Sunshine Hunter

by Maddie Cochere

  Chapter Nine

  “Two more days,” I said to no one in particular, but it sounded good to say it aloud. Two more days, and we would be on an airplane headed for home.

  After a late morning brunch, we had decided to lounge by the pool. The area was fairly crowded, but there were no Vegas showgirls in sight today.

  Darby had gone to the pool bar to get pina coladas for us, but he seemed to be waylaid at the moment, chatting with the bartender. They were probably reminiscing about yesterday’s impromptu pool party.

  The bruise on my leg was painful and ugly today. I had opted to wear my new beige terrycloth swimsuit. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself or my leg by wearing the scarlet one.

  I was reclining in my chaise, eyes closed, and once again mulling over the jumbled mess of events in my mind. So much had happened in five days.

  Jerry’s funeral was this morning. I was sorry I wasn’t there. I still couldn’t believe he had been poisoned and was dead. Did the police know who did it yet? Did they have any leads? My money was still on the man from Thursday nights. Mick had seen him a few times, too. Maybe he would remember something about him. I would have to ask him when we talked again. I made a mental note to call Samantha this afternoon and ask her if Larry had any more information from his cousin Dick about the case.

  Darby finally arrived with the rum drinks. They were cold and refreshing, but I was hot.

  “I’m baking in this sun,” I told him as I stood from my chaise. “I’m going to take a quick dip. I’ll be right back.”

  I heard him wince behind me and knew he was flinching at the bruise on my calf.

  The water felt wonderful. I swam two laps with an easy sidestroke and climbed the ladder out of the pool. I raised my arms and hands to smooth my hair back and saw Darby looking my way with a huge smile on his face. I quickly looked down, but everything was where it should be. As I walked back to my chair, I noticed other people looking at me as well. Darby tossed a towel to me and said, “I see you bought a magic swimsuit.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “What’s a magic swimsuit?”

  “Your suit. It seems to disappear when it’s wet. You can see through it,” he said, his huge grin still plastered on his face.

  Oh my gosh! I was mortified. All those people staring at me. So much for not drawing attention to myself. I flopped down onto my chaise with the towel covering my suit. “How can a swimsuit be see-through?” I asked, not wanting to believe him. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “It’s faint, but you can definitely see through it,” he said with assurance. He was obviously enjoying my predicament.

  I could only surmise the suit was somewhat see-through because it wasn’t fully lined. It occurred to me the designer hadn’t actually intended for it to be worn in water.

  I picked up my drink and said aloofly, “It’ll dry soon enough, and I don’t know any of these people anyway, so I’m not going to worry about it.”

  But I didn’t remove the towel, and I knew my face was red from more than the sun.

  Darby was still chuckling as he leaned back and sipped his drink. “Let me know when it’s safe for you to get up. I didn’t have a chance to check out the spa facilities yesterday, and we can do that this afternoon if you want.”