Terminal (36 page)

“I went to Harvard myself,” Malcolm said. “Class of ‘50. I’ll bet that sounds like a century ago. You play any sports while you were there?”

Sean was somewhat surprised by the direction the conversation was taking, but he decided to go with it. He told Malcolm that he’d been on the ice hockey team.

“I was on the crew team, myself,” Malcolm said. “But it’s my time at the Forbes you’re interested in, not my glory days of youth. How long will you be in Naples?”

“Just the weekend.”

“Hang on a second, young fella,” Malcolm said. In a minute, he came back on the line. “How about coming over for dinner?” he asked.

“That’s awfully kind,” Sean said. “Are you sure it’s not an imposition?”

“Hell, I already checked with the boss,” Malcolm said cheerfully. “And Harriet will be tickled to have some youthful company. How’s eight-thirty sound? Dress is casual.”

“Perfect,” Sean said. “How about some directions?”

Malcolm told Sean that he lived on a street called Galleon Drive in Port Royal, an area just south of Naples’s old town. He then gave specific directions which Sean wrote down.

No sooner had Sean hung up the phone than there was a knock on the door. Sean read over the directions as he walked to the door. Absentmindedly, he opened the door without asking who it was or looking through the security peephole. What he didn’t realize was that Janet had hooked the security chain. When he pulled the door open, it abruptly stopped, leaving only a two-inch crack.

Through the crack Sean saw a momentary glint of metal in the hand of whoever was at the door. The significance of that glint failed to register. Sean was too embarrassed to have bungled opening the door to focus on it. As soon as he reopened the door properly, he apologized to the man standing there.

The man, dressed in a hotel uniform, smiled and said there was no need for an apology. He said he should apologize for disturbing them, but the management was sending up fruit and a complimentary bottle of champagne because of the inconvenience of not having a nonsmoking ocean-view room.

Sean thanked the man and tipped him before seeing him out, then he called to Janet. He poured two glasses.

Janet appeared at the bathroom doorway in a black one-piece bathing suit cut high on her thighs and low in the back. Sean had to swallow hard.

“You look stunning,” he said.

“You like it?” Janet asked as she pirouetted into the room. “I got it just before I left Boston.”

“I love it,” Sean said. Once again he appreciated Janet’s figure, remembering it had been her figure that had first attracted him to her when he’d seen her climbing down from that countertop.

Sean handed her a glass of champagne, explaining the management’s gift.

“To our weekend escape,” Janet said, extending her glass toward Sean.

“Hear, hear!” Sean said, touching her glass with his.

“And to our discussions this weekend,” Janet added, thrusting her glass at him again.

Sean touched her glass for a second time, but his face assumed a quizzical expression. “What discussions?” he asked.

“Sometime in the next twenty-four hours I want to talk about our relationship,” Janet said.

“You do?” Sean winced.

“Don’t look so mournful,” Janet said. “Drink up and get your suit on. The sun’s going to set before we get out there.”

Sean’s nylon gym shorts had to double as a bathing suit. He’d not been able to find his real bathing suit when he’d packed in Boston. But it hadn’t worried him. He hadn’t planned on going to the beach much, and if he did, it would have been just to walk and look at the girls. He hadn’t planned on going into the water.

After they’d each had a glass of champagne, they donned terrycloth robes provided by the hotel. As they rode down in the elevator, Sean told Janet about Malcolm Betencourt’s invitation. Janet was surprised by this development, and a little disappointed. She’d been envisioning a romantic dinner for just the two of them.

On the way to the beach they walked by the hotel’s pool, which was a free-form variation of a clover leaf. There were half a dozen people in the water, mostly children. After crossing a boardwalk spanning a narrow tongue of mangrove swamp, they arrived at the Gulf of Mexico.

Even at this hour, the beach was dazzling. The sand was white and mixed with the crushed, sun-bleached remains of billions of shellfish. Redwood beach furniture and blue canvas umbrellas dotted the beach directly in front of the hotel. Groups of dawdling sunbathers were scattered to the north, but to the south, the sand was empty.

