“Would you like me to leave you alone?”
She pursed her lips and sighed. “No. I like your company, and I know you’re not going to ask things other people would.”
I pulled out a chair and sat. “What would other people ask?” I shrugged. “I need to know, so I don’t ask those things.”
A hint of a smile flickered across her face. “Things like, why are you traveling alone? Why do you hang around the inn? Why don’t you join us on our tour?”
“I see,” I said with a nod. “So you’re basically saying those topics are off the table, and the only one who is going to be asking questions is you.”
“You catch on quick.” Kristen raised her glass. “I like that.”
“So…how’re you enjoying the weather here?”
Kristen laughed for the first time and seemed to relax a bit. “How does your partner put up with you?”
“I ask myself that every day, but she acts like she enjoys me.”
“You’re going to be parents soon.” Kristen tossed the book aside and leaned back in her chair. “I imagine y’all are really excited.”
I propped my chin in my hand. “We are.”
Kristen’s brows rose as she cocked her head to the side.
I didn’t know why, but for some reason, I trusted her. “I’m scared. Scared of failing as a parent, scared of something happening to Adrienne. I’m getting really tired of being…scared.”
“You really love her, don’t you?”
I averted my gaze. “It’s funny. I keep thinking our relationship is going to get stale like they tend to do, but every day I wake up and look into those green eyes, I feel like I did the minute we met. When she looks at me, I feel cherished, truly loved, and appreciated. I’ve never felt that way before about anyone.”
“You look at her that way, too. It’s very obvious that you two are very taken with each other.”
I smiled, feeling sort of embarrassed for opening up so easily.
“This place is magical,” Kristen said suddenly as she gazed out at the foliage surrounding the bar. “Have you ever gone in search of something and…you’re not really sure what you’re looking for?”
I shook my head to the contrary and said, “yes.” The question confused me.
Kristen furrowed her brow and laughed. “When I decided I wanted to go somewhere, I went on the Net. There are a million places to go, and I wanted to visit someplace cold with snow. The Caribbean was the farthest thing from my mind, and I accidentally hit a link that took me to the Bahamas and ultimately led me here.” She smiled and looked away again. “I knew without going past the homepage of your Web site that this was it. This was where I needed to be. Do you think that’s strange?” Kristen looked back at me.
“No, because our homepage rocks.” I chuckled when Kristen rolled her eyes. “I know what you mean. Sometimes you just know. That reminds me of the motto I want to add to the site. ‘Say no to snow, come here and have a beer.”’
Kristen wrinkled her nose in response, then grew serious. “You said yesterday that living here has made you respect the beliefs of others. I believe that everything we do has a purpose, even the most innocuous things. But this…coming here makes me feel like…” Kristen gestured as her jaw worked. “The reason is as big as what motivated me to leave home.”
“You say that like you have no intention of going back.”
Kristen narrowed her eyes. “Now that’s a question, Hayden, cleverly disguised, but a question nonetheless.”
“An observation,” I said, wagging a finger.
“An observation that begs for a response,” Kristen said with a smile as she stood. “A response that you will not get right now.”
“Retreat, retreat,” I chided as Kristen walked away. “I enjoyed talking to you, though.”
Kristen stopped just before she rounded the corner. “Me too.”
*******
“Baby, check this out,” Adrienne said as I walked into the courtyard.
I saw the baby magazine and groaned inwardly as I wondered what had her so excited. A girl can only look at so many cute outfits, diaper bags, and playpens before she blows a gasket. I took a seat beside Adrienne, and she laid the magazine across my lap. “Oh, my God, how much is this? We have to have one regardless of whether it’s a boy or girl.”
It was the coolest bed I’d ever seen. It looked like a bunk bed made into a tree. Long branches protruded from the head and footboards, one end had a ladder, the other a coat rack. The foliage of the tree was plastic and enclosed one side of the bed. It was full of cubby holes, which I assumed were for stuffed animals…maybe a slingshot, which I favored. Beneath the bed was a clubhouse with real opening doors and a desk on one side and a dresser on the other.
