“Tell me about Alex’s bad night,” Congreve said quietly, once he and Vicky were alone. Stokely had gone below to arrange the launch and they were still sitting under the stars.
And she did.
“You say ‘panic attacks,’ ” Ambrose asked, concern furrowing his brow. “How many?”
“I’d say this is his second or third,” Vicky said. “He passed out tonight. Not good. I’m hoping they are panic attacks, Ambrose. We could be looking at something serious.”
“How serious?”
“If I had to hazard a guess, epilepsy. Possibly meningitis. Worst-case scenario, a cranial tumor. I want him to get a complete blood workup tomorrow.”
“He seems in perfect health.”
“Seems being the operative word given his symptoms.”
“Stick with panic attacks a moment,” Congreve said. “Alex was in these islands once before. When he was a very small boy. A terrible thing happened. His parents were murdered in cold blood.”
“Good God. He’s always been so circular and oblique about his childhood. I just assumed he’d been adopted and didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t ever push it.”
Ambrose looked at her closely and made a decision. Discretion here was pointless. She was a doctor. And Alex was in love with her.
“It’s worse, Victoria. Alex was an eyewitness to the murders. He has buried this horror successfully for most of his life. I think returning here, to the exact place where it happened, is bringing the submerged images floating to the surface.”
“How horrible.”
“Unimaginable.”
“All I want to do is help him, Ambrose,” Vicky said.
“That’s all any of us want to do, dear girl. You can perhaps bring some of your professional gifts to bear. I know that some of your work involves children with problems. I am certainly trying to utilize my own experience.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, my dear, that I’ve been trying to solve these blasted murders for nearly three decades. On my own, of course. The case was consigned to the Yard’s dead file long ago. Sometime in the early eighties.”
“Does Alex know what you’re doing?”
“On some level, perhaps. We’ve never discussed it.”
“Do you think it’s wise? Proceeding without his knowledge, I mean?”
“It was the only way. Recently, I’ve made some considerable progress. If I begin to get close, really close, I’m going to tell him everything.”
“Be careful how you do that, please, Ambrose.”
Congreve gave her a look suggesting impertinence on her part.
“Sorry. That was very stupid of me. From what I’ve seen you are the very soul of delicacy and discretion. Shall I go fetch Alex and we’ll all go to the junkanoo?”
“By all means, dear girl, by all means!” Ambrose said, and Vicky raced down the wide and gently curving set of steps that led to Alex’s quarters in the stern.
As predicted, the Yacht Club was a seething organic mass of sweating, writhing bodies. Flaming torches mounted high on the walls painted the intertwined mass below with flickering yellows, blacks, and oranges. On a small bandstand toward the rear, a trio of dreadlocked Rastafarians was deep into some vintage Marley.
The atmosphere was a potent admixture of sweat, heavy rhythm, and sweet-smelling ganja; the whole crowd looked explosive, as if you threw a match at them, the junkanoo might blow sky high.
Vicky and her two escorts fought their way to the bar and miraculously found three stools side-by-side. Alex, despite Vicky’s pleadings, had begged her to go on without him. He even asked her to keep an eye on Congreve lest his old chum be “overserved,” as sometimes happened. His mood seemed much improved, and Vicky finally relented, leaving him to a good night’s sleep.
A bare-chested bartender appeared and was introduced to her by Ambrose as Amen. It was instantly apparent to Vicky that Amen and Ambrose seemed to go way back. Ambrose ordered them two Suffering Bastards, and Stoke ordered himself a caffeine-free Diet Coke. The drinks arrived immediately and Vicky took a deep pull on the straw.
It was a potent elixir, a potion easily underestimated by Vicky, who, despite her self-diagnosis, was still suffering the aftereffects of the explosion.
Polishing off this delicious poison, she debated ordering another and quickly gave in. As Amen served her, Vicky surveyed the overheated scene and said to no one in particular, “This place reeks of sex.”
Stoke laughed and said, “How would you know that, Doc? Little sleepy-time-down-South gal like you?”
She sipped deeply from the cocktail and regarded Stoke with laughing eyes.
“Just because I know what something smells like, doesn’t mean I know what it looks like.”
Stoke laughed again, and she noticed that a beautiful dark-skinned girl seemed to have appeared at Stokely’s side and he had his arm around her waist. She looked very soft and shy, and had a wonderful smile.
“This is Gloria,” Stoke said, and Vicky shook her hand. “We met this afternoon down by the beach. Girl was fishin’ and obviously didn’t know what she was doin’, so old Stoke, he gave her some professional fishin’ lessons. Gal was in serious need of instruction. Girl caught herself a fine fish after that. Big damn fish.”
“How big?” Vicky asked, smiling.
He held his hands about two feet apart and Gloria laughed.
“Is Stokely a friend of yours?” Gloria asked Vicky, with the tiniest bit of suspicion in her eyes.
“Shoot, he’s a friend of everybody’s,” Vicky said, sipping her drink. “But I’m pretty sure he likes you a whole lot better than the rest of us.” She giggled at that, which was odd because it wasn’t even slightly funny.
