Stalked in Paradise

by Charley Marsh

  “Ed is not a happy man. His divorce is about to go through, as soon as Cassie signs the final settlement papers.”

  “Albie thought they were already divorced.”

  Solly shook his head. ”Nope. Ed’s been stalling, but I don’t think he has any more moves left.” He shrugged. “I feel a little sorry for him. For both of them, actually. But it isn’t any of my business.”

  He fed his empty water tube into the recycler and gave Harriet a quick hug. “Gotta run. Want to come over for dinner tonight?”

  “Sure. I’ll bring the wine. It seems to be the only thing the Mermaid is stocked with.”

  After Solly left, Harriet had barely settled behind her desk again when she heard another sharp rap on her door. “It’s open,” she called out.

  Lana stepped into the office carrying a small pitcher of lemonade. “I thought you might like some refreshment on your first official day.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you,” Harriet replied, puzzled. Was Lana a Jekyll/Hyde type of character? Sweet kitchen manager one day, jealous bitch the next? She decided to take advantage of Lana’s seemingly friendly mood.

  ”I’ve looked further into the dinner theatre thing and I really think it could work for us, Lana. It was hugely popular in the late nineteen hundreds and some of the better restaurants even charged customers extra to participate.

  “Now I realize we couldn’t charge extra,” she added quickly, holding up her hand to stop Lana from interrupting. “I know the resort fee is all-inclusive, but maybe we could have a nightly drawing to see which guests get to play a part. Anyone interested could put their names in a hat.”

  She took the pitcher from Lana’s hands and set it in the chiller. “And maybe we could offer some sort of prize,” she added, thinking aloud. “Maybe have the other guests vote for their favorites. Or something like that. I think it could get to be a big deal, with bragging rights, you know? Guests would boast to their friends back home that they got to play the part of the murderer.”

  “I’ll consider it.”

  “You will?” Harriet couldn’t quite disguise her surprise. “That’s great. I’ll print out a hard copy of my research for you to look at and bring it over later so we can figure out how to set it up.” Her smile turned to a frown when she saw that Lana looked upset.

  “What’s wrong? Is there something I can do to help?”

  “I don’t know if I should tell you this,” Lana began, “but Alex came to see me yesterday. He was . . . upset. He said that you threw yourself at him the other night and embarrassed him. He wants you to keep away from him but he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings because you’re new here.”

  She reached a hand toward Harriet, a beseeching look on her face. “I just thought you should know before you embarrass yourself any further.” She gave Harriet a serious look. “So, now you know. I’m sure you can understand that you need to give Alex a break. He’s too polite to say anything and it’s important to keep the peace among us co-workers.”

  Lana turned and stepped to the door and then turned back with a bright smile. “Well. I guess I’d better get back to the kitchens. We have guests arriving any minute and I’m sure some will be hungry.”

  She hurried out of Harriet’s office. The door quietly slid shut behind her.

  Harriet stood gobsmacked in the middle of her office, looking at the closed door. Alex was embarrassed? He was the one who initiated the kiss! How–how . . . infuriating. And how embarrassing that he had told Lana about it.

  She fisted her hands and whirled around. Whirled back. Why hadn’t Alex spoken to her directly instead of going to Lana? The coward. See if she agreed to have pizza with him again.

  She ignored the dull pain in her heart and threw herself into pulling together the dinner theatre information for Lana.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Harriet kept her nose to the grindstone after Lana left, forcing herself to concentrate on her work so she wouldn’t think about Lana’s visit. She snacked on fruit and skipped lunch because she didn’t want to risk running into Alex in the employee dining room. Her work kept her focused, but she could still feel her anger and shame simmering beneath the surface.

  Cassie interrupted Harriet mid-afternoon to fill her in on the latest resort news. While half the early reservations had been cancelled, plenty of people had stepped up to take their place. Apparently murder was a big draw.

