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“I do, don’t I?”
She turned to look at him through the doorway. “I will admit you confirmed one of my initial observations about you.”
“Yeah? What was that?”
“Back at the beginning I told myself that you possessed very competent hands.”
Luke’s brows rose. “Merely competent?”
“New data has been received. I can now upgrade the analysis to excellent. Quite possibly the greatest of all time.”
“GOAT. Wow. Be still my heart. Is there an award?”
“Maybe.”
She closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower.
•••
Fifteen minutes later,she walked out of the steamy room dressed in jeans and a pullover. Her hair was once again in a snug bun. She found her glasses on the table and put them on. It took her a beat to realize something was missing.
“Where is the camera?” she asked.
“I put it back in your parka,” he said. “I don’t want to take a chance and accidentally leave it in the room when we go to lunch.”
“Good idea.” She glanced at the wall clock. “Speaking of lunch, it’s almost noon. When I asked Chef Octavia about the day’s menu this morning she said something about a Comté and leek quiche. I’m starving.”
“I’m hungry, too.” Luke appeared somewhat surprised by that realization. “Guess we both worked up an appetite.”
Talia started to respond, but a nerve-icing scream stopped her cold.
“What on earth—?” she gasped.
“Sounded like a woman,” Luke said. He was already reaching for his holster and pistol. “Octavia or Marcella.”
“Or the Night Gardener, Pomona Finch,” Talia said, cramming her feet into her still-damp boots.
Luke shrugged into his jacket and opened the door. “The scream came from somewhere near the lodge.”
The shrill cry had ceased but it seemed to echo endlessly through the gardens. Talia pulled on her parka and followed Luke out intothe dripping gardens. They raced along the path that led to the lodge. They were not the only ones responding.
“What’s going on?” Jasper shouted from a nearby path. “Who’s screaming? Marcella? Is that you?”
“No,” Marcella shouted. “I think it was Octavia.”
Talia rounded a corner a few steps behind Luke and saw Oliver Skinner standing in front of the lobby entrance. He was not alone. Marcella was with him.
“What the fuck is happening around here?” Oliver rasped. “I just want off this island.”
“You aren’t the only one,” Marcella said.
Jasper appeared, breathing hard. “Did the scream come from inside the lodge?”
“I’m not opening that door,” Marcella said. “There’s no telling who or what is in there.”
Luke went up the porch steps, opened the lobby door, and stepped inside. He reappeared almost immediately. “There’s no one here. The scream must have come from the Venner cabin.”
No one objected when he led the way around the lodge. Talia and the others fell into step behind him.
