by Joan Rylen
“I’ll tell you one thing,” Kate said reaching for a rum and Coke. “I won’t be searching for anything in there.”
“Awww, it’s their little love nest,” Vivian said. “I can just picture the four of them spooning.”
Kate made a gagging noise.
“We should look for clues while we have the chance.” Wendy opened the door to the head and glanced inside. “Not much to search in here.”
Lucy handed Vivian a pink cup. “I’ll take the kitchen.”
“Kate, you check in that storage cabinet,” Wendy said, pointing to a small cabinet just aft of the galley. “I’ll help Viv with the berth.”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Kate asked.
Vivian walked over to the love nest. “I don’t know. Anything suspicious. Anything that could have to do with Jon,” she paused, “or Al.”
“I hate to think Al has anything to do with Shorty.” Lucy rifled through a cabinet under the sink.
“I’m pretty sure it was his phone number I saw on Shorty’s phone.” Vivian said, pulling back a corner of the bedding, revealing a storage locker. “It’s just too coincidental.”
Kate’s cabinet was full of boat stuff. Life jackets, an air horn, flashlights, flares. Nothing incriminating. Lucy didn’t find anything more suspect than a couple of very sharp kitchen knives.
From the pilot’s chair, Shorty could see Kate search through the cabinet. “Need something?” he called down to her.
“Oh, I was just looking for a jacket or something. I feel a little chilled.”
“You want my shirt?” Shorty asked, reaching to pull it off.
“That’s okay. I’ll just stay down here a few minutes. I’ll warm up.”
Vivian tugged on the handle to the port side storage locker but it wouldn’t budge. She got a weird feeling about what she would find in there.
Wendy, however, was able to pop open the starboard storage locker without any trouble. Shirts, shorts, swinsuits, bras and G-strings. Wendy slammed the lid shut. “Gross. I need to wash my hands.”
“Help me with this side, it’s stuck,” Vivian said and tugged on the handle one more time. The lid popped free and she gasped.
“What? Did you find something?” Wendy looked over her shoulder.
“Boy, did I. I think Shorty is kinda kinky!” She held up a pair of red, feathered handcuffs.
“Oh, my!” Kate said. “Guess he likes to play cops and robbers! I got some similar at my bachelorette party.” She took them from Vivian and swung them around on one finger, then handed them back. “Those feel much heavier. Maybe they’re real?”
“Someone’s coming!” Lucy whispered, taking a seat. Wendy sat down next to her.
A hot pink pump landed on the top step. Vivian closed the lid on the storage locker and scrambled to smooth the covers. With no time left to hide the handcuffs, she dropped them into her purse and kicked it closed.
Kate sat down opposite Lucy with her pink cup and took a sip as Josephina/Eva emerged.
The Lady went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. She stopped to look at them, then clicked back up the stairs.
“Holy crap, we almost got caught!” Lucy said.
“Yeah, that was a little too close.” Vivian blew out a big sigh of relief.
“I don’t think there’s anything here to find,” Kate said, looking over to Vivian.
“Wishful thinking, I guess.”
“There are a couple of hatches on deck we could go through, but that’s not gonna happen with them up there,” Wendy said.
“No way.” Lucy propped her leg up and took a gander at her ankle. “I think it brought us good luck tonight, though. So far, we’ve survived.”
Eva and Josephina came back down together. One sat on the bed and the other stretched out beside the bunny.
“Let’s go up.” Wendy shot her eyes toward them.
They grabbed their cups and purses and made their way up the steps.
Vivian sat in the co-pilot’s chair, adjacent to Shorty, while Lucy, Kate and Wendy sat on the bench behind them.
“Almost back, maybe 15 mas minutos,” Shorty informed them. “I drop you at pier next to La Vida de Playa.”
“That’d be great, Julio, thanks.” Vivian said, wondering how he knew where they were staying.
He took a swig of beer and put his cigarette back in his mouth. “No problema.”
Wendy stood on steady sea-legs behind Shorty and looked over his shoulder at the gauges. “How fast are we going?” She paused for a moment while she looked at the complex gauges, then froze. “Holy shit, is that a gun?”
