He was beginning to think that while it had looked like there were two possibilities—an almost random killer, or a psychopath who had a clear-cut purpose—there might actually be just one possibility: a psychopath with a mind so warped that even as he pursued his agenda, he couldn’t keep himself from killing on the side, because he needed to kill, even when it didn’t serve his ultimate goal. The murders that had taken place in Miami could not be coincidental. And neither could the all-too-similar murders that had taken place elsewhere.
But in his experience, every murderer eventually made a mistake. So if he could follow this murderer closely enough, he would catch him.
And he wanted—needed—to catch this killer before another life was lost.
She nodded. “Mean while, we’re getting to Coco-lime ahead of everyone else so we can have a chance to talk with the Trentons, especially Maria, alone and see if we can find out anything helpful, and also convince Maria to talk to Uncle Leo about bringing charges against Brother Michael.”
“Yes. The other models will start arriving midweek, but Jared and Brad are bringing the boats down sooner, probably tomorrow or Monday. And the photographers and lighting techs have to show up ahead of time, too. Harry Lee arrives Tuesday.”
They were just exiting the turnpike onto US1. Chloe turned to him, grinning. “Let’s act like tourists for a change and stop at Cracker Barrel. I want to buy presents for the kids.”
They stopped and had brunch, and Chloe took a few minutes to buy presents for Maria and the children. Then they started off along the eighteen-mile stretch to Key Largo and on to the chain of islands where Luke prayed they would discover the truth—and catch a killer—at last.
Leaving everyone still alive when it was over.
He turned off soon after they reached Key Largo. Chloe looked at him expectantly but waited for him to speak.
“Dive gear,” he told her. “I’m renting ours from here.” He didn’t bother to add “the better to make sure no one’s had a chance to tamper with it.” Why spook Chloe if he didn’t have to?
He knew the dive shop and had for years. Apparently Chloe knew it, too—his friends greeted her by name before he had a chance to introduce her.
“You’re all set. I’ve got two bags all ready for you,” the owner said to him. “You brought your own regulator though, right?”
“Yeah,” Luke said, stuffing it in the bag along with everything else.
After that, they were back on the road. Next stop: Coco-lime.
Stepping out of the car, Chloe was struck by the beauty and peace of Coco-lime. Despite everything, that sense of having reached Eden hadn’t changed.
Late spring. The days were warm but not hot, and the nights cooled off, unlike the dead heat that paralyzed the area in the heart of summer. In winter, the water was cold, and only the snowbirds went swimming. The natives waited until summer, when the sun and the Gulf Stream warmed the ocean.
It was a perfect day. A mellow breeze played through the palms, and she could hear the tinkle of the waterfall.
Maria had evidently been waiting for them, because she approached the car immediately, Elijah holding her hand, Sam in her arms.
“I’m so glad you came down early,” she said, clearly pleased to see them.
While Luke got their things out of the car, Chloe took Sam from Maria’s arms and gave her a kiss.
Maria’s eyes were wide, and she looked almost as if she was about to burst into tears. “I wanted you to come so badly. We all did. But after what happened…I’m not sure they should be going through with this. It’s so soon. But I’m still glad you’re here. I’ll be happy to see the others, too, but I’m especially happy that the two of you are here.”
“Maria, that’s so sweet. Thank you very much,” Chloe told her.
“You have your favorite room, right by the pool and the waterfall, and Mr. Jack is next to you, just like before,” Maria said.
Mr. Jack.
Either Maria was playing her role very well, or her husband had kept silent about Luke’s real identity, figuring that even though Mark Johnston had revealed it, it still wasn’t common knowledge.
Maria looked anxiously toward the car, where Luke was still busy unloading their gear. “I am worried after Myra’s murder, I admit. Do they think the Church of the Real People was involved?”
“I don’t think the police really know anything yet, Maria. But I…well, just let me get settled, and we’ll talk, all right?”
Maria nodded. “I’m going to get the kids a snack. Here are your keys. Just give me a call when you have a few minutes.”
Chloe thanked her, noting that Maria had given her two keys for each room.
Ah, Maria. The heart of discretion.
Maria walked over to Luke for a quick hug, then took the boys and left. Chloe joined Luke, and they carried their bags to their rooms. Luke arched a brow when she handed him his key and nodded toward his door, then shrugged and headed into his own room. He was only there about five minutes before he joined Chloe in hers—dressed in swim trunks.
He took an appreciative look around.
“I can see that you rate,” he told her with a smile.
She grinned. She loved this room; it was big and had a kitchenette, along with that wonderful door leading straight out to the sparkling pool.
“So what are we doing next?” she asked him.
“Something important, especially for inquiring minds.”
“And that would be?”
“Relaxing.”
“Oh? And just what do you propose?”
“Some energetic physical activity, followed by lounging around the pool with the Trentons, talking Maria into helping us. But activity first.”
“And the activity would be?”
He closed the short distance between them and pulled her into his arms. His voice was husky as he said, “Something that’s supposed to be one of the best forms of exercise ever.” His lips brushed hers. “Something that seems to come quite naturally.”
