CHAPTER 7
C HAPTER 7
A s Curtis passed the Fortunate Harbor Hotel entrance, his phone rang. The readout said it was his boss. He put on his blinker and pulled to the side of the road. Which meant winding his way around a Styrofoam cooler and rubbish tossed by locals returning from the park.
“Amiya, hi.”
She started as always with, “Is now a bad time?”
“It’s perfect.”
“Thank you for your reports. They make for an exciting read.”
“A lot is happening,” Curtis replied. “And much faster than I expected.”
“So tell me what you haven’t included in your one-pagers.”
This was one of their favorite topics, and had grown into as intimate a moment as Curtis allowed himself these days. He launched straight in, holding nothing back. Curtis started with the town hall meeting, how he had spotted Rae Alden and seated himself beside her, shifting from there to her aunt Emma’s, seeing the stopover as a way to avoid Rae’s inevitable questions. But it had also allowed him to find the Beaufort riverfront property. Which brought him to where he was now. Seated in his idling car outside the hotel’s entry, staring at yet more litter tossed by locals who wanted them gone.
Amiya responded as she often did, taking a silent moment to digest all she’d heard. Curtis risked being late for his meeting with Gloria, so he started the car and pulled off the verge and headed for Atlantic Beach.
Amiya Morais was a few months younger than his own twenty-nine, and the company chairman’s only child. A sizeable number of the senior executives back in Delhi despised her. Curtis could not decide whether it was because she had moved from serving as her father’s personal aide to running their new American operations, or because she was far more intelligent than they were, or because she was beautiful and rich. Or all of the above.
Amiya’s parents had divorced when she was four. Her mother moved back to upstate New York and eventually remarried. But Amiya remained in close contact with her father and took aim for business school while still a teen. Curtis had heard snide comments among some of his fellows that Amiya had taken her father’s name in order to sidle up to the old man. He knew this was false, because Amiya and his late wife had been the closest of friends. Amiya had wanted to work for her father, partly because she loved him, and partly because Kurien Morais lived for his work.
Finally she said, “Tell me more about this island house.”
“Forget the house. The house is a wreck.”
“It’s the land. I know. Describe in more detail, please.”
“It’s shaped like an elbow, with the current home at the bend. The cove is mostly deep water and faces straight west.”
“That is quite possibly the least persuasive description I have ever heard.”
He pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. “It’s all I have time for. I’m due to meet the realtor.”
“I like the sound of her.”
“Emma described Gloria as a friend for all the right reasons,” Curtis said. “I think Gloria is exactly who we’re looking for. A trustworthy and honest realtor who might become a real ally.”
He expected Amiya to discuss the money he was about to spend, or what he hoped to accomplish with the architects that evening, or all the steps he would be taking the next day. Instead, she said, “I’m concerned about the trash being thrown at our hotel entrance.”
“It’s not just trash. Someone’s been dumping fish guts. Which was when the sheriff became involved.”
“That was the wrong move.”
“I agree.”
“Did you tell Simon?”
Simon Leroux was the hotel manager, a fussy gentleman in his late fifties. “We haven’t spoken since our conversation when I arrived.”
“Is that wise?”
It was as close to a criticism as Curtis normally heard from his boss. “I’ll call him tomorrow if you want. But right now, he thinks I’m just focused on the resort. And for whatever reason, the man definitely does not like having me around. I’d prefer to have some reason for him to need my help. Be the one to reach out.”
A silence; then, “Simon has let it be known that he is part owner of the hotel.”
“You’re joking.”
“It was one of the sidenotes our detective included in his final report.”
Curtis breathed around the news. Then, “You haven’t told your father.”
A laugh. “Daddy would fire him faster than he did our three thieves.”
“We don’t need to lose both the hotel and resort managers in the same week.”
“Which is why Daddy doesn’t need to know. Yet.” A pause, then, “How are you, Curtis?”
It was the sort of gentle question that bridged the divide between Amiya being his boss and his late wife’s best friend. The woman who had lived with them for almost five months after her own marriage fell apart. The friend who had held him at the grave site while he wept. The woman and her father who’d kept his life on course in the dark weeks that followed.
“It’s been good coming back.”
“Tell me how.”
He found himself describing the late-afternoon vista and standing in the shadow of the storm-damaged home. He finished with, “Despite all the problems, there’s a real potential here.”
“Are we talking about the house or you?”
“I told you, forget the house. The property is just waiting for a new chapter.”
She was almost laughing as she said, “Same question, Curtis.”
He opened the door, pushing against the sudden flood of hope, and all the fears that sprang up. Curtis waved to Gloria, then replied to Amiya, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
* * *
Approaching Gloria’s table, he could see the realtor was excited by something. Almost tense.
A waitress walked up before he was even seated, attractive and tanned and giving him the eye. “Welcome to the Full Moon. What can I get you this evening?”
He indicated Gloria’s empty glass. “What was that?”
