“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Well, we haven’t had a chance to talk. It’s been a long time since you and I were alone in a room together, and there’s a few things I’ve wanted to say to you.”
Oh jeez, what now? thought Scott.
“You hurt me pretty badly, Scott.”
“I hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“Kimy, I was okay with everyone else thinking I was a creep for leaving you so close to our wedding, but you were there. You, of all people, know everything that was going on. Do I have to remind you?”
Kimy ran her fingers through her long hair, she inspected the ends. “We both said and did regrettable things.”
“Kimy, you cheated on me.”
“Yes, and I said I was sorry. I begged you to forgive me. It was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. After all our years together, how could you walk away like that? Like I’d never meant anything to you? Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”
“I’m sorry I hurt you Kimy. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I did feel bad about breaking things off. But, I didn’t come back, I didn’t take you back because things between you and I had been going sour for a while. You cheating was probably a good thing, in the long run.”
Kimy stood, she placed her hands on Scott’s chest. Whatever problems we had,” she said, “we would have worked them out. We always did.” She softly touched the black chest hair poking out at the top of Scott’s shirt. “I always loved this.”
Scott covered her hands with his own and looked down at her face, so familiar. “What we had was great, but getting married would have been a mistake.”
Kimy stood on her tip toes and kissed Scott’s neck, sending an involuntary shiver up his back. He watched mesmerized as Kimy softly caressed her breasts through the thin dress. “You think so?”
Scott was torn, his love for Katherine was strong and real, but the chemistry between him and Kimy had always been through the roof. He knew it would be all too easy to pick Kimy up and take her to one of the suites four bedrooms. He could make love to her and it would be fantastic, just as he remembered it. Alex and his friends would likely know, but they’d never tell anyone. But he’d know. He took her hand in his and kissed the palm, then stepped backward.
“Yes, I do.”
Kimy’s expression made Scott nervous. She didn’t seem angry, or even hurt, yet there was a steely quality to her eyes, a determined expression on her lips.
“Kimy, don’t be mad. This isn’t that big of a deal. You need to move on. You have to know this is for the best. You can’t have forgotten how much we fought.”
“I remember what we did after the fights.”
“Oh jeez, yes the sex was great, but I’m almost thirty years old Kimy. I’m not interested in sex that’s only explosive after a huge fight. What I have with Katherine…”
“Oh Katherine. I don’t want to hear about her. Who is she? You’ve known her less than a year and you’re already engaged. We were together three years, more if you count how long we knew each other before we hooked up. I know what she is, she’s your rebound. Don’t you see that Scott? Do you really want to marry your rebound?”
“You’re wrong, Kimy. Katherine and I are something you and I never were.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Friends Kimy. She and I are friends, and you know what, you don’t screw over your friends.”
A group of men, led by Alex, walked into the suite.
“Hi Kimy.” said Alex. “I hope you brought your working gloves.” He laughed, then seeing the expression on her and Scott’s face turned toward the other men.
“Ah, hey guys, who has the garbage bags?” While Alex and his friends busied themselves on the other side of the room, Scott looked back at Kimy.
“I’ll see you later Scott,” she said, walking out of the suite.
Alex walked over to Scott.
“Hey, what happened? What was she doing here?”
Scott took a garbage bag from Alex and started to throw beer bottles in it.
“Oh, she wanted to give me shit for the way things ended between us.”
“Is that all? I mean, you both looked a little, shall we say, flustered?”
Alex laughed. Scott smiled.
“Well, let’s just say that if I wasn’t with Katherine, you and the guys would have one less bedroom to clean up, for a few hours anyway. Kimy can be very persuasive.”
“I bet. She looks great. Sophie said she’s gotten hair extensions.”
“We always had great chemistry, but her temper was always a problem.”
“Do you think she’s angry with you?” asked Alex.
“Maybe, but what can she do?”
Alex’s friend came out of one of the bedrooms.
“Hey Alex,” he shouted. “What should I do with the stripper’s cake?”
Alex groaned. He said to Scott, “It’s a good thing there are four rooms in this suite. I don’t think Sophie’s seen the cake.” He looked back toward his friend. “Leave it there, for now.”
***
Jack watched Mr. Smalls walk away, he was about to turn around when the elevator doors dinged and opened.
“You should have brought the hat,” said Nene. “How could you forget your that?”
“I’ll be fine,” answered Gaga.
“Ladies,” said Jack. “Are you lost?”
Nene and Gaga looked at Jack, wide-eyed and clearly surprised.
“What are you doing here Jack?” asked Gaga.
Jack laughed.
“Well,” he said, “my office is right down the hall. Ladies, the only thing down here is Security, my office, and the employee cafeteria.”
Nene seemed to recollect herself first.
“Well, hello Jack. We must have pushed the wrong floor.”
She looked down at Gaga.
“Be more careful Gaga,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Oh,” said Gaga. “like this is my fault?”
“It was your idea.”
“Ladies, ladies,” said Jack. “It’s no big deal.”
He smiled. They smiled back, and the doors closed.
