“Anyone smart enough to run this kind of cover-up would use a burner phone,” Jana says. “Nobody calls from landlines anymore.”

“Is that my problem?!” Paolo shouts. “Come on, I told you everything I know. Let me out of here.”

“Let’s go,” Quinn says, already strolling toward their SUV. “The others are meeting us in a couple of hours.” When Jana and Theo shake their heads and begin to follow, Paolo freaks out all over again, screaming with all of his lung capacity. Quinn suggests that Theo give the man a hand, and he does, reluctantly: clearing the sand away from Paolo’s left arm.

“Dig yourself out.”

Chapter 30

THE STINGRAYS

Up in the penthouse suite Quinn has ordered a full breakfast for the team, but no one feels like eating. Aside from Otto, of course, who never turns down a hot meal. He tucks into an egg-and-sausage scramble bowl as if a guard is about to knock on his door at any moment and lead him down to the executioner’s block.

“Okay, Quinn,” Theo says, “so to recap, the lifeguard didn’t do it, the rich kid didn’t do it, and his yacht captain didn’t do it.”

“That’s correct,” Quinn replies.

“Which leaves us with Nigel James, the islander cop. I’ve liked him for this crime since the moment I met him. So what are we waiting for? Let’s nail him.”

“Hold on,” Jana says. “Just a few hours ago you were about to bury the lifeguard alive because you were convinced he did it.”

“No, I said he knew about it. I didn’t think he actually did it.”

Kate interrupts. “Are we really discounting Jamie Halsey and Jacob Kurtz? Quinn, you said you thought this was a conspiracy—that we most likely have two suspects working in tandem. I can think of no better pair.”

“Sure,” Otto says through a mouth full of scrambled egg, “but everybody agrees that Nigel James was the last person to see her alive. I’m with Theo on this. Let’s put this cop in our crosshairs and see what he does.”

“No,” Quinn says. “We’ve pushed Officer James as far as we can. If we try a full-court press on him now, he’ll have the entire police force looking for any flimsy excuse to boot us off the island.”

“So then…we go into stealth mode and lay an extremely clever trap?” Jana asks with a hopeful smile on her face.

“No,” Quinn says. “Right now, I suggest you all finish your breakfast and go for a swim. Loosen up your muscles a bit.”

“Wait—what?” Kate asks.

“I’ll be flying back to the US,” Quinn tells them. “I’ve got a noon flight up to Boston.”

A sour look washes over Theo’s face as he throws up his hands. “Well, that’s just awesome. Some killer got the best of us? Are we seriously giving up?”

“Matthew, dear,” Jana says, “is there something we’re missing?”

“Look, I’m not leaving until we find Paige,” Kate says. “Or her body.”