cold chills ran down my spine. I no longer doubted Adrienne’s abilities, but to have it confirmed in such a manner brought reality to home. I reached under the table and took her hand in mine. I had no idea how she would react to hearing the news. I could feel her hand trembling in mine as I held it.