by Jaden Skye
“As far as I’m concerned, she could have taken off at any moment,” Nessa piped up. “Raine loved adventure. She needed it.”
“Yes, she did.” Pietra echoed Nessa’s words. “And every one of us knew that.”
“Not every single one.” Miranda seemed on edge. “I saw different sides of her.”
“There are different sides of everyone here.” Pietra seemed upset by Miranda.
“We’re all good people, though, very good,” Abby insisted.
“This isn’t about us,” Sloane interrupted. “We’re here to help find Raine, aren’t we?”
Sean half stood in his seat then. “Raine might have enjoyed some adventure,” he proclaimed, “but she also loved the family and our life together. She took her time away, but she always returned. She needed to return, was happy to be home. I believe she’s still alive somewhere, waiting to return to us right now.”
“What happened to her, Sean?” Wayne asked pointedly.
The same question over and over, thought Olivia. Each time with a different echo.
“I have no idea what happened, none at all,” Sean insisted.
“I believe Raine has been abducted,” Miranda suddenly burst out. She seemed to have had enough of this.
“By who? Why?” Sean’s face grew red.
“Raine had big gambling debts, didn’t she, Sean?” Miranda stared at him head on.
“She had some debts,” Sean said finally, “and I paid them all. Every last one of them!”
The room grew silent and stiff. This was an important piece of information that Olivia had not heard before.
“In fact, I thought it was Dupris who paid them,” Miranda shot forth.
Sean stood up boldly. “Dupris held the debt and I paid it,” he repeated emphatically.
“Where’s Dupris now?” Miranda couldn’t be stopped.
“What’s it to you?” Sean flung out at her.
“Dupris’s out of town right now, isn’t he?” she said. “We’re wondering why.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Sean interjected. “And what has that got to do with anything?”
“Sit down, Sean, and calm down, Miranda.” Wayne took charge. “There’s absolutely no evidence that Dupris being out of town has anything at all to do with Raine’s disappearance.”
“This is a witch hunt!” Nessa stood up then. “These girls know things I never even heard of. They’re not Raine’s true friends. Not one of them.”
Abby closed her eyes. “Nessa is overly emotional all the time,” she uttered. “We are Raine’s very best friends. If Raine were here she would tell you that herself.”
“Stop,” Pietra demanded. “Raine’s been gone too long. It’s no good to pretend. It’s only the truth that will help us find her.”
“It’s too late for that, too late for everything,” Miranda hissed, as Victor’s face grew darker.
“Why is it too late?” Olivia sprang to her feet.
“Why are we walking on tiptoe?” Miranda flung back. “We all know what happened at the party. We all know about Raine and Luigi!”
“Who the hell is Luigi?” Sean jumped up again.
“Shut up, bitch,” Sloane flung at Miranda. “You’re no one to talk about anything.”
“Someone has to,” Miranda insisted. “And I’m willing to talk about me and Victor, too.”
“Who is Luigi?” Sean demanded. “What in hell are you talking about?”
“A dancer at the party,” Miranda flung out, as Victor walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders.
“Enough, enough,” Victor muttered.
“Sean”—Wayne took it in another direction now—“you said you paid Raine’s debts for her. Did you also know Dupris?”
“I knew him in passing,” Sean commented. “Who’s Luigi?”
“You knew your wife had a gambling addiction?” Wayne continued.
Sean grew silent and sad. “I knew she gambled,” he answered quietly then. “I wouldn’t call it an addiction. Who’s Luigi, another lender? Did she owe money to him?”
“No, not that I know of,” Wayne answered.
Abby put her head in her hands then. “Is it absolutely necessary to pull out all the dirt hidden under the covers?” she cried out. “Don’t you know lots of people are going to get hurt?”
“Lots of people are hurting right now.” Sloane took Abby on. “It is necessary for everyone to know what happened. We’re grown-ups, we can handle it.”
“We have to handle it,” Pietra echoed, “including you.”
