Rising Tide Read online

  ‘I’ve almost finished the list, Thomas,’ Martin said with resignation. ‘The wedding guests are easy. There are a lot of them, about a hundred and thirty, but about eighty of them are staying here at the Bluffs, and I’ve given you addresses and phone numbers for the others. A number are people from the island, some elected officials, the others resort owners.’

  ‘Thank you, Martin,’ Thomas said, reaching his hand out for the list. ‘I know this can’t be easy.’

  ‘The staff,’ Martin continued. ‘I’m afraid the staff is a different matter. You know that we hired a lot of extras for the two days. Some of them we knew, but not all. Nelson is working on that list. He should have it for you shortly. Our regulars are fine. Do you want to interview them here?’

  ‘We’ll do as many of the interviews here as we can. It’ll save us some time.’

  ‘I’ve asked everyone to assemble in the dining room at noon,’ Martin said, getting up from his chair. ‘I thought it best that you speak to them all at once. Let them know what’s happened, although I’m sure most of them know already. And explain about the interviews. Is there anything else for now?’

  Thomas looked intently at the list. ‘Quite some list. I knew it would be. Some of these people won’t be too happy with the idea of being interviewed.’

  ‘Probably not − especially your chief.’ Martin smiled for a moment, but almost immediately a look of sadness and resig-nation returned. Then, looking at the clock, ‘Well, I think we should head down.’

  ‘Oh, one last thing, Martin,’ Thomas said. ‘Still no mention of the bracelet, please, not yet. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to keep it quiet but, for now, we’re saying nothing.’

  The four of them made their way to the dining room where the assembled guests and most of the staff milled around. The room immediately became quiet as they walked in and Martin, Annie and Thomas made their way to the podium.

  Emily chose to stay at the back of the room, and as Martin spoke she looked around her. It was hard to imagine that same podium had been used less than twenty-four hours ago for charming speeches and congratulatory toasts. Martin himself had stood there talking about his joy at Sarah and Jon’s marriage. The dining room was very different today. The tables were empty and the bowers of hydrangea and roses had been removed. Only the birds of paradise centerpieces stood, forlorn looking, in the center of the bare tables.

  It was obvious that most of the guests had heard about the murder of the young girl on the island, but few of them realized the connection to the Bluffs and most reacted with shock at the news. Martin did his best to speak calmly and without emotion, but a number of the guests were friends of the Van Meeterens and others had met them last night at the wedding. Emily could see people responding with gasps and tears. ‘Please, I know how upsetting this is. As many of you know, Katrien and Christiaan are close friends of ours and Ariana was …’ At this, Martin’s voice broke. He stepped back from the podium and Thomas took over.

  ‘I know this has been disturbing and difficult for many of you. I just want to say a few words about next steps. I’m sure you realize that, as far as we know right now, Ariana was last seen here at the Bluffs last night. We will be interviewing each of you.’ At this he put up his hand. ‘I know your first reaction is “I don’t know anything” and that may be true. But I would ask each of you to think about the last two days. Ariana was here both last night and the night before. She was also here for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon. So if you saw her, we need to know about it, and most importantly, if you saw anyone with her. Beyond that, if you saw anything or anyone that you thought odd or strange, maybe not at that moment, but possibly thinking back now.’

  A woman in tennis whites raised her hand. ‘I don’t really even know who she is, or what she looked like, so how could I know if I saw her?’ she said, sounding petulant. Emily could see Annie turn toward her with a look of disdain, while Thomas ignored her.

  ‘We have flyers which the two detectives, Detective Hendricks and Detective Keary,’ he nodded towards the two men standing to his left, ‘will hand out. Please take them with you as you leave. We’ll be conducting interviews here at the main house. There will be a list of names and the order of the interviews posted at Reception. For now, I would ask Mr and Mrs Phillips, Mr and Mrs Blake, Ms St. John, Ms Richards and Mr and Mrs Weddington to meet us back here in fifteen minutes. I’d ask the rest of you to please check that list. Thank you.’

