The Island of Dangerous Dreams (15 page)

“Pete?” I sat up, trying to rub away the furry taste and feel of sleep as I reached for him, looked for him. But Pete wasn’t there.

I stumbled to my feet, wildly scanning the room, and discovered a mound in the middle of my bed. I ripped back the blanket, and the mound mumbled something.

“Pete!” I hissed. “What are you doing in my bed?”

He groaned and struggled up on his elbows, shook his head to clear it, and said, “Well, you weren’t using it.”

“I thought you were going to keep watch.”

“It’s your turn.” He dropped down again and groped for the blanket.

“No!” I pulled the blanket away from his reach
and shook his shoulders. “Listen to me, Pete. You’ve got to wake up. I think I know who committed the murders!”

This got his attention. His eyes opened wide, and he sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. “Who?” he asked.

“Aldo.”

Pete looked so puzzled that I hurried to explain. “The judge said someone was sailing under false colors. He said this when I said that people were not always what they seemed to be.”

“He could have been talking about his private investigator-secretary, having a good laugh about it.”

“I thought so at one time, but I don’t think so now. Let me finish what I have to say. I think that the judge was talking about people themselves, not the clients they claimed to represent. So he couldn’t have been referring to Benita.”

“What about Aldo’s client?”

“It’s not
who
he is, it’s
what
he is.”

“I know I’m awake, but I can’t seem to follow you. Are you making this more complicated than it’s supposed to be?”

“No, no! Listen!” I was so eager to explain that I grabbed Pete by the shoulders. “That wasn’t all that the judge said. When he met Aldo for the first time, on the dock in Fort Lauderdale, he said that he looked familiar. He told Aldo that he had a good memory and sooner or later he’d remember where he’d met him.”

“That’s not much of a reason for killing him.”

“Aldo must have thought so. I don’t think he
counted on the judge having any idea who he really was. Maybe he and the judge had never met. It could be that the judge had only seen Aldo’s picture—maybe in a newspaper.”

I stopped for breath. “And then there’s Franklin Granakee. Aunt Madelyn mentioned that Mr. Granakee had been involved with people on the other side of the law. Mr. Granakee said he knew everyone who had come to bid for the artifact. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but he had to have been including Aldo.”

“You think he knew him?”

“Knew him or knew about him. Look, Pete, maybe Aldo wasn’t representing anyone. Maybe he had come just to steal the artifact. Aldo might have been afraid that if the judge remembered him, he’d have no chance to get possession of the artifact. And later he either realized that Mr. Granakee would tell the others about him or maybe Mr. Granakee even threatened to do so. Aldo’s the one who’d have a reason to kill Judge Arlington-Hughes and Mr. Granakee. Don’t you agree?”

Pete thought hard for a few minutes. “Maybe you’re right,” he said.

“So what can we do next?”

“I’m darned sure not going to wake up Aldo and ask him if he’s the murderer!”

“Be serious.”

“I get too scared when I’m serious.”

I plopped onto the bed next to Pete. “I told Kurt I’d let him know if I uncovered anything. I think now is the time to tell him what we know.”

“Not ‘know.’ What we
suspect
.”

“We need to get Kurt’s help, Pete.”

“Do we have to? I told you, I don’t trust that guy.”

“Can you handle Aldo yourself?”

Pete sighed and stood up. “Okay. Where do we find Kurt?”

“Probably in his room.”

Pete walked to the doors, opened them, and stared up at the sky. “Can’t we wait until it’s light? If we knock on his door in the dark, everyone in the house will pop out into the hall to see what’s going on. They’re all jumpy.” He walked back to where I was sitting. “As a matter of fact, we’re taking a big chance doing so much talking here. Even though we’ve been whispering, someone might have heard us.”

I climbed off the bed. “Then let’s go downstairs and talk, or outside. That’s even better. I can’t go back to sleep.”

A meager sift of moonlight kept us from blindly stumbling on our way down the hall and stairs. We moved slowly, clutching each other, trying to make as little noise as possible. Pete breathed through his mouth in short, erratic gasps. I tended to hold my breath with each creak of the wooden floor and stairs, letting it out in a whoosh when I couldn’t hold it any longer. We sounded like two candidates for an oxygen tent. In a strange way it was comforting to me that Pete was as frightened as I was. This was something we were involved in together.

“So far, so good,” Pete whispered.

I listened intently. No footsteps, no lights turned on, no one calling “Who’s there?”

“I don’t think anyone heard us,” I whispered back, relief so strong that my legs felt wobbly.

“Which way now? Back door? Front door?”

“They wouldn’t hear the back door as easily as they would the front door. But Ellison’s room is somewhere downstairs and close by, so we’ll still have to be as quiet as possible.”

Pete took my hand and began to lead me into the living room. But I balked and said, “You act as though you know the way.”

For a moment there was complete silence. Then Pete whispered, “I got a pretty good idea of the layout of the house before you all went upstairs to bed. I found your room without any trouble. Remember?”

His face was so close to mine that as I nodded agreement my cheek rubbed against his, and I breathed in his warm, salty, sunburned smell, which was even more comforting than his words had been. “I’m sorry I was suspicious, Pete. I guess it’s because I’m so frightened.”

“We need each other, Andy,” Pete said.

I nodded again. This time our lips brushed together for just a second, and Pete said, “Let’s sit on the sand in the moonlight.”

What was the matter with me? Why had I been suspicious of Pete? Was I so terrified that I couldn’t think straight? I gave a little nudge to his shoulder and moved forward. “Let’s go.”

The living room was darker than the hall, and
Pete immediately banged a foot into the leg of a table. “Ouch!” he said.

“Be quiet,” I cautioned.

“Can’t we use flashlights? They’re on that table in the entry hall.”