Opting for privacy, they turned to the south, angling across the sand to reach the apogee of the small waves as they washed up on the beach. Expecting the water to feel like Cape Cod in the summer, Sean was pleasantly surprised. It was still cool, but certainly not cold.

Holding hands, they walked on the damp, firm sand at the
water’s edge. The sun was dipping toward the horizon, casting a glistening path of golden light along the surface of the water. A flock of pelicans silently glided by overhead. From the depths of a vast mangrove swamp came the cry of a tropical bird.

As they walked past the beachfront condominiums just south of the Ritz Carlton, real estate development gave way to a line of Australian pine trees mixed with sea grapes and a few palms. The Gulf changed from green to silver as the sun sank below the horizon.

“Do you honestly care for me?” Janet asked suddenly. Since she wouldn’t get a chance to talk seriously with Sean at dinner, she decided there was no time better than the present to at least get a discussion started. After all, what could be more romantic than a sunset walk on the beach?

“Of course I care for you,” Sean said.

“Why don’t you ever tell me?”

“I don’t?” Sean asked, surprised.

“No, you don’t.”

“Well, I think it all the time,” Sean said.

“Would you say you care for me a lot?”

“Yeah, I would,” Sean said.

“Do you love me, Sean?” Janet asked.

They walked for a way in silence watching their feet press into the sand.

“Yeah, I do,” Sean said.

“Do what?” Janet asked.

“What you said,” Sean replied. He glanced off at the spot on the horizon where the sun had set. It was still marked by a fiery glow.

“Look at me, Sean,” Janet said.

Reluctantly, Sean looked into her eyes.

“Why can’t you tell me you love me?” she asked.

“I’m telling you,” Sean said.

“You can’t say the words,” Janet said. “Why not?”

“I’m Irish,” Sean said, trying to lighten the mood. “The Irish aren’t good at talking about their feelings.”

“Well, at least you admit it,” Janet said. “But whether you
truly care for me or not is an important issue. It’s futile to have the kind of talk I want if the basic feelings aren’t there.”

“The feelings are there,” Sean insisted.

“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook for the moment,” Janet said, pulling Sean to a halt. “But I have to say it’s a mystery to me how you can be so expressive about everything else in life and so uncommunicative when it comes to us. But we can talk about that later. How about a swim?”

“You really want to go in the water?” he asked reluctantly. The water was so dark.

“What do you think going for a swim means?” Janet asked.

“I get the point,” Sean said. “But this really isn’t a bathing suit.” He was afraid that once his shorts got wet it would be akin to wearing nothing.

Janet couldn’t believe that after they’d come this far he was balking at going into the water because of his shorts.

“If there’s a problem,” she said, “why don’t you just take them off?”

“Listen to this!” Sean said mockingly. “Miss Proper is suggesting I skinny-dip. Well, I’d be happy to as long as you’ll do the same.”

Sean glared at Janet in the half-light. Part of him relished making her feel uncomfortable. After all, hadn’t she just made him squirm on this issue of expressing feelings? He wasn’t quite sure she’d rise to his challenge, but then Janet had been surprising him a lot lately, starting with her following him to Florida.

“Who first?” she asked.

“We’ll do it together,” he said.

After a moment’s hesitation they both peeled off their terrycloth robes, then their suits, and pranced naked into the light surf. As evening deepened toward night, they frolicked in the shallow water, letting the miniature waves cascade over their nude bodies. After the controlling grip of Boston winter it seemed like the epitome of abandon, especially for Janet. To her surprise, she was enjoying the sensation immensely.

Fifteen minutes later they drew themselves out of the water and rushed up the beach to gather their clothes, giggling like
giddy adolescents. Janet immediately began to step into her suit, but Sean had different ideas. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her up into the shadows of the Australian pines. After spreading their robes on the sandy bed of pine needles at the edge of the beach, they lay down in tight, joyous embrace.

But it didn’t last long.

Janet was the first to sense something was wrong. Lifting her head, she looked out at the luminous line of white sand beach.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sean replied without even listening.

“Seriously,” Janet said. She sat up. “I heard something.”

Before either could move, a figure stepped out of the shadows enveloping the copse of pine trees. The stranger’s face was lost in shadow. All they could see clearly was the pearl-handled gun pointed at Janet.

