Secrets of His Own

Cochburn grimaced. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The house is old and falling apart. I’m sure there are dozens of ways for mice and rats to get in. I can have someone check it out if you want.”

“I should probably leave that up to Tia. It’s her apartment.”

They both walked outside then and Cochburn closed the door behind them. As they moved into the courtyard, Carrie suddenly remembered something in Tia’s letter.

Sometimes I go down to the beach and try to imagine the two of them collecting shells, building sand castles, playing chase with the surf. Reyna, so quiet and shy, and Pilar, too adventurous for her own good. They remind me of the way you and I once were.

Her gaze lifted to the upstairs windows at the back of the house. She almost expected to find Tia gazing down at her, but instead there was nothing but light reflecting off glass.

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she continued to stare at the windows. Someone was up there. Not Tia perhaps, but someone. Carrie was sure of it. She could feel those invisible eyes on her, and the dread she’d been fighting since she’d gotten off the boat seemed to seep all the way down into her soul.

Something bad had happened here. It was as if those lingering emotions had morphed into a physical presence, one that watched and waited and played on vulnerabilities.

She’d only felt this sensation one other time….

Don’t, Carrie warned herself nervously. It wouldn’t do to make comparisons.

It was just an old house. And something bad had happened there. It was no secret. A whole family had disappeared. Little wonder the place seemed to reek of sorrow and tragedy.

“Which bedroom belonged to the Santiago children?” she asked suddenly.

The question seemed to catch Cochburn off guard. “I beg your pardon?”

“I was just thinking about something Tia wrote in one of her letters. She seems so fascinated by the Santiago family, especially the little girls. I wondered if she might be up there for some reason.”

“Oh, I doubt that.”

Carrie turned at his adamant tone. “Why do you say that?”

He hesitated, then shrugged. “Because if she were up there, she would have seen you by now and come down.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I really don’t think there’s cause for worry,” he insisted. “She’s probably gone back to the mainland for a few days.”

“But if that were the case, someone in Everglades City would have seen her,” Carrie said.

“Not necessarily. We only talked to a few people at the marina. The place is full of tourists this time of year. Faces tend to blend together.”

“But surely Trawick would have remembered taking her back to the mainland.”

“Trawick delivers supplies and mail to Cape Diablo, but his isn’t the only boat for hire in the area. She could have made previous arrangements with another driver. Or Carlos may have taken her back. You said she wasn’t expecting you, so it’s very possible that you’ve simply missed her.”

Carrie hated to think that her trip to Cape Diablo had been a waste, mainly because she didn’t know where to go from there. Searching for Tia in the Ten Thousands Islands would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

She bit her lip. “I should talk to Carlos. And what about Alma Garcia? She was standing on the balcony when we came up. Maybe she saw Tia leave. Do you think it would be possible for me to talk to her, as well?”

Cochburn frowned as his gaze shot up to the third-story windows. “Alma…isn’t exactly receptive to strangers,” he said doubtfully. “Perhaps it would be better if I go up alone and have a word with her. Meanwhile, why don’t you check with the other tenant? He may know where Tia’s gone off to, and if not, we’ll go find Carlos together.”

Carrie nodded. “What did you say his name is?”

“Ethan Stone. He lives in the apartment above Tia’s.”

Carrie started for the stairs, then turned back when Cochburn called out her name. “Yes?”

He paused, as if preparing to broach a tricky subject. “I don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but I meant it earlier when I said that you shouldn’t go wandering off on your own, even here on the island. Cape Diablo is small, but it’ll be dark soon and the south end is nothing but swamp. It can be pretty treacherous if you don’t know your way around.”

She thought again of the man she’d seen earlier and nodded. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll wait for you before I leave the courtyard.”

“Good. I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes.”

They separated, and as Cochburn headed for the main house, Carrie walked up the stairs to the second-floor apartment and knocked on the door. A fly buzzed past her face and she swatted it away as she knocked a second time. Finally she gave up and headed back down the stairs to the courtyard.

In spite of Cochburn’s warning, she was tempted to strike out on her own to look for Tia. Carrie hated feeling so helpless, but she supposed the attorney was right. It would be dark soon and she didn’t know the terrain. She wouldn’t be of any use to Tia if she got herself lost or injured in the swamp.

