A knock startled them both. Kerry felt Dar’s body stiffen, and she put a hand on her arm. “I’ll get that.” Before Dar could protest, she rolled off the other side of the bed and walked to the door, running the fingers of one hand through her hair self-consciously.
She peered through the peephole, relieved to see one of the hotel staff outside. Kerry opened the door and issued an inquiring smile.
“Hi.”
The man held up an envelope. “Ma’am? I have a note for a Ms.
Roberts?”
“I’ll take it.” Kerry extended her hand.
Reluctantly, he gave it to her. “The gentleman said to make sure Ms. Roberts got that note.”
“She’ll get it. I promise.” Kerry pulled her head back inside and closed the door firmly. She turned and nearly jumped right out of her T-shirt when she found Dar standing silently in back of her.
“Yipes! Jesus, Dar!”
150 Melissa Good
“What?” Dar took the note. “You didn’t expect me to be in the room? What’s up with that, Ker?”
“I didn’t hear you come up in back of me, you fink.” Kerry peered past her shoulder as Dar opened the envelope. It was standard hotel stationery, and the note was written in black ink in a distinctively strong script. “Who’s it from?”
Dar’s eyes dropped the bottom, then lifted. “DeSalliers,” she answered briefly. “Looks like he wants to set up a meeting to talk.”
Kerry read the note. “Arrogant SOB, isn’t he?”
“I nearly knocked him on his ass outside,” her partner murmured. “I don’t think he likes me much.”
Ms. Roberts.
I will omit any polite preambles. I have business to discuss with you.
I will be available this afternoon to meet with you and determine if this business can be handled between us, or will be remanded to the authorities. Be at my dockside at three.
J. DeSalliers.
“You should have knocked him on his head. Maybe it would have let some sense leak in.” Kerry shook her head. “Did he forget he was chasing us?” she added. “Or is this something else?”
Dar folded the note and put it back into the envelope. “Guess we’ll find out,” she remarked. “Though, if you’re not feeling up to it—”
“Ah ah ah.” Kerry clapped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t you even try that,” she said. “You’re not leaving me behind.” Blue eyes widened above her fingers and Kerry removed her hand. “Isn’t going onto his boat a little risky, though?”
“Might be,” Dar acknowledged. “We’ll have to play it by ear.”
She tossed the envelope onto the desk and went to the window, gazing out at the still stormy weather. Am I crazy to be doing this at all? They were away from home, and operating all by themselves.
Dar wasn’t stupid, and if she had to look logically at the scenario of two women executives out in the Caribbean playing with fire like this, she’d be forced to admit it wasn’t the smartest idea in the world.
Damn it. Dar knew herself to be a risk taker, and she had a lot of confidence in her judgment and ability to take care of herself, but was this taking it too far? Was she just indulging her own ego?
“You know what?” Kerry had wandered over and leaned on the sill next to her. “I think we’re just natural troubleshooters.”
Dar looked at her.
“We’re so used to problem solving, we never really stop to think about it, even if the problem really should be solved by someone else.”
Terrors of the High Seas 151
A little unsettled, Dar turned and folded her arms. She was surprised to hear her own thoughts so eerily echoed back at her.
“You think someone else should be solving this one?”
Kerry kept her eyes on the horizon and nodded slightly. She turned to face Dar. “But the people who should be the solution might be part of the problem,” she said. “That’s what you think, isn’t it—that the cops are in on it?”
Dar nodded. “I think they are, yeah.”
“Everyone’s attitude seems to be to hush it up. Let the fat and happy tourists keep coming, and if a few get hit, well, then that’s okay because most won’t and we need their money,” Kerry said.
“They didn’t hit us, so we could go along with that, Dar. Just take our boat and cruise on out of here. Let them solve their own problems.”
“We could.”
The green eyes glinted. “Fuck that.”
Dar smiled.
“I lived the first twenty-six years of my life maintaining the status quo, Dar,” Kerry said, in a firm tone. “I want to rock boats and make a difference, even if that means taking a risk.” She pointed at Dar, poking her in the arm. “And you, Paladar Roberts, are a natural-born caped avenger, no matter how much you deny it.”
Dar rubbed her neck. “I’m not sure I’d put it like that,” she protested. “But I like to fight the good fight, and win it, if that’s what you mean.” She glanced out the window. “And I don’t trust people to fix things just because they’re supposed to.”
“I know.” Kerry eyed her with gentle amusement. “I always get a kick out of seeing your log-in checking up on me.” She saw Dar stiffen and realized she’d caught her flat-footed. “It’s like passing a senior exam,” she went on quickly. “Because I know if you don’t say anything to me, I did it all right.”
Dar turned, her expression a mixture of consternation and sheepishness. “I trust you,” she said. “You just do things so differently than I do, it’s…”
“Dar, we’ve had this argument already,” Kerry interrupted her quietly. “It really is okay. You’re my boss, and it’s your job to make sure things happen.” She sensed the upset in the woman next to her. “I know you trust me.”
“It has nothing to do with trust,” Dar muttered. “I was just curious.” She sighed. “I like to know how things work, so I was curious as to how you did what you did. So, after you were all done, I went in and looked.”
Kerry blinked. “You mean you weren’t—”
“No.” Dar shook her head. “I’m sorry you thought that.”
“Oh.” Kerry sat down on the sill, her head cocking to one side 152 Melissa Good as she absorbed this new information. “Wow.”
“I checked up on you the first couple of times, but that was before you went to closure on anything,” Dar said. “So if there was a problem, I could fix it. After that…no.” She sat down next to Kerry. “You didn’t do things the way I would have, but it worked, and that’s all I really care about in the long run.”
Kerry scratched her jaw. “Um.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry for assuming.”
“S’okay.” Dar sighed. “It’s a reasonable assumption to make.”
They looked at each other. “I think we got a little sidetracked there,” Kerry suggested. “So, are we going to go after this creep?”
Dar exhaled. “Yeah, I think we did get a little off course,” she agreed. “Let’s go see what he wants. Maybe we can just talk to him and cut through some of the crap.”
Kerry nodded. “Okay.”
They both sat there for a few moments in silence. Then Kerry took a breath. “So, did I—”
“You did great,” Dar cut in. “You impressed the hell out of me,” she added. “Or, as your boss, I would have said something.”
Kerry kicked her heels gently against the wall. “I figured that.
But it’s nice to hear it.”
Dar made a mental note, again, to work on her positive feedback. It was so easy to tell everyone when they did something wrong, and she often forgot to take care of the flip side. Bad mistake. She knew better. “Sorry I didn’t take the time to let you know,” she told Kerry. “I’ll try to do better.”