I looked at Adrienne. “Do these come in queen or kind size?”
“I wish.” Adrienne took the magazine back and creased the page. “I wonder how hard it would be to put together.”
“Who cares? We have a maintenance staff that could have this up in a heartbeat.” I grabbed the magazine back. “I could play in this for hours. Let’s order it right now.” I looked over at Iris. “Teddy should have one of these, too.”
“Do you see how fast that child is growing? If I ordered it today, he’d be too big for it by the time it arrived.” Iris shook her head and laughed. “You just want him to have it so you can play in it.”
“Well, yeah.” I slapped the page. “Let’s order it now. They might not have any when the baby is big enough for it.”
“Where will we store it?” Adrienne asked.
“We’ll put it up in the living room. That way, we can play with it until the baby is ready.”
Iris stood with a laugh and cupped Adrienne’s face in her hands. “Ah, my love, you have two children to raise now.”
“You’re gonna wanna play in it, too,” I called out to Iris’s retreating backside. I laughed evilly. “And I’m not gonna let her.”
“How is Kristen?” Adrienne asked.
“Were you privy to our conversation?”
“I could hear your thoughts, but not hers.” Adrienne shifted with a groan. “My back was doing most of the talking. It’s not happy whether I sit or lay. So what’s her story?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. She’s not hip on answering questions. She thinks there was some sort of special reason why she chose this place to visit. She just doesn’t know what that is.”
Adrienne looked thoughtful for a moment, then yawned. “What were we talking about?”
“Nap time. We were discussing how I was going to rub your back before you ride into sleepy town.”
*******
The evening was especially cool with a nice breeze, so dinner was served in the bar that evening. Again, Kristen sat alone, but this time, she had her sketch pad. Her eyes were fixed on Adrienne as her hand moved over the paper. She seemed to be unaware that there was anyone else around as she sketched furiously. I glanced back at Adrienne, who appeared oblivious to Kristen’s fixation. Curiosity got the better of me, and I strolled casually toward the kitchen in hopes of catching a glimpse of Kristen’s handiwork. But as I passed her table, she turned a page in her pad and feigned interest in the foliage.
I grabbed a plate and filled it with a few pieces of pineapple and barbecued pork before returning to Kristen’s table. “My short tour of the grounds yesterday must’ve inspired you. I think I saw smoke coming off your pencil.”
“People inspire me.” She took a sip of her drink and drummed her fingers on the table with a smirk on her face.
I waited for her to invite me to join her, but she didn’t. Instead, she studied my face as if she were sketching it in her mind. I knew she didn’t want me looking at her drawings, which had my curiosity piqued, so I planted my ass in the chair across from her and smiled.
She carefully opened her sketch pad to a fresh page and began to draw. My face appeared in a matter of seconds. I was in awe at how quickly she had drawn me and was
about to say so when she added a pair of cat ears and whiskers. Above my head, she drew a large question mark. “You remind me of a cat, Hayden, extremely curious and,” she grinned, “sneaky.”
“Ah, you are right about the curious part, but sneaky? I’m way too clumsy to be stealth.”
“Stealth and sneaky aren’t always the same thing. I know this, though. You aren’t going to leave me alone until I let you see the rest of my sketches.” Kristen smiled like Adrienne does when she’s been privy to my thoughts. It made my skin crawl. “I make my living sketching caricatures of people on the Riverwalk. What sets me apart from others is that my drawings tend to…expose my subjects’ personalities acutely.” Kristen took another sip of her drink and studied me while I digested her admission.
“Like a mind reader?”
She nodded. “You could put it that way. I like to think I’m proficient in sizing people up.”
“A few minutes ago, you seemed to be sizing Adrienne up.”
“I’m not quite ready to show you that one. It’s still a work in progress. She’s a lovely soul, isn’t she?” Kristen raised a finger. “Before you start to worry that I’m interested in either of you for anything more than a subject, be assured I’m not. I didn’t come here looking for romance.”