  Harriet wasn’t surprised and was pleased by the crop of new reservations, but found she felt a little disgusted by the murder ghouls. Cassie, however, was pleased as could be and hyped that they hadn’t lost any business so Harriet kept her feelings to herself. The fact that Bradley’s murder was a definite draw only solidified her determination to make the murder mystery dinner theatre happen.

  She tried to think of a subtle way to bring Cassie’s husband Ed into the conversation, but she couldn’t come up with a polite way to say,”Hey, I hear you’re getting a divorce. Good move, your husband is a jerk.”

  Bottom line, it wasn’t right to ruin Cassie’s good mood with a topic that had to be unpleasant for the resort manager. Besides, what business was it of Harriet’s? And what did it matter?

  Big Ed was a jerk, sure, but that didn’t make him a killer. He had no reason to kill Bradley, unless he had snapped and killed to release some of his frustration over the impending divorce.

  Harriet mulled that angle over for several minutes before discarding it as too far-fetched. She wondered how Alex was getting along with his list of employees and immediately shut down that train of thought.

  As long as Alex didn’t try to pin Bradley’s murder on either Solly or herself she no longer cared what he did. She intended to stay as far away from Alex Hayes as possible. He would never again be able to complain that she was throwing herself at him. She still couldn’t believe he had complained to Lana of all people.

  At last Harriet felt she had done all she could for the day and shut down her comm system. She slipped on her heels, then changed her mind and pulled her trainers from her bag and put them on instead. The work day was long over and she had no meetings and no one to impress. She might as well walk back to Mermaid Cottage in comfort.

  The late day sun cast warm, golden shafts of light on the water as Harriet made her way back to her cottage. The narrow shell service road was empty but for her, although in the distance she saw a couple of solitary guests walking the beach down near the low tide mark. They reminded her that the resort was officially open for business, making it much more difficult for Alex to find Bradley’s killer.

  Maybe they’d never find the killer. Harriet frowned while she considered that possibility. Other than the fact that Bradley had left her everything, there was no clear motive for his death. And she knew she hadn’t killed him. And there was no way that Solly knew about Bradley’s will so Solly hadn’t killed him.

  What other motive could there be?

  She mulled over the problem until she reached Mermaid and keyed in the front door code. “Honey, I’m home!” she called out to the empty cottage, a habit she and Solly had developed over the years of living together. The memory made her grin as she headed to the bedroom to change from her office attire to clothes suitable for relaxing.

  It took Harriet a a full minute to take in the destruction in her bedroom. Her clothes–her two spare work suits, her sweatpants, tops, everything she’d brought with her–lay in tatters and strewn around the room.

  Not quite believing her eyes she picked up a pair of capris. The legs had been slashed to narrow ribbons, a large hole cut out of the rear. She laid them on the bed with trembling hands and looked at the complete devastation of everything she owned.

  “Oh no.” Harriet ran from the bedroom to the living room and stopped in front of the table where she had lovingly set out her prized wooden hippo collection only the night before. They lay in a massacred jumble of legs, heads, and bodies.

  She pressed her fingers to her eyes to stop the hot tears that t
hreatened to fall.

  Why? Who? How?

  She walked back into the bedroom and checked the lanai doors. Locked. The front door had been locked because she’d used her code to get in. She moved to the bathroom. The lanai door behind the slipper tub stood open. She knew she had closed it after her shower that morning, but had she remembered to lock it?

  Harriet sunk to the edge of the tub, her knees suddenly too weak to support her. She felt dizzy, whether from lack of food or because of the viciousness of the attack on her belongings, she didn’t know.

  Her pocket link chimed and she answered it without thinking.

  “I thought you were coming to dinner. Did you get hung up at work?” Solly sounded his usual chipper self.

  Harriet tried to answer but discovered that her throat had closed tight with tears and she couldn’t speak.

  “Harry? What’s wrong?”

  “Solly.”

  ‘I’ll be right there.”

  Harriet dropped her link back in her pocket. Solly was coming. He’d know what to do.

