The two bartenders played dominos, while occasionally bringing me food and drink, treating me like I was some kind of hero. Between Walter’s family influence and the fact that no one even knew that Bocas del Toro existed, there was not even a mention of what had happened in any newspaper. Tourism would be as it ever was, and guests would be none the wiser.
None of the wedding guests had come to say goodbye, but the room had become home to a decent spread of gifts when I came in the door. Migs had given me a selfie of he and me in a frame, taken from when I was passed out in the hospital, with the note,
“So I’m off to Costa Rica, beautiful lady. You don’t know what you’re missing. Or maybe I don’t. My loss completely.”
Flowers were everywhere: from Ryan, from Edgar of all people, from Princeton Colleen. The biggest bouquet was from Lloyd, barely legible card attached, saying, “You can run, but you can’t hide…” Whatever that meant.
Never to be outdone, the most extravagant get-well-gift was from Olivia; better than the Tiffany blue box, better than Cartier red, there sat her 4-carat engagement ring in the Harry Winston black box.
She had attached it to a letter that went on for pages, ending with, “When I look in the proverbial mirror, I am invariably dissatisfied, nay disgusted, at what looks back.”
I crumpled the letter and threw it on the floor, remembering that the line was from a love letter an ex-boyfriend had written to her years ago. We laughed for hours at the time, back when we were good.
“PS – how can I explain how deep my apology to you is…”
If I said it once, I’ll say it again.
Nothing sparkles like a diamond from 5th Avenue.
I tried it on for size, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do that on more than one occasion. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it.
“Asshole tax,” I could hear Olivia comment in my mind. Maybe. Cash it in and live the life of leisure for a decent amount of time.
LaGuardia came by for lunch every day, shooting the breeze more than talking shop. Our terrible week was in the past, and he wanted to talk about pleasant things like surfing and low-calorie piña coladas.
No one else visited, but he let me know that Lloyd was still around and thinking about moving down here permanently. He was considering investing in the growth of Hywel’s surf camp and opening a medical research laboratory. There were things on the island, he had said to LaGuardia, that didn’t exist in textbooks or research.
There were things that didn’t exist in reality. And there were a few more stragglers who just hadn’t got on the plane yet.
“It’s a hard place to leave,” LaGuardia said after his first visit for lunch at the hotel. “There’s something quite special about this place.”
That much was undeniably true.
That same day, as LaGuardia was leaving, throwing the remnants of his fish lunch off my deck, he said, “Stick around on the island. We could use you. You’re a natural. I see investigation in your future.”
My future?
Going over the week repeatedly in my head, I concluded that I was probably the worst investigator in the history of investigations. Hands down. Without the distance of time to reflect, I still wasn’t sure if everything I had achieved had fallen into my lap or if I had actually solved a murder.
If a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one around to see it, does it still make a sound?
At least for the moment, I was content. Walter was sitting in a Panama City jail cell with probably a half dozen lawyers working from New York trying to arrange an extradition. Max was hiding out wherever rich people go to hide. As long as she stayed there, I’d be fine.
It was late in the afternoon, about half an hour before the sun was due to set, when Josh showed up. The rays of light were shining through the clouds as if directly from heaven. There was nothing to be annoyed with anymore.
“I’d heard there were stragglers,” I said. “I just didn’t think that you’d be one of them.”
He smiled that lovely smile he’d shot at me when I took my group on their first visit to Red Frog Beach. “I had some stitches too, you know, so I decided to stay for a night at a hotel in town, which became two, and now I’m still here.
“Every night I’m still down here, the more I’m embarrassed I am for what a complete idiot I was, or am, or will try not to be anymore. I think that I stayed this long to work up the courage to come by and say that I’m sorry. You deserve that.”
It was too pretty from where I sat to be mad. Besides, it was the beginning of my chapter three in life. “Apology accepted.”
