I pointed to the door. “You need to leave, Scott-Thomas.”#p#分页标题#e#
He leaned back on his heels.
“Hey, time to beam out, Scotty.”
He cleared his throat. “I apologise for jumping to conclusions.”
I crossed my arms. “You have no right to question me.”
He crossed his. “I beg to differ.”
He’s right, my mind agreed.
As Ryan’s dad he had every right to know if I was using or drinking. I shut my eyes and rubbed my throbbing forehead.
“I had a hard time down there, okay?”
“No drugs or alcohol?”
I sighed and looked him in the eyes. He would either believe me or not. “No, but I won’t tell you I didn’t want them. Badly.”
James scowled. “Get your things. We’re leaving.”
“What?” I gasped. “Did you dine on crazy in Valencia? Number thirty-three on the menu was the non compos mentis special? It’s past eleven and you’ve made three trips today.”
He looked at me like he did at the office when he expected me to jump at his command. I ran my eyes up and down his tall, be-suited body. Dark and broody? Check. Angry and arrogant? Of course. But he didn’t look as though he’d had an attack of the crazies, unless—
“Have you been drinking?”
James glanced at his watch and headed to the door. “If you want to see Ryan next weekend you’ll be ready in five minutes.”
It took me two minutes to put my shoes on and grab my case.
A full moon kept us company as we sped along the coast. It cast its light on a glittering black sea, keeping just ahead of us as we drove to wherever James was taking me. I knew it wasn’t Valencia; we’d passed the turn-off a few minutes back. I ate a bit of my hair and spat it out.
“Where are we going?” I shouted.
I didn’t get an answer and from James’s tense profile I understood I wasn’t going to. Was the tightness in his shoulders due to the missing money I wasn’t supposed to know he’d found out about? Another time I might’ve asked him but I was in no mood for confrontation. As I gazed at the dark, mysterious waters, the moon’s reflection lulled me to sleep.
I woke up when we pulled into a single-track dirt road with no lighting. The air was more humid and it smelled of salt and seaweed. Had we turned towards the coast? The sound of crashing waves got louder as we approached a looming shadow ahead.
“Where are we?”
“Nowhere.”
Nowhere looked like the base of a large cliff. The closer we got the slower James drove, until we were approaching at snail’s pace. Then we drove into the rock face. Well, that’s what it seemed like anyway. James maneuvered the MG through a tiny gap in the cliff, the fit tight enough to reach my hand out and touch the rock. Seconds later we emerged onto a beach, with nothing except sand and sea to keep us company.
I looked around, bemused. “Is this where you strangle me and dump the body? Because I’m not dressed for death.”
“Dressed to kill,” he muttered.
I turned in my seat. “Are you going to tell me where we are?”
“Puerto Escondido.”
“You mean the Puerto Escondido you have on your desktop?” He looked at me sharply. “I saw the folder when I used your Mac. I wasn’t snooping,” I added hastily.
“The content is password protected.”
He got out of the car and took his shoes off, clearly expecting me to do the same. I followed suit, hoping it wasn’t one of those beaches with bits of debris or glass in the sand. It would be just my luck to step on something painful. The sand proved immaculate. Soft and cool, and soothing after my high heels.#p#分页标题#e#
James waited for me at the shoreline. I’d scoffed at many a corny film where the lovebirds walk down a moonlit beach holding hands. Kissy-kissy and lovey-dovey, sick-inducing sweetness. Now I wished we’d do the same, minus the sick part.
There was nothing loverlike about James’s posture though. I sighed, grabbed my handbag and went to meet him. He was looking at the sea as I approached. The summer heat hadn’t fled with the night and in the moonlight a thin sheen of sweat shone on his face and in the little hollow between his collarbones.
I made my voice light. “I’m not skinny dipping with you.”
James didn’t crack a smile. Like I said, I’m not good at being funny. We walked in silence and I focused on the crashing waves, enjoying the spray on my legs. It made me remember the stories of my early childhood, when only mermaids and silkies were waiting for me in the deep dark sea.
A few minutes later James veered inland to the base of the cliff. There was a small metal plaque nailed straight into it. I squinted and James took out a small flashlight and lit it for me to see.