“I work here,” Gloria said to Vicky. “Tonight’s my night off, but if there’s anything you need, please let me know.”
“I know what I need,” Stoke said. “I need to go fishin’ in the moonlight!” Gloria laughed.
“You tink they bitin’ tonight, Mr. Jones?” Gloria said.
“I hope so,” Stoke said. “Long as they ain’t bitin’ too damn hard.”
Laughing, the two of them quickly disappeared into the crowd.
“How about a dance, Constable?” Vicky said to Ambrose, who was swirling his drink around his glass with his finger.
“I have the notion under serious consideration. I was thinking of perhaps climbing up onto the bar,” Ambrose said, “and demonstrating the traditional Highland Fling. Do you think that’s unwise?”
She didn’t get around to answering because a very handsome boy, blond and deeply tanned, held out his hand to her and asked her, with his eyes, to dance. She smiled apologetically at Ambrose and plunged into the throbbing tumult holding the boy’s hand. She must have danced far too long with the pretty little boat boy, because when he returned her to the bar, Ambrose had deserted his post.
She finally spotted him in a far corner of the room, dancing with a tall blonde. Because of the press of bodies, it would take an hour to get over there and ask him to take her home.
She looked at her watch but somehow couldn’t see what time it was. Her watch seemed to be shimmering, hazy. Couldn’t be that late anyway, she thought, and called Amen over to order another of whatever they were called.
“Good evening,” a man said, suddenly appearing on the stool next to hers. “I buy you drink?”
He had a thick accent, Hungarian or something Slavic, she decided. Russian? Dark hypnotic eyes and long straight hair pulled back into a ponytail. Thin face, long nose, all dressed in black. Exotic. Interesting. A little scary, but interesting.
“I have one very strict rule,” Vicky said, smiling at her new friend. “I only drink when I’m alone, or with somebody. So, I guess I’ll accept.”
It was one of Alex’s old jokes and she laughed even though he didn’t. She thought she was funny and if nobody else did, so what? He just kept staring at her with those crazy eyes. Good thing she couldn’t focus very well because she’d swear he was trying to hypnotize her.
“What’s your name?” Vicky asked him.
“I’m Grigory.”
“Nice to meet you, Grigory. I’m drunk.” She giggled and stuck out her hand. He shook it and his hands were hot and moist.
“You stay here, on this little island?” he asked, leaning toward her. He was stirring his drink with his long white finger.
“Me? Oh, hell no. I’m on the QEII out there.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The Elizabeth, Mary, some old queen. See it out there, all lit up?”
“Oh. Such a beautiful yacht. To whom does it belong?”
“Oh, a friend of mine.”
“Not Alexander Hawke?”
“You know him?”
“Not well. Only by reputation, of course. He is famous, you know.”
“Really? For what? Oh, thanks, Amen. Cut me off after this one, okay? I’ve bagged my limit. Sorry, what did you say, uh, Grigory, is it?”
“Is not important. You and your friend are here long?”
“A week or two, I think.”
“That long? How boring. Whatever will you do all day?”
Boring? His eyes were boring into hers.” Is that what he meant? Boring? No. He wanted to know what she was going to do all day. That was it. Well, something exciting and glamorous, that’s for sure. What? This European sophisticate expected something exotic, she was pretty sure about that.
“Well, I don’t know, exactly,” she said finally. She was having trouble remembering why she was even here. “Oh, I know! Tomorrow afternoon, we’re going to a place called Hog Island. Doesn’t that sound like fun? There’s a blind pig there named Betty. Have you heard of her?”
“Oh yes, she’s quite famous in these islands. Well, good-bye. My pleasure speaking with you, Miss—”
“Sweet,” she said. “Like sugar.”
The strange man was gone. Poof, like in a horror movie.
She scanned the dance floor for Stoke, but everyone looked the same. She thought she saw Ambrose chatting up the blonde in the far corner but he was a bit blurry. She felt uneasy. She looked for Amen. Maybe some coffee would be good. She called him but he couldn’t hear her above all the hubbub.
Suddenly, she needed air.
She climbed off the stool, pressed herself into the writhing mass on the dance floor, and headed for the door, smashing through the bodies, desperate for a gulp of fresh air. She was outside. She seemed to have acquired a glass of delicious dark rum. The moon was so bright, it seemed like another day had begun.
Steps led down to the beach. She walked along the surf and found a little stand of palms with a great view of the harbor. Soft, powdery white sand in the moonlight. Blackhawke all ablaze out on the horizon. She sat beneath the whispering palms, sipping the rum, enjoying herself immensely, finally drifting into a lovely tropical dream.
Stokely and Ambrose, having searched most of the island, finally found her on the beach about half an hour later, sound asleep under a coconut palm. Stoke threw her over his shoulder and they carried her back to the waiting launch.
“Girl fell asleep,” he said to Brian, who was driving the boat. “Long day. Needs a good night’s rest and she’ll be good as new.”
Vicky woke briefly, said something incomprehensible, and then collapsed with her head on Ambrose’s shoulder. She snored deeply all the way across the bay.
Stoke was right.
It had been a long day. But the long days were really just beginning.