Two Weddings and a Fugitive (The Chanel Series Book 4)

by Donna Joy Usher

  Oh shit.

  ‘Hey Martyn.’ I went for friendly but ended up with chipper.

  ‘Chanel.’ He looked past me and pushed his glasses further up his nose. ‘You must be Billy,’ he said. ‘Martine told me all about you.’

  If the situation hadn’t been dire, the look on Billy’s face would have made me burst out laughing. He’d never met Martyn before.

  ‘Martyn,’ I said in as calming a voice as I could muster. ‘Why can’t Martine come play with me?’

  He flicked a nervous glance past us down the hall and whispered, ‘It’s too dangerous.’

  I nodded my head. There was no refuting that danger was involved. And if it wasn’t for vampire boy I would have quite happily left Martyn in control of their body. But I needed Martine’s help on this one. ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘But I know Martine was excited about doing the world a big service.’

  ‘She was?’ Martyn’s hand twitched toward his glasses again, but he managed to restrain himself from adjusting them.

  ‘Yeah. But I understand if she has changed her mind. Would you mind just checking with her for me?’

  This time he lost the battle with his hand. He pushed his glasses so far up his nose that for a second all we could see were the pupils of his eyes magnified through the lenses. ‘Okay. I’ll ask her.’ His shoulders slumped as he turned away from us and pulled the door shut.

  ‘What was…?’

  ‘Shush.’ I put my hand up before Billy could finish his question and pressed my ear up against the door. I didn’t know which way this was going to go and we were running out of time. I took my head away and looked back at Billy. ‘Can’t hear anything.’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  I sighed. ‘Martine must have had enough of a fright today that Martyn was able to take over for a while.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ His tone said that he didn’t get it at all.

  A few minutes later the door rattled again, but this time Martine opened the door. ‘Sorry about that.’ She smiled brightly. ‘He’s such an old fuddy duddy.’ She was dressed in a red cocktail dress with matching shoes and bag, and was wearing her black, bob wig.

  I could feel Billy trying to look past me into her room. I backed up to let her out. ‘You look great.’

  ‘I look great? You look sensational. I knew that dress would be perfect for you.’ She rifled around in her bag, pulled out the room key card, nodded her head and tucked it back into her bag. As she pulled the door shut she said, ‘Billy, tell her how sexy she looks.’

  There was an awkward moment of silence during which I contemplated seeing if I could also fit into her handbag. Then she cleared her throat and said, ‘Oh no. Look at the time,’ and took off towards the elevator.

  If I hadn’t already set her up, I would have done it now on purpose.

  The awkward silence continued all the way down in the elevator and throughout the walk to the golf buggy.

  ‘Finally,’ Nick said, throwing his arms in the air. ‘What took you so long?’

  ‘You don’t want to know,’ Billy said.

  Once we were all in, he backed the buggy out and headed for the bar. We were already ten minutes late and I was praying the albino would still be there.

  I let out a sigh when I saw him sitting at a table for two, overlooking the ocean. His hands nervously stroked the stem of a red rose.

  Martine looked from him to me and back again.

  I nodded and said, ‘What are you waiting for. Go get him.’

  The albino stood up and held out the rose.

  Martine took a deep breath and then, in a performance worthy of the stage, pasted a wide smile on her face and wiggled the tips of the fingers of her right hand at him. ‘One drink?’ she said out of the corner of her mouth.

  ‘Just the one.’

  She nodded and then sashayed towards him. ‘Well hello handsome,’ she said in her deep baritone.

  His face broke into a genuine smile as he held the rose out to her. ‘It’s not as beautiful as you,’ he said. ‘But then no flower could be.’

  Martine lowered her head and looked at him through her fluttering lashes. ‘You flatterer, you.’ She took the rose from him and held it to her nose, inhaling its scent. ‘It smells almost as good as you,’ she said.

  ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ Nick mimed sticking his fingers down his throat.

  ‘Oh shush,’ I said. ‘It’s sweet.’

  ‘I’m Martine. My friend wasn’t able to supply me with your name.’

  ‘Albert.’ He pulled her seat out for her.