Standing at the edge of the pool, she stared into the murky water and wondered what she could do. Was it time to go to the police?

And tell them what, exactly?

It was doubtful they’d treat Tia as a missing person. She’d run away from her wedding to come here to the island of her own free will.

The letter Carrie received had been a bit strange, but certainly nothing the police would construe as evidence. And as for the midnight phone call, Carrie wasn’t even certain it had been Tia’s voice on the other end of the line. The police would probably argue that Carrie had been too quick to jump to conclusions. And they might very well be right. What if she’d launched a wild-goose chase because of nothing more than an overwrought imagination?

Maybe she wanted Tia to be in trouble so that she could ride to the rescue and clear her conscience once and for all.

Okay, enough with the psychoanalyzing, Carrie chided herself. She’d once paid a therapist a fortune to do exactly that….

Her thoughts scattered as she caught sight of something in the pool. The water was so dirty she could barely see through it, but something white gleamed on the bottom.

It was probably nothing more than reflected light, but for a moment it looked as if…

No! It couldn’t be.

But it was.

A body lay on the bottom of the pool. Carrie could just make out the outstretched arms, and her hand flew to her mouth as her heart slammed against her chest in horror.

Chapter Three

Tia!

Without thinking, Carrie kicked off her shoes and prepared to dive into the murky water, but someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back from the edge. She spun in shock, her gaze colliding with her captor’s. She recognized him at once. He was the man she’d seen earlier from Tia’s bedroom.

Fear shot through her as she tried to tear her arm from his grip. “Let me go! Someone’s in the water!”

He held her fast. “Take it easy, okay? It’s not a body.”

“But I saw—”

“Trust me, you don’t want to jump in that water. Just stand back.”

Releasing her, he bent to pick up a metal pole that had been discarded near the side of the pool. Plunging it into the filthy water, he dragged the bottom where Carrie had seen the body. As he parted the water and stirred away dead leaves, she caught another glimpse of the outstretched arms.

Sick with dread and fear, she watched him maneuver the pole beneath the lifeless form and pull it up to the surface.

He was right. It wasn’t a body. He was able to lift it too easily. But Carrie couldn’t stop shaking even when she saw that what he’d snagged with the pole was an old shirt.

Stepping back up to the edge, she peered into the water, praying that nothing else was down there. But the flash of white she’d spotted earlier had indeed been nothing more than fabric. Somehow the shirt must have floated open on the bottom of the pool, making her think that she was seeing arms and a torso.

Behind her, the man tossed the pole out of the way, and the loud clang of metal against stone caused Carrie to jump.

She turned in embarrassment. “You must think I’m an idiot.”

“It was an honest mistake.”

His voice was deep and strangely unsettling. And his eyes…

My God, Carrie thought. She’d never seen a pair of colder, bleaker eyes.

Except…

She blinked away the memory as she found herself at a complete loss for words. She didn’t usually rattle so easily, but after days of worrying about Tia and then spotting what she thought was a dead body in the pool…it was all taking a toll on her poise.

And now that deadly stare.

She glanced away. “I’m not usually so excitable. But I came all the way out here to see my friend and no one seems to know where she is.” She paused, then said apologetically, “Not that you have any idea what I’m talking about. Maybe we should start over. I’m Carrie Bishop.”

She started to extend her hand, then thought better of it. Did she really want to make physical contact with a man whose eyes seemed to pierce right through her soul? “You’re not by chance Ethan Stone?” she asked hopefully.

His expression remained stoic, but a shadow flickered in his eyes. “Not even close. I’m Nick Draco.”

Nick Draco. Carrie rolled the name around in her head. It sounded familiar for some reason. Had Tia written about him in her letter? “Do you live on the island, Mr. Draco?”

“For as long as the job holds out.”

Ah. Now she knew who he was. He was the carpenter Cochburn had told her about. That would certainly explain his dark suntan and the muscles she could see bulging through his shirtsleeves.

“Mr. Cochburn mentioned that he’d hired someone to renovate the house.” She glanced up at the crumbling mansion. “You certainly have your work cut out for you. It’s a beautiful place, but it looks as if it could take years to restore.”

“I’m here to plug a few leaks. I doubt Cochburn has much more than that in mind.”

