Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
“ W hat a day,” I say as I give a friendly wave to Jennifer Mitchell as we huddle in the shade of a boulder right here in the waters of Sunset Cay.
“You can say that again.” She shakes her head out at the clear blue water. “I’ve never been to paradise, but I have a feeling it looks a lot like this.”
“I can’t argue with that,” I say as we share a little laugh. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”
She blows out a breath and sighs. Her hair is knotted up in a bun, and her face is bright pink from the heat despite the fact we’re out of the sun for now. She’s donned a frilly pink bikini with lots of ruffles that cover her top and bottom, and it’s so cute I’ve already made a note to try to track one down just like it. I’m sure Elodie can help in that department. Although knowing Elodie, she’d say it has too much coverage.
“It’s a horrible thing that happened.” Her blue eyes glow as she blinks back tears. “I mean, who would do something like that to such a sweet woman?” She sighs hard. “I guess it was a robbery gone wrong or something. One of the other girls suggested it could have been someone strung out on drugs or someone who was drunk who did it. I guess we’ll never know. It’s just so unfair.”
“I agree with you on that.” A gentle wave comes our way and we rise with it. “Have you spoken with her family? I can’t imagine how they’re taking it.”
“No, Hetty said she’d do that. I don’t actually know Lucy’s family. She was from Oklahoma, I think. And she doesn’t have a serious boyfriend. I mean, she dated around.” She cringes when she says it.
“I take it they weren’t nice guys?”
“Not nice at all.” She shakes her head at the thought. “Anyway, all of us are so broken up about it. But my friends insist that Lucy would have wanted us to go on with this farce of a bachelorette party—and so we are, I suppose.” She makes a face. “My friend, Amber, suggested we do so in memory of Lucy. And then Hetty mentioned that when we get home we should honor all of Lucy’s book pick requests for the next few months. That way her spirit will remain with us in a sense.”
“That’s a beautiful thought,” I say.
She nods. “I agree. It’s all we can do at this point.”
Speaking of spirits…
“You know, I heard someone in your group mention a name along with Lucy’s and it seemed to cause a ruckus.” Okay, so this is all a fabrication from my imagination, but that’s beside the point. I need a vehicle to get me from point Lucy to point Beatrice and it just so happens that this is it. “The name was Beatrice Fiddlefae?”
Jennifer rocks her head back immediately. “Oh wow, that’s a blast from the past. Oh poor Bea. She was a member of our book club for years. She used to work at one of the department stores downtown. She was hoping to be a buyer for them one day. Real sweet woman. She passed away at one of our meetups about a year ago, if you can believe it.”
“What?” Every last inch of me prickles. “How?”
“Cantaloupe.” She shrugs. “It turns out, she was deathly allergic. And well, we do a little dessert potluck every time we meet and there was cantaloupe in the fruit salad. I guess she didn’t see it. Odd since she was always so careful.” She shudders just thinking about it. “Anyway, that was a horrible night. It was actually at my place. That’s why I remember it so well. We always start off with dessert. And, well, we never got farther than that. No sooner did Bea take a bite out of her fruit salad than her face started turning colors. She was blue before I could call the paramedics. They arrived in no time and they revived her for a bit, but we lost her before they got to the hospital.”
“Oh, that’s horrible.”
“It was a nightmare. But that was just a horrific accident. Nothing compared to what happened to Lucy.”
“Did Lucy and Bea get along? I mean, judging from the way those women were going at it, I gathered not.”
“They used to get along just fine.” She’s back to wincing. “For as sweet as Lucy could be, she had a habit of scooping up people’s exes—and on occasion—some of those men weren’t even exes yet.”
“Wow,” I say, suddenly seeing Lucy in a whole new light and it’s not so sweet.
“I know it sounds bad—because it was. Anyway, with Bea, well, Bea says that she and Teddy weren’t quite on the skids, but Teddy fed Lucy a different story. Regardless, Bea came at Lucy with venom. Honestly, if Lucy were the one who died that night, I would have pegged Bea for being responsible. But trust me, Lucy couldn’t hurt a fly.” She frowns at the horizon. “But despite Lucy’s bad habits with men, she did care about relationships. If anyone was slighting someone else, well, let’s just say it infuriated her.”
