by Traci Hall
Maggie pushed off the counter she’d been leaning on and made her way around the shelves to stand next to him. It seemed natural when she slipped her hand in his.
He liked that she’d believed him, and even pointed out they were searching for his body in the wrong area. She’d come to his defense.
“Check now, Michael,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “What do they say?”
Michael looked to Neil, who entered the bathroom and whipped some latex gloves from his pocket before handling the cups. “No on the GHB, no on the Ketamine, but a big YES on the Rohypnol stick.” Neil’s olive-toned cheeks turned ruddy with anger. “Somebody slipped you a mickey. Not cool.”
Queasy, Michael staggered back into the doorframe. The information didn’t unlock what happened last night, but at least he knew the reason for the memory lapse. He’d been drugged.
“What can we do?” Maggie asked Neil.
“I’ll tag this, and record what happened. Dude, are you sure you don’t want to go to the cops? Unless that was one hell of a party, it’s unlikely you would have gone over the side of a yacht.”
Michael didn’t feel like he’d been wild in any way. The memories skipped out of reach, frustrating in their blankness. “I don’t feel like that is what happened. I’m not a big drinker, and I hate dancing. God,” he snagged his hand through his hair at the back of his head and tugged. “I’m way more comfortable in a computer lab than anything else.”
Mindy burst out laughing. “You’re a lot cuter than any of the computer guys I knew in high school. Or college.”
Maggie giggled. “True.”
Neil tossed a latex glove at Mindy. “Hey, you were waiting for a Samoan nurse to come into your life.”
Mindy blew Neil a kiss. “Just saying, that’s all. Besides, I think Maggie likes Michael.”
Maggie’s eyes widened with surprise and her face blushed red. Michael squeezed her hand and smiled at her. “It’s okay.” He might not have his memories back, but he liked the new ones he was building now. “I like Maggie too.”
Madeleine walked back to the skinny counter and propped her elbow next to the microwave. “Can we stop with all the nauseating who likes who? We are not in kindergarten, and we have a real problem here. Michael’s been drugged. What do we do about it? Shouldn’t we tell somebody?”
“Neil, is there any way to retrieve these memories?” Michael released Maggie to stuff his hands in his pockets. Adrenalin surged. “I’m only getting pieces of that night. I know I was on the deck with Kayla before dinner, and I remember walking down the stairs to eat. But then it goes blank!”
Neil packed up the drug tests after labeling them with a Sharpie. “I’m sorry man, there isn’t anything. Depending on the dose, you may get some of the memory back, or you may never remember what happened. Add the drug to the trauma of falling overboard? You’re lucky you aren’t fish food.”
“What about hypnosis?” Maggie asked.
Neil arched a skeptical brow.
“I don’t know about that,” Michael said. His head had already been messed with.
“Our dad had a friend, Elroy Finch, remember?” Maggie glanced at Madeleine and Mindy. Maggie leaned over Michael to get the nod from her sisters before returning her attention to him. “He worked as a hypnotherapist for years. He would help. He promised before Dad died, anything we need.”
“I’m pretty sure he was talking about buying us groceries,” Madeleine said. “Or throwing us a few bucks to pay the utilities.”
Mindy giggled. “He’s cool, I like him.”
“Michael.” Maggie wrapped her slender fingers around his forearm and looked up at him. “Why do you want to avoid the police?”
Gut instinct. Feelings. It wasn’t time to talk to the police yet. I’ll be a target. “Mr. Moriaki and his son are saying I signed a merger contract I don’t believe I did.” He had to find the answers of what happened that night. His mind swirled black as a starless sky. “I mean, according to you, they aren’t even looking for my body in the right spot. Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”
Chapter Five
Why would a businessman lie about where Michael’s body had gone overboard? Maggie gasped, her hold on Michael’s hand tightening.
“You think they drugged you and tossed you over the side, on purpose?” She heard the incredulousness in her tone and cleared her throat. “Why?” Over money?