His gaze never left Carrie’s face. Tiny shivers raced up and down her spine. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had affected her so strongly. She wanted to look away again, but his eyes were almost hypnotic.

“Why did you think I was Stone?” he asked suddenly.

She shrugged. “I was looking for him earlier and when I turned and saw you standing there, I guess I just assumed you were he. Sorry for the confusion.”

“No harm done.”

Without another word, he started to turn away, but Carrie said, “No, don’t go. I’d like to ask you something.”

He waited reluctantly, one brow lifting as his gaze connected with hers again.

“As I said, I came out here looking for my friend…Tia Falcon. Do you know her?”

“Brown hair…about your size?” His eyes dropped slowly, then lifted. “I’ve seen her around.”

Carrie tried to ignore the ripples in the pit of her stomach. “Do you remember the last time you saw her?”

He thought for a moment. “A few days ago, I guess.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t more recent?” she asked anxiously.

He frowned. “Could have been, I guess. I can’t say for sure. I stay pretty busy around here. I don’t keep track of who comes and goes.”

Somehow Carrie doubted that. She had a feeling Nick Draco missed very little of what went on around him. “But it’s such a small island. If a boat came out here to pick her up, you would have seen it, surely? Or at least heard the engine?”

“Not necessarily. Depends on where I happened to be at the time.” He studied her for a moment. “You seem pretty worried about your friend. Was she expecting you?”

“No. I didn’t have any way to let her know that I was coming.”

“Then maybe she went back to the mainland for a few days.”

“That’s what Mr. Cochburn said.” Carrie wrapped her arms around her middle. “But I just can’t help feeling that something is wrong.”

His gray-blue eyes watched her intently. “Are you suggesting she met with foul play?”

The blunt query took Carrie aback even though she’d been dancing around the same question in her own mind for days. She’d had a premonition that Tia was in trouble ever since she’d received that strange phone call in the middle of the night. No, before that even. The uneasiness had started when Tia had fled her own wedding.

Up until that point Carrie hadn’t wanted to give credence to her doubts about Trey Hollinger, but when she thought back to the way his temper had exploded after learning he’d been left at the altar, she was hard-pressed to believe he hadn’t played some role in Tia’s running away.

His anger had been over the top that day, and Carrie suspected that if she’d been alone with him, his rage might even have escalated into violence. She hated to admit it, but he’d frightened her. And she didn’t frighten easily these days. Or at least, she rarely let herself succumb to her fears.

She couldn’t help wondering if Tia had witnessed that side of Trey, too. Had she glimpsed something in her handsome fiancé that had scared her so badly she hadn’t dared face him on their wedding day? Had she been running from Trey when she came out here?

Was she still running from him?

Carrie had a vision of Tia’s battered body lying in the bushes somewhere. Or underwater, her wrists and ankles tied to weights.

After everything she’d been through to come to that fate…

A fist of fear closed around Carrie’s heart. For one split second, she thought she might actually be sick.

“Are you okay?”

She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I’m just worried about Tia. Mr. Cochburn thought that she might have gotten a ride back to the mainland with Carlos Lazario. Have you seen him today?”

“No, but Carlos couldn’t have taken her back. His boat has a broken fuel pump. He’s waiting on a part from the mainland.”

“I…see.” Until that moment, Carrie hadn’t realized how desperately she’d been hoping for a logical explanation for Tia’s absence. Now the last door had been slammed in her face, and she didn’t know what to do.

“Has it ever occurred to you that your friend might not want to be found?” Nick Draco asked quietly.

Carrie glanced up. “Why would you say that?”

He shrugged. “People usually come to a place like this for one of two reasons. They’re either running away or they’re hiding from something.”

Or someone.

Carrie wanted to ask which category he fit into, but she held her tongue.

“Maybe she knew you’d come here looking for her so she left.”

“She couldn’t have known I was coming. I didn’t tell anyone.” Too late, Carrie realized her mistake. She was miles from civilization and she’d just admitted to a stranger that no one knew where she was. She’d said nothing of her plans to anyone at the magazine and her parents were in Europe for a month. And her friends…Carrie hated to admit it, but they probably wouldn’t miss her, either. They were accustomed to her sometimes eccentric behavior.

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