Dar studied a point in the middle of Kerry's shoulder blades.

"Let's wait 'til we get to the room, and let me sit down and think,"

she said. "I don't want to complicate this whole d.a.m.n thing even more than it already is."

"Okay." Kerry nodded. "Good, because I was just getting a really bad feeling about you calling him. He's just...it's too unknown a quant.i.ty. This whole thing is just getting weird."

Dar felt slightly relieved. "Oh, so it's not just me," she muttered, as they stopped in front of their room and she unlocked the door with the large iron key.

Kerry pushed the door open and walked in, then stopped short.

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h."

Bud peeked past Dar's shoulder as Dar edged into the room in back of Kerry.

The room was in total shambles. Everything had been ripped apart as though a tornado had blown through the place.

"d.a.m.n," Bud uttered. "They mess up your stuff?"

Kerry let out a disgusted breath. "We didn't have any here."

She lifted her hands in utter exasperation and let them fall. "One bag, with two pairs of jammies and some toothpaste."

Dar moved through the room, shaking her head. She walked over to the phone and picked it up, waiting for the operator to answer. "I need to speak with the manager." There was a pause.

"Your name? Mr. Brack. Well, Mr. Brack, we have a problem. Our*235 room has been ransacked." After another pause, she said, "The door wasn't broken into. So whoever on your staff was paid off to let someone in here..."

Kerry could hear a loud voice protesting all the way across the room.

"Would you like to come up here and explain how else they got in?" Dar asked. "Good. See you shortly." She dropped the phone into its cradle. "If those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have gone anywhere near the boat, they're toast."

"I'll go check." Kerry started out the door, only to be hauled to an abrupt halt. 'Whoa!" She turned to find Dar hanging on to the back of her shirt.

"Not by yourself," Dar told her quietly. "And before you say it, yes, I know you're a big girl and you can take care of yourself, and I'm being an overprotective ninny."

Kerry shut her jaw and her face scrunched into a wry grin.

"I'll go," Bud interrupted, going to the door and exiting before Dar could reply.

"B..." Dar looked at the closed door. "d.a.m.n."

"Bet he wanted to get out of talking about pirates." Kerry sighed. "Dar, would you look at this place? What a bunch of jerks."

She walked over to their one bag and examined it. The contents had been pulled out, then carelessly shoved back in, and she felt her blood begin to boil.

A soft knock came at the door and Dar went to it, pulling it open to find the hotel manager and a man in a security guard's uniform standing there. She stepped back and gestured to them to enter. "C'mon in."

Both men entered and looked around. The manager's eyes widened at the state of the room. "This is..." the manager started, then stopped. "I've never had..."

The security guard seemed just as bewildered. "Sir..." He cleared his throat. "Ma'am, when did you find this?"

"Sixty seconds before I called you," Dar stated. "I want an explanation." She folded her arms over her chest and gave the manager a cold stare.

Mr. Brack collected himself. "No one but security and the housekeeper have the keys," he said. "We have checked the security logs, and no one was allowed into this room. I have called the chief housekeeper. Perhaps she can shed some light on what has happened."

"Oh!"

They all turned to see a small, wizened woman in the doorway, dressed in a neat, gray uniform. Dar guessed this was the housekeeper. The woman entered slowly and looked around, wide- eyed.

236*

"What has happened here? Why was this done?" She looked at Dar. "What have you done this for to the nice lady's room?"

The manager drew breath. "Constantina, this room is registered to these two ladies here. What do you mean?"

The woman drew back in dismay. "These ladies? Oh...but..."

She twisted her fingers together. "Oh, sir, I am so sorry. A very nice woman came to me when I was cleaning, and she said she left her key inside the room. You know so many guests to do that, so..." Her eyes moved over the room. "She said this was her room."

The manager frowned. "And you didn't check?"

"She was a nice woman, sir," the housekeeper protested. "Nice clothes, with rings, and why should I think she was not telling me the truth?"

The manager looked like he'd swallowed a live c.o.c.kroach and it was crawling around inside his stomach. "Constantina, go to my office and wait there for me," he said with quiet restraint. "Jan, please bring your camera up here and take photographs of everything." He turned to Dar and Kerry. "I will have you moved to a new room immediately while we start our investigation. I will also be calling in the police."

The housekeeper's eyes widened.

"We can give you the probable ident.i.ty of the person you're looking for," Kerry said. "We've been pestered by some people since our arrival in the islands." She added, "I'd like a chance to discuss that with the police as well."

The manager nodded. "Certainly. Constantina, please." He grasped the woman's arm and steered her outside. "The bellman will be up to move you in just a moment."

"It's okay. It's just this." Dar held up the bag. "All the damage was done to your hotel, not our property."

A facial tic started on the manager's face. He left and took his two employees with him.

For a moment, the room was silent. Dar and Kerry looked at each other, then at the same time, lifted their hands in a shrug and let them drop. "This is nuts," Dar sighed. "This is just nuts."

Kerry's eyes narrowed. "You got that guy Wharton's phone number?"

Dar regarded her warily. "His office, yeah."