Chapter Sixteen
Jack walked back into his office, thinking about the disk and hopeful that Mark could restore the footage. His eyes traveled over his empty desk. Where was the disk? He’d set it down next to the newspaper, but it was gone.
He tried to control his anger. While not a super self-aware kind of guy, Jack was smart enough to realize seeing Amy, his attraction to Marni, and dealing with two murders might be making him scatterbrained. What the hell did I do with the damned disk? He rushed out of his office and toward a housekeeper.
“Excuse me, did you clean this office?” he asked, pointing over his shoulder at his office door.
“No, sir.” The woman was busy organizing her cleaning products and straightening the towels on her cart.
“Is it possible someone else might have done it?” She laughed. “Possible yes, likely no. Everyone has their own rooms to clean and I have this entire floor. I’ve been alone all morning.”
“Did you happen to see if anyone came or went from that office while I was gone?”
She thought for a moment.
“Yes, sir. I think a man, but I’m sorry to say I barely looked up when he went in or when he left.”
“Was he carrying anything?”
“I couldn’t say. Sorry. Excuse me.”
Jack watched her push her cart down the hall. He wondered if she was lying. But why would she lie? Then the thought occurred to him that someone might not want that video footage restored. But who even knew about his plans to send the footage, other than the security guys? Well, if someone was trying to keep him from getting that video footage restored, that person was wasting his or her time. He’d just go request another copy.
Jack went to security and asked Brian to email him the footage. This time, there would be no disk that could mysteriously dis
appear. Within a few minutes, the footage arrived and Jack sent it off to Mark.
***
Sunday afternoon, Katherine and Amy headed down to the main ballroom, where they had agreed to meet Scott after he and Alex finished cleaning the suite. When they got off the elevator, they made their way through the crowds and toward the doorway. The ballroom was huge, beautiful, and brightly lit with multiple ornate chandeliers.
They looked around then back at each other. Both seemed to be thinking the same thing: How are we ever going to find Scott in this crowd? It was day one of the baked goods competition. Tables covered with pastries, cakes, cookies, and tarts were in every direction they looked. From what they could tell, all the U.S. states were represented. Men and women wearing white chef’s coats stood behind their tables as judges walked around the room. It appeared that some tables were for judging and others for sampling.
“Hey, Katherine, Amy.” Alex had appeared from out of nowhere.
“I saw you two walk in. Isn’t this great? I’ve only had time to try seven or eight things, but everything so far has been really good.”
“Done with the suite already?” asked Katherine. “Is Scott with you?”
“Yeah,” answered Alex. “He’s here somewhere. I couldn’t keep up with him.”
“Sophie too?” asked Amy.
“No, she’s with Kimy and our mom doing wedding stuff.”
Though Katherine didn’t want to spend any unnecessary time with Kimy, she still felt hurt to be so left out of things. She wanted to get to know Scott’s family, but they didn’t seem interested. Suddenly, an angry shout was heard above the roar of the crowd.
“What do you mean? What are you saying? How dare you!”
At one of the tables a chef was shouting at a man and a woman who were holding clipboards. Scott assumed they were judges. Whatever they’d said to the man, he’d found to be very displeasing. The man and woman walked away. Alex, Amy, and Katherine walked over to the man. He was looking down at a plate with some cake on it.
“Can you believe those two?” The chef said.
“What happened?” asked Amy.
“They said my cake had too much salt,” he answered, angrily. “As if that’s possible.” The chef picked up the plate and handed it to Amy. “Here. Taste,” he ordered.
Amy hesitated. She looked down at the remains of the cake. It appeared to be chocolate, with the creamiest looking frosting she’d ever seen. She took a large bite, and her face twisted. She looked away. The chef grabbed a fork and took a bite. He started shouting, “Saboteurs, saboteurs!”
Alex, Katherine, and Amy quickly backed away from the table. At a discreet distance, Alex looked down at Amy and said, “Too much salt?”
“Oh jeez yeah,” she answered. “Yikes.”
They all turned and walked toward the entrance, where they could see Scott standing. He bent down and kissed Katherine then said, “I heard shouting. Were you causing trouble again?”
“Who me?” said Katherine said. “When do I ever cause trouble?”
“So, what was all the shouting about?” he asked.
Alex looked over his shoulder then back at Scott. “One of the chefs put too much salt in his cake. Amy tasted it.”
“Yeah, way too much salt,” said Amy. She smiled, then said, “He started yelling, ‘Saboteurs, saboteurs.’”
“Well I hope he didn’t make your cake,” Katherine said to Alex.
Alex and Scott looked at each other. They’d both recognized him as the chef who’d shown them the wedding cake the day before. Alex turned toward Scott, who leaned in and said in a low voice, “I’m sure your wedding cake will be fine.”
“I hope so,” Alex said.
***
After spending most of Sunday afternoon in his office thinking over what he knew regarding the murders of Matt Smith and Pam Larsen, which wasn’t much, Jack stood, deciding some fresh air would do him some good.
