Just then, the sound of sirens drifted in on the evening breeze. Betsy’s eyes grew wide, and she hurried to the window to look out. Then her shoulders slumped.
“I’m too old to run. They’ll be here in a minute.” She turned to Buck, lifted his cheeks with her palms, and looked into his eyes. “I love ya, brother, even if you do drive me crazy sometimes. Take care of Frank and Sam for me.”
When the police burst in, Betsy stood with her hands loose at her sides, her grey curls wild all over her head, and her pink silk kaftan flowing elegantly around her ankles.
The officer in charge read her rights as he arrested her, and they led her out to the police car. Another officer spoke to the group.
“Stay where you are. We’re going to need statements from all of you.”
Twenty
When they finally made itback to the reunion, most of the guests had left. There were a few intoxicated couples moving slowly to the music on the dance floor. The men were seated at the bar, talking and laughing over drinks. Charmaine watched the four ladies hobble into the room with horror. She’d been frantically searching for and calling the group for the past two hours. She’d started to believe they’d fallen into the ocean or had a car accident or something equally distressing.
Taya, Evie, Bea, and Penny had bare feet and were dishevelled, sweaty, and exhausted. They fell one by one into chairs. Charmaine walked over to meet them, her brow furrowed.
“I’m so thirsty,” Bea said.
Charmaine scanned their faces. “What on earth? Where have you been? Everyone else got back from the scavenger hunt hours ago. I was about to call search and rescue.”
“We confronted a murderer…”
“And were almost arrested.”
“I fell and twisted my ankle.” Bea held out one foot and pressed gingerly at the wounded joint. She’d tripped on a rock when they were walking back to the car in the dark.
“You poor things. I can’t believe it. Everyone else had such a wonderful time, and you missed all the dancing.” Charmaine glanced at the gyrating couples on the dance floor. “Well, almost all of it.”
“I don’t think I could dance a step anyway,” Taya said, wriggling her toes.
“The police will be here any moment to finish taking our statements,” Bea said.
Charmaine’s frown deepened. “What happened out there? And why were you almost arrested? Did you do something dangerous?”
Penny began to giggle. She laughed so hard her belly shook, which triggered the other ladies to burst into laughter as well. Charmaine watched on in confusion. Had they experienced some kind of communal psychotic episode? They’d all cracked at once. Perhaps this was what happened when friends became as close as they were.
Finally, Penny wiped her eyes and stopped laughing. “We did something stupid. We went to see my father.”
“Buck Clements? Oh, dear,” Charmaine said, setting her clipboard down and dropping into a chair beside Penny.
“Then we found Betsy in his hallway,” Bea added.
“And the police showed up and arrested her,” Evie finished.
Charmaine pressed both hands to her forehead. “Betsy’s still on the island?”
“Yep. But now she’s at the police station. We can finally all relax.”
“But why are the police coming to see you?” Charmaine asked.
“We had to make statements, but we ran out of time. They said they’d meet us here to finish up. They should be here any moment.”
The men sauntered over from the bar. David wound an arm around Evie’s waist. Aidan greeted Bea with a kiss, then studied her, concern etched across his features. “Are you okay? Where have you been?”
Each of the ladies explained her whereabouts to the men while Charmaine hurried over to the bar to pay the staff and the DJ and to give him a ten-minute warning. The reunion was over and it’d been a raging success, apart from having the organisers disappear midway through. At least they were back now. Charmaine had hidden how frantic she’d felt inside over their disappearance. She’d called each of their phones a dozen times while smiling at the rest of the guests and handing out prizes. She was more than grateful that it was all over, and everyone was back safe and sound. She couldn’t wait to fall into bed in her cosy little beach cottage.
A voice behind her made her heart go cold. “It’s nice to see you, sis. You look good.”
She spun around to find herself face-to-face with Sean. Her brother suited the spiky hair and the well-cut suit he wore. He looked handsome and debonair, his half smile making him appear mischievous when she knew it went further than that. He was cold and calculating.