"Gimme."

Dar removed a slip of paper from the backpack and took out her own cell phone. "I'll handle it." She took a breath and composed herself.

"Dar-"

"I know," Dar cut her off. "I know you can do this, but I really, really want to."

Kerry subsided.*237 Dar opened the cell and dialed, then put the phone to her ear.

A low, growling voice answered.

Dar started off with being civil. "I need to speak with Mr.

Patrick Wharton."

"Where the h.e.l.l did you get this number?"

Okay, so much for that. "Does it matter? You Wharton?"

"Who the h.e.l.l is this?"

Dar listened to the voice. It was middle-aged, had a slight rasp, and a distinct New England accent. "Someone who's been just east of St. Johns," she replied. "Now, are you Wharton, or not?"

There was silence before the voice grudgingly said, "Yeah."

"Good," Dar answered. "Then maybe you can explain why I've got your hired hands crawling all over my last nerve."

"Look, lady, I don't know who the h.e.l.l you are-"

"You..." Dar barked at top volume, "don't have to know who I am, mister!" She drew in a breath. "All you need to know is that the two-bit amateur you're paying top dollar for couldn't find his way out of a paper bag with instructions printed on the inside of it in twenty-four-point black letters."

"What?"

"I..." Dar dropped her voice to a low purr, "have what you're looking for."

"Who the devil are you!"

"You wouldn't know who I was if I told you my name," Dar told him quietly. "And I'd have been a much happier person if I'd never heard your name or the name of the jacka.s.s you hired, trust me."

"Now you listen here-"

"No, you listen to me." Dar overrode him. "You get your little paid pirate the h.e.l.l out of here or I'll go to the cops and blow your little scheme wide open."

There was silence, and then a click.

Dar eyed the phone. "Hung up on me," she commented.

Kerry scratched her nose. "Well, honey, I think you got across the message you were going for."

"Did I?" Dar mused, as Kerry walked over and slid an arm around her waist.

"Yep," Kerry a.s.sured her. "I wouldn't want to be a fly on DeSalliers' boat walls, unless I could swim really well."

"Ma'am?" The security guard was back with a smaller man.

"Jasar will take you to your new room, okay?"

Kerry picked up their overnight bag. "Lead on."

Grumbling, Dar put the phone away and followed, shouldering the backpack. Her conversation with Wharton hadn't been very satisfactory, and she ran over the brief exchange in her head as she walked down the hallway. Should she have started out more 238*

professionally, explained who she was? Full of self-doubt, Dar felt her brow furrowing. Maybe she should have let Kerry handle it after all. Dar felt very off balance, and she wasn't even sure why she felt that way. She didn't like it.

They stopped in front of a door, and the desk clerk opened it for them. "Here you go, ladies." He stood back to let them enter, then followed them in and shut the door.

This room was on the corner of the cliff, and roughly three times the size of the other. It had a wraparound balcony and a general sense of plushness the other room, though comfortable, had lacked. "The manager said he would be up shortly, with the police,"

the desk clerk said softly. "Is there anything else we can get you?"

Dar dropped her backpack on the couch then sat down next to it. "Yeah," she said. "A pot of strong coffee and a big chocolate milkshake."

"Make that two," Kerry added. "Thanks."

"Right away." The desk clerk left.

Kerry took her time exploring the new room. She opened the door next to the bathroom, exposing a hot tub neatly sunken into a wooden deck. "This is nice," she concluded, peeking out the window. "I guess this is the 'please don't sue us' suite." She turned, leaning against the windowsill and regarding Dar. "Okay, so where are we?"

Dar let her head rest on the back of the couch. "I wish I knew,"

she admitted. "Well, one thing-that idiot woman wasted her time.

Did she really think we'd be stupid enough to leave something...anything...valuable in that hotel room?"

Kerry exhaled. "Good question." She got off the sill and crossed over to sit down on the couch next to Dar. "Maybe she didn't. Maybe she was just trying to prove a point. I got...ah...kinda nasty with her earlier."

Dar's brow rose. Kerry didn't usually go the nasty route. "You did?"

"Yeah." The blonde woman looked a touch sheepish. "I was just so p.i.s.sed off at her, at them, at..." She let out a disgusted sigh.

Dar turned and leaned forward, gazing at Kerry. "Is this whole thing driving you nuts?"

Kerry nodded.

"So it's not just me?"

Kerry shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm just so upset."

Dar edged closer and took her hands. "About what, sweetheart?" She was more than glad to focus her attention on Kerry rather than their perplexing problem.

"Well it's... I feel really stupid saying this, but I'm just really ticked off that they're messing with our vacation," Kerry confessed.

"I feel like they're robbing me, robbing us, and it's making me very*239 mad." Inexplicably, she felt tears welling up. "It's not fair, Dar. I know we didn't get into this on purpose, and we've just been reacting to all this stuff, but..."

Reacting. Dar felt a puzzle piece slip into place. "I know," she murmured. "I think that's part of the problem: we're not in control of any of this; it just keeps rolling over us."

Kerry sighed. "It's not that I don't want to solve this stupid thing."