Orchid Beach

infrastructure, which is considerable. We’ve got our own water and sewage treatment plants and a backup generating system that pops on if there’s a power failure. None of our members ever goes more than five seconds without electrical power, even in a hurricane.”

They passed a house under construction; it was huge.

“Is that representative of the size of the houses in this place?” Holly asked.

“Sure is. There’s nothing under ten thousand square feet here.”

They passed the Palmetto Gardens Country Club, with a clubhouse that was large and comfortable looking.

“We’ve got three eighteen-hole courses here,” Noble said. “Every one of them the equal of anything in the country.”

“For how many members?” she asked.

“That’s confidential, but let’s just say that our people don’t like to reserve tee times. They like to walk out there and play, so we keep it uncrowded.”

“My dad is a big golfer,” she said. “He’s a senior master sergeant in the army, stationed in North Carolina.”

“Does he ever get down this way?”

“He plans to.”

“Tell him to call me, and I’ll give him a round here. Certain employees are allowed to use the facilities.”

“That’s very kind of you,” she said, meaning it. “Ham would love that.”

“Ham? Ham Barker?”

“That’s right.”

“Sorry, I didn’t get the connection. I did a tour with him in Vietnam.”

“No kidding. That’s three people he knows here, then.”

“Yeah, except two of them…I heard about Hank Doherty. That’s a tough way to go when you’ve been through what he has.”

“Did you serve with Hank and Chet, too?”

“I knew them both in the army, but we were never in the same outfit, like Ham and me. How is the old fart?”

“He’s got his thirty in; he’ll be retiring one of these days. Did you know my mother?”

Noble shook his head. “There weren’t any wives where we were.”

They passed a sign saying AIRFIELD.

“You’ve got a landing strip here, too?”

“Six thousand feet of it. We can take anything up to and including a Gulfstream V. All of our people arrive and depart by private aircraft. We’ve got the only instrument landing system in the country at a private airport. When our foreign members arrive, we arrange to have customs and immigration here to clear them, so they can fly directly here, nonstop, from any airport anywhere. It’s a great convenience not to have to stop at a port of entry to clear.”

“These people have their own little world here, don’t they?”

“Now you’ve got the picture. These guys work like slaves most of the time; they’re glad to get down here for a little golf or tennis and some R and R.”

They could see the Indian River now, and a marina with some large motor yachts.

“Some of them come by sea, now and then,” Noble said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Holly replied.

“Neither has anybody else,” Noble said.

“I was surprised to be denied entry to part of my jurisdiction.”

“Sorry about that, but you have to remember that this is private property. Legally you couldn’t come in without a search warrant, but if ever you want in, just give me a call and I’ll tell the gate man you’re coming.”

“Thanks. You should warn your people, though, that if we have an emergency or a crime out here, my people are not going to wait at the gate.”

Noble laughed. “Well, we’re what you might call a crime-free area,” he said. “We’ve never had so much as a burglary, so I don’t think we’ll be needing the services of the Orchid Beach PD anytime soon.”

“Tell me,” Holly said, “why does such a crime-free development need a security force of fifteen, armed with automatic weapons?”

Noble laughed. “Let’s just say our people like us to err on the side of caution. You have to understand the mind-set with people at this level: most of them have bodyguards, armored limousines and elaborate security precautions at their other homes. You never know when somebody is going to try to kidnap some corporate executive, as happened in New Jersey a few years ago. Remember the oil company president who was taken and died of a gunshot wound?”

“Yes, I read about that.”

“That case and the Unabomber made a big difference in the way corporate America looked at personal security. A lot of boards of directors insisted that their top execs beef up their protection.”

They had completed a huge circle now and were approaching the gate. Noble pulled the Range Rover up to her car, stopped and held out his hand. “You let me know when Ham visits, and I’ll get him on the course.”

“Thanks, Barney,” Holly said, shaking his hand. “I’ll call when you least expect it.” She got out of the vehicle and went to her car, profoundly impressed with what she had seen. It was a dream world for a privileged few—and their security force. She wondered what would happen if one of these people murdered another. She’d probably never even hear about it, she reckoned.

CHAPTER

22

Holly worked seven days a week for her first two weeks on the job. She concentrated on getting to know her force by name and assignment, and on getting to know their experience and capabilities. There were four women on the force, none of them on the street; she rotated them onto patrols and decided that the next four vacancies she had would go to women applicants. She discussed this with Hurd Wallace, who nodded and said little. She was becoming accustomed to his reptilian stillness and his reticent manner, and she began to know that he had a good grasp of the department. He was a capable man, and she wondered why Chet Marley had been reluctant to promote him further. Chet occasionally showed signs of coming out of his coma, but always regressed.

Late in her third week, on Friday afternoon, she had a phone call.

“Holly Barker,” she said.

“It’s Jackson.”

She had been dreading this. She wanted to see him, but was reluctant to do so.

“You were supposed to call me two weeks ago,” he said.

“Jackson, I’m sorry. Look, let me lay my cards on the table. I feel that I’m under the gun here. The city council has already told me they’d prefer to have somebody else in this job, and I don’t want to give them anything to use against me. I think they might frown on a police officer seeing somebody who’s on the opposite side in the courtroom.”

“Do you really think that’s a legitimate concern?”

“No, but it’s a concern.”

“Let me ask you straight out, Holly: do you have any interest in me?”

“Yes, I do,” she said without hesitation. “But I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t think we should be