CHAPTER 36

Carla and Klaire were still talking about the throwaway and the voice distorter when I left for evening feed at the barn.

When I’d finished with the horses at Gulfstream, I grabbed a sandwich from the deli on the boulevard. I planned to retreat to the Sand Castle and shut the world out with a hot bath and maybe a rerun of “NCIS.”

Except Will was waiting for me outside my room. He was sitting with my neighbor Lou, who’d brought two folding deck chairs and a six pack of Bud from his room. Will had a beer in his hand and Scat the Cat in his lap. Lou appeared to be settled in for the next century. There was no sign of Stella. She’d probably already checked out Will and decided he wasn’t a threat.

Will saluted me with his beer can.

“Hey,” I said to them.

Lou broke into his gap-toothed grin when he saw me. “Say, you want a beer?”

“Please!” I turned to my room, unlocked the door, and threw my tote bag on the bed. Then I rolled my desk chair outside.

Will popped a beer and handed it to me. It was cold and went down nicely. I sighed and sank onto my chair.

“How’s Stella?” I asked.

“She was here a minute ago,” Lou said.

“Has she seen that fellow with the tattoo again?”

“Oy, him. She’s always going on about something like that. Nah, he hasn’t been around.”

“You’re talking about the man with the Poseidon tattoo?” Will asked.

“Enough already with the tattoo man,” Lou said, before taking a long pull on his beer.

But Will gave me a sharp look, and Scat suddenly jumped from his lap. She flattened her ears and darted into Lou’s room.

“Yeah, him.” I said.

“Something else has happened, hasn’t it?”

I nodded.

Stella appeared from a cut-through to the motel’s courtyard. She was carrying a basket of clean laundry. I took a sip of beer and watched her progress.

As she got closer, she said, “I thought this stuff would never dry. They got schlock equipment in there. Somebody should clean the lint filters.” She reached us and set her basket down.

“I ask you, would it hurt them to sweep the place? Lou, you gonna help me put this stuff away or drink beer all night?”

“All right, all right,” he said, rising slowly. He bent over even more slowly to lift the laundry basket.

Stella gave Will the once over. “My,” she said, “he’s a cute one.”

“Stella,” Lou grumbled, “you gonna help me fold or what?”

She followed him inside, and the cat slipped out before she closed the door to their room.

“Now that we’ve had a look at marital bliss,” Will said, “why don’t you tell me what’s going on.”

I glanced around at the lengthening shadows. “How about we go inside?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, just stood and rolled my chair back into the room to the desk and sat on it again.

Will followed, closed the door, and flopped on the bed. He looked at me perched on the desk chair and a slow smile spread across his face. “You could get in trouble letting me into your room, you know.”

I had to remind myself to breathe. “Well, since you’re here, I can tell you what’s been happening with Carla and Klaire.” I launched into a description of my afternoon at the Diplomat.

He listened, and when I finished, he said, “I like Klaire’s idea about the throwaway phone. It might be wise to keep your distance from this.” He studied the top of his beer can. “Now that we have a name, I’ll check with security to see if Hector Gonzales is licensed.”

“But will they give you that information?” I asked, surprised. “Stonehouse is pretty tough.”

“I know him,” Will said.

“What do you mean? I asked.

“Why don’t I get you another beer?”

“I don’t think so.” I rose to my feet.

In one lithe movement, Will stood and closed in. Momentarily startled, I stepped back, but he edged closer, placing a hand on the wall near my head, then watched my face.

My body responded, rising with heat. Then someone knocked on the door.

“Nikki, you got Scat in there with you?” Stella.

Will exhaled, and stepped back.

“No,” I called. “I don’t have the cat.”

“You might be wrong about that,” said Will, tilting his head toward my closet near the bathroom.

Scat was sitting on a pile of clean tee shirts on a shelf above the hanging clothes. She must have snuck in when I rolled my chair back.

“Wait a minute, Stella. Oh, for God’s sake.” I marched back, retrieved the cat, and carried her to the door. I opened it and handed Scat to Stella.

“Cat’s a regular busybody,” Stella said as she stared at Will.

“I’d better get going,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess,” I sighed.

He walked through the door past Stella, who finally moved out of the way as I shut the door.