“What, gun?!” Lucy shouted. “Are you going to kill us? I’m too young to die!”
Shorty blew out a puff of smoke and laughed. “I no kill you. Gun es mi amigo.” He looked back at Lucy and gestured with his cigarette. “Beside, if I want kill you anoche, would have two miles back. Better current.”
“Well, thanks, Julio. That makes us feel better,” Vivian said.
He looked over at her and winked. “I not murder suspect.”
Touché.
Wendy cleared her throat and pointed to the gauges. “So how do all these work?”
He gave her a quick rundown in broken English, unsuspecting of Wendy’s ulterior motive. He may not have told her if he knew she was contemplating stealing his boat in an act of desperation for Vivian’s freedom.
Vivian didn’t pay attention to his instruction, instead she looked out across the water and the moonlight reflecting off it, twinkling at her as they raced along. The effect was calming and she tried to enjoy it. There was no telling the next time she’d be able to lose herself in this kind of serenity. She wanted to sear it into her memory.
Shorty pulled up at the hotel next to theirs and tethered the boat to the pier, then helped them debark.
“Thanks, Julio. Appreciate the ride.” Vivian waved goodbye and the other girls waved and said thanks.
“You stay out trouble,” he smirked, wagging a finger at Vivian.
“Aye, aye, Capt’n,” she said, and saluted.
They set off down the beach, toward their hotel, and came upon the spot where Jon was killed. A piece of crime scene tape still stuck out of the sand, blowing in the sea breeze.
“Okay, this is kinda creepy,” Lucy said.
Vivian slowed down and almost stopped.
“Do you think Shorty knew and dropped us at this pier on purpose?” Kate asked. “He could have dropped us off at the pier on the other side of our hotel and we wouldn’t have had to walk by here.”
“I don’t know.” Vivian was shaken up and propelled herself forward. She didn’t want to think about dead bodies, murder, Jon, anyone of short stature, cousins that so closely resembled each other they could pass as twins, people with ponytails, asshole detectives, crazy bitches, or as Vega had put it, “basically half of Canada.”
They made it to their room and did another bug sweep, just in case. Finding nothing, they got ready for bed.
After brushing her teeth, washing her face and putting on her jammies, Vivian plopped into bed. She was almost to a much-needed REM cycle when she sat up with a start.
“Oh, my god!”
Wendy clicked on the light. “What is it Viv, what’s wrong?”
She jumped out of bed and ran to her purse, yanking it open to her horror.
“I still have Shorty’s kinky handcuffs!”
CHAPTER 48
Day 5
THE NEXT morning promised to be another bright and sunny day in paradise. A beam of sunlight slipped through a crack in the drapes and aimed directly at Vivian’s left eye.
Lucy was already out of bed, doing her morning routine.
“Close the curtains,” Vivian groaned, pulling the covers over her head.
Lucy yanked off her covers and started in. “Up and at ’em. It’s detox day. Rise and shine, sista! No alcohol today, only H2O,” she continued. “We’re going to do yoga on the beach right now and water aerobics thi
s afternoon.”
Vivian reached for the covers at the foot of the bed.
Kate rolled over, taking most of the covers with her. “What time is it?”
“It’s too damn early, that’s what time it is.” Wendy punched her pillow.
“It’s 7:30. Let’s get a move on. Chop chop,” Lucy replied, clapping with the chops.
“Lucy is torturing us today. Yoga.” Vivian grabbed a pillow, throwing it over her face. Then thought better of it and threw it at Lucy. “And if I’m going, y’all are going.”
“Whatever. She’s making you do yoga,” Wendy grumbled.
Lucy ripped the sheets off Kate and Wendy’s bed.
“What the — ” Kate started.
“Told ya,” Vivian said.
After confiscating the sheets from both beds, Lucy threw the drapes open dramatically.
“Come on, ladies. Up, up! It’s time to get up!”
“I don’t want to exercise.” Kate plopped her pillow on her head.
“Today is a new day and we are going to make it a good one, starting with something semi-healthy.” Lucy tickled the bottom of Kate’s foot.
