Winnie reached her hand over and patted Laine’s leg. “You’re a good woman, Laine Fulton. A good woman.”
Laine changed the subject. “Did you see Christian’s face? He was heartbroken.”
“I did see Christian’s face,” Winnie replied. “My question is, did you see Mia’s face?”
Laine sat up quickly. “You saw that too?”
“She’s up to no good.”
Tamyra sat up. “How do you two see all this? Please tell me. I don’t see anything and you two don’t miss anything.”
“It’s because we’re Baptist,” they said in unison. Their raucous laughter didn’t stir Riley from her drug-induced sleep.
* * *
Laine walked along the concrete walkway that skirted a sandy beach and wove around the properties of the Atlantis. The wind had really picked up and whipped the edge of her dress around her legs; the ocean seemed to have gone to a steady roar in the background, though she couldn’t see it. She had left Tamyra sound asleep in the chair and Winnie killing it on the sofa. But she couldn’t sleep. The Mia thing was killing her. Laine had pushed Riley in extreme measures this week, but she also knew something had happened on that date with Christian. Granted she had known Riley less than a week, but long enough to know she was irritatingly honest. Laine knew she herself was irritatingly honest as well, but they were very different in their delivery. And the self-control that Riley had shown simply in dealing with Laine made her all but certain she wouldn’t have gotten wasted like that tonight. Not with everything that was at stake for Max and his guests. None of it made sense.
The only thing she knew was that Mia irritated her. There was this feeling that had nagged her from the moment she met her, and Mia’s immediate gravitation toward Christian confirmed it. Laine hadn’t been a sleuth before, but she’d written about one. So she had plans to see what she could find out.
“Where are you going without me?” Winnie’s voice startled her.
Laine turned. The crashing waves warred behind them in the cloud-covered night. “It’s just bugging me. This whole thing tonight.”
“It’s in your craw, huh?”
Laine shook her head. “In my what?”
“Up your butt. In your craw.”
This woman and her words. “Sure, yeah. All of that crazy stuff. So the only way I’m going to get it out of my . . . craw . . . is to go see what I can find out.”
Winnie put her pudgy hands on the edges of her white studded belt, the belt buckle visible even in the shadows of nighttime; then she grabbed the edges of her jacket and pulled it around her. Her white hair whipped in front of her face. She pushed back at it forcefully. “What are you going to do? Break into their offices or something?”
“I have no idea what I’m going to do. But I’ve got to do something.” Laine turned back and started walking toward The Cove. Winnie’s tiny heels followed at a steady click until they caught up to her. “I didn’t wake you up when I left, did I?”
Winnie handed Laine her phone. “No. Your phone did.”
Laine took it. “Who would be calling me at this time of night?” She looked down. Missed call. Mitchell Fulton. Laine felt a rush of heat flood through her. “It’s my husband, Winnie. . . .” Her voice softened. “I mean, my ex-husband.”
Winnie tilted her head.
Laine bit her lip hard.
“Go call him, sweetie. I’ll go back to Riley’s and get out of this wind. You go call your . . . You go call Mitchell, and when you get back, we’ll straighten out Riley’s life.”
“We were supposed to leave tomorrow.”
Winnie shook her head. “We’re not leaving until we get that baby girl in there out of this mess she’s in. And I’m not getting her out by myself.”
Laine gave her a smile and nodded. “No, I won’t leave until we get this figured out. She’s done too much for me to leave her.” She felt her pulse quicken. “Okay. I’m going to call him back real quick and then I’ll come get you.”
“Go on,” Winnie said, giving her a flutter of her hand.
Laine looked at Winnie, her face serious, her words as sincere as any she had spoken in a long time. “Winnie, would you pray?”
Winnie gave her a smile and a wink. “I’ll be praying until you get back. Just don’t take too long now. ’Cause even the disciples couldn’t pray for an hour.”
Laine laughed nervously. “Okay. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Winnie left her alone. The sounds of the roaring ocean and the wind were no contest for the pounding of her heart inside her ears. He had left no voice mail message. She pressed his name and his number lit up on the display screen of her phone. His picture took over every remaining piece of black space behind it.
“Hello?” Mitchell’s voice sounded tired.
Laine walked farther away from the ocean. “Hi, Mitchell. It’s me.”
She could hear him stir. “Hi.” She could picture him sitting up and turning on the light. For some reason he couldn’t talk on the phone in the dark. “I’ve been out of town and I just got all of your messages. Sorry that I’m just getting back to you.”
She found a small bench by the koi pond in front of Riley’s condo. She sat down, crossing her legs underneath her and wishing she had brought a jacket. “No, it’s okay. I just thought maybe you didn’t want to talk to me. You know, after our last conversation.”
He stirred again. “No, baby. No. I would talk to you anytime. Anywhere. I am so sorry. But after our conversation I just had to get away from everything. And I did. I drove up the coast. Left my phone, laptop, and told the office I’d be back at the end of the week, that there would be no reason to try to contact me because I wasn’t even going to check in. Then I got home and saw