“What truth?” Sean looked as if he were going to explode.
Sloane threw Miranda a warning glance and proceeded. “Raine was having an affair with Victor,” Sloane announced. “She came down to Key West regularly to sleep with him behind Sean’s back.”
Sean didn’t bat an eyelid. He stood rigidly without moving.
“I tried to tell you that over and over, Sean,” Sloane suddenly pleaded with Sean.
“Is that true, Victor?” Wayne turned to him directly.
“I’m not denying it,” Victor replied. “Let’s get this out and over with and move on.”
Sean turned in Victor’s direction. “You and Raine?” was all he could say.
“Raine never said a word to me about you, fella,” Victor replied.
“Why you?” Sean couldn’t seem to comprehend it.
“It didn’t mean much,” Victor answered roughly. “She wasn’t the love of my life.”
“I’m the love of Victor’s life,” Miranda interjected.
Police Chief Tan focused on Miranda. “You wanted Raine out of the way, didn’t you then?” he asked bluntly.
“Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less,” said Miranda. “Raine was a married woman, playing games. Her affair with Victor was coming to an end, anyway. I’m the love of Victor’s life.”
“You’re disgusting,” Abby practically hissed at Miranda. “Raine was a good friend of yours.”
“Get a life,” Miranda shot back. “Good friend or not, she didn’t own Victor. She had enough already, didn’t she?”
“That’s what I said,” Sloane agreed. “Raine always had everything she ever wanted.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Sean seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. “Slow down. I want to hear this again. I don’t believe a word of it.”
“Believe it or not, it’s the truth,” Sloane interjected. “It’s the dead truth, and I knew it all along.”
“The dead truth?” murmured Nessa. “Raine died for it? Someone killed her?”
Sean suddenly collapsed on his chair as Sloane rushed over to him.
“Our marriage was perfect,” Sean kept repeating as Sloane ran her hands slowly over his back.
Victor stood and looked at Sean oddly. “No marriage is perfect, fella,” he muttered. “Only a jackass believes that.”
Sean looked up at Victor strangely then, almost like compatriots. At that moment Olivia couldn’t help wonder if Sean had seen Victor before.
“Do you know Victor? Have you seen him before?” she asked Sean bluntly.
But Sean just put his head down into his hands now and lapsed into silence.
“Sean’s a good man, he doesn’t deserve this,” Sloane interrupted, as the door to the room suddenly flung open then and Raine’s enraged father walked in.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Okay, enough, enough.” Edward burst into the room, looking as if he were going to tear his hair out. Olivia couldn’t remember ever seeing a man looking so dismayed.
“This is Raine’s father,” Wayne announced to Chief of Police Tan.
“He’s late,” Chief Tan replied.
“Not late, early,” Edward snapped back. “Don’t think I’ve been just hanging around doing nothing, either. I’ve hired the best private investigators in town and I’ve been in the next room talking to them. They’re coming close to something and we’ll have big news very soon. They’re just double checking to be sure.�
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“Who asked you to hire your own investigators?” Sean exclaimed, jumping up. “This is my wife who’s missing.”
“What kind of news can we expect?” Chief Tan bristled.
Olivia had a moment of horror, fearing it was over, that they’d found her body.
“They haven’t found a body, have they?” Olivia cried out as the entire room suddenly froze.
“I didn’t say that, did I?” Edward turned to her, aghast. “I said, big news!”
“Probably another sighting,” Wayne leaned over and whispered to Olivia. “He’s hanging onto any hope.”
“There’s been absolutely no physical evidence.” Chief Tan turned to Olivia as well. “We have not declared the case a homicide.”
“Not yet,” Edward growled.
“Sit down, please, Edward.” Wayne stood up then to calm him down.
“I repeat”—Sean remained standing—“who asked you to hire a private investigator? Raine is my wife. I’m in charge.”
“And she’s my daughter, in case you don’t happen to remember!” Edward countered intensely. “You’re responsible for her and look what’s happened.”