  In less than a minute he found her sitting on the tub. He sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did something happen at the office to upset you?”

  Harriet shook her head. “The bedroom.”

  With a puzzled look, Solly stood and went into the bedroom. She heard him cursing moments later. He came back into the bathroom, his eyes glittering with anger, his link already in his hand.

  “I’m calling Alex,” he said. “This isn’t just a prank. This is serious.” His eyes never left Harriet’s face as he placed the call.

  “Alex? We need you at Harry’s right away. No, just come. You’ll see when you get here.” He put his link away.

  Taking both of Harriet’s hands he pulled her to her feet and supported her with an arm around her waist. She leaned on him, still too shaky to stand on her own. She felt foolish, acting like a weepy, weak girl, but that’s exactly how she felt.

  “Come to the kitchen. Let’s get you a glass of wine.”

  “I don’t need wine.”

  “Well I do. Alex should be here in a few minutes.”

  Harriet averted her eyes from the mutilated hippos as they passed through the living room. Once in the kitchen, Solly helped her onto a stool and rummaged in the chiller for the wine. He poured two glasses and set one in front of her.

  She’d taken only a small sip when Alex’s motorbike roared up, followed by the pounding of his fist on the door. “Harriet? Solly? Dammit, open the door.”

  Before either of them could move Alex came striding into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?” He took in Harriet’s wide, glassy eyes and her pale face and cursed. “What happened?”

  “Check the bedroom,” Solly answered. “Then you tell me.”

  After Alex left the kitchen to inspect the damage, Harriet made an effort to pull herself together. She would not appear weak in front of him. She reminded herself of Lana’s visit earlier that day and forced herself to feel angry again. The anger felt better than feeling violated and helpless so she fed it. By the time Alex returned to the kitchen she was furious with him.

  “When did this happen?” he asked, looking grim.

  “While I was at work.”

  Alex was pleased to note that the glazed look was gone from Harriet’s eyes although he didn’t care for her clipped tone. “Do you know how they got in?”

  “The bathroom lanai door was open. I may have forgotten to lock it after I showered this morning.”

  An image of Harriet in the shower stopped Alex’s thoughts. She showered with the lanai door open? The picture that made in his mind unsettled him. He made a conscious effort to force his thoughts back to the problem at hand and frowned at her.

  “Are you up to inspecting the bedroom with me? Did they destroy everything?”

  Harriet stood stiffly. “It looked like everything. I didn’t bring much with me.” She looked down at the linen suit she still wore, wrinkled and tired looking now, then looked at Solly. “Can I borrow some stuff until I can get new clothes?” she asked.

  Replacing her wardrobe was going to wipe out every last credit she had. She suddenly felt the tears pressing against the back of her eyeballs again and willed them away.

  “Of course you may,” Solly answered. “Anything you need, you know that. Let’s help Alex get through this first and then we’ll head next door. You’ll stay with me tonight.”

  Harriet gave her friend a grateful smile, then turned to Alex. “Let’s get this over with,” she said stiffly.

  She led the way to the bedroom and stopped just inside the door, suddenly unwilling to go further. Solly pushed past Alex and took her hand. “Had you unpacked all your clothes?” he asked gently.

  “Yes.” She opened the closet door. Every hanger was bare, the clothes in a heap on the closet floor. She picked up several short sleeve tops. The ribboned fabric fluttered in her hand.

  Harriet dropped to her knees and dug through the clothing for her shoes. She picked up her remaining two pair of dress shoes. All four heels had been hacked off.

  “Guess it’s a good thing I had to go to work today. At least I have one outfit left,” she said with a sigh. She got to her feet and turned around to find both Alex and Solly staring at her bed.

  “What? What is it?” She stepped to the bed and looked down, expecting to find more destroyed clothing, or maybe a bottle of catsup emptied on her sheets. Instead she saw a piece of paper pinned to the center of the mattress with a long, slim-bladed knife.

  “Oh.” Harriet swallowed. “What does it say?”

