Page 27 of Last Ticket to Paradise

Chapter Six

The following day, Georgette planned part two of her investigation. She needed a little help from her two new friends, but Gunther and Nicole weren’t at their best until the afternoon. And afternoons meant drinks by the pool.

Georgette slipped into her new blue-flowered bikini, wrapped a sarong around her waist, and padded out to the pool deck in a pair of glittering sandals. She pulled a chaise lounge close to the pool’s edge and slathered on the SPF-50.

Her book lay idle in her lap as she scanned the pool for Jake. He hadn’t made an appearance at the restaurant last night, and Georgette had slid into an exhausted sleep after dinner.

He must’ve been teasing when he’d implied that he thought she was a virgin. True, Brice was only her second lover, her first a sweet boy at college who’d returned home to Nebraska when he graduated.

When Brice started hanging around the bookstore, Georgette was thrilled to learn it was because of her, not Jamie. When Dad died of a stroke, Brice was supportive, helping her settle Dad’s affairs, since Dad had appointed Georgette executor of his estate, and assisting her with university business.

Once Jamie got her hands on the life insurance money, she started her world travels, keeping them updated with postcards. And Georgette settled into a life with Brice. They slept together, and it was...pleasant.

When she’d caught Brice with Jamie, what they were doing hadn’t remotely resembled what she and Brice called lovemaking. Jamie had lashed Brice’s wrists to the bedpost, and secured one of his ties snug around his mouth. That was all Georgette had had to see.

Brice explained later that Jamie pressured him into playing a game, but he didn’t enjoy it. Jamie had related a different story.

Georgette chewed her lip. Even if Brice had told her that’s what he wanted in bed, she was pretty sure she couldn’t have delivered. So maybe Jamie had saved her, after all.

Her lips curved into a smile recalling Brice’s eyes, round with surprise above his gag, when she’d burst into the room. She snorted.

Maybe that was why their lovemaking had been so blah, and it had had nothing to do with Georgette. Brice had needs he didn’t feel comfortable communicating to her. Maybe Jamie had saved themboth.

Georgette felt anything but blah around Jake. Her nerve endings tingled at his touch. When she’d landed on top of him yesterday, she’d almost swooned against his chest. Her fingertips had itched to explore every inch of his solid body, lingering in all the right places.

The chair next to hers scraped, and she jumped. Gunther, a newspaper tucked under one arm and a drink in hand, gestured to the chair. “Mind if I join you?”

“No. Have a seat. Where’s Nicole?”

He settled his portly frame in the chair. “She had a treatment this morning. She’ll be along soon.” He shoved his sunglasses to the end of his nose. “That’s a pretty sarong. Did you buy it here?”

Georgette glanced down at the blue and green strip of cloth tied around her waist. “No.” she lied. “Someone bought it for me on another island.”

He clicked his tongue. “You’ll never get a tan all wrapped up, though.”

Georgette didn’t consider a sarong and a bikini topall wrapped up. She pointed to his newspaper. “What’s happening in the world?”

“Same old, same old.” He grimaced. “Big drug bust in Miami. The DEA took in a haul.”

“Is there a drug problem on Palumba?”

“No more so than anywhere else.” Gunther shook open his paper.

Nicole clipped across the tile in high heels and a beach cover-up thrown over her black and gold bikini. “We missed you at the pool last night, darling. You weren’t having a private chitchat with Jake again, were you?”

Were she and Jake becoming an item of gossip? The resort was like a small town—no better than Grand Forks, just warmer...and less clothing.

“I caught up on my sleep.” She drew in a deep breath. “There seems to be a lot of talk about the full moon.”

Nicole stretched out in her lounge chair. “Well, there would be. It’s the last month for sacrifice. If another young woman disappears, Jake’s going to blow a fuse.”

“Nothing has been heard from that first woman?” Georgette stirred her iced tea.

Nicole blew on her fingernails and shook her hands. “No. But I told you her lover left with her.”

“What was her name?” Georgette asked.

Nicole put her hand on Gunther’s arm. “What was her name, Gunther?”

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