“There’s no coroner’s report yet,” Will admitted, sounding slightly embarrassed, Caroline thought. “Who knows? He might have been drunk, though I don’t know if they’ll be able to figure that out this late in the game. The body…well, if you ask me, it was a lot creepier than anything in Sarah’s house. Let’s just say that on land, we eat the fish. But if you die in the water, the fish eat you.”
“Oh, Lord!” Caroline exclaimed. “I was going to order fish….”
“It’s not going to be the same fish that ate the corpse,” Barry said.
“And how do you know?” Caroline demanded.
“Good question,” Barry admitted. “Cheeseburger for me.”
“Getting back to Anderson, the guy is a little scary. I mean, he’s okay. I like him,” Will said. “But…he’s been here a day and he already found a body we missed for a year. And then all those bones are found at Sarah’s place and he just happens to show up? It’s pretty weird, don’t you think?”
Caroline moved even closer, and he hugged her more tightly to him.
“I don’t think it’s his fault that the bones showed up in Sarah’s walls,” Renee reminded him. “I mean, those skeletons have been there forever. Anyway, you said you liked the guy.”
“I do,” Will said.
“I sure liked him,” Caroline offered.
“Oh, yeah?” Will said teasingly. “You just think he’s hot.”
Caroline laughed. “He is hot. But you’re the only sizzling hunk of man flesh I’m interested in, mister. I’m thinking about Sarah.”
“Sarah?” Will echoed.
“Of course Sarah,” Caroline said.
“I’m not too sure about that. I mean, we really don’t know anything about him,” Will said.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea at all,” Barry agreed. “We’re going to have to check him out if we’re thinking about hooking him up with Sarah.”
Renee giggled. “What’s the matter with you guys? Sarah is an adult, and she’s not going to ask us who she can and can’t date!”
“Besides, she knows him at least as well as we do, even if they just met today,” Will said.
“Well, I think he’s a corpse magnet, and I don’t like it,” Barry said flatly.
They all stopped and stared at him. “Hey, we have to look out for our girl, right?” he asked defensively.
“Okay, I’ll ask around and see what I can find out about him,” Will promised. “And we’ll all try to get to know him—if he hangs around.”
“He seems like a decent guy. I hope he does hang around,” Caroline said.
“There you go again—you think he’s hot,” Will said, grinning.
“He’s an inferno,” she agreed. “And I’d really love a drink. Let’s hope we can get a table.” She shivered suddenly and looked at Will. “You know, with all this, we’re forgetting that a girl from here and now is still missing.”
“Well, your stud is on the case,” Will said. “Maybe he’ll find her.”
“Yeah, and hopefully alive,” Barry noted glumly.
“He’s actually here looking for a girl who disappeared a year ago,” Will said. “Her case was in the papers again today. The cops are wondering if there’s a connection between the two cases.”
“I saw the papers. I even showed the article to Sarah,” Caroline told him.
A horse-drawn carriage full of tourists clip-clopped by on the street. “A young woman committed suicide in that hotel, on the top floor,” the guide was telling his passengers. “They say her ghost still visits the room every new moon.”
They all went still as the carriage passed, their gazes turning involuntarily toward the top floor of the hotel.
“I need a drink now,” Renee announced, and hurried on ahead of them to Hunky Harry’s, just a couple of doors away.
Caroline found herself standing alone on the sidewalk for a moment as the others passed her and went inside. She suddenly felt a chill, and she realized that a frisson of fear was sweeping through her.
She’d lived here her entire life. She knew practically every restaurant owner, bartender and shopkeeper in the city. She knew the people who worked in the hotels and museums, and owned the local B&Bs.
And she was suddenly afraid.
Something new had come to the city.
Or maybe something old, very old—and very evil—had been awakened.
Caleb caught up to Sarah McKinley, who was staring at him with suspicion. Even so, she was a beautiful woman.
At that moment, she reminded him of a small but ferocious terrier.
He stopped walking and stood dead still on the sidewalk, staring at her in return.
“Were you speaking to me? If so, no, I’m not following you. I’m headed to my B and B,” he told her.
She blinked. A flush rose to her cheeks, and she winced. “Sorry. But…” She continued to stare at him suspiciously. “Where are you staying?”
“Roberta’s Tropic Breeze, over on Avila,” he said.
She closed her eyes, bit her lip lightly and let out a sigh.
“You’re kidding? Are you saying that’s where you’re staying, too?” he asked.
“Bertie is an old friend,” she told him. “There are dozens of B and Bs in this city,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re staying at the same one I am.”
“Hey, I made my reservation before I left home,” he told her. “I was definitely there first. And why are you staying there, anyway? You must have tons of friends in town.”