Irene had insisted they have lunch together. Vernon knew she only had his best interests at heart, that she wanted to make sure he stayed healthy. Yet sometimes he felt smothered—and guilty. Though Irene wanted nothing more than to spend time alone together, Vernon needed his space. Never more so than when he was under stress.
He ate his turkey sandwich hurriedly. In between bites he responded to Irene’s attempts at conversation with short answers and nods.
“Coffee, dear?” she asked when they’d finished eating.
Vernon lifted the napkin from his lap and laid it on the table. “I’m afraid I don’t have time, Irene,” he said. “I have to get back to the office.”
He gave his wife a perfunctory kiss on the cheek, and then he was gone.
The security report was waiting for him on his desk. As Vernon read it, he could see that Anastasia had done almost nothing that seemed suspicious. On Friday she’d spent some time in her room before going for a facial and a long walk on the grounds. She had eaten dinner by herself, ordering a bottle of Nero d’Avola with her grilled salmon, wild rice, and broccoli rabe. She drank two glasses and asked the waiter to cork the bottle, which she took with her when she left the dining room and returned to her quarters.
This morning Anastasia had had two poached eggs, dry toast, and black coffee for breakfast. Afterward she’d gone to the communications room, where she’d spoken with another guest, Piper Donovan. Together they’d watched something on the computer screen. When the women left the room, security checked the computer and found that it had been used to link to the ABC News Web site and the story about the murder at Elysium.
Anastasia and Piper Donovan had spent time talking in the meditation garden before both women went their separate ways. Now Anastasia was at the pool.
All of it seemed benign, except the part about the news piece, which Vernon all too angrily remembered contained the video that no one had any right to record. Had the women been watching the piece with mere curiosity about what had happened at the spa? That would be natural and understandable. Or was there more to it? Was Anastasia gloating as she watched the video that she herself had taken?
Vernon recognized Piper Donovan as the name of the wedding-cake maker Jillian had talked about with such enthusiasm. Vernon had been happy when Jillian had told him that Piper had agreed to come all the way from the East Coast to make the wedding cake his daughter wanted.
But what was this girl doing talking in the meditation garden with the woman who might have betrayed him and could be ruining everything he’d worked on for years?