His gaze kept going to me and Jack and Leon Stein, and his dark eyes got round and large.
“Thanks, Will.” Joe turned to us. “This is my nephew Will Hizumi. Will, this is Sheriff Jack Lawson and his wife, Doctor Graves. They’re helping us out here with Leon.”
“We sure do appreciate that,” Will said. “Leon was a good guy, but quiet. He minded his own business, and my dad says that’s about the best thing you can say about anyone. Speaking of my dad, he sent all the medical supplies from that list you made. He didn’t have a bone saw, but he had one in the garage from when he built those bookshelves in his office last year. You remember that, Uncle Joe?”
“I remember it was a mess and I heard about it from your mother for weeks. Will’s mother is my sister.”
“Did your dad want to be here?” I asked. “If he’s the island physician he’s welcome to do this. I’m happy to assist if he’d prefer.”
“Oh, no. Dad isn’t a surgeon anymore. He says he enjoys the people and delivering babies. He treats pretty much everyone on the island, and if he can’t treat them he goes with them to the mainland to act as their primary physician. He says it’s a special job.”
“I can imagine,” I said impressed. “There aren’t many people who get to be so entrenched in an entire community.”
“Dad’s great. You’ll like him. I brought those extra fans you asked for. Uncle Joe said it would get pretty awful in here without the extra air.”
“It’ll get awful sooner rather than later in this kind of heat,” Jack said. “We appreciate the fans.”
“Not a problem. People were happy to donate them for Leon.”
Will and Joe went out onto the front steps and collected the box of supplies and the fans. When they came back in there was a woman with them, and the heat in the room went up by about a hundred degrees.
There were some people who exuded raw sex appeal from their every pore. It hovered around them—a sway of the hips or a toss of long dark hair—a flirtatious look from exotic eyes the color of coal or lips lush and full enough to make every man in the room wonder what she could do with them.
She was the kind of woman that made other women want to hate her on sight. A cobalt blue sarong was tied loosely at her hips, showing impossibly long legs. And two triangles of fabric in the matching color covered the most perfect breasts I’d ever seen.
“I brought the laptop and scanner you asked for,” she said. I was surprised to hear she didn’t have a hint of an accent. “Where do you want me to set things up?”
Even her voice sounded like sex. I snuck a glance at Jack and he winked at me, taking a drink of his bottled water and then passing it to me. I trusted Jack with everything—including my life. But I had to admit it was a nice feeling to not see him react to her the way the other two men were. I wouldn’t have blamed him. Even I wanted to stare.
Jack had once told me that I was his fantasy. I’d been skeptical at the time. I’d never paid much attention to my looks or put a lot of effort into them. But I knew I was above average as far as attractiveness. I had good bones and skin, and my eyes were an unusual shade of gray. I was slim of hip and breast, more of an athletic build than anything on my five foot eight inch frame, but Jack didn’t seem to mind my lack of curves, and I’d stopped wishing for them once I realized I could shop right off the rack and never had to try on clothes before I bought them.
The testosterone in the room was so thick I could almost taste it, and Joe looked like he was about two seconds from marking his territory and howling at the moon. Will was still young enough he wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a woman like that. His mouth was still hanging open.
“Thanks, Camille,” Joe said. “You can use my desk.”
“You got it.” She moved around the two men, impervious to their stares, and went to setting up the equipment on Joe’s desk.
I found it interesting that Joe didn’t bother to introduce Camille to us like he had Will.
She glanced in our direction, and her gaze settled a little longer on Jack than I was comfortable with. But then she noticed the silver band on his ring finger and shrugged as her attention turned to me. And then her gaze traveled to Leon and rested there.
“My grandma told me someone killed Leon. She was at Mass right before it happened.” Camille crossed herself and went back to setting up the scanner and modem so we had internet access. “She said she was surprised no one had done it sooner.”
“Your grandma didn’t care for Leon?” Jack asked.
Joe opened his mouth to say something, but Jack gave him a look and he closed it again.
“Grandma doesn’t much care for anyone who isn’t blood related, and even half of those she’s not too fond of. About forty years ago she and Leon had a run in at the market over the last of the fresh chicken. They haven’t been on speaking terms since.”