  Thomas stepped away from the podium and Annie and Martin started to leave the room. Several guests stepped forward to hug Annie, but there were a couple of people who seemed put out by the upcoming interviews who approached Martin. Emily wasn’t surprised to see Nelson immediately step in to respond to whatever questions or comments they might have, allowing Martin a clear passage out of the dining room. Many of the guests stood around, not quite sure what to do.

  Emily made her way up to the front of the room to where Thomas was standing. ‘Thomas?’

  ‘Emily,’ Thomas said, looking distracted. ‘I meant to mention, we have men dusting your suite for fingerprints, so if you could wait a bit before returning that’d be great. We’ll also be doing Peggy’s suite.’

  Emily was taken aback, although she shouldn’t have been. Of course they’d be checking her suite for prints, either Ariana’s or someone else’s. Somehow, though, the thought of Thomas’ men in her suite while she was up here in the dining room seemed … intrusive. Why hadn’t he told her beforehand? He should have … should have what? She knew her feelings were unfair, even ridiculous. It was clear that Thomas was consumed with the investigation, as he should be, but, for her, it was difficult to go from the Thomas of last night to the Thomas of today. And the bracelet hadn’t helped.

  ‘Of course. That’s fine,’ she said, trying to not let her feelings show. ‘Will you be wanting to speak to me?’

  ‘Not until later this afternoon. You and Peggy. I’d better go … I need to organize the interview rooms.’ And with that he headed out.

  Emily hadn’t gone five steps when Marietta was at her side. ‘Well, my dear, it seems that we’re in for it again. Not that I should complain. That poor, poor child … and her parents. I cannot bear to think about it. I’ve met them before, of course. Kat and Annie were very close. And to think she was here just last night. What could have happened? These young people today. I must say it puzzles me so. Whatever has happened to the world?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think young people are all that different,’ Emily said.

  ‘No, no perhaps not. I remember … oh, it’s many years ago. A friend of my cousin, Andrea, was killed. A young girl. Sixteen. It was so awful. It took Andrea ages to get over it. A tragedy, of course, just like this. But it seems that in those days, well, people knew each other better. Young girls weren’t running around by themselves, wearing skimpy shorts and those tank tops, leaving nothing to the imagination. Not that I’m suggesting this poor girl did, of course. Oh, I suppose I’m just being …’

  Just then Nora joined them. ‘Now, now, Marietta, don’t get yourself into a state. We should be on time as Inspector Moller asked.’

  ‘Of course, of course,’ Marietta said, waving her hand in front of her face. ‘It’s gotten so warm in here, or is it just me? I know I have nothing to tell him. Why, I don’t think I saw that poor child at all. Or did we see her at the beach yesterday – or was that Friday? Friday, I think. Nora, was that the young girl playing with the baby?’ Her voice started to get higher, her words faster. ‘Why, it must have been, Nora. You remember her, the tall girl with the blonde hair …’ Marietta noticed that Nora was holding the flyer. ‘Yes, yes, that’s her. Such a pretty young thing. How perfectly awful, such a—’

  Nora gently took Marietta’s arm, leading her out of the dining room. ‘Come, Marietta. I’m sure Inspector Moller will be waiting for us.’

  ‘Yes, yes, but I must think. Nora, was there anyone else with her? Did we see anyone else? Could it be that there was
someone, someone lurking … Oh, it’s all too awful …’ Marietta continued as they left.

  The dining room was almost empty now. Some people sat on the terraces, a number walked up to Reception to check the list and a few wandered down towards the beach. Emily was unsure what to do. Would they be finished in her suite? She would walk down that way; no sense hanging around here.

  Funny, she thought, the Bluffs was just as crowded as yesterday, but it was eerily quiet. Voices were muted, guests seemed to walk slowly and, although there were people on the beach, there was no one splashing in the water. Emily behaved much like the rest, but with a heavier heart. She was happy to see Peggy and Maggie sitting in the sand outside their suite.

  ‘Are they in your room?’ Emily asked, joining them.

  ‘They’ve been in there for a while,’ Peggy said, and Emily noticed how tired she looked. ‘I stayed at first. They had some questions. Was this my hat? How about those glasses? It was, I don’t know, creepy. Anyway, Maggie started to get restless so they said we could wait out here. They’d come out if they had more questions. How’d it go in the dining room?’

