He frowned in return. “Amber—”
His cell phone started to ring, and he excused himself, walking a few steps away.
It was Lee. Keith listened, his heart thudding, then standing still. “We’ll talk later. I have to go,” he said to the girls after he hung up.
He didn’t wait for a reply but strode quickly toward the parking lot.
OFFICER GARTH WAS GONE. The commodore hadn’t stayed while the policeman took the full report but had hurried down to play spin doctor about what had happened. Beth thought that he was a good man; he had some doubts, she was certain, but he also believed she had seen something, and meant to find out who had played such a trick and why.
When Garth was gone, she was left with her brother.
He was quiet, sitting in one of the chairs across from her desk, hands folded idly together, looking down.
“Beth,” he said very softly.
“Oh, Ben, get off it. I have not lost my mind.”
“I just don’t believe it was a real skull.”
“You don’t want to believe me.”
“Well, of course I don’t,” he said impatiently. “I don’t want to think that danger is following me home.”
“Ben, this is being done to me, not you.”
He offered her a wry grin. “Basically, you are my home.”
She had to smile at that. But she leaned on her desk, trying to reach him. “I swear to you, I have not gone mad.”
“Okay, Beth. Whatever you say,” he said skeptically.
To her surprise, he got up then and started out of her office.
“Ben?” She followed him.
He stopped and turned back to her on the stairway. “I need to check something, and you can’t come with me.”
“Why?”
“I’m headed to the men’s locker room.”
She frowned in earnest. “Why?”
“I’m just checking on something.”
“What?”
“Beth, stop it. What are you doing in your office today, anyway? Take the day off. Go home. Rest. Watch a movie. Do something.”
“Ben, dammit—”
“Okay, Beth, I had a weird feeling in the locker room the other day. I think that someone was in my locker and stole my old Halloween skull. I’m going to go and see if it’s still there.”
“So you do believe me?”
“What I believe is that your wild story from the island has gone around and someone is playing tricks on you, okay? But just playing tricks, Beth. That’s it. You can’t keep running around as if you’ve suddenly become part of CSI: Miami, okay?”
“Me, CSI! You’re a mess. You’re acting as if you’re frantic!”
“Because I think my skull is missing…. Don’t you understand, I have to see if it’s really gone. Okay, I am feeling a little déjà vu. It’s weird. But I’m just checking my locker.”
“Find out if your skull is gone,” she said flatly.
“And then you’ll leave, please?” he said. “I will, too. I was going to clean the boat, but forget that. I’m getting the girls, and I’m going home, or to a movie. Want to come?”
“I want to find out if your skull is gone.”
He sighed. “All right.”
She followed him down the stairs to the pool area. As she walked through the dining room, she felt herself reddening. People were staring at her. They weren’t talking to her—they were just staring at her.
At least, when she passed Manny and Maria, they waved, though they looked at her strangely at the same time.
Amber and Kim leaped to their feet when they saw her arrive, while Ben headed toward the lockers. “Are you all right?” Amber asked anxiously.
“Of course I’m all right.”
“But there was a skull on your desk,” Amber said, no doubt in her voice at all.
“Yes.”
Amber looked at Kim knowingly.
“She did it,” Kim said.
“I’d bet she did,” Amber agreed.
“Who did what?” Beth demanded.
Amber lowered her voice. “Amanda. Amanda Mason. She wants Keith, but she knows he’s into you. She’s jealous, and she’s trying to make it look like you’re crazy.”
“Amber,” Beth murmured, though she wondered if, catty as it sounded, her niece might not be right.
Except that Keith Henson certainly didn’t seem to be denying Amanda Mason the pleasure of his company.
Amber groaned. “Aunt Beth, please stop trying to sound as if such immaturity is impossible among adults.”
Beth had to smile. Sometimes her teenage niece seemed old far beyond her years.
“Amber, we can’t just assume that Amanda did it, okay?”
Amber shrugged. She and Kim exchanged knowing glances.
“You two just continue to be polite or avoid her entirely, all right?” Beth said.
They nodded in tandem.
Beth looked over to the patio. Manny and Maria had gone to sit under an umbrella, heads close together. She wondered suddenly if they weren’t kindling a few sparks. If so…good. She liked them both.
“She’s gone,” Amber said.
“Who?” Beth asked.
“Amanda,” Kim said. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “She left right after Keith came over to talk to us.”
“Yeah. Then his phone rang, and he took off,” Amber said. Her eyes narrowed sharply with suspicion. “You don’t think it was her calling him, do you?”
“Their whereabouts are not your concern, okay?” Beth said. Still, her teeth were grating. What the hell was the man’s game?
Ben made his reappearance then, and he looked angry. “I’m going to talk to Commodore Berry and the board of trustees about this. Someone was playing a trick on you. The skull is missing from my locker.”
“See!” Beth told him victoriously.
“Beth, it was a prank. I still don’t think we needed the police.”
“You’re an attorney. You’re the one who told me once that everything should be reported.”
Ben sighed. “Girls, let’s go to a movie.”
“We’ve got to change,” Amber said.
“All right, hurry. Beth, are you going to join us?” Ben asked.
“I think I’ll go home,” she said. Amber had been staring at her hopefully. “Honey, I’m really tired,” she added. Then she realized Amber was afraid she was still angry with her. “Never mind. I’ll go to the movies with you. But no horror movies, okay?”
“I can drive and bring you back here for your car later,” Ben said.
“Thanks, but I’ll take my own car. That way we can both head back home when we’re done.”
“Okay,” Ben agreed.