Page 14 of Deadly Sins: Lust

“Shawn wasn’t in the room when Nick got there,” she said. “A woman came to the door. She said she was Shawn’s fiancée. They had just returned from the pool. I’m guessing they’d left their cell phones in the room while they went for a swim, and that’s why they didn’t know we were coming.”

“What did she say?”

“She said Shawn would be right back. He went to get some ice. Then her cell rang. She answered it and then looked at Nick like she was terrified. She backed into her hotel room, slammed the door, and locked it.”

“Then what happened?”

“Nick headed for the ice machine, but I think Shawn may have seen him on the way back and taken off. We were almost back to the car when we saw you.”

I regretted sitting in the car when we first arrived. If I had gone with Nick, maybe he wouldn’t have found himself in the situation he was now.

“Hey,” Maddie said. “You’re overthinking. Let’s focus on what we can do and not what we can’t, all right? Nick’s been through hell. That has to count for something.”

CHAPTER 12

Pelican was an upscale restaurant along the pier offering couples a romantic outdoor dining experience under a canopy of lush greenery and hanging vines similar to what one would see in a rainforest. The menu was full of local favorites I’d never tried, things like gulf bugs, crispy ginger and lime squid, Tasmanian oyster, and charred wallaby kebabs.

Maddie was salivating.

I was not.

While she stood off to the side checking out the menu, I canvassed the restaurant.

“What should we order first?” she said. “How about the bugs?”

“You know they’re not actual bugs, right?”

She looked closer at the menu. “I ... yeah. What about the wallaby then?”

“We’re not here to eat. We need to find someone who was working the night Marissa died.”

“Yeah, I know. Why can’t we do both? I’m hungry.”

I shook my head.

She sighed. “Fine, Sloane. Let’s not eat. Let’s starve to death while we get information. A glass of wine would be nice, at least.”

She had a point, not about the wine, but about the food. The mere mention of it had my stomach growling, and I realized we hadn’t eaten since we got off the plane.

“Let’s sit at the bar,” I said.

“It’s a yes to wine, then?”

One of us needed to stay sharp, and while she was an expert at consuming alcohol with little effect to her demeanor, I’d always been more of the “one and done” variety. “You order a glass of wine, and let’s get a couple of things off the food menu. No bugs for me, though.”

“Oh, come on. Try something new.”

Realizing she wasn’t getting anywhere, she patted me on the shoulder and laughed. “You have no sense of adventure sometimes. You know?”

I did, and I was fine with it.

We walked to the bar and sat down. She ordered one glass of the house red, and a side order of a wink at the tall, blond-haired, twenty-something bartender who looked like he’d just stepped off his surfboard. He grinned back. We were in business.

“You two want to order any food?” he asked.

“What would you recommend?” Maddie asked.

“Ahh, well, my favorite is the pork belly.”