  Alex pulled on a pair of thin gloves and plucked the knife and paper from the mattress after snapping a photo with his link.

  “It says, ‘Leave the island or you’ll be next’,” he read grimly. He turned to Solly. “You didn’t see anyone around here today?”

  “I wasn’t here. I left for the greenhouse early–before sunrise–to get a jump on the flowers for the guest cottages.” He gripped Alex’s arm. “Do you think whoever killed Bradley Higgins is after Harry now?”

  “It looks that way. I have a small lab attached to my office. I’ll check for prints on the knife and see if anything pops.” He turned to Harriet. “I want someone with you at all times until I nail whoever did this.”

  Harriet’s spine stiffened. “You don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. And you certainly don’t have to worry about me throwing myself at you. Trust me, I want nothing more to do with you.”

  Instantly she wished she could call the words back. Even if they were true she hadn’t meant to speak them aloud, but her fear, anger, and embarrassment were creating a toxic stew in her brain and the words had popped out.

  Alex furrowed his brow. “Throwing yourself at me? What? What are you talking about?”

  “When you kissed me. In the future, if you have something to say to me say it to my face. Don’t hide behind your pal Lana. It just pisses me off.”

  Harriet turned and stalked out of the bedroom and out of Mermaid Cottage.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Harriet slammed out of her cottage. She was shaken by the destruction, fuming with anger at Alex, and embarrassed by her outburst. Instead of coming off as a cool-headed woman who could take care of herself, she had acted like an over-wrought teen-aged fool. Idiot.

  She headed next door to Solly’s and waited for him on his lanai, staring at the dark water with unseeing eyes. A billion stars glittered overhead but she barely noticed them.

  Stupid. Why couldn’t she remember to engage her brain before she spoke? She’d never be able to look Alex in the eyes again. She should have treated him with a cool distance, shown him that what he told Lana didn’t matter to her.

  To make it worse, she now had a witness to her humiliation. At least it was only Solly. He might tease her but he wouldn’t gossip about her with others.

  She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. The air was still warm b
ut the adrenalin from the shock of what had been done to her things was wearing off and leaving her shaky. She sank into a cushioned lounger and wished Solly would hurry up. She wanted to get out of her work suit and into something warm and comfortable.

  Several more minutes passed before she heard the roar of Alex’s motorbike taking off and Solly calling her name.

  “Out here,” she answered.

  Solly appeared in the lanai door. “Be right back.” He disappeared and reappeared with two glasses of wine and a blanket. He handed Harriet a wineglass and dropped the blanket over her bare legs.

  Grateful for the warmth, she worked the blanket around her body with her free hand. “I’m an idiot,” she moaned before he could say anything.

  Solly dropped into a nearby lounger. “More than I realized. First I find out you’ve been living with an impotent man you didn’t even love–something I’ll never understand–and tonight you reamed Alex for . . . I don’t know what for. What the devil was all that about?”

  Harriet took a large gulp of the wine. Her shivers were subsiding. She loosened her hold on the blanket and began to pluck at it nervously, too embarrassed to look at Solly.

  “I–. Well.” She huffed out a big breath. “Remember I told you that Alex kissed me the other night and I, um, I responded?”

  Solly arched his eyebrow at her. She hated when he did that. It meant he was going to put her in her place and she usually deserved it.

  “Of course I remember. Grow up, Harry. If you jump down a guy’s throat like that for kissing you it’s no wonder you’ve only had one boyfriend. What gives?”

  “I didn’t jump down his throat for the kiss. I jumped down his throat for what he did after the kiss.”

  Solly leaned forward. “There was more? Do tell. Since I’ll never get a shot at Mr. McDreamy I’ll have to be satisfied with secondhand details.”

  Harriet scowled at her friend. “Stop calling him that. He’s not that dreamy, believe me. Lana came to my office today. She told me that Alex felt uncomfortable because I’d thrown myself at him and he didn’t know how to tell me that he didn’t like it.”