Right now, Connor will be contacting Liam to advise him that he no longer has eyes on me. And my boss won’t be happy about that.
Especially since I have Isabelle with me.
Bernard doesn’t answer my question about where we’re going. He turns down a side road and continues until we hit a dirt path.
I recheck the reception. Still nothing.
He drives several more miles, parks, and climbs out of the vehicle. We join him.
An open stretch of beach is ahead of us, with not a single person in sight. Which means if he plans to kill us, he’s found the perfect location.
“We’re here.” He smiles as if a million years of stress have fallen from his shoulders, and he can finally breathe.
“Where ishereexactly?” I ask again.
“Nowhere special—other than to me.” He looks at Isabelle. “I made love here for the first time to your grandmother.”
She covers her ears faster than a cheetah chasing down his dinner. “We’re not talking about my grandmother having sex, thanks.” Her voice is louder than she probably planned. A nearby seagull squawks in protest.
He’s right about the place not being anything special. The area is mostly a combination of sand and wild grass.
Chuckling, I wrap my fingers around Isabelle’s wrist and pry her hand from one ear. “After the afternoon we had in the sex class, hearing that your grandmother had sex when she was in her twenties has you embarrassed?”
I don’t know why, but I have a sudden craving to kiss the horrified expression from her face.
She shrugs, and I turn to Bernard. “Okay, you’ve had your cloak-and-dagger fun. What’s going on? Why drag us to this godforsaken area? Why couldn’t you have just told us at the resort?”
“Like I said before, the walls might have ears.”
Isabelle and I exchange looks, having no idea what he’s talking about.
So he tries again. “One of my guests last week reported that a memory stick went missing from his room. And a few hours later, it reappeared as if it had been there all the time.”
“Maybe it had been,” Isabelle says, “but he just didn’t see it until later. You know, like when you look for something in the fridge and it’s right in front of you, but you still don’t see it.”
Bernard shakes his head. “No, he’s positive it was taken and then returned. He had some important legal documents on it that he’s worried might’ve been copied before the device was returned. And he’s not the only one who has reported possible break-ins.”
“Possible?”
“A few guests mentioned items were moved in their rooms, but nothing went missing. Others reported a weird feeling, like they were being followed, but no one was there when they turned around.”
“Housekeeping could have moved the items while cleaning the rooms.”
“That’s what I thought at first. But the areas being searched aren’t those that housekeeping normally touches. Like inside suitcases and drawers. The guests who approached me about it are OCD types who would notice if something was slightly ajar. What we don’t notice, they would.
“And then the recent theft happened—which has me believing there might be more victims who aren’t aware of it.”
“And nothing else was stolen?” I ask.
“Nothing else was reported missing. Which is why it doesn’t make sense. Why go through people’s belongings if you’re not going to steal anything?”
The breeze blows a strand of hair into Isabelle’s face. She tucks it behind her ear. “Maybe the person was searching for something.”
“The question is, what?” I ask. “They could’ve been looking for something of value, and when they didn’t find it, they left the room. For all we know, there was nothing of interest on the memory stick to the person who stole it, but instead of tossing it, the individual developed somewhat of a conscience and returned it.”
“Which is a pretty risky thing to do, if you ask me,” Isabelle says. “The victim was positive it was stolen, so his guard is naturally going to be up.”
Bradshaw shifts on his feet and glances over his shoulder, as if double-checking that we’re still alone. “I don’t think the person was searching for valuables. All the individuals who came forward told me they had brought their laptops to the resort so they could sneak away to do some work. And none of their other valuables in the room were stolen or touched.”