“Sleep is healthy.” Wendy moaned.
“Not as healthy as sunshiny yoga. Get up, lazy asses.”
They gave in to Lucy’s demands and crawled out of bed, still moaning and groaning about it. They threw on yoga-appropriate shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops and sunglasses and headed out.
Outside, Vivian looked around for the media. Only a few reporters were hanging around this early in the morning. They didn’t appear too interested in the girls, thank goodness, she thought.
Lucy stood just out of reach of the water, her back to the ocean. The other three girls lined up facing her.
“All right, ladies, let’s start with some deep breathing.” She led by example, sucking in deeply through her nose, then breathing out through her mouth.
A nice breeze came off the waves and Vivian breathed deep with vigor. Now this is some clean air, she thought, a far cry from the Get Down’s orange-brown funkified air.
Vivian was lost in her clean air moment. Lucy cleared her throat loudly to get her attention as she had already moved on to the first pose, the mountain. Arms held slightly outward from hips, feet together, chin high.
Now this is my kind of exercise. Standing.
Lucy led them through a few other poses: the chair, the warrior, the half-moon.
Vivian felt pretty good about her yoga experience so far. Seven years of ballet had given her and Wendy good balance, and Kate seem to be doing fine, too.
She was shocked by Lucy’s extremely professional attitude though. She counted out loud, called out all the poses, and walked around to make sure they were perfectly positioned. It was like a whole new Lucy. A drill instructor disguised as a yoga instructor disguised as Lucy.
“Are you secretly teaching yoga classes or something?” Kate asked.
“Shhhh. No talking,” the drill instructor responded.
Lucy pulled Vivian’s leg up higher on the half moon. “Let’s move on to the next pose,” she said, dropping Vivian’s leg, then walked in front of the girls. She spread her legs wide and bent forward. “This is the wide-legged forward bend.”
“What genius came up with this name?” Wendy was apparently still grouchy from her early morning wake-up call.
Lucy’s butt was way up in the air. Vivian couldn’t help herself and started giggling.
“Shhhh.” Shushed by the yoga instructor.
Vivian could barely touch the sand with her hands, much less bend over like Lucy was. She could feel herself losing control, about to bust out laughing. “You know, Lucy, I’m thinking yoga may not be my thing.”
“You aren’t even trying!” She was still upside down and glared at Vivian from between her legs.
“I am, but I just feel so silly!”
Vivian stood up and saw stars as the blood rushed back to her head. “In other news, I’m hungry.”
“We need a hearty southern breakfast,” Wendy said, still in pose. “I’m cravin’ some biscuits slathered in butter. Let’s go.”
“That sounds fantastic.” Vivian slipped on her flip-flops. “I could definitely use some cheesy grits and bacon. I heart bacon.”
“I need some coffee.” Kate was a good 30 minutes past due by her normal standards.
“Do they have grits in Mexico?” Wendy stood up.
“They better!” Vivian said, heading towards the hotel. She was determined to be done with yoga.
“Hell, no!” Lucy said. “Granola for breakfast today! Y’all have got to start living a healthier lifestyle. We aren’t getting any younger. Viv is 30!”
Vivian stopped in her tracks and gave Lucy a dirty look. “You’ll be here soon enough.” Vivian wasn’t super excited about turning 30. She had loved her twenties. Well, at least most of them.
Kate and Wendy snickered as they pushed their sandy feet into flip-flops.
Vivian, a September birthday, had always been the oldest in their class. Kate, Lucy and Wendy all had a few months to go before the big three-o.
“I remember a time when y’all were happy I was the oldest,” Vivian said, pointing to them. “First to drive, first to be able to legally buy alcohol.”
Wendy rubbed in her summer birthday. “Yes, but all those firsts are long gone, Viv. Now you’re just the oldest.”
“Yep,” Kate said. “First to get gray hair, first to get wrinkles.”
“Hey!” Vivian yelled, touching her face. She was a little paranoid about wrinkles.
