CHAPTER SIX

 

"So, I take it we're probably not still on for snorkeling this afternoon?" Jamie asked, attempting a smile, though I could still see the worry behind her eyes.

"I doubt it," I said wearily. "I was on my way back to the room to check on Emma. I'll see if she and the other girls are feeling up to it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I think this morning put us all through the ringer."

Jamie squeezed my arm. "Is there anything I can do for you or the others?" she offered.

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know," I told her. "I think we all just need to take the afternoon to decompress."

She nodded in understanding. "In that case, I'm going to head to my apartment and take a cat nap. I'll meet back up with you here at the resort in a few hours." She gave me a hug. "I know you didn't do it, Kaley. If you need help proving that to the police, just say the word and you know I'll have your back."

"Thanks," I said, returning her hug. I watched Jamie retreat down the hallway before turning and trudging in the opposite direction. I felt hopeless. Detective Ray had let me go earlier, yet the questions he and his men were asking about me could only mean that they'd placed me on their short list of possible suspects. Maybe he'd done some digging into my past conflict with Valentina and had discovered the news coverage of Bryan's cheating scandal. Or was it possible that someone else had pointed him toward some of those old articles during their own statement, hoping to cast suspicion on me and draw attention away from himself or herself? If so, who?

I found myself wondering if perhaps Bryan really could be guilty. I hadn't meant to implicate him in my conversation with the detective, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that he could have murdered his own girlfriend. After all, Noa had been right—the significant other was most often the culprit. If their passionate-reunion-turned-equally-passionate-quarrel at the airport the day before was any indication, Bryan's relationship with Valentina was far from perfect. I recalled Val sitting at the bar of the Lanai Lounge the night before, tapping angrily at her phone. Had she been fighting with him again? Maybe they'd met up on the beach after we'd returned to the hotel so they could continue their argument in person. I assumed Bryan had probably been pretty hammered himself, having been out celebrating Dante's last few days as a bachelor. If the couple had a drunken argument, could it have escalated to the point of violence? I'd seen Bryan angry before many times during our marriage, but he'd never come close to physically harming me. No, from my experience, emotional and psychological barbs were his weapons of choice.

Then again, that was just the version of Bryan that I had known—the one who'd sometimes verbally abused me but had always remained faithful. Until I found out he hadn't been faithful after all. If Bryan had secretly been cheating with Val and his other cheerleader floozies during our marriage, what else could he have kept from me? A violent streak? The urge to kill?

Suppose he's innocent. I turned the situation over in my head. Who else might want Valentina dead? She wasn't from the islands. Since my gut was telling me that her death wasn't a random incident, that meant the suspect pool could likely be confined to the only eight people here who knew her—aside from me, at least. Was it possible that one of Dante's other groomsmen was a cold-blooded killer? Maybe Tom, I thought. With his oversized biceps and mammoth hands, he could have crushed Val like a bug. Truthfully, any one of the fine-tuned football players would have had the strength to overpower her—but what could have been their motive for murder?

I turned my thoughts to the other women in the wedding party. The obvious choice was Coco Becker. While I couldn't fathom sweet Emma or mousy Mia being capable of such malice, Coco sure fit the bill. She'd been the best of pals with Valentina in public, but according to Mia, behind closed doors they'd been at each other's throats. It was no secret that Coco had been jealous of her cheer mate for landing my ex after they'd both hooked up with him. Now that her competition for his affection had been eliminated, perhaps she thought she could swoop in and win him over. She had wound up in Bryan's room awfully fast to comfort him. Was it because she'd already known that Val was dead before the rest of us had found her body?

There was also the fact that Coco hated me. She could've easily been the one to swipe my bag—she'd been at the club and on the bus with me the night before, giving her plenty of opportunity. Had she been the one to plant my purse on the corpse? Was the flighty cheerleader bit just an act? Deep down, was Coco diabolical enough to murder Val and set me up to take the fall?

So much for staying out of it, I thought glumly as I reached our room. Though I wanted nothing to do with the investigation into Val's mysterious death, if Detective Ray and his men were trying to build a case against me for the crime, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I also couldn't stand idly by and let their case potentially ruin Emma's bachelorette weekend and keep her from making it home in time for her own wedding. I was going to have to do whatever it took to find out the truth about what happened to Valentina, both for my sake and Emma's.

I slid my key into the card slot on the door and pushed it open. The room was empty. Emma must have gone upstairs so Dante could console her, or perhaps she was next door with Mia. I walked over to the door that connected the two rooms and knocked softly. Mia opened it after a few seconds. She looked as exhausted as I felt. "This day has been a total nightmare," she said, and even her voice sounded tired. "Where have you been?"

"At the dress shop," I replied. "I dropped in to see my aunt and let her know that I was all right since word about what happened to Val has gotten around the resort." I left it at that, not wanting to divulge that I was being considered as a person of interest by the police. "Is Emma in there with you?" I asked, peeking over her shoulder.

