Page 89 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

“How long were you there?”

“Ten minutes, twelve tops. I watched you leave, waited a couple minutes, then went in, figuring you’d be gone at least an hour.”

I didn’t like that Brie had violated my space or my trust, but I believed her.

“Okay,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “Did somebody really take it?”

“Yes.” That put me back to thinking Amber, Sherry, or Gino. Gino had seen me with the book on the beach. Maybe because Amber had been asking about it, Gino had taken it upon himself to look for it.

My headache grew, and I rubbed my temples. It could be someone I hadn’t thought of yet, someone else she had been blackmailing.

“Maybe you won’t be as mad at me when you find out we didn’t lose everything.” She pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her images, then handed me the phone. “I took pictures of all the pages Diana wrote on.”

My heart swelled, and I couldn’t help but smile. “All is forgiven if you send those to me.”

She immediately did, then pulled up one of the pages. “This is about my dad,” she said, pointing to one of the first notes in the book listing values of property and net worth.

“I think so,” I said. “The number 112? I figured out her code—at least some of it. 112—Andrew Locke. 2012—Trevor Lance. 77—Gino Garmon. 1419—Nelson Stockton. There’s more. Some I can’t figure out without a list of guests and staff.”

“You think she was blackmailing all these people?” Brie asked.

I nodded. “Or planned to.”

“And she’s dead.” Brie leaned back, finished her daiquiri. “I read what she wrote about my dad and Sherry. Diana thought Sherry’s involved with my dad for his money. I havealwaysthought she was a gold digger. Maybe she’s running out of money. Maybe she’s about to lose her house. That won’t matter if she marries dad and gets half of everything that’s his. She’ll use him. My dad—he’s an absolute great guy, totally generous and the best person I know. But he’s way too trusting. He’s like head over heels for her. He’s going to propose. And I don’t know what to do about it. I would die if anything happened to him.”

Brie was on the verge of tears. My heart went out to her, and I understood why she went into my room to look at the book. If my dad were still alive, I would want to make sure anyone in his life loved him for him.

“We’ll think on it,” I said.

“You’d help me? Even after I betrayed your trust?”

I didn’t like Sherry, and I really liked Brie. “Of course I’ll help.” I looked at my watch. “The shuttle leaves in two minutes. Can you walk with me? I want to show you something.”

We walked toward the roundabout outside the lobby. I showed her the photo I took of CeeCee and the woman at lunch. “I think I know this woman. I’ve seen her, but I don’t know who she is.”

I handed Brie my phone.

“Oh. Yeah. I think... yep. That’s Trevor Lance’s first wife. Remember? I showed you that article about his new wife, the model who’s in Europe right now, and it had a picture of his first wife, but she was much younger then.”

I remembered now. I squinted at the picture. “You think?”

“Ninety-nine percent positive.” She handed me back my phone.

I think she was right. I’d also glimpsed a photo of the ex in one of the articles about Trevor I’d read the night before.

“Why would his mistress meet with his ex-wife?” I wondered out loud.

“I don’t get any of them. They’re all dickheads.”

I couldn’t disagree with her.

The last person was getting on the shuttle. Henry waved at me, and I put up my finger to hold him.

“Tomorrow morning, let’s go through these pages and my notes. Maybe between the two of us, we’ll figure out exactly who else Diana blackmailedandwhat she had on Sherry, okay?”

“If you push her overboard, I wouldn’t be upset.”

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