  ‘Well Albert, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?’

  No sooner had her bottom touched the chair than a waiter appeared with a bottle of champagne and an ice bucket.

  ‘Come on.’ I led the way to the other side of the bar.

  ‘Is he for real?’ Nick asked.

  ‘What about?’ I picked up a menu and studied the mocktail selection.

  ‘Albert?’

  ‘What?’ I shrugged my shoulders.

  ‘Albie the Albino? You’d change your name wouldn’t you?’

  Billy let out a laugh. ‘He’s obviously got a strong sense of self.’ I looked up in time to watch his face change from amused to annoyed and then I felt fingers trail up the bare skin of my back.

  I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Sergeant Alex Thomas. I hadn’t realised how intensely blue his eyes were. His face quirked into a half-smile and he said, ‘You look edible.’

  How do you respond to something like that, especially when your ‘brother’ is listening? ‘Thanks. I was going for lollipop. Guess I pulled it off.’

  ‘You certainly are lick-able.’

  I resisted the urge to smack myself in the head. Lollipop? I mean really, where else was he going to go with that?

  Billy cleared his throat. ‘Chanel, what did you want to drink?’

  What I wanted were a couple of shots of White Sambuca. ‘Ahh, just get me something virgin.’

  Alex’s smile broadened. ‘I could be a virgin if you wanted to….’

  ‘Alex.’ Billy interrupted. ‘You want a drink?’

  ‘I’ll have whatever she’s having.’ Alex nodded his head at me.

  Nick gave Alex a wave and scampered off after Billy to the bar.

  I looked over at Martine as she let out a laugh. It looked like she might actually be enjoying herself.

  ‘So,’ Alex moved so that he was in front of me, ‘hear you got the hard evidence Milano needed.’

  ‘Did you just emphasise the word, hard?’

  His smile gave me his answer.

  ‘Is everything a sexual innuendo with you?’

  ‘When what I am looking at is sex-on-legs? Yes.’ His eyes crinkled around the edges.

  ‘Let me give you a tip. While it’s nice to be found attractive, it’s annoying to be treated as a sex object. I have a brain you know.’ Huh. When had I decided that? Once upon a time I’d have enjoyed being treated as a sex object.

  I looked over to the bar and found my answer watching me.

  Billy.

  Billy saw more in me than just my body and looks. He saw my mind. While others saw a ditzy chick, he saw the girl who got there in the end.

  And although my attraction to him was mental and physical, that was what had made me fall in love with him. He was the first man ever to get the real me.

  Annnddd he thought he was my brother. That put a major dampener on the realisation.

  ‘Of course you have a brain.’ Alex held his hands up in surrender. ‘It’s just not what I’m interested in.’

  I smiled at him. ‘Well, I’ve got to give you ten-out-of-ten for your honesty. Thanks for making turning you down so easy.’

  He pouted and trailed a finger down my arm. ‘You’re on a tropical island. Live a little.’

  ‘Today I watched a dwarf fend off a knife-wielding maniac with golf balls. I’d say I’m living a little more than most people.’

&nbs
p; He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Perhaps you are at that.’

  Martine let out another giggle as Billy returned with our drinks. Alex gave him a little salute as he took his and said, ‘Next round’s on me.’

  Billy’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the screen and then walked over to a spare table. I was really hoping it was the Bureau and not Sal.

  I tried to convince myself that that was because Sal was currently guarding Matt, in which case a phone call might mean bad news, and not because I was insanely jealous.

  ‘Think Martine’s digging him.’ Nick pulled a piece of mint out of his drink and put it on the drink coaster. ‘Don’t know why they have to put foliage in them.’

  ‘It makes it taste good.’ He was right. Martine did seem to be genuinely enjoying herself.

  As I watched, the waiter appeared by their table and topped up their champagne flutes.

  ‘This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be,’ Nick complained.

  ‘What did you think it would be like?’ I picked his mint up and added it to my drink.

  ‘Excruciating.’ He gave me an evil grin.

  ‘It’s a little voyeuristic isn’t it?’ Alex said.

