“And what would that be?” Jay asked, groaning.
“Oh, come on, Jay. We all know Alicia Farr was supposed to be here. I have the feeling Hank never really came here to do a story on the island. He was hoping to find Alicia and get the lead on whatever she knew,” David said.
“You certainly came here to find Alicia,” John told him politely.
“Yeah?” David said. “You supposedly didn’t even know her—but I’m willing to bet you came here because of her, too. And maybe you actually found her.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Len asked.
No one answered him.
“You know, David, you’ve sure as hell been acting strange today. Starting out your day with the mom and the kid, then dropping them off and moving your yacht.”
“He dry-docked his yacht,” Jay put in. “If I had a vessel like the Icarus, I’d damn sure do the same thing.”
“But he came back,” Len noted, his tone curious, as he studied David.
“Did you find something out in the water today?” Jay asked. “Is that why you’re acting so strange?”
Hank’s voice was eager. “Oh my God! You did. You found…oh my God!” he repeated. “You found the body! The body that disappeared from the beach.”
“No!” Len exploded. “You couldn’t have! This is getting scary. Bodies everywhere.”
“Where did you find the body?” John Seymore asked sharply.
“Another drowning victim?” Jay asked, sounding confused.
“I don’t think so,” David said. “I sure as hell didn’t mean to bring this up during the storm, but since it seems you’re all going to jump to conclusions, anyway, I might as well tell you the simple truth. No, not a drowning victim. Drowning victims aren’t usually found with their feet encased in cement.”
Where she lay, Alex froze.
“This is quite a story,” Hank said.
Jay groaned. “You just had to bring this up in front of Hank, right, David?”
“I didn’t bring it up!” David said sharply. “But maybe it doesn’t matter. When the storm is over, the news will break anyway. As soon as he can, Nigel is sending someone out to bring her up.”
“Where did you find the body?” Hank asked.
“Out beyond the reefs. I was spearfishing with Zach. Couldn’t bring it up myself, because I didn’t have the equipment to bring up any weight. Plus I’d already pushed the envelope on getting the kid and his mom back in, and the Icarus out of the storm. Nigel couldn’t send anyone right away, because his people were all involved in the evacuation, and the water was growing too dangerous, too fast. But once the storm has passed, he’ll get the Coast Guard in and bring her out.”
“Jeez,” Hank breathed.
“Did you know her?” Jay asked.
“Yes, I did. It was Alicia Farr,” David said.
The moan of the wind outside was the only sound then as every man at the table went dead silent.
“Alicia Farr—dead,” Hank Adamson said at last.
The others turned to stare at him, and he continued, “All right! I did come out here to get a story on her. I’d heard she was on to some incredible find.”
Alex heard something make a clunking sound. She turned to look, but quietly, not wanting them to know she was awake, not when she was chilled to the bone just listening.
The clunking sound had been made by Jay as he allowed his head to fall on the table. She was sure it wasn’t an emotional response to a woman being dead, though, and maybe she couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t really known Alicia Farr.
He was worried about Moon Bay.
David had known Alicia, and now Alex understood why he had been so tense.
He’d found Alicia’s body.
Someone hadn’t wanted the body to be found, so that someone had gone back for her, hidden her, then packed her in cement and thrown her back in the water, sure that this time she wouldn’t wash back up.
Had that someone been David, and was he saying this now just to cover his own actions? Of course, he could find the location of the body, because he had put it there himself. The timing was certainly in his favor if he had. The storm could move the body, hide it, even destroy it. The cause of death might become almost impossible to discern. Any physical evidence could be completely compromised.
No, David couldn’t be a killer. She wouldn’t believe it. He had his talents, but he had never claimed acting to be among them.
And yet, at that table, they had all been bluffing.
Anger against herself welled in her heart. No, how could she believe in her soul that she loved someone so much that she had been so afraid of losing him that she had pushed him away, and then believe him capable of deception and murder?
“On that note, I think the game is over,” John murmured. “Hell, I can’t believe you kept quiet until now.”