Seymore laughed.
Alex couldn’t help it. She threw a punch at David’s shoulder. “That doesn’t mean I could live with you,” she told him furiously.
“Actually, we have another worry before we get to that,” David said, looking at John. “We’ve got to find Jay. And pray that help gets here soon, or we’ll lose Len for certain.”
They found Jay near where Alex had stumbled into him the night before. He was groaning, obviously alive. From the doorway, they could see him starting to rise. When he heard them, he went flat and silent once again.
“It’s all right, Jay,” Alex said, racing to his side. “It’s over.”
He sat up, holding his head, fear still in his eyes as he looked at them.
“It was Hank,” he said, as if still amazed. “It was Hank…all along.”
“We know,” Alex told him.
“Len?”
“He’s alive. We have to get him to a hospital as soon as possible,” John said.
“Thank God,” Jay breathed. He looked at them all. “Hank,” he repeated. “How did you figure it out?”
John looked at David. “How did you figure it out?”
Alex stared at David, as well.
David shrugged. “Two things. Seth Granger was killed. The man with the money, and Hank would fit into that category. That meant it had to be someone who didn’t need money or backing. Someone who meant to get what he could, then get out.”
“You said two things,” John Seymore told him.
David stared at John. “Gut instinct,” he said at last. He angled his head to one side for a moment, listening, and said, “There’s a launch coming. Thank God. Nigel Thompson can take over from here.”
Epilogue
She hurried along the trail. She knew she was being pursued, but now, the knowledge brought a smile to her face.
They would be alone. Finally, after all the trauma, all the hours.
Still, there was something she had to do first.
Hank Adamson wasn’t dead; he, like Jay and Len, had been taken aboard a helicopter and airlifted to Jackson Memorial in Miami. All three men were expected to make a full recovery.
It was chillingly clear that the reporter had intended to use the storm as cover to kill them all, Alex last, so that he could find out what she knew by saving one victim for the end and pretending he would let him live if she would just talk.
He would never have believed that she didn’t know anything. Until the end, of course. Before Nigel arrived, she had given the map to David, then smiled in relief when he had turned it over to Nigel Thompson.
She didn’t give a damn about the whereabouts of the Anne Marie. And even if David did, people were still more important to him than any treasure.
She reached the first platform, and fed Katy, Sabra and Jamie-Boy, aware she was being watched.
As she sat down at the next platform, David, who had come after her, sat down beside her. “I have to butt in here,” he told her. “I owe Shania, too. I owe her everything. Do you mind?”
Alex shook her head, and watched him for a moment as he fed and touched every dolphin, talking to them all, giving Shania special care.
“You know,” she said softly, “I was jealous of Alicia, but I’m truly sorry that she’s dead.”
“So am I.” He looked at her. “You were wrong, though, to be jealous. We never had an affair.”
“She was just so…perfect for you,” Alex said.
“No, she wasn’t. I was always in love with you. You were perfect for me. I was an ass. I didn’t show it. You loved your training, I loved the sea. I didn’t know how selfish I had gotten.”
“Well, since we’re still married,” she mused, “I guess we’ll just have to learn how to compromise.”
“Alex?”
“What?”
“I lied,” he admitted. “I saw you with Seymore, and I had to think of something. Because this much is true. I love you, more than anything on earth, with every bit of my heart, my soul, and my being.”
“You lied to me?” she said.
He shook his head, looking at her. “Alex, I’ve learned to never, ever take someone you love for granted. We can compromise. I don’t need to be in on the find of the century. For me,” he added softly, “you are the find of the century. Any century. Don’t throw us away again, please.”
“David, that’s lovely. Really lovely. But are you saying we’re not still married? That’s what you lied about?”
“Forgive me. I didn’t know what else to do. Well?”
She smiled. “Actually, I’m thinking that we should be remarried here. Right here. By the lagoons. A small ceremony, with just our closest friends here. I mean, we did the big-wedding thing already.”
He gazed at her, slowly giving her a deep, rueful grin.
Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.