  ‘What is?’

  ‘Watching an albino date a transvestite.’

  ‘She’s not a transvestite.’ I put down my drink so I could put my hands on my hips while I glared at him.

  ‘Well, what is she then?’

  ‘She’s…Martine.’ That was all there was to it.

  ‘Yeah, well he’s going to get more than he bargained for if he gets her back to his room.’

  I watched as Martine fluttered her hands at Albert and giggled. ‘I think he knows,’ I said. ‘I think that may be his thing.’

  Alex shuddered. ‘My creep metre just overloaded.’

  ‘I’m hungry,’ Nick complained. ‘What time’s dinner?’

  I checked my phone for the time. ‘Forty-five minutes. Get some chips.’

  He jumped off his chair and stood next to me with his hand out.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m only here because of you.’

  I sighed. The little man was insufferable. He was here because he had wanted to watch Martine, but I dragged my wallet out and gave him a twenty dollar bill. ‘Get us all some chips.’

  He skipped off towards the bar.

  ‘When he behaves like that,’ I said to Alex, ‘it’s hard to remember he’s a fully-functioning adult.’

  He laughed. ‘He’s playing you like a finely-tuned violin.’ The look on his face changed and he leaned toward me. ‘I’d like to play you like a….’

  ‘Stop.’ I put my hand up in front of his face. ‘I thought we’d had this conversation.’

  ‘Did I ever tell you about my short-term memory loss?’

  I snorted and took another sip of my drink. Billy was still on the phone. The look on his face said it was a good conversation. It had better not be Sal.

  ‘So,’ he changed the subject, ‘what’s the deal between you and him?’ He nodded towards Billy.

  I frowned. ‘I told you. He’s my brother.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He pulled a face at me. ‘I’m not buying it. Sisters don’t track their brothers the way you do.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I tried to be nonchalant as I pulled my straw out of my drink and mashed it back down into the mint a few times.

  ‘You know where he is, always.’

  ‘It’s good to know where your partners are when you’re on a job.’

  ‘Really? Where’s Nick? What’s he doing right now?’

  ‘He’s behind me.’ I turned to watch Nick jump up and down as he grabbed at the chips on the top rack of the shelving. ‘You think he’d just get another flavour.’

  ‘That one won’t accept defeat. We all have that in common.’

  I tilted my head to the side and peered at him.

  He smiled and said, ‘Yeah, I know you’re not just a bombshell. Which brings me back to my point.’ He nodded in Billy’s direction.

  ‘Harry would kill me if I let anything happen to his only son.’

  ‘Harry. Your father?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Your use of the word Harry leads me to believe that you don’t know him that well.’

  ‘Maybe I was brought up in one of those families that call their parents by their first names.’

  ‘And yet you call your mother, Mum.’

  He had me there. Damn him.

  He sat back in his chair and stared toward the ceiling. ‘And there was the way you said – how exactly did you put it? “It turns out that we have the same father”.’ He said it in a high-pitched girly voice.

  ‘I don’t talk like that.’ Man, he had a steel-trap mind.

  ‘This all leads me to believe that you only found out about Harry recently.’

  I stared at him. What was he? A mind reader?

  ‘Which means….’ He paused and tapped his bottom lip with his finger. ‘Ahhhhh.’ He sat back up and pointed at me. ‘You didn’t know he was your brother when you met him, did you?’ His face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning. ‘You’ve got a crush on him.’

  Billy hung up the phone and started walking back towards us.

  ‘Shhhhhh.’ I flapped my hands urgently at Alex. ‘He’s coming.’

  ‘One date.’

  ‘What?’ I hissed.

  ‘Same deal as the one you made for Martine. I’ll be quiet if you go on one date with me.’

  ‘That was one drink.’

  He crossed his arms and said, ‘Okay. A drink. At my time and choosing.’

  I wanted to reach across the table and punch him as hard as I could, but Billy was almost there and that sort of behaviour would raise a lot of questions. So instead I said, ‘Fine.’

  Billy pulled his seat out and sat down. ‘What’s fine?’