“So, this is my fault now, too?” Sean was beside himself. “Whatever bad happens in Raine’s life is because of me?”
“Well, isn’t it?” Edward fumed. “What’s happened good to her since you’ve married?”
“You refuse to see anything good,” Sean countered. “You love trouble, don’t you?”
“I love trouble?” Edward was appalled. “You did all you could to turn Raine against me. I was a fabulous father all the years, though. Gave her everything she needed.”
Sean wouldn’t go along with that for a second. “Raine’s father made life hell on earth for us,” he said to no one in particular. “From the minute we married he practically disowned her. Whatever she wanted from him, the answer was no.”
“That’s absolutely right,” Edward agreed. “Once you married her she belonged to you! But you still expected me to take care of everything.”
Sean threw back his head. “A father loves his daughter always, he takes care of her.”
Edward smiled slowly and chillingly and turned directly to the Chief of Police. “Raine started to really go downhill after she married Sean,” he went on. “Everything about this marriage was awful for her. She began drinking and drugging more and more. Anyone could see that.”
“It’s not true.” Sloane stood up fiercely, shaking her head. “Sean was good to Raine, he was a wonderful husband.”
“Not good enough though,” whispered Miranda.
Sean heard her comment and stared at her. “No man’s ever good enough, is he?”
“Calm down, calm down,” Abby piped up. “We all know Sean was wonderful to Raine.”
Edward scoffed. “That’s the story these girls tell each other. But if Sean was so good to her, why was my daughter at the casino, night after night? Where was he then? What was he doing? How could he allow something like that to go on?”
“That’s a fair question,” Chief Tan answered.
“I was at church,” Sean interjected, “taking care of the community’s needs.”
“You were leaving my daughter alone, letting her buckle under,” Edward snapped.
“Her father blames me for his own rotten treatment of Raine,” Sean shouted. “But I’m sick of it.”
“Not sick enough,” Edward scoffed harder.
“Why don’t you blame your own daughter for taking a lover?” Sean glared at him then.
“Because Raine would never do that, it didn’t happen,” Edward insisted.
“Oh no? There he is over there.” Sean pointed violently to Victor. “Take a look. Exhibit Number One.”
Victor fidgeted under the scrutiny and made fists at his side.
“I refuse to believe this man was her lover,” Edward retorted. “It’s a huge lie. Raine is being set up to be the guilty one. They’re trying to make an excuse for why she disappeared. There’s more to it, though. Much more, believe me.”
Victor turned to the door and looked as if he were about to bolt.
“Do you have something you want to say?” Officer Tan stopped him.
“Not yet, not now,” Victor spat out.
“How much money are they paying you for going along with this story?” Edward yelled at Victor then. “You’re a patsy, fella, you’re being had.”
Victor rubbed his hands up and down his arms fiercely. “No one’s paid me a cent, old fella! Not these idiots, or your crazy daughter. Your daughter made her own lousy choices and paid the price for it.”
“Paid what price? Paid with her life?” Olivia couldn’t keep silent.
The room grew deeply silent.
“You blaming me now too?” Victor turned threateningly to Olivia. “I knew you would the minute I saw you. I know your type.”
“You don’t know me at all.” Olivia got into the fray.
“Yeah, yeah,” Victor muttered. “All you gals who look so uptight and pretty, underneath you’re the worst. Especially Raine.”
“I’ll kill you with my very own hands.” Edward lunged at Victor then as Wayne jumped up and pulled him back.
Abby also ran over to Edward then, unable to take another moment of this.
“Edward, Edward, calm down, please. It won’t do anyone any good if you have a heart attack, will it?” she pleaded.
“You’re right, you’re right,” Edward conceded. “But don’t worry, I’ll have big news soon. And the minute I do, all the right people will land in the clinker. Forever.”
Chief of Police Tan stood up abruptly. “The minute you have news, let us know, Edward,” he said. “Otherwise, for now, we’ll take a breather. A heavy wind storm’s coming onto the island soon. The winds are already increasing. It’s best that everybody go back to their rooms until it passes.”