“If this is your property we’ll just go,” Sean said. He sat up.

“Shut up!” Tom hissed. He couldn’t take his eyes off Janet’s nakedness. He’d planned on stepping out of the darkness and immediately shooting them both, but now he found himself hesitating. Although he couldn’t see much in the half-light, what he could see was mesmerizing. He was finding it difficult to think.

Sensing Tom’s penetrating eyes, Janet snatched up her bathing suit and pressed it against her chest. But Tom was not to be denied. With his free hand he wrenched the suit away and let it drop to the sand.

“You never should have interfered,” Tom snapped.

“What are you talking about?” Janet asked, unable to take her eyes off the gun.

“Alice told me girls like you would try to tempt me,” Tom said.

“Who’s Alice?” Sean asked. He got to his feet. He hoped to keep Tom talking.

“Shut up!” Tom barked, swinging the gun in Sean’s direction. He decided it was time to get rid of this guy. He extended his arm, tightening his grip on the trigger until the gun fired.

But the bullet went wide. At the exact moment Tom pulled the trigger a second shadowy figure hurled out of the darkness, tackling Tom, knocking him sideways a number of yards.

The gun sprang from Tom’s grip with the stranger’s impact. It fell to the ground inches from Sean’s foot. With the sound of the shot still ringing in his ears, Sean looked down at the weapon with shock. He couldn’t believe it; someone had fired a gun at him!

“Get the gun!” Harris managed to grunt as he wrestled with Tom. They rolled against the trunk of one of the pine trees. Tom momentarily broke free. He started out onto the beach, but he only got fifty feet away before Harris tackled him again.

Both Sean and Janet got over their initial shock and began to react at the same moment. Janet snatched up their robes and suits. Sean picked up the gun. They could see Harris and Tom rolling around in the sand close to the water.

“Let’s get out of here!” Sean said urgently.

“But who saved us?” Janet asked. “Shouldn’t we help him?”

“No,” Sean said. “I recognize him. He doesn’t need any help. We’re out of here.”

Sean grabbed Janet’s reluctant hand, and together they ran out from beneath the canopy of pine onto the beach and then north toward the hotel. Several times Janet tried to look over her shoulder, but each time Sean urged her on. As they neared the hotel they stopped long enough to slip into their robes.

“Who was that man who saved us?” Janet demanded between gasping breaths.

“Head of security at Forbes,” Sean said, equally as winded. “His name is Robert Harris. He’ll be okay. We should worry about that other fruitcake.”

“Who was he?” Janet asked.

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Sean said.

“What are we going to tell the police?” Janet asked.

“Nothing,” Sean said. “We’re not going to the police. I can’t. They’re looking for me. I can’t go until I talk to Brian.”

They ran past the pool and into the hotel.

“The man with the gun had to be associated with Forbes
too,” Janet said. “Otherwise, the head of security wouldn’t have been here.”

“You’re probably right,” Sean said. “Unless Robert Harris is after me just like the police are. He could be playing bounty hunter. I’m sure he’d like nothing better than to get rid of me.”

“I don’t like any of this,” Janet admitted as they rode up in the elevator.

“Me neither,” Sean said. “Something weird’s happening, and we don’t have a clue.”

“What are we going to do?” Janet asked. “I still think we should go to the police.”

“First thing we’re going to do is change hotels,” Sean said. “I don’t like Harris knowing where we’re staying. It’s bad enough he knows we’re in Naples.”

Once in the room they quickly got their things together. Janet again tried to talk Sean into going to the police, but he adamantly refused.

“Now here’s the plan,” Sean said. “I’ll take the bags and go down to the pool, then slip out by the tennis courts. You go down to the front door, get the car, then come and pick me up.”

“What are you talking about?” Janet demanded. “Why all this sneaking around?”

“We were followed here at least by Harris,” Sean said. “I want everybody to think we’re still staying here.”

Janet decided it was easier just to go along with Sean. She could tell he was in no mood to argue. Besides, he might be right to be this paranoid.

Sean left first with the bags.

W
AYNE
E
DWARDS
walked back to the Mercedes at a fast clip and climbed into the passenger seat. Sterling had moved behind the wheel.