“But I saw her come in here last night. You were serving her. You must remember.”

The woman shrugs.

“I’m worried about her, that’s all. And my daughter. She’s such a daddy’s girl. She’ll be missing me.”

The shy smile, that beautiful smile, and the bashful eyes. It never fails. He smiles it right at her, and the woman cannot look away. She takes a deep breath, visibly softening. “She only came in to ask for a taxi. She didn’t stay.”

Well, why didn’t you say that first off, thinks the man. He smiles again, not completely hiding the irritation that he feels. “Do you know where she went in the taxi?”

“Nope.” How can that be true? The second smile hasn’t been as effective, clearly. She stares at him, daring him to ask again.

“Ah,” says the man. “Well, thanks for your time, I suppose.” He turns to leave.

“Not many places she could have gone, though.”

“Oh?”

“Only three other hotels on the island, and one of them is shut for the winter.”

“Thanks,” says the man, pulling open the door.

“This is a small place,” says the woman, with a warning tone. “There are eyes everywhere, you know. No police, but eyes everywhere.”

This is interesting. “No police?”

“There was one, once. But he tried to arrest one of ours, so we locked him in his own cells. We police ourselves, these days. Have done for twenty years. And we are very, very, good at it.” She folds her arms and lowers her chin to look at him from under her brow.

The man sits on his rage. He takes a slow, deep breath. Then he holds up a hand in farewell, leaves the hotel, and goes down the steps to the road.

CHAPTER

51

NOW

Ruby

Friday, December 28

IT WAS PITCH dark outside. In winter, this far north, the hours of daylight were limited to the middle part of the day; in summer, the opposite was true, with only a few hours of darkness. When Ruby drew the curtains open, she could barely make out the expanse of the beach that she knew stretched out in front of them, and to the right of that, the ocean. The hotel boasted the best view of any of the three hotels on the island. She’d chosen it because of the location, close enough to where she needed to be, but not so close that anyone would see what she was doing or try to interfere with the plan.