I leaned up on my elbows. “You know, we can’t keep meeting up like this. People will talk when they’re both allowed to ask questions.”
She smiled briefly and began to fidget. “I think I’m ready to trust you. I need to tell someone…someone should know.”
The ominous tone her voice took on made the muscles in my stomach tense. “Is it something nefarious? Because I have to be honest, Iris is married to a policeman. He’s here a lot, so this isn’t the perfect hideout.” I had flashbacks of Hank, our former handyman who had hid out on the island from the drug lords he’d stolen money from.
Kristen shook her head emphatically. “I haven’t committed any crimes, but you may not want me here after I tell you.”
“Okay.” I held up my hands. “Let’s not mince words here. Just bust out with it.” I wished I had a drink.
I watched as she thumbed through her pad. She turned it around, giving me full view of a man I didn’t recognize, but the drawing gave me chills. The eyes that stared back at me were cold and hard, his mouth twisted in a sardonic smile. He was evil personified as though she’d drawn Satan himself.
Kristen tapped the page with her pencil. “I saw this man having coffee one day, and the compulsion to draw him came over me so strongly that I couldn’t resist.” She shook her head. “He didn’t look like this at all. Just a nondescript guy that no one would really notice in a crowd. Maybe he noticed me staring at him, but he walked right over, and before I realized he could see what I was doing, he’d gotten a good look at my sketches.”
A cold feeling swept through me. I wasn’t sure I wanted her to continue, but she did anyway.
“After that day, he was at the Walk anytime I was, and one day, I saw him outside of my apartment building. I’ve started waking up at night with the urge—need—to draw, and it’s him every time.” I swallowed hard as she turned the page. He stared back at me and in his hand appeared to be a clump of hair. Above him lay a faceless woman who was dismembered. “I know it sounds insane, but I think he’s killed someone, and…I think he knows I know. I think that’s why he follows me.”
Our gazes met just as BJ and Audrey appeared next to the table. Kristen quickly closed her pad. “We’re interested in doing some birding tomorrow. Iris said we should see you about that,” BJ said.
Iris winked when I shot her a glance. Of course, it did make the most sense that I take them. On the first full day, most of our guests hit the ground running, eager to see the sights. Both of our vans would no doubt be in use, and I seriously doubted that we’d fill up a van of birders.
“Um, sure,” I said with an uneasy smile. “I know a few places where birds hang out.”
BJ clapped her hands together. “Excellent. We’ll be ready at six sharp.”
“That early? Shouldn’t we give the birds time to wake up? Maybe ruffle their feathers a bit?”
BJ looked taken aback, then slapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a funny kid.” She and Audrey walked off, and I turned back to Kristen.
“What makes you so sure this guy is a killer? He might’ve seen your drawings and been shocked. Maybe he’s just curious as to why you’d draw such a thing.”
Kristen frowned and turned to a fresh page in her sketch book. “Think about something from your past.” She stared at me for a long time, then her hand began to move across the paper.
As a kid, I idolized my older brother, and despite his protests, I followed him and his friends nearly everywhere they went. Their favorite game to play was cowboys and Indians, and if you were very brave, you got to be an Indian. I fashioned myself a headdress using purple feathers out of a boa my mother had worn during Mardi Gras one year, hoping to be accepted as an Indian by my brother’s tribe.
To my extreme disappointment, the headdress was mocked and laughed at. My brother being the tool he was challenged me to climb to the top of a live oak tree and fetch a squirrel egg. Unfortunately, I was too young and dumb to realize that squirrels didn’t lay eggs, but I accepted the challenge anyway to earn my status as an Indian.
I didn’t get nervous until I’d climbed way out on a bough where the nest seemed to be a mile from the trunk of the tree. Jeff tried calling me back, but I was determined to get my egg. When I looked beyond the foliage, I thought I could see all of New Orleans, and that was when the panic set in. I wasn’t the only one panicking, either. A squirrel sprang out of the nest and leapt to a higher branch where she began making an awful racket. Jeff warned me not to get any closer, that she’d bite, and that’s when I began making my own racket.