“The merger?” Madeleine asked, shaking her head.
His throat reddened and he swallowed audibly. “What if that’s the truth? What happens to me then if I go forward and call them out?”
“They will go to jail,” Maggie said. She reached for her cell phone, her thumb on number 9.
“No.” Michael shifted, shoving a hand in the pocket of his borrowed shorts. “Maybe not. I have a faulty memory—I can prove I was drugged, but that bites me too, because the drug causes memory loss. Whatever they say will be taken as the truth.”
Neil groaned and sat back on the stool by the thin counter. “Shit. You’re right.”
“I don’t understand why the police can’t help,” Mindy said, taking the stool next to Neil, resting her hand on his knee.
Maggie put the phone back. “Sit here?” Michael joined her on the sturdy ice chest and she liked that they fit, hip to hip. Madeleine eyed the news on her computer from behind the counter, playing with her ring.
“What if there is a chance to catch them somehow?” Michael sat forward, one elbow resting on his knee. “Find out who exactly did what, and why?”
“Sounds like that won’t be that easy,” Maggie said softly, wishing she could erase the lines creasing Michael’s strong brow.
“I’d rather call my personal lawyer and my accountant before the police. Make sure that the company can’t be immediately sold.”
“The police are out doing a body search for you.” Maggie shivered. What would have happened if she hadn’t found him this morning? “They should know that you are alive.”
“I would rather pay back the costs the city has to spend than tip my hand. I just feel that I need to find answers.” He covered his heart with both of their hands.
“You can do that?” Neil asked.
“He’s a billionaire,” Mindy reminded him.
Michael nodded. “Hopefully this won’t take longer than a day.”
Maggie thought of all the ways a criminal might be brought out of hiding. Then she smacked the side of the cooler. “You know who could help? Al Cooper. He does private investigator stuff…”
“Great idea.” Mindy pulled her phone from her sundress pocket. “Should I text him to come over?”
Maggie looked at Michael.
His frown drew his groomed brows together, and Maggie fought the urge to kiss the vee. “Do you ladies know everybody?”
“We grew up here,” Maggie explained with a chuckle. “Third generation Floridian.”
Mindy waved her phone. “Who do you want to talk to?”
“I wish we would have called 911.” Madeleine blinked away tears. “What if those Moriaki people did try to kill you on purpose? What if they find out that we helped and send someone after you here? All we have is the marina.”
Maggie rose in anger. “Honestly, Madeleine. Do you only think of yourself?”
Madeleine sniffed and turned back to the computer screen. Maggie patted Michael’s knee. “I’m sorry. She’s actually nice, I swear.”
“She’s worried about you all. And what if she’s right?” Michael started to stand from their seat on the ice chest. “I should go.”
“You should stay,” Maggie said quickly, pulling him back down. She didn’t want him to leave, not yet. She wasn’t naïve and didn’t believe that just because he’d said that he liked her that he planned on staying friends with her once he returned to his real life.
But she wanted to protect him. To make sure that he was all right. She’d never been alone and couldn’t imagine it. He had no family at all.
“
I don’t know…”
“Yes.” She rushed forward with a plan. “There is no way to connect you with us at the marina. If the Moriakis are looking for you, they won’t find you here. I’ll call Uncle Elroy to see if he can swing by. Uncover those memories.”
“There is no guarantee,” Neil cautioned. “I’m surprised there is no reward for finding your body.”
“Whatever happened,” Maggie shivered, “they think he’s dead.” She couldn’t wrap her head around deliberate murder and leaned a little closer to Michael.
“Returning to the beach might jog your memory,” Mindy said. “Neil, don’t be creepy.”
“What!” He grinned, a dimple appearing on his cheek. “Anyway, I’ve got to go. Good luck man.” Neil lifted a palm to Michael, kissed Mindy, shouldered the bag and left the shop.
“Good idea.” Maggie snuck a glance at Madeleine but her sister didn’t budge. At least Mindy would help. What was actually bugging Madeleine?