  ‘The weather,’ Alex lied smoothly. ‘It’s so beautiful this time of year.’

  Nick appeared on my other side. ‘I got salt and vinegar, sour crème and sweet chilli, soy chicken, and barbeque.’ He dumped four packets of crisps onto the table.

  ‘You spent the whole twenty?’

  ‘If you didn’t want me to spend all of it, you shouldn’t have given it to me.’

  Billy let out a snort and ripped open the packet of salt and vinegar chips. ‘So Alex, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?’

  ‘Just thought I’d let you know I’ve brought in more backup.’

  Billy finished chewing, swallowed and said, ‘That won’t be necessary. I just got off the phone from the Bureau.’

  ‘And?’ Nick and I both leant forwards.

  ‘And they’re sending us backup.’

  ‘Oh yeah.’ Nick held his hand up and high-fived Billy over the table.

  I could feel a relieved smile on my face. We weren’t there yet, but at least we had convinced them to come and help us.

  ‘Yes,’ Alex said, ‘but they won’t be here till, what – tomorrow evening at the earliest. We need backup now. It’s going to look weird at the rehearsal dinner if the four of you aren’t drinking. Between that and you all taking turns to check the perimeter, people might get suspicious. My guys can cover for you.’

  Billy nodded slowly. ‘You’re right.’ It sounded like it had been painful saying those words. ‘The FBI will start filtering onto the island tomorrow evening. We can’t alert Boris to their presence.’

  I nodded. The last thing we wanted was to scare him off. ‘So they’ll be here by the wedding?’

  He swung his chair back so that he was balancing on the rear two legs. ‘Yep. We’ll have some with us tomorrow night.’ For the hen’s and buck’s parties.

  ‘I can’t believe Sal hasn’t found anything.’ Nick picked up the sweet chilli chips and opened them. ‘You would think a group of Russians would be memorable.’

  ‘Is it possible he is here alone?’ I asked.

  Billy stopped his swinging, thumping the front legs
of his chair back down onto the ground. He reached out and picked up a chip, holding it in the air to look at it. ‘By himself?’ He turned the chip from side-to-side as he examined it.

  ‘Well, Sal’s looking for Russians. What if there aren’t Russians. What if there is a Russian.’

  ‘It would make sense as to why we haven’t been able to find them,’ Nick said. ‘We’ve been looking for the wrong thing.’

  ‘One man alone could remain hidden,’ Billy said. ‘He could live off canned goods so he didn’t have to go to the shops.’

  ‘And he wouldn’t have to worry about his partners giving him away through indiscretions.’ I’d watched enough movies to know how these groups normally fell apart.

  ‘Where would one man alone hide?’ Billy asked his chip.

  ‘The Marina,’ Alex said. ‘He’d be hiding at the Marina.’

  ***

  ‘But I was enjoying myself.’ Martine turned one last time and waved at Albert over her shoulder.

  He blew her a kiss in response and called, ‘Till tomorrow.’

  ‘We’re going to be late,’ I said to her.

  She let out a huff and smoothed down her wig. ‘Where have Nick and Alex gone?’

  ‘The Marina.’ It had taken us a good ten minutes of wrangling but we had finally agreed that as Billy and I were both part of the bridal party, Nick and Alex would be the best ones to go.

  ‘I hear it’s pretty this time of night.’ Her head was obviously still caught up with romantic notions.

  ‘Yep. They wanted to go look at the lights.’ That part was true. Sal had been over that Marina at all times of the day, but she had never been there at night. We were hoping they might see something she hadn’t.

  Apart from getting a search warrant for all the boats in the Marina (and I wasn’t even sure that was possible), we were going to have to tick the boats off one-by-one without alerting Boris what we were up to.

  Sal had spent some time chatting up the man in charge of the berth bookings. He’d indicated that seventy percent of the berths rotated through new boats within a few days to a couple of weeks. The other thirty percent stayed for longer. She had found out which boats were permanents and crossed them off her list.

  Nick and Alex had gone to look at the boats that had been there for a couple of weeks. Sal hadn’t seen anything untoward – but she had been looking for a group of men. Not one man alone.