Page 65 of Still See You Everywhere

Vaughn shakes his head. “The body, burial mound, whatever we’re calling it. It’s the one new development, and Charlie had a lot of questions on the subject—he drilled me with them walking out of the dining hall.”

“You think he headed to where Ronin and I were this morning?” My turn. “But how would he know the location?”

“Charlie knows everything,” Aolani speaks up, her tone possibly admiring, possibly derisive. I can’t get a bead on her.

“Charlie’s a smart guy,” Vaughn agrees. “I’m sure he has plenty of ideas from his own travels around the atoll. He’d trust himself to figure out the rest on his own. Frankly, that’s what he does best.”

I raise my hand. “There’s a second option, now that we’re talking drive distance. MacManus’s lodge. When Charlie picked me up this afternoon, he had plenty of questions about that place as well.”

“About what?” Aolani stares at me.

I’m not sure how to answer that question without giving too much away. “About what’s under the bed.”

“There’s something under one of the beds?”

“Exactly.”

Vaughn blinks at me. Aolani gives me a clearly annoyed look; this expression I can read.

“I will go to the burial site,” Ronin states.

“No.” Aolani utters the single word in a tone that has both Vaughn and me rocking back on our heels. “I’ll go to the grave.”

“AO, this is not the time—”

“This is exactly the time.”

“You don’t know where it is.”

“I know enough. She can lead me the rest of the way.” Aolani jerks her head in my direction.

“Umm, I’m not so sure—”

“You’ll be fine.”

I glance wide-eyed at Vaughn, searching for rescue. Vaughn, however, keeps his gaze fixed on the ceiling.

“Coward,” I mutter. “Look.” I make an attempt at reason: “Say for a moment that Charlie has taken one of the UTVs out to the burial mound or over to the owner’s lodge. What does it matter? Can’t we just wait for his return and then give him a thorough talking-to?”

Vaughn exhales. “Fuck.”

I still don’t get it. “The dude can drive. And, according to you, can MacGyver his way out of just about anything. I’m sure he’ll be back shortly. Then you put him in time-out, or lock him in the gallows, or whatever you do to bad engineers who break camp rules.”

But the other three are exchanging worried glances. “What?” God, I hate one a.m. discussions.

“It’s not safe,” Aolani states. “To be out alone without any means of contact at this time of night and in this weather.”

“The coconut crabs will get him?”

“Many things could go wrong,” Ronin supplies quietly. “And without a radio to call for assistance… In a place this remote, minor injuries can quickly turn into major ones.”

“Small problems become big problems,” Aolani intones.

Ronin looks up, holds her gaze. Entire conversations flow between them. Grand declarations made and rebuffed. Epic poems written and erased. Deeper understandings reached, then unraveled, then reached again. Meanwhile, Vaughn returns to studying the ceiling. I examine the floor. Finally:

Ronin exhales slowly. “You and Frankie head for the burial mound. I will check out the owner’s lodge.”

“Do I get a vote in this?”

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