  ‘Pretty much as you’d expect. People shocked, some upset. And there’s always those few … They’ve started the interviews.’

  ‘And Thomas?’

  ‘Thomas is … Well, this all falls on him, so as you can imagine he’s—’

  ‘I’m sorry, Emily. Just when—’

  But Emily cut her short. ‘Why don’t we see if they’re finished in there? We could take Maggie for a walk. Thomas said they wouldn’t be talking to us until later this afternoon.’

  The forensic guys were just finishing up when they reached the door to her suite, so Peggy grabbed the stroller and they walked up the path.

  ‘Let’s head out to the road,’ Emily said. ‘I’d love to get out of here for a bit.’

  FOURTEEN

  The green Corolla idled two hundred yards from the entrance to the Bluffs. The young man sat fidgeting in the front seat. He had turned the radio off; couldn’t stand to listen to it anymore. So he just sat and watched the coming and goings at the Bluffs.

  He knew the cops were there. Forensics, too. They must be going crazy inside. He could picture it and for a moment he laughed. He knew it wouldn’t be long before they contacted him. He had dressed the part. Khakis and a white linen shirt. He’d look like all the rest of them. Meantime, he’d just sit and wait.

  He wondered how much they knew. Not much, he bet. He watched as the occasional car pulled up, discharging a passenger or two outside the gate. Staff, he thought – the only ones dropped outside. He had been there close to an hour when he struck gold. Those two women, the redhead and the other one wheeling the stroller, walked out the gate and turned down the road. He knew right away who they were – the redhead from the other night and the kid’s mother, but it was funny, seeing them now he felt like he had seen them someplace before, not here at the Bluffs but someplace else. In town, maybe? On the beach? Somewhere …

  They walked slowly, talking, occasionally reaching down to the baby. He would have to watch from a distance. Where the hell were they going, anyway? There was nothing up there.

  Peggy was surprised when the landscape changed as they made their way along the deserted road. ‘Strange,’ she said. ‘I’ve been to the Bluffs several times, but I don’t think I’ve ever walked this road. I guess I spent most of my time on the grounds or heading into Oranjestad to dine or shop. Have you seen Sarah’s shop?’

  ‘I have. She’s very talented and last time …’ But Emily didn’t want to think about last time. ‘Well, I got some lovely things.’

  Peggy grew more and more pensive as they walked. ‘What do you think happened, Emily?’

  ‘It’s so hard to know. A young girl − was she with a stranger, or a boyfriend? It could have been anyone. I know Ariana was getting a ride after she left here on Friday night. Thomas and I met her on the path. I saw a car waiting for her at the front gate, but I was too far away to see what kind of car or who was in it. I just saw the headlights, really. I’m sure they’ll look into that. I didn’t see her on Saturday night. Did she say anything to you when you went back to your room?’

  At first, Peggy just shook her head. But then she remembered. ‘It’s funny, though – when I was leaving the wedding I asked Kat if I should tell Ariana to meet them up at the restaurant. I assumed she was going home with them, and she said something odd. She said someone was picking her up and then said something like “teenagers are complicated creatures.” I laughed at the time and agreed with her, but thinking back, I wonder.’

  Emily could certainly understand what Kat was saying. She remembered her sisters’ and her brother’s teenage years. Of course, that was different – her mother’s death had changed everything, all of them struggling to come to terms with it. But still, much of what she dealt with was typical teenage stuff – Jane’s curfews, Kate’s boyfriends, Brian’s drinking. She had found herself constantly trying to find that balance between freedom and structure, and often failing.

  ‘I remember my own teenage years,’ Peggy said. ‘I wasn’t the easiest teenager; I was the type who challenged everything. I was probably a little spoiled. But I was the youngest and my parents had been through that any number of times. They took it all in their stride – either that or they were just tired,’ she laughed, then sobered. ‘I keep seeing her face, Emily.’

  ‘That smile; it’s hard to imagine that smile gone,’ Emily said, remembering Ariana sitting in the sand playing with Maggie. Neither of them wanted to talk about it anymore, but they just couldn’t let it go.

