“If that is Dona Isabella,” Vanessa said.
Jay laughed, pretended a shiver and let out an “Oooooh! Well, of course, it has to be Dona Isabella. And her evil is rising—that’s why you two were afraid of the chest.”
“I wasn’t afraid of the chest,” Vanessa said, her tone aggravated.
“Right,” Jay said with a shrug.
Food came. The conversation changed to where everyone was staying on the island—Bill and Jake had taken rooms at the Banyan while Barry and Zoe were in the guesthouses on Duval, a couple blocks down from where Vanessa was staying.
Everyone talked about different projects. Barry admitted that he had looked up information on David and Sean and been impressed with their separate bodies of work. The evening wore on, then Jaden and Ted called it a night, promising to call Sean and David the minute they heard from Tara Aislinn, the woman who was coming down from the University of Florida, the forensic anthropologist they had reached who was fascinated by the find and delighted to come down and examine the body in the chest.
Before the group broke up, Sean said, “David and I are going to do some planning tomorrow. We’ll call you when we’re set with the decision on when to leave.”
Bill and Zoe decided to roam Duval and Barry went back to his room. Jay asked Vanessa if she wanted a walk down the street; he was tired and leaving. To Sean’s surprise, she stood and agreed.
David and Sean stood, as well. Vanessa came around the table and gave David a kiss on the cheek. As she neared him, Sean saw that her eyes were sharp.
He stopped her and asked, “What’s that look for?”
She shook her head and said softly, “You think that I set this up. You still say that I brought Jay in all the time, and I saw how suspicious you were earlier.”
“Admit it, Vanessa. They were all here already.”
“Admit it?” she inquired, her voice rising.
“Admit that…it all looks suspicious.”
“Whatever it looks like, it isn’t. And I guess I want more faith. You stared at me tonight as if you were suddenly certain that I’d planned the entire thing, our old crew taking over your project.”
“That’s not true,” he said. “Yes, it’s strange, but—”
“You’re a liar.”
“We can talk,” he said.
She shook her head. “No. Not tonight. I need some time. We can talk tomorrow. Tonight, well, tonight I need to take a look at everything that’s gone on.”
He was hurt, angry—and baffled, still feeling himself to be the injured party. He was doing exactly what she wanted.
But he wasn’t ready to throw it all over, and he wasn’t thinking about the project.
Vanessa…
The ego in him wanted to shrug and tell her that it wouldn’t be necessary to talk about anything intimate, if those were her feelings.
But he realized, too, that she must certainly have her own pride.
And he knew, too, that “talking tomorrow” was better than a real break. He’d give her the space she needed.
He was startled as she walked on by him, waiting for Jay. She was truly upset.
Jay gave David a cheery good-night and shook Sean’s hand. “What a day, eh?”
“Yeah, what a day.”
Jay hesitated. “Honest to God, this wasn’t any kind of a setup.”
“I never said that it was,” Sean told him.
Jay shrugged. “I saw the way that you looked at Vanessa.”
Lord. Were his suspicions—his thoughts—really that apparent? Even Jay had read his expression.
“You’re mistaken,” he lied.
Jay shrugged.
Vanessa was waiting for Jay on the sidewalk. He joined her, and Sean watched as they started north on Duval together.
“Well, that was interesting,” David commented.
“I’m sorry—doesn’t it feel a bit weird to you? First Vanessa shows up, pitching her slant to our project, then Jay. Then we think that it might make for a really interesting piece and put out a call to find the rest of the crew, and almost instantaneously they all show up?”
“Yes and no,” David said. He shrugged. “Maybe they did all hear about it and contacted one another. I don’t find it all that odd if they did. Trust me, I know. Events can change your life and haunt you day after day.”
David Beckett had once stood accused of murder—if not by law, in the minds of many people who had heard what had happened.
Sean let out a long breath.
Back then, he and David had been friends. Close friends. And he hadn’t known what to believe. All he had known was that he had wanted to get away from home, and for years and years he had traveled, staying mainly away from home. Knowing the truth about the past—even though he had not been directly involved, like David—had changed everything.