Typical man,
she thought.
They're all the same.
The short Asian woman shook her head slightly and looked away. She decided to think positive thoughts in an effort to control her revulsion.
After a few moments, she nodded. A few small improvements would almost assuredly make that bar owner Mr. Morton much more likeable, thought Dr. Lin. Dr. Lin smiled at the sudden mental image of Sam with large, rounded breasts, smooth supple limbs, lovely curved hips. Clean lines. No ugly external genitalia. Pretty face. No course black stubble.
Art. He would be art then.
Paul Straight
was still smiling at Sam's story. Sam was an abrasive asshole, to be sure, but an amusing one. Probably fun to drink with.
Paul looked around the dock. Almost everyone was here. They'd be loading the ferry soon and heading to Beau Island. It was almost sure to be a good time. Pretty women, guys who liked to have fun...it was promising.
It would be fun for other reasons too, Paul had no doubt. After all, he knew more about the guests than they knew about him.
*****
Phillip Warton stepped off the boat onto the dock. The grizzled ferry pilot looked around at the passengers. It looked like everyone had arrived. Quite the colorful gathering, it seemed.
Warton's attention was immediately drawn to the redhead, Elizabeth. No surprise, of course. The thin woman was striking, if aloof. Quite the looker, but icy as a December wind. A man could catch a chill trying to talk to her, no doubt.
The tall man with the black hair and coarse laugh was Sam Morton. Now there was a guy who knew how to have a good time. He owned a strip bar in Darkview that was supposed to be one of the best. Had a shady reputation, but that was Darkview for you. Word on the street was that a lot of girls who disappeared ended up dancing on stage at Sam's club, but that was probably just urban legend.
The non-descript guy standing in the group was Paul something...Paul Straight. Seemed low-key, but he was supposedly in charge of security at the resort. He acted laid-back, but his eyes never stopped moving and he probed everything on the dock. He smiled at everybody, but the smile never touched his eyes.
The short Asian woman was Dr. Lin. Warton shook his head in disapproval. She had lost her medical license a while back for something she was involved in. He wanted to ask her about it, but he was pretty sure he'd regret it if he did. Dr. Lin hadn't said much since her arrival, but she didn't have to. It didn't take a genius to read from her body language that she hated men. Paul and Sam would be wise to watch themselves when Dr. Lin was around. Sam in particular. Warton was pretty sure the little doctor would be perfectly happy to decorate the area between his shoulder blades with a shiny scalpel.
The private detective with the dark mocha skin was McKatt. Tough-looking, she was, and didn't seem the type to take guff from anybody. She'd been a cop for a while, but she got kicked off the force for some thing or another. She had her own practice now and seemed to be doing all right. Not one to cross, though, if Warton was any judge of people.
Another car pulled in and parked. Two women got out of the vehicle.
Warton shaded his eyes, then nodded. The driver with the multi-colored hair-style had to be Rena Lacke, the shrink. Good-looking woman. Was supposedly a candidate to be a talk show host or some such. Very confident. Probably good in bed, but had a thing for women, if he remembered correctly. Warton mentally shrugged. Other fish in the sea.
The other woman had to be Aubrey Rush. Athletic build. Walked like a cat. A predatory cat. Yeah, she was a professor of archeology or something. Led a real adventurous life, by all accounts. Made the news a year or two earlier for losing some grad students on a dig or something. Something to do with the natives, if Warton remembered right. Leading that sort of life came with risks, he supposed.
And now that everybody was here, it was time to load up. He held up his hand.
"All aboard," said Warton. "If yer headin' for the Beau Island Resort, anyhow."
Then Paul Straight held up his hand. "All aboard," he said, "
after
I see your identifications, please."
"Oh?" said McKatt. "And who are you?"
Straight said, "Paul Straight. I'm in charge of security at the resort."
"I see," said McKatt, leveling a flat stare at Paul. "And do you really think someone could steal
my
identification?"
Paul gave her a tight grin. "No, I don't," he said. "But my job is to check I.D.s, so I'm checking I.D.s."
Rena glanced around, then stepped forward. "The sooner we show him our I.D.s, the sooner we can get to the resort," she said. "Here you go, Mister Straight. I respect that you have a job to do. I'm Rena Lacke and here is my identification. Let's just get to it, shall we?"
Straight made a show of checking the identification card. Then he looked up. "Thank you, Miss Lacke. Welcome aboard. Next?"
*****
The ferry was loaded in short order.
The seven passengers were seated on opposite sides of the open-air, tarp-covered boat. Morton and Straight sat on opposite sides of Elizabeth, with the bar owner telling another story while the redheaded socialite stared at her phone. Dr. Lin and McKatt sat next to each other, oblivious to potential conversation. Rena and Aubrey sat together.
Aubrey turned to Rena. "So what brings you to the Beau Resort?"
Rena smiled. "Negotiations," she said. "I'm a psychiatrist with a practice in Chrystal Heights. For some reason, the networks appear to feel I'd be a good candidate to host a talk show and they've arranged a weekend at the resort during which they'll attempt to woo me. Are you familiar with the resort, Aubrey?"
Aubrey shook her head. "Not at all," she said. "This is my first time. I'd never heard of them before now, honestly. Their website said they've been around for a while, though."
Rena breathed deep, enjoying the smell of the salt water. "And your reason for riding her ladyship out here? Are you on holiday?"
Aubrey hesitated only a moment before answering. "Holiday. Yep. Taking a break. I figure drinks next to a pool on an island is just the thing I need right now."
She's lying,
thought Rena.
I wonder why?
Out loud, she said, "That sounds like a lovely idea. Perhaps I could join you?"
Aubrey smiled. "I'm hoping you do."
Unable to pry Elizabeth's attention from her phone, Paul decided to enjoy the boat ride. The open-air aspect of the boat was perfect for enjoying the sea air. Paul reached over the side of the boat to see if he could reach the water with his fingertips.
The grizzled boat pilot shook his head and said to Paul, "I wouldn't do that if'n I was you. At least not if you're attached to yer fingers."
Paul's eyebrows rose. "Oh? Why not?"
"Sharks," said Phillip. "Big 'uns. They're all over this cut between Beau Island and the mainland. The beach on the island is fine- the waters too shallow for 'em. But you don't want to go past the rocks into the blue water."
That got everyone's attention.
Aubrey's eyes were bright. "Big sharks?"
"Yup," said Phillip, his eyes looking ahead. "A couple 'o fishermen caught a fifteen-footer last week. Had to toss it back in 'cuz it was too small."
Rena stared at the boat pilot, looking for body language signs of a lie, but Phillip didn't smile.
Everyone kept their hands inside the boat after that.
*****
Beau Resort proved to be farther out than any of the guests expected.
The island appeared to be a bare rock. The highest point of the island was the side facing the mainland. A sheer wall rose from the sea, waves crashing against the stolid rock. From that high point, the landscape sloped down and leveled out before sloping once again to the beach. It was on the level ground that Beau Resort sat.
Beau Resort had an old-fashioned look, reminiscent of turn-of-the-century hotels, but a number of modern tweaks gave the architecture a retro, art deco feel. It was a strange combination of design philosophy that, despite the contrasting presentation, somehow worked.
As the boat navigated into the small landing bay, the guests looked up toward the resort, taking in the whole island from their perspective. There was little to see outside the resort itself.
"Not quite how it's presented in the pamphlet, is it?" said Aubrey, her eyes rolling over the bare landscape, the flatness only broken by the occasional copse of trees.