“You look fine. Don’t listen to them.” Lucy reassured her. "But you need to remember to wear your sunscreen.”
“Yeah, yeah, now about that breakfast.” Vivian resumed her march to the restaurant. Wendy and Kate followed her.
“Gra-no-la!” Lucy chanted, fist raised in the air.
They kept walking, propelled by visions of cheesy, buttery, artery-clogging goodness.
Inside the restaurant, Vivian had the sensation of being under a spotlight. The patrons stared at her as she walked by, employees too.
“What do y’all want to do with the rest of the day?” Vivian asked after the waitress delivered their drinks. “I feel like we need to search for Ponytail.”
“NO!” The other three shouted in unison, disturbing the other diners.
“That guy is trouble,” Wendy said. “He may be involved with Detective Vega or he may be a killer,” she pointed to Vivian with her coffee cup, “but either way, I feel like it’d be a mistake to hunt him down.”
Vivian didn’t really want to look for Ponytail. She knew Wendy was right.
“What about Stella?” she asked. “Should we try to look for her today?”
“She’s a hard one to find,” Lucy said as she squeezed lemon in her water.
Kate poured creamer in her coffee before responding. “I bet she shows up at the party tonight. She’s got to think there’s a good chance you’ll be there Viv, and she’ll want to check on you.”
Vivian groaned. She didn’t like the thought of being checked on by Crazy Stella. She wanted to be the hunter, not the hunted.
“Let’s take a walk down the beach, see if we spot her,” Vivian said. “I’d feel more confident of my chances in getting out of Mexico if we knew her story.”
“We might never know her story,” Kate said.
“If we take a walk down the beach, I’m vetoing water aerobics,” Wendy said.
“Okay, no water aerobics.” Lucy gave up that notion easier than Vivian expected. “But we’re speed walking.”
That’s why.
“I haven’t had enough beach time,” Wendy said, “and that’s important.”
“There’ll be time,” Vivian said.
Only got two days left, might as well make the most of it. I’m either goin’ home or goin’ to the slammer.
CHAPTER 49
THE GIRLS headed down the beach on their search for Stella going in the opposite direction from
where Jon was killed. Vivian didn’t want to get near that spot. In fact, she wanted to avoid it for the rest of their vacation.
Lucy walked fast, pumping her arms and leaving the others behind. She looped around the pool at the next hotel then marched in place, keeping her heart rate up, while she waited for the girls.
“Keep movin’,” she said to them and resumed her pace down the beach.
By the time the three girls arrived at the next hotel, Lucy was nowhere to be seen. Vivian started to panic. They had broken their buddy system rule and this was the result. Had Ponytail kidnapped Lucy? Or maybe she was attacked by Crazy Stella?
Just as she was about to start screaming Lucy’s name, she walked out of the hotel shaking her hands.
“No paper towels in their restroom. What a dive.”
“Lucy!” Vivian used her ‘Mom’ voice. “You scared me to death! Don’t run off like that. I thought you had been snatched.”
“Excuse me, but I had to use the restroom and if y’all could have kept up it would have been no big deal.”
“Look,” Wendy said. “We realize you’ve come from an anti-oxygen climate and feel invigorated by this shit, but we’re huffin’. If you don’t slow down my eggs and frioles are going to make another appearance.”
“If you hadn’t eaten that huge breakfast– ”
“Maybe I’d be okay if they’d had grits!”
Vivian interrupted. “Ladies, ladies. Let’s chillax and stay focused.” She turned to Lucy. “Lucy, please slow down. I’m not able to look for Stella walking this fast.”
Kate wagged a finger at Lucy as they resumed their search. “Buddy system. No more rule breaking.”
They found a happy medium between speed walking and ambling and continued the hunt. The next several beach-front hotels had small pools and the guests could easily been seen as they passed. No one resembled Stella, though one woman caught Vivian’s eye.
“Is she wearing a scarf? Seriously? In 80 degrees?”
“Looks like,” Kate said. “Maybe she’s got hickies to hide.”
They looped the pools of several other hotels with no success. About a mile down the beach, bars took the place of hotels so they decided to turn around.