She laughed and leaned into him, returning the kiss. It did, indeed, come naturally. The air conditioner hummed, they could hear the splashing melody of the waterfall beyond the door, but then everything went silent as she slipped from her clothing and into his arms, and even in the coolness of the room, she felt as if she were melting.
The exercise was beyond excellent.
Luke knew he had to gain Maria’s trust and help her see not only her own situation but the bigger picture. She was safe, but he had to start by making her believe that. Then, and only then, would he ask her to look at the pictures he had, the one in the pamphlet and those the cops had taken at the church.
By two in the afternoon they were lounging out at the pool. Bill had taken his boat out, but Ted and Maria and the children were all there. Maria had put together a huge tray of sandwiches, beer and soda were chilling in the cooler, and the conversation was casual.
Luke let Maria ease back on a lounge chair and chat with Chloe, while he and Ted played with the kids in the pool. Eventually the kids would need to go up for a nap, and then he would be able to turn the conversation in the direction he needed it to go.
But they didn’t get a chance to reach that point. He was letting Elijah dive off his shoulders when Chloe called to him from the side of the pool.
Elijah swam off to join his father, and Luke headed over to her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Stuckey,” she said quietly so as not to be over heard, handing him his cell phone. “I saw the caller ID and answered. He says it’s important.”
He took the phone, thanking her.
“Stuckey?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
“You’re on land, right?”
Luke looked over at the pool. “More or less. What’s up?”
“Body parts.”
Luke’s heart missed a beat.
Stuckey went on. “We’ve got two bodies, I think.”
“Where?”
“Get your ass back up to Florida City. I’m in the Everglades. Just got the call myself about an hour ago. I’ll meet you here.”
“You need to give me better directions than that,” Luke said.
Stuckey told him all he had to do was follow the trail of law enforcement vehicles west from Florida City.
“What good am I going to be in the Glades?” Luke asked. “I need to be where I am. With Chloe.”
“The Trentons are good people. Chloe will be fine. Just get up here,” Stuckey said, and added, “Damn it! You need to see this.”
“Maybe you should have gone with him,” Maria said, shaking her head as she set a cup of tea down in front of Chloe. “It could be fun, scouting locations.”
They were no longer by the pool.
Chloe and Luke had just had their first full-fledged—and public—argument.
He’d wanted her to go with him.
She’d been determined to stay.
What had infuriated her was that obviously, no matter what he said or claimed to think, he didn’t trust the Trentons.
She did.
The Trentons, she was pretty sure, hadn’t realized that he didn’t trust them, possibly because she’d taken the fight inside. They had brought the argument down to a low level. Only a few times had their voices even risen.
Luke, she knew, was really angry that she wasn’t willing to blindly do whatever he said she needed to do.
“You want information from Maria,” she told him. “You want Maria’s help. And Ted’s, because Maria will never go against Ted. But now you want to drag me away from them, as if you’re suspicious they might be involved in what’s going on. I don’t think you trust anyone anymore, and I understand that, but in this case I think you’re just being paranoid. As far as my being safe here goes, their kids are here. Ted’s grand kids are here. And they protect this place for all they’re worth, no matter that it seems so open. I’ll be safe here,” she’d told him. He had simply stared at her until she’d exploded with, “I’m not stupid!”
“Not stupid, too nice. And too trusting.”
“But you trust the Trentons.”
“Yes—and no. You can never really trust anyone.”
“So how can I really trust you?”
The glare Luke had given her then had just about frozen her in place.
Just then his phone had rung again. He had answered it, staring at her all the while. It was Stuckey, she could tell, but Luke didn’t share the conversation with her. She hadn’t expected him to. Even so, it hurt.
Then he had left. As soon as he had gone, she started worrying that she might have closed a door between them, which she had never meant to do. Immediately she had decided that the best way to open it was to talk to Maria and pave the way for what they wanted—needed—from her.
“No, I’m fine where I am,” Chloe assured Maria. She leaned closer to her friend and spoke softly, though the boys were sleeping. “Maria, I have to tell you, we’re going to need your help.”
“My help?” Maria edged back, alarmed.
“Colleen Rodriguez has disappeared and is most likely dead. Myra and two other women were killed. We think that the same people who kid napped you from Brazil, or at least associates of those people, are guilty in those murders, as well. When he comes back, Jack Smith is going to have some pictures from the police and show them to you. We need to know if you can recognize the man who bought you and brought you to the United States.”
Maria shook her head. “They’re dangerous. Those people are very dangerous.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why we have to stop them.”
Maria wasn’t happy. She pushed her chair away from the table, distancing herself from Chloe and her words. “They don’t know where I am. I made no stink. I disappeared. That’s why I’m safe.”
“Maria, listen to me. Once upon a time, Myra was a member of the Church of the Real People. They might know all about the island—whoever took Colleen Rodriguez took her from the island. And if they know about the island and the agency, they know about Coco-lime.”
Maria opened her mouth in a large O, but she wasn’t looking at Chloe, she was looking past her at the door to the apartment, which was creaking open.
Chloe swung around to see who had caused Maria to ice up in fear.
