Page 146 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

Brie went into the security office. The young guy who had flirted with her the other day was there at the desk. As we suspected, everyone else was out working on cleanup.

As soon as Brie gave me the signal, I went into the security office through the back. The door was unlocked. Otherwise this would have been a very short excursion.

I snuck into the security building and went straight to Gino’s office.

I closed the door but didn’t turn on any lights. The morning daylight from the window—which faced a thick garden—was enough to see.

I was uncomfortable being in the dead guy’s office, so I planned to be quick. The phone wasn’t in any obvious place, but his bottom desk drawer was locked. The common metal desk was similar to my first desk when I interned at a CPA office. They were the easiest locks to crack. I lay down on the floor, shimmied under the desk, and used a letter opener to jimmy the lock mechanism under the drawer. It popped open.

Inside was exactly what I was looking for: a smartphone in a sealed plastic bag. Now I really was committing a crime—it was evidence in a homicide investigation.

Well... not technically. There was no label on the bag stating that it was evidence. I couldn’t know for sure it was Diana’s.

The phone was dead, and I didn’t have the passcode, but I had a plan for that.

Get Amber to unlock it for me. But first, we needed to charge it.

I pocketed the phone and was about to leave when I heard voices.

Brie was talking loudly, though I couldn’t hear exactly what she said.

Dammit, someone was coming.

I was about to get up, but the voices were right outside Gino’s door. Brie and Tristan.

I crawled back under Gino’s desk and made myself as small as possible. If he walked around the desk, he would see me.

Please don’t come in. Please don’t come in.

The door opened. Tristan said, “Yes, of course, Ms. Locke. Two minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll wait.”

“Talk to Benji. I’ll be right back.”

He closed the door.

“Gino, you really screwed this up,” Tristan muttered.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to just disappear. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it. What had I been thinking? Committing a crime, all to help Brie break up Sherry and her dad?

There was rummaging in the file cabinet. “Damn you, Gino... There it is.”

The file drawer slid closed, and then a shredder engaged. One. Two. Three sheets. The door opened, closed.

I didn’t breathe until I couldn’t hear him anymore.

I waited until Brie sent me a thumbs-up emoji signaling the coast was clear, and then I left.

We charged Diana’s phone to twenty percent in my room, then went to meet Amber. We were late, but Amber wasn’t there. We headed up to her room and knocked. She was just getting dressed, and I said, “Ready?”

“God, I feel like shit.”

I saw two empty wine bottles, and a third that was partly empty. I’d feel like shit too.

I glanced at Brie, and she nodded. I led Amber down the hall. Brie stayed at the door, her foot preventing it from closing, and as soon as Amber wasn’t looking, she slipped inside.

I showed Amber the words I’d found, and how each paragraph was about the treasure hunt in the book, which ended with finding the treasure on a public ferry, so I suspected the documents were stashed on the St. Claire ferry.

---