Vanessa nodded. Her heart seemed to take a little leap, and she wanted to kick herself. He probably wanted to give her a list of rules.
“Sure. But, Katie, I’m going to head back to my room for a bit first—too much costume and makeup for me. I need a shower. Oh—thank you,” she said.
“Thank me?” Katie said, laughing. “See, you are a ham, and you didn’t even know it. You were great.”
Vanessa shook her head. “No. Thank you. For influencing David, for introducing me to Jamie—I’m not sure I broached it all right with your brother, but this…well, if anything can be discovered, I think that this is the crew to do it.”
Katie grinned happily. “Sure. And hey, I’m on this adventure, too!”
Adventure…
Vanessa wasn’t at all sure she saw it that way.
With a wave, she headed out of the park, leaving all the pirate booths behind her. As she watched, she searched the crowds. Had she imagined them both?
Many a big tall man with dark hair might look like Carlos Roca.
And in the midst of would-be pirates, imagining another pirate…
Face it: she wasn’t getting enough sleep.
It was a long walk back to her room, but Vanessa was almost glad of it. She needed to walk, to stride, to burn more energy.
She needed to call Sean.
She wasn’t ready to do so.
Reaching Duval and starting toward the north end, she realized that she was looking in shops and bars. She couldn’t shake the belief that she had seen Carlos Roca.
But if Carlos was alive, then…
Did that mean he had murdered the others?
As she neared her inn, she glanced across the street at a group of “pirates” gathered in front of the Irish bar across the street.
One relaxed against the door frame, watching the band, listening to the music. He had dark hair. He was the man she had thought had to be Carlos Roca.
He looked at her. He looked straight at her.
It was Carlos Roca. It had to be Carlos Roca. It was his face.
He turned and disappeared into the bar.
11
“Carlos, no! Wait, stay! It’s me, Vanessa!” she cried. She raced across the street. It seemed that pirates had spread across the place, and she tried to excuse herself and wend her way through big frock coats, big hair and bigger hats. She made her way through the bar, searching faces to see Carlos’s once again.
But she walked all way through to the emergency exit, and he wasn’t there. She burst into the kitchen, only to be shown out. The place was ridiculously crowded, and she realized he might have walked out through the gift shop, slipped through another wall of pirates when she wasn’t looking.
At last she gave up and walked her way through the pirates once again to the street.
She walked across, and straight into Sean.
He was standing in front of her inn, leaning against the wall, as if he had been there for some time. He seemed curious that she had come from the Irish bar, and was probably impatient, as well.
“I’ve been calling you,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’d have thought that you might have been more interested in everything going on. Especially as far as getting ready to head out—with your friends all involved now.”
“Look, Sean, they’re my friends, but not my friends. Jay, yes, I’ve known forever. And I like the others, but I didn’t bring them here.”
“I’m not holding any of it against you,” he said.
“How magnanimous,” she murmured, looking away. She wanted to shout that she thought she had seen Carlos Roca. She might have been wrong. And if she’d seen Carlos, everyone would decide that, since he was alive, he was guilty. Until she saw him, really saw him, she couldn’t say anything.
What if he was guilty? What if he had seen her, and knew that she had seen him? What if? He had seen her, he had looked straight at her before disappearing.
“Is that all?” she asked him. “It’s been a long day, and I’d really like to take a shower, if you’ll excuse me. I’ll be ready to work whenever you need anything, but for now…”
She started to walk by him. He blocked her path. She looked up and was surprised to see that his golden eyes were opened wide and that everything about him was just slightly awkward. “Vanessa…I’m not good at this. And I’d like you to understand how things looked…. I’m sorry.”
She was startled by the apology. It was amazing, coming from him under the circumstances.
Maybe he just missed the sex. But then again, so did she.
And still…
“I don’t lie, Sean,” she said stiffly.
“I didn’t accuse you of lying.”
“Well, yes, actually you did.”
“I…I’m sorry. Okay, I’m not good at this…I don’t know what else to say,” he told her. “I’ll ask you again, see it from my side.”
She nodded and smiled slowly. “Just say that you know that I don’t lie, and that you’ll believe in me in the future. That will work.”
“I know that you don’t lie. I’ll believe you in the future,” he said, his smile broad.