I almost laughed, but she sounded so serious. “It’s not like I did it on purpose.” No one wanted to find a body. At least no one normal.
She gave a deeper, longer sigh. “I wish I could be there. If anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I’m safe,” I said and turned my body away from Reed so he couldn’t see or hear me. “I’ve got a giant, hunky SEAL to keep me safe.”
“Ex-SEAL,” she responded quickly and kept right ongoing without a breath. “And that’s another thing. Where is my photo of the sexy SEAL? If you’re going to be running around Savannah, picking up dead bodies without me, the least you could do is send me photos.”
“Of the dead body?” I asked, just to keep her going. Hearing her voice helped ease some of my nerves. “I’m not sure the police would be okay with that.”
“No! If you send me a photo of a dead man, our friendship is over.”
I laughed at her threat, and when Reed opened the restaurant door carrying a large brown sack, he caught my smile. “Hey, our lunch is ready. I have to go, but I promise we’re being very safe.”
No way in hell was I telling her about the note we’d just found from a probable killer. She’d have my ass on a plane before dinner.
Reed and I made it back to the rental by the time Delaney let me hang up.
“We’re not telling Delaney about the additional note,” I said, as Reed worked to open the gate with one hand.
A familiar voice cut off his grunt of agreement.
“Wait.” Samantha did a slow jog in our direction. She had her hair up in a high bun, but it was flopped to side with pieces shooting out in different direction. Her eyes were red and her cheeks puffy. “Have you heard?”
“Yes, I’m so sorry about Casey.” She obviously didn’t know we were the ones to find the body. I wanted to reach out and give her a hug to help take some of the grief she obviously carried, but we weren’t that close.
“They were soulmates,” she said, her voice cracking. “I can’t believe Selene lost him so young. The police have no idea what happened. They’re thinking a brain embolism.”
Brain embolism? I had to get back to the rental and Google that.
“It’s so horrible. I’m sorry. How is Selene holding up?” I asked as Reed unlocked our gate and let it swing open, but we didn’t walk through it.
Samantha shook her head in sadness. “Not well. Why would God let this happen? We’ve all sacrificed so much. Doesn’t someone deserve a happy ending?”
Grief poured out of her words as tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. We were both going to end up crying on the sidewalk soon.
“Oh,” Samantha said, wiping at her cheek before pulling a small bottle from her purse. “I had this to give to you. It’s stupid now, but it’s a piece of Savannah.”
“Thanks.” I accepted the white bottle with the brown top and flipped it over. The body lotion from Savannah Bee Company looked cute and probably smelled great.
“I was going to bring it over before all this happened. I’m staying with Selene until she decides what to do. If you need anything for the rest of your stay, reach out to me rather than her, please.”
I nodded in agreement but knew there wouldn’t be any need. If we had a flood, we’d take care of it on our own before bothering either of them while they dealt with Casey’s death.
We parted ways. Reed and I sat on the couch and ate our lunch from the Pirate House while I read him information about embolisms from the internet.
“Do you think his death was really just a weird fluke?” I asked, putting my fork in my takeout container and closing the lid.
Reed grabbed our trash and dumped it in the kitchen before joining me on the couch. “He had been under a lot of stress after his mother’s death. It’s possible he ignored the signs.”
It’s so weird that you could be here one minute, living your life, and then dead the next. How many things went unfinished? Did he have a bucket list?
What things did I want to do before I died?
I turned toward Reed and stared. It took him at least thirty seconds before he noticed and turned his attention my way. “What?”
“You should kiss me.”
16
