Sunset Beach(116)

They drove through Madeira Beach, and then Treasure Island, where Sherri made a sudden sharp left turn.

Crushed oyster shells crunched beneath the Chevette’s tires as they pulled into the abbreviated driveway of the cottage, which was overshadowed by the shaggy branches of a pair of towering Australian pines.

Colleen, of course, had driven past this house many times, at night, when Brice’s cruiser was parked out front. Once, she’d parked in the driveway of a vacant house across the street, watching while all the lights in the house blinked off, wondering if that meant he and his wife were going to bed, imagining what they would do there, torturing herself with all the what-ifs.

“Stay there,” Sherri ordered, after she’d cut the engine. She came around to the passenger side of the car and unceremoniously yanked Colleen to her feet. She looked around, cautiously, but the narrow road was empty. Nobody was about. She nudged Colleen forward, through the rain, toward the front door.

“Open it,” she ordered, pushing Colleen into the house. Lightning struck then, so close that both women jumped, and the smell of cordite hung in the steamy, ion-charged air around them.





54


Drue was barefoot, dressed in cut-off yoga pants and her favorite raggedy SURF ALASKA T-shirt when she heard the doorbell ring. She checked the time and frowned. It was five-thirty. Her hair was still wet from the shower, and she was operating on about four hours of sleep and not in the mood for company.

Her mood changed when she opened the front door.

“Ben! I thought you were at a gaming thing.”

He stood on the doorstep holding a brown paper bag. “After you called, I decided to sneak out early. I still feel terrible I missed your call last night because I was so wrapped up in that damned tournament. I didn’t even notice you’d tried to call until, like, two in the morning.”

“Hmm. Two in the morning was about the time I was being hauled to jail by the police,” Drue said.

His eyes widened behind the horn-rimmed glasses. “You didn’t tell me you got arrested!”

“Come on inside and I’ll fill you in on all the sordid details,” she said. “And when I tell you what I’ve been through, you’ll see why I look the way I look.”

“You look fine to me,” he said. “But what’s up with the skunk stripe in your hair? Is that a new thing?”

She yawned. “Tell you in a minute. I had a late, late night, and then a crazy, crazy morning. I’m about to fix some coffee. You want coffee, or maybe a beer?”

He held out the paper bag. “I brought you a smoothie from that place up the beach, as a peace offering.”

“Kale Yeah? I love that place.” She lifted the plastic cup from the bag. A straw poked out from the plastic top. “That’s so sweet,” she said. “I’ll have it later, if that’s okay. I gotta get some caffeine in my system before I pass out on my feet.”

“I had them put some B12 powder in it, for energy,” Ben said. “Try that first, and then the coffee.”

Drue shrugged. “Okay, sure. Good idea.”

He sat down at the kitchen table opposite her. “Okay. Now I want to hear all the gory details. How did you end up in jail?”

She hesitated and then plunged ahead, into the story. “I broke into a room at the Gulf Vista,” she said. “Well, I didn’t actually manage to break in, but I was about to, when a security guard caught me. They called the cops, and had me arrested for breaking and entering and trespassing, but I’m pretty sure my dad can make them drop the charges. And then I sort of tricked Neesa into coming over here—”

“Slow down,” he said. “Tell me everything.”

“I know you said this whole thing was a waste of time, but Ben, it really wasn’t. After you guys left the office last night, I watched and rewatched the hotel security video from the night Jazmin was killed, and I figured it out.”

She took a sip of the smoothie and gave him an apologetic smile. “That’s the real reason I didn’t go to happy hour with you guys last night. I was afraid if I told you my idea, you’d try to talk me out of it. I had a theory, and the more I watched the video, the more I needed to check it out.”

“You should never have gone to that place by yourself,” Ben said, shaking his head. “I mean, that’s just crazy.”

“It’s not crazy,” she insisted. “And I proved it.”

She sipped the smoothie. “I never would have figured it out if I hadn’t tracked down Neesa, the housekeeper who was supposedly Jazmin’s best friend. It turns out, she was the key to all of it.”

“How so?” He sat back in his chair and gave her a quizzical look.

“The night I met her at Mister B’s, this honky-tonk out in Seminole, we struck up a conversation. She’d had a lot to drink, and we were just kind of chatting, and I told her that I lived here, in Sunset Beach, and she said she’d worked at the Gulf Vista, which, of course, I already knew. Eventually, she started to talk about Jazmin, and the management at the hotel, and her boss, a guy she called Herman-like-in-the-Munsters.”

Drue yawned widely. “Sorry. I’m so tired, my mind is kind of foggy right now.” It was true. She’d never been much of a napper, but right now, she felt as though she could sleep for a solid week.