“A very nice Chardonnay. Ice cold.”
“Sounds perfect. A round for us both, please.”
When the waitress departed, Gloria said, “If you want a realtor’s semiprofessional opinion, I’d say that particular waitress is interested in getting you a lot more than a drink.” When Curtis did not respond, she added, “I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘hot.’ ”
“I need a realtor,” Curtis replied. “Not a matchmaker.”
“Honey, we Down-Easters are a full-service bunch. You come looking for one thing, you get the whole package.”
The waitress returned with two glasses and another of those special looks and announced, “My name is Kitty. So you’ll know who to ask for if you need something else.”
Gloria watched the lady saunter off, then lifted her glass in a mock toast and said, “Meow.”
The wine was frigid and oaky smooth and went down like it was oiled. There had been a time when the night’s first drink held a promise of temporary oblivion. But the pills always wore off, and the booze never failed to disappoint. He had been almost glad to sober up. Nowadays those first few swallows were as far down memory lane as Curtis let himself drift.
Gloria set down her glass. “So you and your mother relocated to Arkansas, is that right?”
“Mom met William when he was here on vacation.” He smiled at the memory.
The waitress was looking in his direction and responded with a smile of her own. Curtis shifted in his chair, which brought out a third smile from the realtor.
He continued, “In the space of those two weeks, my mom left her slow recovery behind and became this hyperexcited teen in love. William came back twice more that summer. The second time, they got engaged. The next time was to move us back to Little Rock.”
“A whirlwind romance like that gives a lady hope.” Gloria sipped from her glass. “You never made it back?”
“What did Emma tell you?”
She laughed. “To call her the instant you shared anything juicy.”
“Which means she told you about me and Rae.”
“Guilty as charged.”
He pretended to watch a yacht make a slow-motion approach to the marina next door. “Those first few months, I missed Rae so much. William offered to pay for me to make a trip. I leapt at the chance. But that night, and the next, and the one after that, it all came back to the same question. Then what? I was seventeen. Was I ready to commit?” He stopped. Remembering.
Gloria asked quietly, “Then what?”
“From that distance, I saw what I hadn’t wanted to accept while we were together. Rae and I were changing. We both did well in school, it was one of the things that drew us together. She was determined to study, graduate, become whatever, and come straight back. Live her life here. End of story. But now that I was away, even in those first couple of months, I began to see a bigger vista. For the first time ever, in the midst of all that heartache, I knew a bigger world was calling to me.”
Her expression was soft, womanly. “And look where it got you.”
And that, Curtis knew, was time to change the subject. “What about you?”
“Army brat. Both my parents hailed from a little bitty flyspeck thirty miles west called Wildwood. Daddy’s last deployment was Fort Bragg. They retired down here. I did my best to run away, but it didn’t take.”
He had the distinct impression Gloria did not want to go any farther down that road. Which he understood all too well. “You might as well go ahead and tell me what’s got you so excited.”
“Maybe you should recharge your glass first. Give the lady watching you from the bar another lift to her evening.”
“Gloria.”
“Oh, all right.” She was clearly enjoying herself. “Anyplace like that, a big waterfront property that stays empty for so long, is bound to sprout rumors like weeds. But from what I’ve learned, in this particular case, the tales hold at least a smidgen of truth.”
“Tell me.”
She leaned forward. “The owner’s name is Landon Barrett. I told you that already. I actually met him once. Big man, not nice, but a lot of wealthy second homeowners are not what you’d call salt of the earth. One reason why locals aren’t especially happy to see your resort move ahead.”
“To say the least.”
“I know, right?” Her tone grew conspiratorial. “A banker friend must remain nameless because she’d get skinned alive for talking with me this afternoon. Landon Barrett’s attorney is none other than your old pal Rae Alden.”
Curtis was not impressed. “How does that help me acquire the place?”
“I’m not nearly done here. She says Barrett’s property is giving Rae all sorts of headaches.”
“What kind?”
“He left Rae with an account she was supposed to use for all related expenses. That was three years and two hurricanes ago. The fund is pretty much dry. And Landon Barrett has vanished. Nobody can find him. And they’ve tried. For years. Which explains the current state of Barrett’s house.”
This was news. “And?”
“Don’t you dare give me that big-city sphinx act.” She smiled. “Tell me that doesn’t rock your boat.”
He tried to hide his smile and failed. “What I said this afternoon about liking you. I take it all back.”
“Oh, you. Anyway, your very own Ms. Alden visited the bank a few days ago, talking with my pal. She’s worried about overdue property taxes that she can’t pay.”
“She’s not my very own anything.”
Gloria sniffed. “Apparently, Rae has pretty much decided she has no choice but find a buyer for the property.”
This was definitely news. “Rae holds the authority to sell the estate?”
“I suppose you’ll just have to ask the lady that yourself.” She glanced at her watch. “We’re due at the Dixons’. Finish that glass you’ve left to molder while I go ask the waitress for her phone number.”