“Do you have a phone I can borrow?” Michael asked. “I’ll call my lawyers. They always know what to do. I’ll ask them to keep my survival under wraps, for the moment. Maybe the hypnotist can help. And yes, I’d like to go to the beach where I was found. Maybe there’s a clue.”
He sounded lucid, smart, and angry. Maggie kept their fingers entwined. “Sure. You use my phone. Mindy can call Uncle Elroy.”
Michael accepted the phone but then realized that he didn’t have his lawyer’s numbers memorized. He looked them up via Google, and then left a message when they didn’t answer the unfamiliar number.
Partners Jessup and Forbes always answered his calls personally. A perk, he supposed. It was difficult to wait but he had no choice. Besides, what could he say? He had no real answers.
“Thanks, Maggie.” He handed her the phone back. “I had to leave a message.”
“No problem. Did you want to hang on to it?”
He accepted her phone with a shrug. Was she always so trusting? Good for him, but he saw where Madeleine might be concerned.
Maggie’s heart was huge. No matter what, he would find a way to repay her kindness. Though she’d saved him, she brought out his protective instincts.
The three freckles along her cheekbone were like little cinnamon kisses. Suddenly, he imagined kissing them. Her nose was slightly upturned at the end, slender at the bridge, her pink mouth fuller on the top lip than the bottom.
Maggie had changed from her swimsuit and tank top to short-shorts and a sleeveless top with a ragged hem—by design, he knew that from Kayla. Kayla. There was no way for her to know that he’d decided not to sign the merger. He hadn’t known, had he?
She knew how to run the software company in his absence. There would be day-to-day routines that wouldn’t be interrupted. He had an excellent floor manager as well, Bob Roberts. At first Bob and Kayla had butted heads, but in the past year they’d figured out a groove. Had Kayla said that the business wasn’t really his baby? He thought so—but when?
Micro Technologies was his baby, and it was personal, and that is why, probably, he thought ruefully, he hadn’t wanted to sign.
When Moriaki had first reached out with a proposal it had been exciting to think he’d reached a milestone—growing his software company into the next big tech thing, and attracting the attention of a shark like Moriaki. Shark. An image of the man’s wide, white-toothed smile came to mind.
He’d been flattered at the invite to Ft. Lauderdale where Mr. Moriaki and son had a base, Moriaki Industries. He’d thought he’d say yes, no problem, but then on the plane he started to have doubts. Kayla had teased him.
How rich should one man be? He didn’t need any more money. His only family was dead. So yeah, he’d poured his soul into the software company instead.
Mark had been so proud.
How could he have sold it? How the hell had he ended up in the ocean? And then the beach?
Maggie touched his arm. “Mindy just talked to Uncle Elroy. He can’t be here until tomorrow, first thing in the morning, though.”
Tomorrow felt too far away, but he nodded and smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate it, I really do.”
“I know it’s disappointing to wait,” she said. “So, how about we take our minds off of what we can’t change and go to the beach? Nothing heals blue moods faster than sticking your toes in the ocean.”
He’d been raised in the mountains, and was used to lakes and rivers. His taste of the ocean hadn’t been so great, but maybe he could look for answers. “Sure,” he said, curious.
Mindy opted to stay at the marina, and Madeleine decided to go home. “You can stay on the boat for tonight,” Madeleine told Michael, drawing a line in the sand.
Maggie tossed her sister an annoyed look, and he recalled the conversation this morning about him not coming to their house.
Their sanctuary.
“Thank you,” he said. “I mean it.” He didn’t have any money at the moment. No identification. No bank cards. He was at their mercy, and was grateful they were generous—he couldn’t even fault Madeleine for her attitude. Neil had been great, but had left right after wondering aloud if there was a reward. Instantly worried, Michael knew there was no polite way to bring the subject up. Hey, Maggie, do you trust your sister’s boyfriend? The guy that proved I was drugged? “I should have asked Neil not to say anything about me being here.”
