“Please! Sean!” Vanessa pleaded again, wincing. “Sean—we can’t let anyone know that Carlos is here. He’s watching…watching after us. Sean, listen to him.”
“It’s one of them,” Carlos said quietly and with dignity. “It’s one of them. We were barely out at sea when I was attacked at the helm. I never saw who was there. I was struck so hard I went down. I was tossed overboard, and somehow, by the grace of God, the cold woke me up. I was dazed, my head was bleeding. I don’t remember much else. I swam. I found a piece of driftwood and clung to it. I came to on one of the small islands, tended by a fisherman’s wife. Then, I found out that I was wanted for murder. I have a Bahamian friend who got me a false ID claiming that I’m a fisherman from the Dominican Republic. I have been trying to find out what did happen ever since, lying low…and studying disappearances in the air and acts of piracy.”
“Why should we believe you?” Sean asked, not moving, his voice cold and steely. “Why should I believe that this isn’t a game you’re playing, that you don’t have an accomplice among the crew, and that if I keep the secret that you’re here, you won’t be waiting for the right time to kill again?”
“You can ask Lew,” Carlos said quietly. “I told you, I came to on a Bahamian island. The people who found me were decent people. They contacted him and got him to come to me. He was there to see the fifty stitches in my head. He knows that I’m telling the truth. The night I left with Georgia, one of them either hid on the boat or found a way onto the boat. I was attacked from behind. God help me, the person just wanted Georgia. I sleep at night, still hearing her screaming!”
Sean still stared at Carlos. He saw that Vanessa believed in the man, believed with every fiber of her being.
She had from the start.
If he was innocent, he was a valuable ally on the island. He was the unknown that they could have in their favor.
And if he wasn’t…
He was aware that Bartholomew was at his side.
“I believe he’s telling the truth. I followed Vanessa into the woods. There were tears in his eyes. He pleaded. No man is that good an actor,” Bartholomew said.
“Someone was on the boat. When you left, who did you see on the dock?” Sean asked.
“Vanessa and Jay. I saw them both,” Carlos said.
“That wouldn’t mean that either of them was innocent—they might have been an accomplice to whomever slipped aboard. Or are you certain that they slipped aboard before you left? Could someone have come broadside and slipped on?”
Carlos took a deep breath. “It was night. I was moving slowly.”
“You have to make a decision,” Bartholomew said. “Someone will be coming after you within a few minutes now.”
Vanessa came hurrying toward him. She caught his hand and stared into his eyes. “He’s telling the truth. I know that he’s telling the truth.”
“How?” he grated.
“I know. I know!” she said, slamming a fist against her chest. “Sometimes…you know.”
Sean stared at Carlos over Vanessa’s head. “If you’re not telling the truth, you’re a dead man.”
“I am telling the truth. And I am watching. And I am waiting, unknown now, to find out who did this. Because they are here, and they will strike again,” Carlos said.
Sean winced and turned, sliding the safety on and the gun beneath his jacket and waistband, and taking Vanessa’s hand. When they neared the beach, he slowed his pace and came out of the trees calmly, hoping no one but Katie and David had noticed their absence.
Miraculously, it seemed that no one had. Zoe, Barry, Bill and Jake were standing around the barbecue, chatting excitedly. Jay was staring out at the water. Jamie, Marty, Ted and Jaden were still inspecting the mast and the cache of coins.
Only Liam stood tensely with Katie and David, trying to pretend casual conversation.
“We’ll need somewhere alone—guaranteed alone,” Sean said quietly. “Liam, how have you been doing on that task I asked you about yesterday?”
“Hopefully, I’ll have some information back by the morning,” Liam said.
“We’re going to need it,” Sean told him.
Liam looked at Vanessa, frowning. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.
“Let’s take a walk to the Conch Fritter,” he suggested. He turned and stared at Vanessa. “All of us!”
She nodded, and the group walked toward the boat.
“Hey!” Barry called after them.
“Yeah?” Sean yelled back.
“Bring another bag of charcoal, will you please?” Barry asked.
Sean nodded.
Aboard the boat, he looked back to shore, assuring himself that the others had remained behind. Then he looked at Vanessa. “Why don’t you tell them? You’re the one with complete faith.”
She stared at him, and then at David, Liam and Katie. “Carlos Roca is on the island.”
Liam stiffened. “All right. We’ll figure out a way to keep you safe while we flush him out. No one is more fierce at protection than Jamie O’Hara, and between Sean, David and me—”