The fireman who came up on a ladder was really nice, and he kindly explained that squirrels didn’t lay eggs. By the time he got me on the ground, I had a case of the flaming red ass. The firemen were all trained in first aid, but they could do nothing for Jeff, except give him a bag of ice to hold on his crotch. My foot ached for a week.
And that was exactly what Kristen sketched. Frame by frame, she told a story I’d forgotten all about until then. I’d never told Adrienne or anyone about that incident. My jaw sagged as I looked at Kristen.
“Perhaps I was being a bit vague when I said I was proficient in sizing people up,” she said with a shy smile.
“No shit. I don’t suppose you advertised this when you hung out your shingle as a sketch artist.”
“Of course not,” Kristen said. “I know if a person loves flowers when I draw them, so I surround my subject with flowers or antique cars or whatever their passion is. My customers have no qualms about shelling out twenty-five bucks a pop. And I can pop out as many as four sketches an hour on a good day.”
“Do you have to touch them to get your impressions?”
“I only need to look at them. That’s why I was able to draw him.” She pointed down at the guy surrounded by bodies of women.
“Why are his victims faceless then?”
Kristen rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve thought a lot about that. I think it’s because they’re dead and I can’t tap into their energy.” She looked like a frightened child when I gazed back up at her. “You understand now, why I’ve been so paranoid.”
I nodded and thought back on our earlier conversation. She was drawn to our island to hide out. I wondered if we were some sort of cosmic magnet for those needing refuge.
“I thought talking about this would give me some sort of relief, but it’s given me another headache. I’m going to turn in now unless you have any questions.”
“No, no questions.” I jumped when she snapped her pad closed. “You’re safe here, Kristen.”
She looked at me sadly and walked away.
Chapter Six
“You’re keeping something from me,” Adrienne said that evening when we wer
e walking back to the house. “I hear that song you sing about doughnuts in my mind, and that usually means you’re trying to block me.” Adrienne began to sing, “Doughnuts, doughnuts, so very bad for my butt. They make me flabby, but when I eat them, I’m oh so happy.”
“I’m PMSing, and you know when I do that, I’m preoccupied with bad food.”
Adrienne squeezed my hand. “Tell me about Kristen.”
I groaned. “Your ability is so frustrating at times. Can’t you let me shield you from something just this once?”
“No.” Adrienne shook her head. “We’ve never done that, so let’s not start now. Out with it.”
I told her everything I knew while watching her facial expression carefully. She didn’t seem surprised in the least. “Did you already know?”
Adrienne shook her head. “Everything’s so random right now. I can’t make much sense out of what I’m hearing. I wish I had a better handle on it, but I don’t.”
“You hear me singing about doughnuts, though.”
Adrienne smiled and bumped my hip with hers. “I’m close to you, baby. We’re connected.”
“I think we should change our Web site and brochures. We should say something like, ‘Are you hiding from the law? Suspected killers? If so, please don’t come here.’ None of the other inns have to deal with shit like this. Angela Lansbury has come to our inn, but instead of Murder She Wrote, it’s Murder She Sketched.”
Adrienne sighed and rubbed her back with her free hand. “Well, the reasonable side of me wants to say that Kristen has an overactive imagination and is jumping to conclusions. But with my odd ability, I can’t be so quick to disbelieve.”
“And don’t you find that odd? She claims to have some psychic link with a murderer and she comes here. It’s like…”
“It’s like one gift sought out another,” Adrienne said.
*******
That night as we slept, I got a reprieve from sex and baby dreams. Instead, I saw the face of the man Kristen had drawn in a swirl of black clouds that drew closer no matter how fast I ran. Kristen was in my dreams, too, popping up in different places dressed in a costume in the shape of a key.
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