Up on the lido deck, the mood was festive as usual. Loud music played from well-placed speakers, waiters in white shirts and shorts were many, and they all carried tropical drinks in coconuts. The women wore as little as was permitted, and all the men had to do was sit back and enjoy the view.
Jack stopped at the tiki bar and ordered himself a coffee. He envied these people. He wished he was a passenger like them. Their biggest concern was that their fun would be ending a few weeks earlier than originally planned. Jack, on the other hand, still had two murders to solve and it wasn’t looking promising. It all came down to the video footage. There wasn’t enough of it and what they did have was lousy. He hoped that Mark could recover something useful.
Jack’s eyes scanned the crowds. He was looking for Amy, half hoping and half dreading he’d see her. As far as he knew, she still didn’t know he was on board and he wanted to keep it that way. He thought about what Katherine had said, that Amy regretted breaking up with him. Though that soothed his bruised ego, he still had no plans to take her back. She’d broken things off with him, and she would only get one chance to break his heart.
Chapter Seventeen
Katherine was lying on her bed, rubbing her belly. Too many cake samples and one too many cookies had left her feeling slightly nauseated. Scott and Alex were still in the ballroom, still eating. She was startled by rapid knocking on the cabin door and was surprised to see it was Amy.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you were going to go find that guy you met and hang out with him?”
Amy pushed past her, clearly agitated.
“You are not going to believe this. You’re not going to believe who I saw.”
Katherine inwardly cringed. oh oh.
“What? Who?” she asked, already sure of the answer.
“Jack,” said Amy.
“Jack?”
“Yes Jack. Big as day. Out there, walking around. What the hell is he doing here? Should I go talk to him? Of course I should go talk to him. But what should I say? It’s been over three months. But I have to talk to him, don’t I? I mean it’s a sign, right?”
“Amy, take a breath.”
“How can I take a breath? Didn’t you hear me? I just saw Jack.”
Katherine wasn’t sure how to respond. Should she pretend to be surprised, or tell Amy she’d already known Jack was on board?
“I’m going out there. I’m gonna find him and tell him what a huge mistake I made and beg him to take me back.”
Katherine took Amy’s arm and pulled her to the bed. “Sit,” she said. “You’re not going to do that, and I’ll tell you why.” She sighed.
“Well?” said Amy.
“Okay, I have something to tell you, but don’t get mad. I already knew Jack was on board.”
“What?”
“I already knew. I ran into him. But I thought telling you would mess with your head, and you seemed to be having such a good time.”
“Yeah, but Katherine, you know I want Jack back.”
“Amy, Jack’s not going to take you back.”
“Why do you say that? What did he say?”
“I asked him. He knows you’re on board. He’s moved on.”
Amy stood, stunned and near tears. She walked to the door.
“What are you going to do?” asked Katherine.
“I don’t know yet. Probably something I’ll regret, but I have to at least try.”
Amy opened the cabin door and left. She walked to the elevators, barely looked up when the doors opened, and didn’t pay attention to the floor it was going to. Naturally, it stopped at the lido deck. She got out and looked around, half expecting to see Jack right away.
Chapter Eighteen
Jack’s eyes traveled over the crowds of people. He was pleased to see Marni Michaels lying on a lounge chair not far away. She was on her stomach. His eyes traveled over her body. Though he’d tried to squash it, there was no denying the attraction he felt for her.
***
Marni saw Jack before he saw her. She smiled
to herself. In the short time since she’d met him, he’d really impressed her. He seemed like a genuinely good guy. Most guys would have reacted much differently than he did when she’d squeezed his leg in the sauna. She didn’t have a lot of experience with decent guys, so she had mixed feelings. On one hand, she wanted to get him into her bed as soon as possible; on the other hand she wanted to marry him and have his little detective babies. She recognized one thing about her reaction to Detective Jack Harney—he was a challenge, and she liked challenges. Marni stifled a yawn. Since the night of Pam’s murder, it had been hard to sleep. She didn’t have bad dreams, but she’d often wake in the night, unable to go back to sleep. Her mind filled with dread and fear.
***
Jack was startled when Marni’s eyes suddenly opened and he was caught looking at her. She didn’t look pleased to see him. He walked over and sat next to her chair.
“Hello, Ms. Michaels.”
Marni propped herself on her elbows. “I think it’s okay if you call me Marni.
Jack noticed dark circles under her eyes. Had she been losing sleep over her friend’s murder? Marni turned over and sat up. Jack couldn’t help notice that her yellow bikini top left little to the imagination.
“How are you today, Ms. Michaels?”
“I’m as well as can be expected,” she answered. “How’s the investigation coming?”
“I can’t discuss it,” answered Jack. “I’m sorry.”
“Can’t you at least tell me if you have a suspect?” Marni’s voice cracked and she seemed near tears. “At least tell me, was it a man or a woman who killed Pam?”
Jack struggled, wondering what if any harm it would be to tell her the little they knew. If she had killed Pam, it certainly didn’t help her to know they knew Pam’s killer was a woman. It might even help them, maybe she’d get nervous, and somehow give herself away.
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