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“Three?” Roberto asked. “You trying to give me a belly?”
Pearl laughed, giving Roberto’s flat middle a playful swat. “You ask me, you could use a little meat on your bones.”
Roberto chuckled, shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m off. I’ll check in with you when I’m done with my patrol.”
“Sounds good. Keep me posted.”
Roberto nodded before heading out. Once he was gone, I turned my attention back to the other conversation as I took a sip of my coffee.
“Marianne,” Pearl began, “I think a trip to the beach sounds pretty fun. Why don’t you go with those two?” Pearl was always trying to get Marianne to socialize, to spend less time alone painting and drawing.
“No!” Marta shot out the word, her tone harsh enough to make me raise an eyebrow.
“No?” I asked.
Marta cleared her throat, collecting herself. “It’s just that Emily and I are going to be doing a little catching up on things back in New York. It’d be boring for Marianne.”
“I don’t know about that,” Marianne replied. “I love gossip. But I really want to get started on this picture I have in mind. I feel like if I don’t get it down soon, I’ll forget it.”
“You can come with us, go get ready!” Emily offered. “It’ll be fun.”
Marianne’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? OK, I can work on my picture later, I guess.”
Marta said nothing, a strange expression on her face. The group gathered some pastries for the road, Marta giving me one last look before the three of them headed out. Once they were gone, I wasted no time turning to Pearl.
“That was weird,” I said. “You agree?”
She nodded. “This Marta woman… I don’t know. She’s friends with Emily, I get it. But friend or not, she’s been jumpy since she showed up. And the way she reacted at the idea of Marianne going to the beach with them was beyond strange.”
“She didn’t want company. Just wanted it to be her and Emily.”
“Right. Maybe it’s nothing, but like you I’m trusting my gut. Might not be a bad idea to check on them.”
“Yeah. Not a bad idea at all.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Pearl said. “I know it’s only been a little over a week, but I’ve grown quite fond of Emily.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
I took my coffee to go, heading out and returning to my bedroom. Once there, I opened a locked safe in the back of my closet, removing a silver pistol and tucking it into the back waistband of my pants. Packing my gun seemed insane to me, but if I needed it, I wanted to have it easily accessible. Along withthat, I retrieved a walkie-talkie that could be used to get in touch with Roberto.
If anything was going down on my island, I was going to know about. And if so, there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d let any harm come to Emily.
I’d kill anyone who tried.
Chapter 17
Emily
“What do you think,chica?”
I couldn’t get over the fact that I was laying on a blanket on the beach, wearing abikini.
While I’d packed a couple swimsuits for the trip to Logan’s, all of them were according to Dad’s rules, which meant that everything was a one-piece suit, with a skirt that covered my thighs. The swimsuits Dad made me wear had always struck me as those that women wore in old, black-and-white pictures from the early twentiethcentury. The only thing missing was a white swim cap.
It went without saying that no male guards could be around to see me swim at home. With all of the hassle it took, I only bothered taking a dip in the pool a handful of times a year.
Marta, knowing the swimsuit rule was likely one of the first I’d want to break, had gone to the trouble of picking out a few bikinis for me and packing them in her clothes. So, there I was, lounging on a gorgeous beach, clad in nothing but a black bikini that showed off just about every bit of my body.