“Sometimes people stay and they don’t know why,” Josh continued, furrowing his brow in a way I’d become just a little bit fond of. “Maybe I just wanted to stay and ask you on a date, or something like that. Sometimes people just want to stay.”
A smile was my invitation for him to stay. He sat down on the lounge chair next to me, watching the heavenly light fade to sunset. I reached out for his hand, and my new chapter began.
THE END
About the Author
I hope that you had a great time reading Drowning Lesson. If you enjoyed yourself, please consider writing a review on Amazon or GoodReads. Thank you!
RACHEL NEUBURGER is the author of The Red Frog Beach Mystery Series. As a playwright, her plays have had been produced in London, Edinburgh and New York. After 25-years in New York City, she now resides with her husband between London and St Leonards-on-Sea in England.
For news about Rachel and the upcoming Red Frog Beach Mysteries, check her out at RachelNeuburger.com.
Or connect via social media:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rachelneuburgercreative
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Twitter @rainyday11
WANT TO GO BACK TO THE BEACH?
Book 2 of the Red Frog Beach Murder Mystery Series will be in pre-sale on June for an August release.
Ready for the sequel…?
THE WIPE OUT AFFAIR
You can’t help but fall in love with Bocas del Toro. And Lexie Milano left her heart in the islands, and has moved back, ready to make a new life for herself in the laid-back tropics.
When a body of a beautiful local is found at the surf camp, she’s called in by the owner to help him figure out who did it in this hilarious whodunit. By-the-books Lexie involves the police, but she finds herself with access to the secrets of the locals, and it’s ultimately up to Lexie to solve another murder.
Favorite characters from Drowning Lessons return to grace the pages of this comedic mystery; Migs, the handsome photographer, Lloyd, the genius with the mysterious past, and her new best friend, Detective LaGuardia. Between old friends, new associates, and the added potential of shark attacks, The Wipe Out Affair will have you guessing until the very end.
To read the first chapter of the second book in the Red Frog Beach Mystery series, please visit bookfunnel.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Fake It ‘til You Make It
Chapter 2: Safety First
Chapter 3: Dr. Nolan At Your Service
Chapter 4: Bocas, PD
Chapter 5: Salty Tears
Chapter 6: Murphy’s Law: Anything That Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong
Chapter 7: Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party
Chapter 8: Left Behind
Chapter 9: What Fresh Hell is This? (Dorothy Parker)
Chapter 10: Mad About Max
Chapter 11: Don’t Lick The Frogs
Chapter 12: Public Enemy #1
Chapter 13: Give Me Back My Man
Chapter 14: La Gruta
Chapter 15: The Scavenger Hunt
Chapter 16: Swimming Lessons, Part I
Chapter 17: Little Blue Box
Chapter 18: Oh So Very Over My Head
Chapter 19: Something Like Square One
Chapter 20: The View From Above
Chapter 21: Flat Foot
Chapter 2
2: Alone in Paradise
Chapter 23: Dress Up
Chapter 24: Swimming Lessons, Part 2
Chapter 25: What Comes Around
Chapter 26: You Have To Kiss A Lot Of Frogs To Find A Prince
Chapter 27: What A Cliché
Chapter 28: Let’s Twist Again….
Chapter 29: Business As Usual
Chapter 30: There Was A Little Girl
Chapter 31: Phyllobates Terrebillis
Chapter 32: Pretty Is As Pretty Does
Chapter 33: Swimming Lessons, Part 3
Chapter 34: Wh’appened?
Chapter 35: Reluctant Wolf. That Is, Alone.
Chapter 36: A Rose By Any Other Name Would Still Smell…
Chapter 37: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night….
Chapter 38: ’til Death Do Us Part…. (Bwahahahahahah)
Chapter 39: The Buddy System
Chapter 40: Swimming Lessons, Part 4
Chapter 41: But What About Love?
Chapter 42: See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya…
EPILOGUE: Fall seven times and stand up eight (Japanese Proverb)
About the Author
Drowning Lessons Page 23
