'In the swamp.'
'Yeah, I guess so.'
'You think she'll want to live there?'
He pretended not to understand. 'Who?'
He had forgotten how blunt Noah could be. 'The woman you're sleeping with. The woman you can't take your eyes off even when you're driving. You've been looking in the rearview mirror every ten seconds since you got behind the wheel. You're gonna get us killed if you don't pay attention to the road.'
John Paul was determined not to discuss Avery. 'How far is it to that little town you picked out on the map for us to stay tonight? What was it called? Walden Point?'
'Now me, I don't think I'm ever gonna settle down. Too many fish in the sea,' Noah said.
'And Walden Point is what? Twenty or thirty miles from Sheldon Beach?'
'I didn't think you'd ever find a woman who would put up with you, but I guess I was wrong.'
John Paul couldn't pretend he wasn't listening any longer. 'You don't even know me, Noah.'
'Sure I do. I know all about you.'
'Did you read my file?' He didn't give him time to respond but muttered, 'Doesn't 'classified' mean anything anymore?'
'Guess not,' Noah drawled. He hadn't had access to John Paul's file, but he had talked to Theo about his reclusive brother-in-law. Since it obviously upset John Paul to think that his file had been opened, Noah didn't tell him the truth. He liked annoying him.
'So, do you think she'll like living in Bowen?'
They had just come full circle. John Paul gripped the steering wheel as he tried to control his temper.
'We won't need to stop for gas.'
Noah grinned. 'Man, you've got it bad. Your face is getting red.'
John Paul thought about punching him. 'It's not like that.'
'Oh? You two don't have any kind of arrangement?'
He wasn't about to discuss his and Avery's relationship.
'No.'
'No future plans?'
He glared at Noah. 'No,' he snapped. Turning back to the road, he said, 'Are you ready to talk about something else?'
'Sure,' he said. 'What do you want to talk about?'
'Stop hitting on Avery.'
He was sorry the second the words were out of his mouth. Noah laughed. 'Why would I want to stop doing that?
You just said-'
'I know what the hell I said.'
'And she is a beautiful woman.'
Maybe he could reach over real quick, open Noah's door, and shove him out. That ought to shut him up.
'She's sexy as hell too.'
'Yeah, well, you leave her the hell alone. Now, how far is it to Walden Point?'
'Beats me.' Noah tilted the seat back, adjusted his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes.
'You're the damn navigator. Look at the map.'
'Sure thing.'
He was sound asleep seconds later.
The rest of the afternoon was blissfully quiet. They arrived in Walden Point around six that evening. The sleepy little town
was exactly thirty-two miles from the bridge leading into Sheldon Beach.
If Avery had been in Walden Point as a child, she didn't remember it. The streets were lined with palm trees, the grass was
brown from salt water and sun, and the houses along the side streets were ill kept and weather-beaten. It was a dismal, forgotten-looking place until they reached the older, more populated section of town. The houses along those avenues had
been spruced up. The grass was lush and green, and flowers brimmed over terra-cotta pots on freshly painted porches. It was apparent there was a renovation in progress.
There were several pretty bed-and-breakfast homes along the main street to the waterfront, but Noah wasn't interested in stopping there. He found a motel about twelve blocks away from the beach and told John Paul to pull into the lot.
Avery thought Noah was joking. Milt's Flamingo Motel had flaming pink concrete block walls and a red-tile roof in desperate
need of repair. There were hand-painted flamingos in different colors on each lime green door. The U-shaped structure with twelve units had a gravel parking lot. Whoever had chosen the color scheme had to have been color-blind.
There weren't any other cars around. Avery thought Milt must have flown the coop, abandoning the dump.
'Are you sure this is open?'
'I saw a guy watching as we pulled in,' Noah answered. 'It's easy in and out. We park behind, and the car's out of sight from
the street. What do you think?'
Since he was asking John Paul and not her, Avery kept her opinion of their lodgings to herself. After having passed the lovely bed-and-breakfast a couple of blocks away with the charming white picket fence and rockers on the wraparound porch, she thought Noah's choice was awful. She waited for John Paul to protest.
'I like it,' he said, dashing her hopes. 'It kind of reminds me of my dad's bar. He's got a big flamingo on his roof.'
'Yeah, I remember seeing it. I thought it was a pelican. I'll check us in.'
'There's a bed-and-breakfast just down the road,' she interjected. 'It looked nice and clean. I noticed a vacancy sign in the yard.'
'This is okay, isn't it?' John Paul asked.
If Noah hadn't been with them, she would have told him no, it wasn't okay, but she didn't want to complain in front of an agent.
'Yes, it's fine.'
He smiled because she sounded so disheartened. 'Not as nice as Tyler's cabin?'
'It's fine,' she repeated.
Noah had just gotten out of the car when his cell phone rang. John Paul walked ahead to the office, but Avery stayed with
Noah. She stretched her arms and legs, stiff from the long ride.
Noah, his head down, walked away, obviously so that the conversation would be private. She saw his expression, knew
something was wrong, and anxiously waited.
The conversation lasted a long time. John Paul came back with two keys, took one look at Avery, and said, 'What's wrong?'
'Something,' she said, leaning into his side.
Noah ended the call and walked back to the car. His gaze was on Avery. 'Your aunt and the judge are fine.'
'What happened?' John Paul asked.
'There was a delivery; some tanks to be installed behind the physical therapy wing.'
'Ah, hell,' John Paul whispered. He already knew what was coming. 'They blew, didn't they?'
Noah nodded. 'The fire took out most of the wing.'
'How did Monk get past security?' Avery asked.
