Page 89 of Sunburned

Should I risk exiting while she was in the bathroom? But she’d left the bathroom door ajar, and I could hear her rummaging around in there. I was likely better off right where I was. As long as I didn’t sneeze. I squeezed my eyes shut, wrinkling my nose.

My eyelids flew open as Allison burst out of the bathroom, desperately clenching and unclenching her fists as she studied the room. I could practically see the waves of anxiety radiating off her. She clearly hadn’t found whatever it was that she was looking for.

She lunged at the bed, feeling beneath the pillows to no avail before lifting the mattress and reaching her hand beneath. I saw the relief hither before she withdrew her hand, gripping a manila envelope. She opened the top and peered inside, then, satisfied with whatever its contents were, lifted her shirt and tucked it into her pants. With the envelope hidden, she righted the pillows and exited the room as quickly as she’d entered.

I deliberated for only a moment before I pushed aside the curtains and darted across the room, slipping out the door behind her.

The few seconds I’d waited to follow Allison had given her enough time to vacate the primary level, but I knew she’d likely use the outdoor staircase to avoid detection by the staff, so that was the direction I went as well.

When I reached the game deck, it appeared dinner was over, the guests dispersed. Only Rémy sat at the bar, his face lit by his phone. I crept down another set of stairs and along the dimly lit outer walkway on the main level, trying to appear casual but also sticking close to the wall so that it would be harder for anyone inside to spot me. I was grateful for the cover of darkness as I edged closer to the long line of windows and peered inside, all the while scouring my brain for some explanation should Allison catch me following her. It did not escape me that if she was the killer, she might well kill again to protect her secret, if she thought I was on to her.

The living area was softly lit and deserted but for Allison, who stood in the center of the seating area closest to me looking toward the door to her bedroom, which I could see was partly open with a vacuum cleaner parked outside. Thwarted by the cleaning crew, she scanned the room, clearly assessing her options. I watched as she strode to the built-in bookshelves that framed the giant flat-screen television, pulled down a thick coffee-table-size book with a cover that showed a picture of a green door, and shoved the envelope inside.

As she replaced the book on the shelf, I retraced my steps to the exterior stairwell, darting up the stairs two at a time, exhilarated. All I needed to do was wait for that lounge to be empty, then I could retrieve the envelope and find out what it was that Allison had stolen from Samira’s room.

Gratified by the results of my cursory search, I exited the stairwell on the game deck and went to the railing, pretending to simply be enjoying the view while I gave Allison a few minutes to clear out of the area before I returned to collect whatever she’d left inside the book.

I could feel my heart still thudding in my chest as I gazed across the dark water toward the twinkling lights of the island, plotting my next move.

The sound of swift footsteps behind me interrupted my reverie, and I turned.

Chapter 33

I awoke to crushing pain and voices conferring rapidly in French.

Where was I?

My eyes fluttered open to the sight of a light shining so brightly in my eyes that I quickly squeezed them shut again, my head throbbing.

“She’s coming around,”a man shouted in French.

“Give her space,”a woman added.

I coughed, suddenly feeling as if I was drowning as salty water shot out of my mouth and nose, and I rolled onto my side.

“Audrey?” The voice was male, familiar.

I wheezed, my body racked with shivers as water dripped onto the deck, mixing with something darker. Red. Was I bleeding?

“I need you to open your eyes,” the first man said, in English this time.

I obeyed, blinking up at a young man in a navy polo with a name tag that readEvan. The name rang a bell, but I couldn’t quite make the connection. “The light will be bright for a moment only.”

I cringed as he shone the flashlight into my pupils. I could hardly see him for the red dots burned into my vision as he gave a similarly dressed woman the thumbs-up, seemingly satisfied with whatever he’d found in my eyes.

“Can you tell me, where are you?” Evan asked.

I looked around. I was on a boat. Tyson’s yacht. My head pounded as it all came flooding back. Tyson was dead and I was on his boat. But why was I wet? And why was I lying on the sugar scoop, bleeding onto the teakwood planks?

“Sea Ray,” I answered, my voice hoarse. I coughed again. “What happened?”

“I saw you go over, and I jumped in after you,” Cody answered.

I pushed up to my elbows to see Cody sitting on the deck a few feet away, panting and just as drenched as I was, an orange lifebuoy ring and expanse of tangled rope between us.

“I was on the deck below you when you fell, thank God,” he explained, accepting a towel from a crew member.

As the red spots left by the flashlight waned, I could make out all of Tyson’s guests, as well as the captain and what must’ve been the majority of the crew standing around us, their faces etched with concern. I realized the woman on her knees next to Evan was Marielle as she leaned forward and gently applied a towel to the back of my head. Pain seared through my skull as the towel made contact.

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