“I set the little rascal down beside his high chair for a whole two seconds before he was gone!” Yancy said.
“He just wants to go diving with us, Yancy!” Brad said.
“Well, he’ll have to wait a few years for that, I’m afraid,” Yancy said. She seemed uneasy, determined to get the baby back speedily. “Here, Sammy, I’ll take him. You eat so you can get your party started.” Yancy lowered her voice. “I need to talk to you.”
Sam arched a brow to her.
“In the pantry, for just a minute, when you get the chance.”
As Sam gave up the baby, she turned slightly. Adam was standing about five feet away from her. Dead still. Had he heard what Yancy had said to her? Did he intend to be in the kitchen, listening to whatever Yancy had to say, as well?
Then she realized that Adam wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the baby. Hard. As if he was witnessing some kind of unexplained phenomenon. He was very pale. No, he was actually more a soft shade of green.
“Adam?”
He seemed to give himself a shake. Then he turned away from her, pouring himself a cup of coffee. His hands were shaking slightly.
She walked up behind him. “I know, the baby isn’t really a baby. He’s a multimillionaire collector of ancient documents, and he’s here—”
He swung on her. She was startled by the violence in him and started to back away. His fingers settled around her elbow like steel grips. “I’m wondering where the hell you’d be right now if that visitor of yours the other night had managed to snap that cloth over your face a few minutes earlier.”
“Would you let go of me? You’re making a scene!”
“How old is that baby?”
“He’s six months. Jesus, let me go! You’re about to break my arm.”
His mouth worked as if he was about to say something. Then he released her arm as if it had suddenly caught fire and turned away from her, walking across the room to enter into conversation with Jim Santino and Sukee.
Sam hurried into the pantry, where Yancy was waiting for her.
“Someone was in the house last night,” Yancy said.
“What?”
“I heard someone in your father’s office.”
“Adam?”
Yancy shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, God, Yancy, I should have called the police when this first started.”
“No, no, Sam. I was never in danger. No one came near me or the baby. I wouldn’t even have known except that Brian woke up, crying for a bottle. While I was feeding him, I heard someone downstairs. Then I looked out and saw someone leaving the house. Sam, if you’d called the police, it wouldn’t have done anything. Adam is right. Unless you want to just close the island and give up the business, we’ve got to figure out what’s going on ourselves.”
“But if anything happened to the baby…”
“The baby is with me! No one is threatening him in any way. I wasn’t threatened. I don’t know anything at all about the damned
“I will be. But I don’t want you and the baby to be alone—”
“Jacques was in the house. If I had really been afraid, I would have called him.”
“He was probably snoring through the whole thing,” Sam said. Jacques was a wonderful chef, but he was also a cheerful man with tunnel vision. He would have been dreaming of the next day’s souffle while the house caved down around him.
“I’m certain I’ll be okay,” Yancy said.
“We can’t be certain of anything. I don’t want you to be so alone.”
“Matthew will be over for the weekend tomorrow night. He can take the room next to mine.”
“That will be better. For tonight—”
“We can figure out tonight when you get back. This is what’s scaring me—don’t you even think about diving alone anywhere,” she said passionately. “Don’t you be alone under the water—not for a minute, not for a second!”
“She won’t be,” a deep, angry voice suddenly assured them both.
Sam swung around. Adam. He’d followed her. Come up behind her, and heard every word. And he still seemed angry.
She gritted her teeth, folding her arms over her chest. “Imagine! He’s been back a day and already he’s taking charge. I don’t think he can do that, do you, Yancy?”
Yancy glanced over Sam’s shoulder to Adam. “Yes, Sammy, I do. I think you have to listen to him.”
“Really? Well, you know, Yancy, he’s working for some private concern. Why should I trust him more than anyone else?”
“Sam, he was a cop—”
“Not anymore.”
“Sam—”
“Thanks for the warning, Yancy. I have a dive party to take out,” Sam said. She turned and started walking past Adam, but she should have known it wasn’t going to happen. He took a step, which brought him in front of her. His hands bit into her shoulders. “You can be as much of a bitch as you want, but I owe it to your father not to let anything happen to you, and I’m not going to.”
“Really? If you owe my father, it took you one hell of a long time to decide to pay the debt!”
“I explained to you what happened!”
“Well, it wasn’t good enough!” she whispered, furious at realizing that she was close to tears. “It just wasn’t good enough!”
She pushed her way past him, determined to regain control as she returned to the living room. She poured herself another cup of coffee and spoke loudly to everyone in the room.
“I’m heading down to the
She started down the path from the house to the docks, then realized that Adam was following right behind her. She stopped, letting him catch up. “This isn’t going to work.”
“What?”
“You being there every time I try to breathe.”
“Well, just what are you going to do, then?” he demanded.
She opened her mouth to answer him, then realized that she really was in some kind of danger and that she might be jeopardizing her livelihood and her life—not to mention the lives of Jem, Yancy, Jacques, Brian and even others—if she didn’t try to discover what was going on without having to close down the island. She hated it, but he was her best bet.
“You’re a bastard, and I really hate you, you know that?” she said to him.
“So you informed me the day you asked me to leave.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Well, you know what? You’re still a little brat.”
“Am I? I thought I was a bitch.”
“You’re a woman of many moods, Miss Carlyle.”
She wanted to hit him. Nearly five years since she had seen him! she told herself desperately. She shouldn’t still be so furious. So hurt.
She’d been so damned naive! When she’d first seen him, she’d thought he was wonderful. So tall, so handsome and so at home in the water. A noble type of guy. His dad had been a cop; he’d wanted to be a cop. His skill in the water had allowed him to be a different kind of cop. He’d almost instantly formed a bond of friendship
