“Are you all right?” she asked. “Is Sophie?”
“Yes, we’re both fine.”
“You took your time calling me back. I’ve been worried.”
“Worried about what? Everything’s fine, and I only just now checked my messages. Sophie and I have been real busy, and I’ve got loads to tell you, but first things first. I’ve got to make you feel bad because you didn’t come with us.”
Regan smiled. She was so relieved to know her friends were okay. Now that she had Cordie on the phone, Regan could take her time telling her everything that had happened.
“And how are you going to make me feel bad?”
“The weather. It’s beautiful here, and do you know why?”
“I’ll bite. Why?”
“It isn’t raining. How is it there?”
“Eighty degrees, not a cloud in the sky, absolutely no humidity, and there’s a soft breeze-”
“Tell the truth,” Cordie interrupted.
Regan laughed. “We’re supposed to get more rain tonight, and it’s chilly here. And now I do feel bad because I didn’t go with you. Satisfied?”
“Yes,” she said. “And since it’s still so awful in Chicago, I’m staying here, until I run out of sunscreen, anyway.”
“If you’re about finished talking about the weather, I’ve got some news.”
“Oh? How much do you want to bet my news is bigger?”
“I doubt that, but you go first.”
“We’re already piling up evidence against Shields.”
Regan straightened in her chair. “Really? So soon?”
“Yes,” she answered, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. “It was easy, too, because Shields always has the women he brings down here stay at the same hotel. It’s called The Murdock, and it’s a small, family-owned place with lots of charm. Most of the staff have been working there for years. They’re very loyal.”
“And that’s important because…?”
“They remember past guests.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“We’ve gotten the names of two women Shields had down here last year, and guess what? They were both widowed, and they were both very rich. Oh, and we also got copies of Shields’s bank accounts.”
“You what?”
Cordie repeated what she’d just said. Then Regan blurted, “That’s illegal.”
Alec was watching her. She was pretty sure he’d heard what she’d said. She smiled at him, then turned her chair to face the wall and lowered her voice. “How in heaven’s name did you get his bank records? If you aren’t careful, you’ll both end up in jail.”
“We are being careful,” Cordie assured her. “We didn’t break into the bank to get the records. Someone got them for us.”
“Who?”
“A friend of a friend of Sophie’s father,” she said. “And so far we know for a fact that Shields has taken huge amounts of money from these two women.”
“How do you know that?”
“With copies of the checks the women wrote. The bank keeps records, for heaven’s sake, especially when the deposits are so large.”
“But how did you get copies of the checks? No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“Sophie’s dad has a lot of friends down here.”
“That’s not good.”
“I know, but I’m watching out for Sophie. It’s okay.”
“And who’s looking out for you?”
“Regan, stop worrying.”
“Where’s Sophie now?”
“She went back to The Murdock. We already have the names and addresses of the two women we can prove gave Shields money, but Sophie wanted to make sure there weren’t any others. So what do you think? We’ve made a good start, haven’t we?”
“I’d say so,” she replied, “but…”
“We haven’t seen Shields yet, but we know he’s inside his beach house because we’ve seen his bodyguards, Huey and Louie, on the beach. They’re wearing their uniform black suits and dark ties and sunglasses while they walk on the sand. They look like Feds.”
“ ‘Huey and Louie’?”
“I’ve got to call them something, don’t I?”
“I guess so. Do they stay out on the beach all day?” She could picture them melting in the hot sun.
“No, they have a schedule. During the day they come out every hour on the hour, and they stay outside ten minutes tops. Shields obviously isn’t feeling very safe if he has to have his bodyguards with him all the time. Sophie thinks he’s becoming paranoid because of all the horrible things he’s done.”
“But you haven’t seen him?”
“No.”
“Thank God,” she whispered.
Cordie didn’t hear her. “Here’s the odd thing. Shields’s neighbor to the south is keeping tabs on the bodyguards-”
“How did Sophie get the neighbor to do that?”
“She asked. They’re very friendly down here.”
“Is the neighbor a man?”
Cordie laughed. “Yes,” she said. “Anyway, Huey and Louie have stopped patrolling. Something is definitely going on, but we can’t figure out what yet.”
“Are you finished with your news? Is it my turn?”
“Just one more thing. A woman has visited Shields twice now. Sophie swears she saw her at the seminar. I don’t remember her,” she said. “But Sophie is much better with faces than I am. Anyway, the woman is staying at The Murdock and we’re pretty sure she’s Shields’s next target.”
“He doesn’t waste any time, does he?” Regan kicked off her heels, crossed one leg over the other, and began to swing one foot nervously back and forth.
“No, he doesn’t. Sophie’s becoming obsessed about spotting him. She’s jogged on the beach behind his house a couple of times, but she hasn’t had any luck. We’re going to take one of the boats out tomorrow with our binoculars and see if we can spot him inside. The back of his house faces the ocean, and it’s all glass. If he’s in there, we’ll see him. Knowing Sophie, if she doesn’t spot him soon, she’ll jog right up to his front door and start pounding.”
Regan almost dropped the phone as she jerked upright in her chair. “Oh, no, she mustn’t do that.”
“All right, I’m finished. Now it’s your turn. Try to beat my news.”
“Okay. Remember that little exercise we did during Shields’s reception?”
“The make-a-list-of-the-people-you-want-dead exercise?”
“That’s the one.”
“What about it?”
“A madman got hold of my murder list and is now killing everyone on it.”
A long silence followed her announcement, and then Cordie said, “Okay, you win.”
“I thought I might.”
“Wait a minute. You are joking, aren’t you?”
Regan’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I wish to God I were. It’s true, though.”
“Tell me.”
Her friend didn’t say another word during Regan’s lengthy explanation of what had happened, but she did gasp, several times as a matter of fact, and when Regan was finished, she whispered back, “Who else did you have on your list?”
Regan told her and then said, “I was so certain there was a connection between Sweeney’s murder and Shields.”
“But now you’re not so sure?”
“I’m not sure of anything. Until we know, you and Sophie have got to stay as far away from him as possible.”
“No wonder we can’t find Shields, and no wonder his bodyguards aren’t patrolling the beach. I’ll bet the police have warned them, and they’ve all gone into hiding.”
A minute later, just as Regan was about to hang up, Sophie got back to the condo. Cordie shouted at her that Regan was on the phone. Sophie picked up the extension in the kitchen.
“Hey, guess what?” She didn’t give Regan time to answer. “Shields and his bodyguards have left the island, and no one, not even the police, know where they went.”
“How’d you find that out?” Cordie asked.