“He wouldn’t,” Mindy said. She smiled at him, then took the broom from the corner to sweep up sand at the front door.
Money made people do strange things.
“Let’s go.” Maggie stepped outside and he followed.
He blinked and brought his hand up to shade his eyes. He glanced at his watch. Only four in the afternoon—it seemed he’d lived a lifetime since yesterday.
“Wait!” She hurried back inside, was gone for five seconds, and returned with a grin. “Cheap shades and a Kohl’s cap. You will blend right in with the tourists,” she said. “Just in case you want a disguise. I mean, your picture is all over the news but I don’t think anyone will connect you, in Dad’s old fishing t-shirt and shorts, with the billionaire businessman.”
He liked the way she accepted his money, his wealth, as if it didn’t really matter. Some people acted differently toward him once they realized the extent of his portfolio. The Kohl ladies weren’t like that—he sensed that Madeleine’s mama-bear routine came from wanting to protect her sisters.
“Maybe you should text Neil, you know?” he suggested. “Just to ask him to keep things quiet.”
Maggie sighed. “You can trust him. But if you really don’t, then you have my phone. He’s under N.”
God, she’d been nothing but trusting. “Sorry, Maggie,” he said, scooping her small hand in his as they walked down back streets toward the beach where she’d found him. “You’re right.” And if not, then he would deal with the consequences.
“These are the tracks.” She pointed at the grooves of two small wagon-sized wheels. “It was easier to drag you than I thought it would be, thanks to the cart.”
“I wondered how you did it.” He teasingly squeezed her biceps. “You’re a little on the skinny side.”
“Do you think it wise to insult the woman who just saved your life? The only person who knows where you came ashore?”
He smiled. “It’s not an insult.” Maggie was beautiful in a girl-next-door way, the kind of natural beauty that stayed. Nothing fake or artificial about it, or her. “Are you seeing anyone?”
She lifted their joined hands. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I was…no. You?”
“No.” He thought back just to make sure. “Not in a long time.”
“Your assistant is pretty…”
“She is. We work extremely well together, but there’s no spark, you know?”
Maggie sighed. “That elusive spark. I know exactly what you mean. I dated Austin for six months, hoping that something would kindle, but it just didn’t. We broke up a while back. I would rather be single.”
&nbs
p; “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
She turned and walked backward for a few steps. “And now you’ve met three of us at once!”
“You aren’t alike.”
“We are identical!”
“No,” Michael said. “Mindy’s eyes are blue, Madeleine’s are green and your eyes are a perfect blue-green. Madeleine worries about everything. You are a free spirit, and Mindy tends to be nervous and likes to follow the rules.”
Her mouth dropped and she snapped it closed, coming back to his side so they could walk in tandem. “I can’t believe you noticed all of that.”
“I have a mind for details.”
“Which is why you develop software? I don’t even really know what that is. I mean, I have a general idea but it makes my eyes cross. I am not a techie person—but you’ve probably already figured that out.”
“I won’t bore you with the details.” They neared the beach and the air shifted—the breeze dropped the warm afternoon temperature a few tolerable degrees. He lifted his head and inhaled. Sea and salt, sand, sun screen, tanning lotion assaulted his senses.
“You could never bore me.” She sent him a flirty glance before pointing to the pier to their left. “Dang it. The beach is crowded now. Come on, I’ll show you where I found you.”
Chapter Six
Maggie surveyed the crowded beach and slipped her hand from Michael’s—he stood at the end of the cement path where it turned to sand, his body tense. Twenty feet separated them from where she’d discovered him this morning.
A very long day for everyone involved. “There won’t be anything left,” she mused aloud. “But let’s see anyway. You must be a strong swimmer?”
“I swim at the gym. In college I was in a skiing accident and swimming was part of the rehab for my back. It became habit, doing my laps. Gave me time to think. I never thought I’d be in the ocean.”
“The beach is the best! It’s paradise and heaven and peace on earth.”