Still Waters: The Island / Below the Surface

The skull.

8 (#u4fb49ff0-0a38-5ef7-adfe-d67986476231)

Ashley surprised Beth at the club on Friday.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Beth asked when Ashley appeared at her door.

“Letting you take me to lunch.”

“Cool.”

Ashley slid into one of the chairs in front of Beth’s desk. “I don’t know why, but now you’ve got me going.”

Beth pushed back the menu she had been going over and looked up, waiting for her friend to go on.

Ashley shrugged a little sheepishly. “Well, I told you the Coast Guard found nothing.”

“Yeah. So...?”

“I tried to find out if the Monocos’ boat really had been seen.”

“And?”

“Your friend Manny actually made inquiries up in Palm Beach County. I checked with the officials there, and no one ever made an official report about their boat having been sighted. And no one ever officially filed a missing persons report.”

“I thought Manny did.”

Ashley shrugged. “Nothing official. According to the police up there, there were inquiries made, that was all. An officer might have talked him out of making an official report, because when you’re over twenty-one, it isn’t illegal to disappear, as long as you choose to do so.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“Nowhere. Just that you’ve made it into a mystery that intrigues me. Now let’s go eat, or I’ll run out of lunch break.”

Beth nodded and rose, and they went downstairs to the restaurant. They both ordered the mahimahi, which, the waiter assured them, had been caught that morning by some of the staff. As he started to move away, Beth suddenly caught his arm. “Henry, who is that, third table down, her back to us?”

“Ah. Maria Lopez. You’ve met her, right?”

“Yes, but only once.”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Henry said admiringly. “She was an international dance champion. They called her the queen of salsa.”

“I know. Didn’t she work out of the Monoco studios?”

“I believe so. She danced all over the world. She’s sixty now, if she’s a day. She has the figure of a young girl, yes?”

“A well-endowed young girl,” Ashley murmured, grinning. “She’s striking.”

“Excuse me,” Beth said. She glanced at Henry and explained. “I have an idea about the club and salsa lessons. Maria Lopez being here today is too perfect. Be right back.”

She was obsessed, Beth realized, but it was all right, because she knew she was obsessed. Hell, even Ashley admitted that her curiosity had been piqued. “Ms. Lopez?” Beth said, feeling comfortable, because it was perfectly within her duties to greet the woman. “How very nice to see you.”

The woman, as beautiful as Henry had said, turned to her.

She frowned slightly, trying to determine just who Beth might be; then a smile, soft and lovely, warmed her face. “Hello, Miss Anderson, isn’t it?”

“Beth, please.”

“Will you have a seat?”

“It’s so wonderful to see you here,” Beth said, sitting down.

“I like to come down by the water,” Maria said. “The sea and sun can be so rejuvenating, don’t you believe?”

“Definitely,” Beth agreed. Where, and how, did she plunge in? “In fact, I was just out at Calliope Key, and that made me think of an old friend of yours. Didn’t you work with Ted Monoco?”

Maria’s dark eyes flashed, and for a moment, Beth was afraid she had made the woman angry. But then Maria said, “Oh, yes. Ted and Molly. Such wonderful people. Those were the days. The studios he ran were the best. He gave people the gift of movement, the gift of dance.”

“How wonderful,” Beth murmured. “I guess now...he’s giving himself the gift of the sea and the sun.”

Maria Lopez sat stiffly for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I fear not.”

Beth swallowed carefully. “What do you mean?” she asked, careful not to give away her own thoughts.

“I believe something has happened to them. I would have heard from them otherwise, and there has been no word. I miss them,” she said softly. “And the worst is...there seems to be nothing I can do.” She forced a smile. “So here I am. Lunching near the sea.”

“I’m so sorry,” Beth said. She paused for a moment, then asked, “Tell me, do you still dance?”

“Sometimes, yes,” Maria said.

“I was wondering if...perhaps...you would consider dancing for our Summer Sizzler here at the club.”

Maria arched a delicate brow.

“I’d love to do something extraordinary,” Beth explained.

Maria was clearly flattered but not yet convinced. “To dance, one needs a partner. Perhaps you could speak to someone at Ted’s old studio, the main studio, on South Beach. All the studios were bought by a man named Eduardo Shea. He does well.”

This was too perfect, Beth thought, everything falling into place so casually and naturally.

“So I’ve heard—Manny told me,” she explained. “You know Manny Ortega, I’m sure.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” She offered Beth a full smile. “Manny is very talented, a lovely man. He knows Eduardo, as well. Eduardo is also quite an interesting man, half Cuban, half Irish. I can dance for you—with a partner, of course. But you should bring dance to your members, as well.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking. That we should offer lessons here.”

“Your members will have so much fun. And the single men will do much better with the ladies.”

“Maria, what a wonderful idea.”