“Sorry,” she said huffily.“But it doesn’t seem like?—”
“We can read a sign?”Gilly motioned with her hand dismissively.“No worries.We’ve made it through seventh grade.”Then a bit like caveman speak, she added, “We know words good.”
I coughed to cover the “hah!”that escaped my throat as the woman’s eyes widened and she scurried off to lick her wounds.“You’re on a roll, babe.”
“We’re on a mission to get this vacation back on track, and nobody better try to stop us.”She tapped her wrist.“Time’s a wasting.Get to doing your thing.”
“You’re getting so bossy in your old age.”
Gilly gasped.“Nora Black, you’re not too big for me to whoop.”
“That’s probably true.”I didn’t try to stop the laugh this time.“Quit distracting me or we’ll be here all day.”
“Your daiquiri,” I heard Bruno say.
“You’re a doll,” Gilly told him.
“What is your friend doing?”he asked.
“She’s just sniffing the water.”
I shook my head but tried to ignore her and concentrate on the scents of the hydrotherapy pool.
“Is that an American thing?”he asked.
“I don’t think so,” she said.“It’s mostly just a Nora thing.”
I turned my head over my shoulder to gawk at Gilly so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.Bruno was standing next to her, and they were both watching me like I was a wild animal at the zoo.
Gilly took a long sip from a straw poking out of her bright red frozen drink.After she made a rolling gesture with her hand in my direction and told him, “It’s better to observe from a distance and avoid interference.”My bestie was in rare form.
“I see,” the young man said, playing along.“I shall be guided by your experience in this matter.”
I rolled my eyes before turning my attention back to the water.I noted a light, fresh odor coming from the pool, and only the barest hint of chlorine.Since Bruno looked like he was sticking around, I asked, “What do they use to treat the pool?”
“It has an ozone filtration system,” he answered.“Top of the line.First class, all the way.”
The clean scent was pleasant enough, but it wasn’t inducing any helpful visions.What would the perpetrator have smelled?I concentrated on taking in the retreat’s signature fragrance and the clean scent of ozone.The air the night before had been particularly briny, like fresh oysters on a half-shell.It wasn’t as pronounced this morning, but the heat of the sun probably played a part in that.
I reached down and dragged my fingers across the water, breaking the surface tension, and without warning, a strong, vivid memory took hold.
Inside an elevator, a figure is hunched and shadowed beneath an oversized hood of a large, shapeless rain jacket, dark orange like the ones they showed during the evacuation drill.With gloved hands, they press the button for the sixteenth floor.I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman.The jacket’s size and shape masks any sign of the person beneath it.Sebastian’s limp body is slumped on the floor against the back wall.His face is blurred, but I recognize the wine stain on his white shirt.
The doors open, and the figure bends over, breath coming in harsh, uneven puffs.He or she grabs Sebastian’s feet and drags him from the elevator car.His body is dead weight, awkward and unwieldy.
The figure glances around, then spots a nearby lounge chair.With some effort, they heave Sebastian’s body onto it, his arms dangling limply off the sides.
There are wheels on the back, but the lounger isn’t made for hauling heavy objects, and the metal stabilizers near the middle drag against the deck until the figure lifts the front higher.
“Dammit,” the person mutters, low, rough, making it annoyingly impossible to tell if it belongs to a man or a woman.The sound isn’t grief or panic.It’s frustration, sharpened by something darker.
The chair moves awkwardly but silently the rest of the way as they pull Sebastian to the hydrotherapy pool.
I grimace as Sebastian’s head rolls lifelessly back and forth, confirming my suspicions that he is dead before he hits the water.It makes me sick to my stomach.
“You couldn’t have waited until we were here to die?”the killer hisses, voice barely above a whisper.The words drip with venom.“A bastard until the very end.”
They reach the hydrotherapy pool, the water calm and glassy, steam rising gently into the air.The scent of eucalyptus and lavender lingers...light, soothing, horribly relaxing and out of place for such a grim task.