Mia shook her head. "Upstairs with Dante. She's taking this all really hard." Mia's forehead wrinkled. "It's just so surreal," she said quietly. "I mean, one day Valentina is here, and the next…" She let her words hang in the air for a few moments and then dropped her gaze to the floor. "Do you want to come in?" she offered, stepping back and opening the door wider to let me through.

The room was a mirror image of the one I was sharing with Emma, with the same decor but the furniture arrangements reversed. "Is Coco here, too?" I asked, glancing around the dimly lit room. Mia had the curtains drawn, and one of the bedside lamps was the only source of light to illuminate the space, adding to the gloom.

Mia dropped onto one of the two beds. "Nope. I haven't seen her since before…well, before we went to the beach."

I crossed the room and hesitated next to the second bed, reluctant to sit on it knowing that one of its occupants was now dead. Instead, I perched on the love seat, folding my legs underneath me. "Did anything about Coco's behavior this morning strike you as a bit odd?" I asked, looking Mia in the eyes.

She cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "You mentioned that she and Valentina were bickering in here last night before dinner, and then she didn't seem concerned when Val wasn't at breakfast this morning. It was almost as if she wasn't surprised when she didn't show up."

Mia was silent for a moment. "Maybe," she said finally. She rolled over on her stomach and propped herself up with her elbows. "I didn't notice anything unusual about the way she was acting at breakfast, but I guess I was still in a fog from last night." She frowned. "But now that you mention it, I do think it's pretty weird that she disappeared as soon as we found Val. I tried calling her when the police arrived, but she didn't answer her phone and still hasn't called me back." Her lower lip trembled. "I just thought she should hear about it from one of us, you know?" When I nodded my understanding, she continued. "I'm sure she knows by now—at least, I hope so." She looked up at me. "Where do you think she could have gone?"

"I actually saw her upstairs earlier," I admitted, choosing my words carefully. "I went to the guys' suite to make sure that someone had notified Bryan and the others, but she'd beaten me there. Tom answered the door." I grimaced. "He hates me. He wouldn't let me into the room, but I saw Coco in there, comforting Bryan."

"Oh." Mia's frown deepened. "Poor Bryan," she said softly.

"Coco went with Val to The Lava Pot last night, didn't she?" I asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Did they come back together?"

Mia shook her head. "I'm not even sure if Valentina came back at all. She headed straight for the bar as soon as we got off the party shuttle. Coco came in for a few minutes, but then she took off."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, but I assumed she went to join Val for a drink."

"So you were alone in the room?" I asked.

Mia shook her head again. "I might have had some company," she said, a sly grin spreading over her face.

I raised my head in surprise. "Really? Who?" Had she met a guy her first night on the island?

Her eyes sparkled. "You know Will, right? The hot groomsman with the sandy hair and perfect dimples?"

"Will Bolero?" I brightened. "That's great!" Of all of Bryan's teammates, I'd always liked him the best. He deserved to find a nice girl. "Will's such a sweet guy," I told her.

"And he's a great kisser too." Her smile widened, and her eyes got a dreamy, faraway look. I could tell she was completely smitten with the hunky placekicker.

"How did you two get together?" I asked.

Mia shrugged. "Oh, I don't know," she replied with a coy smile. "I mean, we're not dating or anything—not yet, at least. I met him through Emma, and we've been flirting back and forth for a while now. Then last night there was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, there he was. I was surprised to see him standing there—not that I'm complaining." She giggled.

"Oh. I see." I smiled in understanding. I glanced at the crumpled sheets on the other bed. "You said you're pretty sure Val never returned to the room, right? What about Coco?" I asked. "Were you and Will still awake when she came back?"

"No," she replied, stretching. "Will didn't stay the whole night, but he was here for a couple of hours. I went to sleep right after he left. I never heard anyone else come in, but when I woke up this morning, Coco was fast asleep in the other bed." She grimaced. "I didn't think anything was wrong when I didn't see Val anywhere. I just assumed she'd gotten up early to go for a jog on the beach or to hit the gym."

"You couldn't have known," I said, offering her what I hoped was a sympathetic look.

She nodded, giving me a strained smile. "Thanks." She stifled a yawn.

"I'll let you get some rest," I said, rising from the love seat. I had the feeling I'd already learned everything that Mia knew about Coco's whereabouts the night before. "I should see if I can find Emma."

I stepped around Coco's bed, pausing when I heard a soft crunching sound under my feet. I glanced down to find a light dusting of fine, white sand coating the carpet, along with a few tiny shards of broken seashells. Several thicker clumps formed a trail that led under the bed. We hadn't gone to the beach before leaving the resort for the Lanai Lounge the night before. That meant someone must have been out there last night and had tracked sand back into the room.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked, seeing me frown down at my feet.

I didn't answer. Crouching low, I lifted the comforter that was hanging over the side of the mattress. My heart gave a hard thump as I stared at the sparkly, black wedge sandals underneath the bed, their soles caked with sand. The strappy shoes belonged to Coco.