Lie With Me / Destiny's Hand: Lie With Me

Another moment and we would have made love right there on the path. But he’d pulled away. And then he’d had the nerve to apologize. Again. The anger I’d felt earlier came surging back. I started to sip my wine once more, then decided on coffee instead. I needed to keep a clear head if I was going to deal with the man sitting across from me. And I was going to have to figure out how to deal with him since he’d clearly decided to hang around for the next day or two.

The coffee was strong and bitter, just the way my father brewed it at his restaurant, and it immediately began to counteract the wine I’d had. I decided the question I most needed the answer to was why Roman had told Miranda that he was Kit. Had it been to emphasize to me that he thought of me only as a brother?

I narrowed my eyes on him. Fat chance he was going to get away with that story twice. I was beginning to think that I’d been a fool to believe it the first time he’d told it.

Demetria stepped out onto the terrace and hurried toward our table. “Mrs. Kostas sends her apologies. She’s busy with some of the other guests. She said to tell you that Inspector Ionescu is on his way. Can I get you anything else?”

I smiled at her, assured her that we were fine, and she hurried away again. Through the open doors of the terrace, I could see several guests lined up to talk to Miranda. At least two of the men were wearing hats similar to the one I’d seen on the dead man.

I turned my gaze back to Roman. Maybe I was asking the wrong question. What did it matter why Roman had lied to Miranda? The question I ought to be asking was what was I going to do about the fact that Roman and I were going to be sharing a room?

Roman closed his cell and turned his chair so that he was facing me. “Your cousin lied to us about not knowing the younger man on the beach.”

He was definitely in normal mode, I thought. I quickly gathered my thoughts so that I would appear to be also. “Yes, I agree. I think it might have been Alexi I saw. And she was worried at first that he might be the dead man. Alexi must be in some kind of trouble.” I told Roman about my initial arrival at the Villa Prospero and the scene I’d witnessed between Miranda and Andre Magellan.

Roman poured himself a cup of coffee. “How old is Alexi?”

“Eighteen. According to my father and Helena, he was always a little behind in school. Not retarded, but a little slow developmentally.”

“That might explain his single-minded determination to find his missing cat and the way he’s ignoring Magellan’s warnings and neglecting his duties here.”

I lifted my chin. “I can understand his concern. If Pretzels or Peanuts were missing, I might neglect a few of my duties also.”

“Point taken. What else can you tell me about Alexi?”

“Dad told me that since Miranda’s husband died three years ago, she’s depended on Alexi to help her run the place.”

“He would have been fifteen. That’s a lot of responsibility for a young man.” Roman sipped coffee and leaned back in his chair. “I was a little older than that when I started to take an active role at Oliver Enterprises. After my mother died, my dad…well, he wasn’t himself for a while. I had to take on more responsibility in the company—more than he would have given me under other circumstances.”

“You handled it.” I couldn’t imagine Roman not being able to handle anything.

His lips curved slightly. “Actually, I loved it. Working at Oliver Enterprises, expanding our business has always been my goal. So much so that I didn’t want to go to college. My dad insisted. Good thing or I never would have ended up being Kit’s roommate.” He sipped more coffee. “Alexi may not be as enthusiastic about running this hotel. Miranda must have asked him not to hang around the Castello. He may be acting out a bit in rebellion.”

I studied him. It occurred to me that Roman and I had never sat like this before—just the two of us talking. Thinking about it, I realized that we’d always been with my family or his—except for those two times in his hospital room. It was at that moment that I caught a glimpse of that white bird again spiraling upward in the blue sky above the sea. The same feelings I’d experienced on the cliff path moved through me. And I knew—the same way that I often sensed things with animals—that this was where I was meant to be and that Roman was meant to be here with me. Whatever adventure lay ahead of me on this island, Roman was fated to be a part of it.

“There’s another problem.” Roman paused, then said, “Philly?”

“Sorry.” I gathered my thoughts and met his eyes. “You were saying there’s a problem.”

“Inspector Ionescu may have some trouble investigating a murder with no body. The only evidence we have to show him is that shell casing. The cell phone will help with identification, but it doesn’t prove a homicide.”

“I know what I saw.”

“And I believe you.” Roman topped off the coffee in our cups. “But I’m trying to look at the situation from your brother Nik’s point of view.”

I saw where he was going. Nik would see everything through a cop’s skeptical eyes.

“There’s very little for the police to work with. If you wanted to tell them that you think it might have been your cousin arguing with the man just before he was shot, Alexi could at least corroborate your story about seeing them on the beach.”

“I don’t want to say that yet. I can’t be positive that it was Alexi. I’ve never even met him.”

“Are you worried that Alexi could be the shooter?” Roman asked.

“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “The man arguing with the victim wouldn’t have had time to get all the way up the cliff to where I think the shooter was.”

“Good point.” Roman sipped more coffee, studying me over the rim of his cup.

“It’s too bad that Inspector Ionescu can’t question Ariel.”

Roman’s brows shot up. “The cat?”

I nodded. “She may have witnessed the murder.”

“Could you question her?”

I glanced around. “I’d like to. I’m worried about her. The sniper shot twice at her.”

“Do you think she can tell you who he is?”

I studied him for a moment. It occurred to me that he’d not once questioned anything I’d told him about my communication with Ariel. He seemed to accept my ability to connect with animals with the same ease that my family did. “I don’t know if she saw who it was. If the killing shot came from where the other shots came from, the shooter was too far up the cliff side.”

“But he may have been closer to the beach when he fired that shot.”

I frowned. Neither of us said anything, but that possibility meant that the man we were beginning to believe was Alexi could have shot the older man.

“I’ll ask her the next time I see her.”

“Just how do you do it—communicate with animals, I mean?”

“You’re very accepting of my ability.”

“I’ve listened to Kit brag about you for years. But he’s never shared the specifics of how it works. Do they talk to you?”

“Sometimes I hear actual words in my head. But other times it’s all images and sometimes colors. With Ariel, I saw red.” I clasped my hands tightly in front of me. “It was all that blood on the white sand.” When I’d described what had happened to Roman, I’d summarized my communication with Ariel, but I’d left out most of the specifics. “When I first saw her through my camera lens, I sensed emotions—fear, frustration and a huge sense of urgency. She wanted something and she wasn’t about to be soothed. After the younger man leaned over to pet her, she backed away.”

“Isn’t it odd that she would back away if the younger man was Alexi?”

I thought about it for a moment. Once again talking to Roman was helping me to clarify everything. “She wanted something—help, I think. That was the first thing she said to me when she appeared around the rocks. When I found the body, I assumed she wanted help for him. But I think she was looking for help even before the man in the hat was shot. That’s why she wouldn’t let the younger man pet her for long. She was on a mission.”

“Any ideas about why she ran toward you for help after the man in the hat was killed?”

I hadn’t considered that. “When I first felt a connection with her, the feelings were so intense. Perhaps she sensed me, too. She also sent me an image. I didn’t mention it earlier because it didn’t seem to be connected to the murder. I saw a white cat lying motionless in a dark place.”

“Her brother?”

“That’s what I’m wondering. I have a lot of questions that I think she could answer. And I have a few for Alexi, too.”

“You’re not going to keep out of this, are you?”