Page 3 of On The Beach

"Good for her." I glanced at my wrist before remembering I wasn't wearing a watch. I'd put it away—the one my grandfather had given me, the only artifact from my past I still kept and cherished. Instead, I pulled the phone off my ear to check the time. Three more minutes to go before Lady Arabella Augustus's time was up.

"Now, darling, don't be like that. She asked me where you were?—"

"Arabella Maria Lucia Augustus," I thundered, interrupting her. "You didn't tell this woman where I was, did you?"

Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fucking fuck.

"Of course not," my mother said, and I knew she was lying.

"Mother?"

"Apparently, this is about one of your patents and…Nicholas, it can save people's lives."

This meant that this Isabelle person had emotionally bamboozled my mother with a sob story about lives at risk. It was tried before, but I had always managed to keep my location a secret. Well, if this Isabelle person showed up, Reef Harbor knew how to take care of its own.

"So, she knows about my island?"

"I didn't tell her where you were. Just that you were somewhere in the Caribbean, and that's a rather large area, isn't it, darling?"

I sighed. Maybe, if I was lucky, I'd live another day without being found by, big-city, money-hungry pharma executive.

But that evening, when I was doing shots with Franco and Cato, I saw a woman walk into the Cove, and I knew Isabelle, the Emotional Bamboozler, had found her way to me.

"How do you know it'sher?" Franco demanded when I told him about my conversation with my mother.

Franco knew about my previous life, as did RiRi. Cato seemed to know all on his own. I didn't know how and felt it was too risky to ask. Sometimes you didn't need to have all the answers.

Cato looked up from his drink. "Armani suit, about a year old. Gucci shoes that were sold as being comfortable for thefemale executive, but they're not. They're also last season. Her tote is Christian Dior, fromthisseason, and…yes, it has a computer in it. She has a brand new iPhone in her hand…she's probably looking for Wi-Fi. Good luck. She's tied her hair up business style, trying to hide her femininity—the humidity here is gonna fuck it up. Yep. I'd say she's Isabelle, the Emotional Bamboozler and money-hungry pharma executive."

I grinned. "I told you."

The woman walked to the bar, pushed past some bums, and asked RiRi, who was manning the bar, "I'm looking for Dr. Nicholas Augustus?"

RiRi grinned as she polished a cocktail glass. "Honey, does this look like a place where aDoctorNicholas Augustus would be?"

"I was told he was in Reef Harbor and…the guy at the boat dock said that the Cove was the place to find someone who lives on the island. Are you sure you don't know anyone named Nicholas or maybe Nick?" she asked glumly.

Send her away, RiRi, and do it quickly and efficiently.

RiRi's expression didn't change.Atta girl!

"The only Nick I know is that guy there." She pointed to ancient Nick, who had more than one tooth missing and was attached to his barstool from opening at 7 a.m. to closing at 2 a.m., where he drank rum and smoked cheap cigars. He definitely wasn't Dr. Nicholas Augustus.

Nick smiled at the woman in the suit. "You need Nick to make your evening, darlin'?"

The woman shook her head in defeat.

"You wanna a drink?" Riri posed the most popular question in Reef Harbor.

"Sure. What do you recommend?" Isabelle, the Emotional Bamboozler, asked as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"The Reef Harbor Surprise."

"What's that?"

"Asurprise," Riri stated unhelpfully.

"Shit." Franco lit a cigarette. "Isabelle, the Emotional Bamboozler, is gonna getpissdrunk."

---