I hold up my hand to quiet her and step off the path, so I'm walking along the edge of the greenery. I creep along the edge, peering through the leaves as much as I can to try to see movement. I get all the way to the edge of the sand before I see the man again. He's walking close to the greenery toward an outcropping of rocks, and I notice someone is walking in front of him.
"What in the living hell are you doing?" Bellamy hisses as she teeters on her impractical high heels and comes across the grass to me.
"Shhh," I shush her. "Look. See that guy?"
"You mean the fellow resort guest who probably spent a massive amount of money to be here peacefully enjoying the amenities of the island?" she asks.
"Last night when I couldn’t sleep, I went out onto my balcony, and I saw him having what looked like a pretty intense conversation with Graciela."
"Graciela, the girl who takes care of your room?" she asks.
I nod. "When she came to my room this morning, I kind of teased her about it, but she was really quick to tell me it absolutely wasn't her. Socializing between guests and staff is strictly forbidden, and she is not about to lose her job, according to her."
"So, why are we stalking this guy?" Bellamy asks.
"Because I know it was her. They were right under my room. It wasn't hard to see her. And now there they are again," I say. "Don't you think that's odd?"
"That she's carrying on a secret relationship and doesn't want a stranger to know about it because it could get her canned? Not particularly."
I shake my head. "There's something strange about it."
The man has gotten far enough away for me to move closer. He reaches the rock outcropping and reaches in front of him to wrap his arms around Graciela's waist. Leading her around to the front of the rocks, he presses her back into them and leans down to kiss her. Just before he does, my mouth falls open.
"That's not Graciela."
Chapter Fifteen
"Are you sure?" Bellamy asks.
"Unless she grew several inches and dyed her hair in the last few hours, yes, I'm sure," I tell her. "That is definitely not Graciela."
The two move apart, and the man takes a step to start coming back in this direction. Bellamy and I move out onto the sand toward the water, so we don't look like we've been watching him.
"Maybe now you know what they were having such an intense conversation about," Bellamy points out. "Seems he's been socializing with more than one of the staff."
I glance over my shoulder and watch him walk up the edge of the greenery without the woman. She's still at the rocks, perched on top of one now, and looking out over the water.
"I don't know. There's something really strange about the way he's acting," I note.
“Why are you so fascinated by this?” she asks as we make our way back up the grass to where Eric is waiting.
“Because she's always fascinated by something,” Eric offers. “She looks for mysteries to solve.”
“I don't look for mysteries,” I correct him. “I'm perfectly happy when there's absolutely nothing sinister or uncomfortable happening around me.”
“You just saw someone kiss a girl by the ocean, and somehow you turned it sinister,” Bellamy points out.
“I didn't turn the kiss sinister,” I protest. “It's the whole situation.”
“And by situation you mean the same man was having a conversation with one girl one night and kissing another girl the next day? And the girl he was talking to isn't spilling all the details of her personal life to you, a stranger who she kind of works for?” she asks.
“I don't know what to tell you. It's just sitting wrong.”
“Maybe because snooping around after people for no good reason and finding drama where there isn't any doesn't fit on the island,” Bellamy says.
Eric rolls his eyes.
“Oh, here we go talking about ‘The Island’ again. She's turned it into its own entity.”
Bellamy gives him a look that's meant to be scathing, but I see humor and affection in her eyes.
"I can't help it. Observation was trained into me my whole life. When I notice something that seems off, I latch onto it," I try to justify myself.
"The only thing off is that we are at a spectacular island resort on Windsor Island, and you are more interested in traipsing around after a man who is just acting like… well like a man, frankly. But, fortunately for you, you have your very own vacation coordinator right at your disposal. Let's go."
"Where are we going?" I ask her as she links her arm with mine and guides me up toward the path again.
"We're going to get changed into something active, and then we're going on a hike."
"You hike?" I raise an eyebrow.
"When I have a tropical paradise at my disposal, I hike."*****
Constance seemed thrilled to give us a full spiel about hiking around the island and offered us a map outlining some of the most popular trails. Following that map led us along to hours of weaving through the trees and flowers, high up onto hills. A note written on the side of the map promises us a spectacular surprise if we get to the end of the trail, and we've finally made it.
Stepping through the lush growth, we emerge onto a rocky cliff that juts out over the water. Bellamy gasps when she sees the incredible expanse of blue ocean in front of us. The sunlight sparkles on it, making the rolling waves look like they’re bringing in glittering gold dust from the depths of some sunken treasure.
In the distance, I notice something fairly large bobbing near another rock outcropping. The longer I look at it, the bigger it gets.
"What are you looking at?" Eric asks.
"I think it's a boat," I say, nodding toward the shape. "It doesn't look like
