“Yes.” Hunching her shoulders, Georgette clasped her hands between her knees.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her admission hit him like a punch to the gut. He thought she’d come to trust him.

“I-I don’t know. I thought that if I told anyone, I would be besmirching her. Jamie didn’t use drugs. My sister had plenty of vices, but drug use wasn’t one of them.”

“Maybe she picked up the habit on her travels.”

“I doubt it. Jamie was vain about her looks. She enjoyed her booze, but even then, she’d detox for a few weeks at a time, always concerned that the drinking would negatively affect her appearance. I can’t see her using drugs for that reason alone.”

“Why would she have drugs in her room?” The money. The locker. Jake rubbed his chin. “Do you think she and Jean-Claude could’ve been selling? Exactly how much did you find in her room, and what did you do with them?”

“I don’t know what it was. I don’t know anything about drugs. It was in a square package. I guess it could’ve been enough to sell.”

“Did you toss it?”

“I hid it in my room.”

Jake slammed his hands against the steering wheel. “My God, Georgette. Do you know how dangerous that is? And someone broke into your room. That someone stole a postcard but not the drugs?”

“I found the drugs after the postcard was stolen, and I didn’t bother to hide the postcard. I did hide the drugs—in the tank of the toilet.”

“What?” He ran a hand through his hair. “How the hell did you know to do that?”

She lifted and dropped her shoulders quickly. “I saw it on TV. If anyone else has broken into my room, they haven’t found the drugs.”

Jake clenched the steering wheel. “There is a drug problem on the island, and it’s getting worse. Bones Bonnaire is definitely involved at some level.”

Georgette covered her face with her hands. “That nickname has new meaning now, doesn’t it?”

Jake tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, tracing the soft curve of her lobe with his fingertip. “Let’s wait. We don’t know if that’s Jamie.”

“Or Hallie.” She dropped her hands in her lap. “Let’s face it. It has to be one of them. Nobody else on the island is missing. How am I going to tell my mother? How am I going to request those dental records? It’ll destroy her. Jamie has always been her favorite.”

“Don’t tell her anything yet. We don’tknowanything.”

“It’s the drugs, Jake. It has to be. The drugs connect all the players—Fiso, Hallie, Jean-Claude...and Jamie.”

“I wish you’d told me about finding those drugs in Jamie’s room. Between the two of us, we could’ve made these links sooner.”

Georgette held up her hand, fingers spread wide. She ticked off each finger as she recited the names and events. “Hallie vanished after arguing with Fiso about the airport locker. Jamie and Jean-Claude disappeared. I found drugs in Jamie’s room, and Jean-Claude returned and was then found floating in the pool with drugs in his system. Finally, Fiso was a known drug user, he was high when I talked to him, and then he died of an overdose. Why would someone want to get rid of the four of them?”

“They must’ve had some information about the drug trade in Palumba.” Jake shifted into gear and let out the clutch. “I need to get back to the hotel.”

“Someone wants to shift attention away from the drug aspect and put it on the Palarosa ritual. To nail the perps, we’re going to have to let them believe they have us fooled.”

“Nail the perps?” Jake jerked his head to the side and twisted his lips. “Who are you? CSI Palumba?”

She wagged a finger in his face. “Don’t laugh. It’s working. Until we almost got blown up in Jean-Claude’s bungalow, whoever was targeting me laid off once I started hyping up my party-girl image. Two more days until the full moon. What better way to get rid of me than to sacrifice me in the ritual?”

Jake shook his head. “We’re back to that again? Don’t play with fire, Georgette. We’ll go to the FBI with what we know. They’ll want to open an investigation, especially if the bones in the locker...”

“Turn out to be Jamie’s.”

He clasped her hand with one of his. “I’m sorry. Just be careful for the next few days.”

When he pulled up in front of the hotel, Georgette jumped from the Jeep and waved her hand. “I’m going to run up to my room and check on my stash...and then I have a dinner to attend.”

Jake watched Georgette breeze into the hotel lobby, attracting admiring gazes in her wake, and his fingers curled around the steering wheel. If Georgette wouldn’t watch out for herself, he’d just have to do double time —especially on the night of the full moon.