  ‘And I keep feeling there’s something I’m missing. I don’t think I saw anyone with Ariana on the path, but … I was only with them for a few minutes – you were at the rehearsal. Ariana had been walking Maggie around hoping she would fall asleep and she was looking pretty tired by then, and I headed in to get dressed. Oh, it’s no use, but there’s something …’

  ‘Try not to think so hard, Emily. It’ll come. Someone you saw? Something Ariana said?’

  ‘I just don’t remember.’

  ‘Ted wants Maggie and me to come home. He wanted to arrange a flight this afternoon, but I don’t think we can leave. Not until they have a better idea of what happened. I told him I’d ask Thomas about it.’ Peggy struggled to find something else to talk about. ‘The landscape here is so different,’ she said as the road hugged the coast.

  ‘The northern coast is very different. A little like the ocean beach at the Bluffs, but the further along you go, the more exposed it is to the Atlantic and the wilder it gets.’ This was the uncultivated part of the island, barren and forlorn. Within minutes, the terrain became more and more desolate, just small hills and sand dunes, with the occasional towering rock formation. ‘The beaches tend to be rocky and the waves are very rough. No one really comes here to swim.’

  The wind started to pick up and Emily pointed out the twisted divi-divi trees bent in their usual direction. ‘See the way they bend? It’s from the trade winds. They call them Aruba’s natural compass because they always point southwest.’

  ‘It’s so bleak here, no lush green bushes and colorful flowers − just scruff and cacti and those trees. It reminds me more of a moonscape than the tropics.’ Peggy shivered.

  ‘It is bleak,’ Emily said. ‘But strangely beautiful. You can almost see Venezuela in the distance. If you look closely among the rocks you’ll see the most amazing blue-green lizards, and last time I spotted some wild donkeys. If you keep walking, you come to the strangest sight. A dirt path lined with white crosses and small coffins and, among them, hand-lettered signs saying, “Pray for us sinners”, “At the hour of our death”, and “Pray, pray”. It’s so poignant.’

  ‘It sounds haunting.’

  ‘It is, but at the end of the path is a small, mustard-colored chapel, simple and stark with little light and thick walls. Annie said it’s called the Pilgrims Church and people of all faiths go there to
meditate.’ Emily trembled as she remembered her last visit to the chapel. There was nothing contemplative about it – the shots, the chase, the bat cave. And suddenly she wanted nothing more than to get away from the barren landscape around them. ‘We should head back,’ she said.

  They walked back more quickly, both of them anxious to leave the starkness and isolation behind.

  Neither Emily nor Peggy noticed the car idling beyond the Bluffs but the young man was intently watching their return. He could sense their mood, the slumped shoulders and slightly bowed heads. For a moment, he considered getting out of the car and approaching them, asking for directions and trying to gauge if there was any glimmer of recognition in their eyes, but he knew that was too risky. In fact, maybe it was too risky to hang around here any longer.

  As he drove off, his cell phone rang. ‘Yeah,’ he said quickly.

  ‘Is this William Thomas Dunlop?’ a deep voice asked. Right away he knew and changed the tone of his voice.

  ‘Yes, it is,’ he answered, trying to sound casual. ‘Who’s this?’

  ‘This is Detective Keary of the Aruban police.’

  ‘How can I help you, Detective?’

  ‘We’re interviewing all staff from the Island Bluffs resort and—’

  ‘I’m not really a staffer there,’ he said, sure they wouldn’t fall for it but figuring it was worth a try. ‘I was just a temp hired for an event.’

  ‘We’re aware of that, but we need to talk to you anyway. We’d like you to come out to the Bluffs this afternoon, around four.’

  ‘Sure thing. Can I ask—’

  ‘Come to the main reception area and someone will direct you.’

  Two hours, he thought. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make it look less scruffy. His hands had begun to sweat and he slipped the phone back into his pocket. Can’t have that, he thought, taking a bottle of small white pills out of the glove compartment. He quickly swallowed one, then another, and headed south. There wasn’t enough time to go back to the apartment, so he headed to the Bugaloe on Palm Beach.