“I don’t think we should. Someone might see the light.”

“If they’re all asleep, they won’t. Stay here. I’ll be right back.” In a couple of minutes he returned with two flashlights and put one of them into my hands.

“Don’t turn them on until we get outside. How do we know they’re all asleep?”

Pete muttered something under his breath about wishing he’d gone to Mexico instead and moved forward, cautiously groping ahead before taking each step. I glanced around the room, trying to squint through the shadows, my imagination creeping ahead of me. A patch of darkness, too deep to penetrate, lay on the floor behind the table where the judge’s body had lain. And in that high-backed chair—was someone sitting there? Was that the roundness of a head? The hiss of suddenly suppressed breathing? I squeezed even closer to Pete and managed to fight down the panic that threatened to burst through me like hot fireworks.

Making our way through the room was slow work, but eventually we crossed the living room and dining room and entered the kitchen, where the open windows allowed moonlight to spill in without interference. We arrived at the back door
as quickly as though it were home base and we’d been in a race.

“I’m not too happy about all this,” Pete said. He moved close to me and put a hand on my arm as I reached out to open the back door. “Just do me one favor.”

“Sure,” I said. “What is it?”

“When you talk to Kurt, tell him whatever you like about your suspicions, but don’t tell him you know where the artifact is.”

“I don’t think you need to worry,” I said. “We’ve figured out that the murderer is Aldo. That means that Kurt is in the clear.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“That’s just because you don’t like him.”

“You wouldn’t like him either if he’d kicked your butt out of town. Come on, Andy. Promise. I know you keep your promises. See—I trust
you
.”

“Okay,” I told him. “Nothing about the artifact.” Again I reached for the doorknob. Again Pete stopped me.

“One more thing,” he said. “When we find him you talk to him alone. Don’t tell him about me. Don’t tell him I’m here on the island.”

“Pete?”

“And don’t stand around asking stupid questions. Let’s go.”

As I opened the door Pete stepped aside, motioning me to go ahead. I practically ran down the half dozen or so back steps to the grass and held up my flashlight, fumbling for the switch.

“Should I turn this on now?” I whispered.

“Why not?” A shape quickly separated itself
from the shadows at the side of the house, and before I realized what was happening a beam of light shone directly into my face.

I held up an arm to shield my eyes. “Stop that!” I cried out. “What are you doing?”

The light was lowered, and the voice said, “You’re the one who should answer that question. What are you doing out here by yourself at this time of night?”

“Kurt?” I was so thankful to recognize his voice that it took me a moment to realize what he had asked. Here by myself?

I whirled around to look behind me. The kitchen door was closed snugly, and there was no sign of Pete.

12

“Andrea?” Kurt sounded puzzled. “Answer my question.”

I turned to face him. “I came outside to look for you.”

“Why?”

“You told me to tell you if I discovered anything important, and I have.”

“What did you find out?” He waited, and while I was trying to think of what to do next, he added, “Would you rather get away from the house before you tell me? Maybe that’s a good idea.”

“No!” I glanced over my shoulder at the house, which was so quiet it seemed deserted. Pete must still be in the kitchen. He must have seen Kurt, or maybe he suspected that he was out here and sent me out alone to find out. I didn’t want to get too far away from Pete.

“There’s no need for you to be afraid,” Kurt said. “Walk down to the dock with me. We can talk there.”

As I hesitated again he switched off his flashlight and said, “We don’t need flashlights. There’s enough moonlight so that we can see where we’re going. We can pick up the path over there.”

I didn’t have a choice. Whatever his reason, Pete had told me not to let Kurt know that he was on the island, and he trusted me to keep his presence secret. So I walked with Kurt over the lawn to the path and down the path to the dock. We walked almost to the end of the dock before Kurt sat down on the edge, his legs dangling over the water. I sat next to him.

The sea wasn’t beautiful now. The moon had dropped low enough in the sky to have sucked its silver reflection from the surface of the water, leaving in its place a deep, menacing blackness that surged around the dock. I imagined the large sea creatures—the knife-tailed manta rays, the deadly barracuda, and the sharks who never sleep—just under the surface of the water, watching and waiting. I pulled my feet in close to my body and hugged my knees before I spoke.

“I know who committed the murders,” I said. “Aldo.”

Kurt was silent. He watched me, studied me. Finally he said, “Is that it? You must have a reason for what you said.”

“I do.” I hoped it would sound as sensible as when Pete and I figured it out a little while ago.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s hear it.”

I took a deep breath and jumped in. “Okay. In the first place, I don’t think that Aldo is representing
some sheik in the Mideast. I think he’s a professional art thief.”

“Then he could have just helped himself to the artifact by force, left the island, and saved a lot of time and trouble. Right?”

“No! That’s not right. I think he’s the kind of thief who’d work with his wits and skill and avoid force as much as possible.” He frowned, and I added quickly, “The point is that none of the people who came to bid on the topaz knew that the others would be here. Aldo thought he was coming to deal with the judge and that would be that.”

“Go on,” he said as I paused. His voice was so low, I could barely hear it.

“When Aldo realized what the situation was, he went along with it. I don’t know what he had in mind. Maybe he was thinking up ways to steal the artifact from whoever bid for it and got it, but a couple of things went wrong for him. The judge told him that he looked familiar, and sooner or later he’d remember where he’d seen him. When Judge Arlington-Hughes referred to someone present sailing under false colors, Aldo thought the judge had figured it out.”

Kurt shook his head. “You didn’t know the judge,” he said. “He liked a good private joke, even if it wasn’t very funny to anyone except himself. He was getting a big kick out of passing me off as his secretary, when he’d hired me as a private investigator and bodyguard.”

“You were his bodyguard too?”