“Hell,” Luke said to Stuckey. He pointed to the display—there was no other word for it—that had been discovered a few hours previously by two park rangers. “Was this supposed to be a murder-suicide, too?”
They were staring at two barrels that had been filled with oil—and body parts. Both had been tipped over, and spilled their gory contents.
Stuckey snorted. “Hardly.”
The M.E. was on the scene. Luckily, it was a man Luke knew, Pete White. Small glasses, sparse hair, intriguing man. Pete specialized in anthropological forensics, and Luke was sure that he’d been called out specifically, since all they had were body parts covered in oil.
Pete, gloved and booted and looking like something out of a biological-warfare horror movie, was carefully examining the remaining contents of the barrels. “I’d like to get them back to my place before we lose much more—may be evidence in those barrels we’re not expecting,” he said. He looked over at Stuckey and Luke, and grimaced. “To answer your question, Luke, this is obviously murder. Two people can’t dismember each other and put each other into barrels. I don’t think you need a degree to know that.”
Apparently the rangers had been the ones to spill over the barrels, thinking at first that someone was still alive, since they’d seen hands sticking out of both barrels. The first ranger had reached out to help—only to have the hand come free as he grabbed it, with half an arm attached. He’d screamed, knocking over the barrel, and that had sent the second ranger jumping back, knocking over the second one. So now oil was seeping into the water table, and Pete White’s assistants were trying to protect the crime scene as best they could without losing any body parts or any more oil.
It was so macabre that it didn’t seem real.
Pete dived forward suddenly, almost slipping into a swampy section of the “river of grass.” But he steadied himself and grabbed something before it could slide into the muck. “A missing piece,” he said.
A head.
Luke let out a gasp, his eyes widening in recognition.
“What? You know who that is?” Stuckey demanded.
He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t be sure. The hair was matted, the eyes closed. Diesel oil dripped down the face, turning it an extremely odd color….
The head had been cleanly severed, clearly by someone who knew how to wield a knife.
“Well?” Stuckey demanded. “Who the hell is it?”
FIFTEEN
“Surprise,” Ted Trenton said.
Chloe and Maria stared at him, and he looked suddenly confused. Clearly this wasn’t the reception he’d expected. “Uh…your friends are here—to surprise you,” he said.
“What friends?” Chloe asked, glancing at Maria. The look of alarm the other woman had worn was gone; had she been afraid that Ted would find out what they’d been talking about?
“Brad, Victoria, Jared and…I’m not sure about the other girls. I’ve met them, I think. The pretty one who’s kind of famous? Lacy Taylor, that’s her name! And…oh, I’m not sure. Anyway, they’re here. And the other two people Luke said were coming.” He lowered his voice. “Investigators,” he whispered. “They’re docking the boats now.”
Startled, Chloe rose. “I didn’t know they were coming today.”
“Yeah, they told me Monday, too,” Ted said. “Like I said, it’s a surprise. Anyway, they’re out there now. They’re lucky none of the other guests came by boat, or the berths would be full.”
Maria smiled indulgently. “Ted, you never accept other guests for this week.”
“That’s not the point,” he told her. “Besides, I do sometimes take other reservations, so long as they’re out by Monday.”
&nb
sp; “I’ll go down and greet them,” Chloe said. Then, suiting action to words, she hurried down the stairs and outside, then made her way over the scrub grass toward the docks. Victoria, bright and perky, waved at the sight of her. Lacy looked as pretty as ever, but Jeanne was wearing an irritated look, and Maddy, Rene and Lena were mainly just wind blown.
Jared and Brad both looked tired—though whether physically or because of the company, she couldn’t tell—while Brent and Nikki appeared to be slightly amused. As Chloe started down the dock, Jared looked up at her and rolled his eyes toward Jeanne.
“That was the ride from hell,” Jeanne proclaimed. “From hell, do you understand me? Hell!”
“The seas were a lousy three feet, and we hugged the flipping Intra coastal most of the way,” Brad said.
“Oh, Jeanne, it was fine,” Lacy said. She strode over to Chloe and told her excitedly, “We saw dolphins. A puddle of dolphins!”
“A pod of dolphins?” Chloe suggested quietly, and smiled.
“Yes, a pod, thank you.”
Lacy really was beautiful, Chloe thought. She was destined for runway stardom, and though she might never take the grand prize playing Jeopardy, she was intrinsically sweet.
“I need a room. Now,” Jeanne said flatly.
“I didn’t know you all were coming down today—I would have gotten your keys for you if I had,” Chloe said.
“It was a surprise for us, too,” Brent said.
“Jared and I figured there was no point wasting time at home, and the girls decided they’d like a little extra R & R, too.” Brad grinned teasingly at Chloe. “Sorry to intrude on your…private time. Looks like you’re getting to know our new designer pretty well, huh?”
She made a face at him.
“We decided to come along, too, and we certainly enjoyed the ride,” Brent said.
Jared groaned. “That’s because Jeanne wasn’t on your boat.”
“Hey, we’re all safely here now,” Nikki said easily. “I’m sure she’ll calm down.”