“Did anyone in the group infuriate her?”
Jennifer sinks an inch in the water. “ Me .” She gives a little laugh.
“What?” I laugh along with her in hopes she’ll say more.
“It was silly.” She gives a mournful look back at the water. “She thought I could do better than Marcus. That’s my fiancé.” She flexes a wry smile my way. “And I told her that Marcus and I are a perfect match. He’s strong, both physically and emotionally. He makes me feel safe.” She shakes her head as she says it. “And he loves the outdoors, he likes the water, and we both like food.”
“Sounds like a match made in heaven. And a lot like my old golden retriever. Boy, how I miss that furry guy.”
We share a laugh and it sounds genuine on her part.
“All right, Trixie, let’s hear what you love most about your new man.”
“Where do I begin?” I give a dreamy sigh at the mention of my new man. “Ransom is whip-smart, cuttingly handsome, and a gentleman through and through. He puts me and my needs first, and is forever caring about my wellbeing and my safety.” Case in point, in regards to me stepping into the case. “He’s way out of my league in every capacity. And yet, when he looks at me, I feel as if I’m the only woman in the world and that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It’s so magical. I mean, my first husband is basically a child in all the worst ways and hedonistic to a fault. But Ransom is a true man’s man. And he’s a firmly grounded adult. And to be honest, after meeting him, it made me wonder why I stayed with Stanton all those years.”
“Wow, he does sound dreamy. He doesn’t have a brother, does he?” she teases and we share another laugh.
A shrill scream comes from our left out in open waters as a crowd quickly gathers around someone and more shrill cries go off.
Jennifer and I dive in the direction and navigate through a tangle of limbs just to find Bess and Nettie at the heart of the matter.
Oddly enough, Nettie is causally lounging on her back amidst the melee. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much par for the course.
“What’s going on?” I howl over the sound of screams and shouts for help.
“It’s Nettie!” Bess shouts back. “She’s got five different sea turtles clamped onto her toes and they won’t let go!”
“What?” I squawk as I make my way over. Before I can get there, both Ransom and Wes appear as they swim up in haste.
“What the heck is going on?” Wes shouts.
“Everyone back up,” Ransom calls out and about six different women give an audible sigh because of it.
I’ll admit, a shirtless Ransom Baxter barking out orders is sigh-worthy on a whole other level.
But I manage to tear my gaze from my soon-to-be husband’s perfectly chiseled chest over to Nettie’s feet where, sure enough, five sea turtles of varying sizes seem to be clamped down over her toes as Nettie floats serenely in the water.
“I’ll get them off,” Wes calls out.
“Leave them alone,” Nettie shouts back. “They know a good time when they see one.”
Bess balks at the thought, “More like they know a good snack when they see one. You’ll be lucky to have any toes left once they’re through with you.”
“You’re just jealous you weren’t chosen to be their queen,” Nettie shoots back.
“You’re right.” Bess tosses her hand in exasperation. “I don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight because of it. I guess I’ll count myself lucky—while I count all ten of my toes!”
It takes both Wes and Ransom to wrestle those turtles off of Nettie—and I do mean wrestle. Thankfully, all of Nettie’s toes are still intact and her skin isn’t broken.
We get her back to shore and Wes procures a cabana for us right on the water’s edge.
Ransom buys us lunch—spicy chicken tacos—and an ice-cold crazy coconut for all of us—per Nettie’s request. Virgins, per my request.
And as I’m just about to fall asleep in Ransom’s arms, I take one last look in the direction of Jennifer and her friends. But something catches my eye just past them, a man in a T-shirt and shorts with a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead. It’s the same man from the ship who I’ve spotted before and a shiver runs up my spine.
“What’s the matter?” Ransom asks as he gives a casual glance over his shoulder.
“Nothing,” I say, snuggling back into his arms.
I don’t want to ruin the moment. But I darn sure make note of the fact that the man in the baseball cap is watching Jennifer and her friends. The first two instances could have been a coincidence, but something tells me we’re well past that now. Whoever he is, he just landed on my suspect list.
And speaking of my investigation, according to Jennifer, Hetty was close enough to know Lucy’s family.
I know exactly who I’m talking to next.
Here’s hoping Hetty King has a lot to say.