Page 64 of Vacation Friends

He let out a grunt that she thought for a moment might be a chuckle. She couldn’t be sure.

“Maybe,” he said. “Unfortunately, we keep needing to talk.”

“Yes, unfortunately.” Maddie drew in a deep breath. “What is it now?”

“I finally heard back from the resort about who might have used their keycard around the time of Jared’s murder.”

Her blood went cold. “You’re officially calling his death a murder now?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, I am. I’m officially investigating Jared’s death as a homicide.” His expression remained stoic.

Maddie resisted a shiver. “I’m sorry to hear that. Did you discover something? I know it was nothing having to do with my keycard. I was in my room all night.”

“Yes, you were—according to your keycard.” His gaze narrowed as if that fact disappointed him. “However, someone you know just happened to leave their room around three and return at four.”

“Who would that be?” Maddie held her breath as she waited for his response.

“Your fiancé.”

“Josh?” The word squawked out before Maddie could stop it.

A gleam of satisfaction shot through the detective’s eyes as quickly as a shooting star that quickly disappeared—so fast that she had to question if she’d seen it even.

“The one and only,” Kalani murmured. “Any chance he was paying you a late-night visit?”

She swallowed hard. “He was not.”

Detective Kalani nodded slowly, the gears clearly turning in his brain. “I see. So you have no idea where Mr. Harding went for about an hour at that time of night?”

“I have no idea.”

But one thing was sure: Maddie planned on finding out.

Would Josh have a reason to kill Jared? Was that why he was awake and came down to the beach so early?

What if Jared had been the spy, and Josh had found out and silenced him permanently? What if Jared had wanted to meet with Maddie and plead for her help? Was that too much of a stretch?

She wasn’t sure.

Maddie didn’t like these thoughts. But she couldn’t ignore the questions either.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Maddie waited in the lobby for Josh to return.

It was the best way to meet up with him. If she waited in her suite, she might not hear him enter his room next door.

Besides, she was restless. She couldn’t go back to her room and just stare at the walls.

As she sat on a leather couch, she played with ideas on how to bring up the subject with Josh about his late-night outing on the night Jared died. There didn’t seem to be a way to do it naturally. Every scenario she brainstormed sounded accusatory.

She needed to think of something, however. She needed answers.

Finally, a group of golfers returned from their day on the greens.

Maddie searched the faces as they filed back into the resort.

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