Miranda went boldly over to Victor then and stood beside him. “Let’s go,” she said loudly for all to hear, whisking him by the arm out of the room with her.
“Horrible,” breathed Nessa. “This guy’s a creep and she’s the worst of the worst.”
“Let’s take a break now,” Wayne repeated. “So far this has been very productive.”
“What’s the point of taking a break now?” Olivia whispered to Wayne as the room emptied out and they were left there together.
“Chief Tan has his reasons,” Wayne said under his breath.
“What?” Olivia was confused.
“Listen, the wind’s blowing up big time now,” Wayne responded. “Let’s go to the Villa Armene, around the corner. We can wait out the storm and talk. It should pass in a couple of hours.”
*
The Villa Armene was a strange, low building made of yellow stucco, with a dark burgundy velvet cocktail lounge. A Mexican restaurant sat across from it and upstairs were small rooms to rent by the night. When Olivia walked in the first thing she noticed was a musky, dank feeling about it.
Wayne smiled, looking at her reaction. “Not exactly my first choice,” he said. “It’s just close to the station and I expect we’ll be called back there shortly.”
“Fine,” said Olivia, slipping into a curving booth that had seen better days.
Wayne ordered warm drinks for them and put his head suddenly back along the booth.
“Tired?” asked Olivia.
“Not tired, just not hopeful,” Wayne murmured slowly. “Too many dysfunctional friends and family. I’ve seen it over and over. If you get pulled into their trip you can suspect one after another for everything. You’ve got to be careful or your imagination will run wild.”
Olivia was glad to hear that because it was exactly what was happening to her. Several of them could be responsible for Raine’s disappearance, she thought. There had been enough jealousy and bitterness in the room to fuel all kinds of reactions. One of them certainly could have brought Raine to harm.
“Do you think one of them killed her?” Olivia ventured a
s the warm drinks were brought to them and the wind outside blew harder.
“We can’t go there without evidence.” Wayne picked his drink up right away. “It’s tempting to speculate, but I say, don’t.”
Olivia didn’t get it. “Isn’t that what detectives do, though? Don’t we have to speculate and then check out what we think?”
“We have to follow the trail of solid evidence,” Wayne replied. “Or else we get detoured, spend our entire time chasing fantasies that lead nowhere, fast.”
That was an interesting way of putting it. Olivia liked it.
“I’m actually relieved that Raine’s father hired private investigators, though,” she said, finishing her drink.
“I know you are,” Wayne replied. “It’s not necessarily a good thing, though. Private investigators can complicate matters, get in the way of what we’re doing if they don’t coordinate with us. As far as I know, these investigators haven’t coordinated. Edward’s done this on his own!”
“That’s why Chief Tan called off the meeting?” Olivia asked.
“Most likely,” said Wayne. “Tan had to check on who these investigators were and what cards they were holding, first.”
Olivia was still glad other investigators were on the case. And she also needed to sort out her own thoughts about it as well. This was a good time to talk to Wayne about it.
“From where I’m sitting,” Olivia started, “it seems as though Miranda stole away Raine’s lover. That much is obvious!”
“No, it isn’t.” Wayne stopped her. “We don’t know that. It’s possible Victor was seeing Miranda first and Raine was the one who stole him away, isn’t it?”
“Either way, that makes Miranda a suspect, doesn’t it? Miranda has to be happy that Raine is out of the picture now.” Olivia was quick on the uptake.
“Not necessarily,” Wayne replied. “That’s based on assumption. For all we know, Miranda and Victor just met. For all we know, Raine knew nothing of it. Maybe Miranda is just having fun and the relationship doesn’t mean that much to her, either. If she were looking for something serious, it’s doubtful she’d choose someone like Victor, isn’t it?”
Olivia couldn’t help but agree. “Well, what about Victor, then?” she plunged forward. “The guy seems like he could be a psychopath.”
