Marcia Clark

Trouble in Paradise

Book 2.5 in the Rachel Knight series, 2013

“Counsel, you’d better listen up because I’m not going to repeat myself.” Judge Schoen’s trademark glare took in all of us as she waited for the hubbub to die down. Within seconds, the courtroom fell silent and the lawyers who’d been milling around the prosecution counsel table came to attention. “I’m taking a fifteen-minute recess, no more, no less. When I come back you’ll be ready with either trial dates or deals. Or else…” She banged her gavel and stomped off the bench. The low hum of activity immediately rose to a semi-roar. Chuck Overmeyer, a veteran public defender and one of my favorite worthy adversaries, gave me the well-practiced smile that had won more than its fair share of verdicts.

“Come on, Rachel. Let my guy plead to one count. You know you need him. He’s the perfect eyewitness-”

“With a rap sheet long enough to bury a mummy in,” I said.

“Hey, you know what they say: when you commit crimes in hell, you don’t get angels for witnesses.”

I rolled my eyes even though I’d used the bromide myself. All of us prosecutors had to fall back on it eventually. In the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, it didn’t matter what area or unit you were assigned to; at some point you were going to wind up with a witness who’d garnered a passel of fleas by lying down with too many dogs.

But I had to smile. Chuck was a hell of a salesman. And it was true that his small-time crook of a client had the kind of self-deprecating charm juries love-not to mention a bird’s-eye view of the murder I had to prove. “Fine,” I said. “But if he backs up on me on the witness stand, gives me any grief whatsoever, I’m putting all four of his burglary counts back on the table.”

Chuck nodded eagerly. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Yes, you would.” We exchanged a smile. “Go get your guy ready. I’ll tell the clerk to call our case.”

Chuck thanked me, then headed for the lockup.

Thanks to the judges, who’d refused to let the lawyers push all their December cases into January, this was my only trial for the entire month. With Chuck’s case off the table, I had three gloriously open weeks just begging to be turned into a much-needed vacation. So I called Graden Hales, the lieutenant of LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division-and, more important, my boyfriend-to see if he could get away. He couldn’t, but he came up with a suggestion for me and my besties, fellow Special Trials prosecutor Toni LaCollier and Robbery-Homicide detective Bailey Keller, that sounded fabulous. At least, it did to me.

Graden was actually the intended recipient of the largesse. He’d garnered a fan club in Aruba after helping to catch a serial rapist who was targeting the guests at the Caribbean Queen, the island’s city-sized twelve-star resort. Other than Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, serious crime just didn’t happen in Aruba. Theft-mostly petty-drunk driving, and weed were about the extent of it. So the local police had been completely stymied until Graden stepped in to lend a hand. In gratitude, the owner of the resort had offered him its best suite anytime he liked for as long as he liked, free of charge. Graden, having created a megapopular video game, was a multimillionaire and didn’t need the freebie. But Toni, Bailey, and I, who lived on civil-service wages, could never have afforded the freight at that posh resort. Luckily for us, the manager had graciously declared that any friend of Graden’s was a friend of his. All we’d need to pay for was the flight.

In fairness, I didn’t initially reveal the freebie kicker when I presented the idea to Toni and Bailey over drinks at our “Cheers”-the bar in the Biltmore Hotel, where I was a permanent resident.

“Aruba?” Toni frowned. “Why does it have to be the Morbid Murder-Mystery Tour? What’s wrong with Tortola? Or St. Barts?”

“Or good old Maui?” Bailey added. “Land of Lava Flows and Pupu Platters?”

“Nothing,” I said. “That is, if you can afford to turn down a free three-bedroom suite in a twelve-star resort that’s right on the beach.”

“Damn.” Bailey drained the last of her martini. “How can we pass up a deal like that?”

Toni finished her drink as well. “We can’t.” She set down her glass and redid her lip gloss, though it didn’t need refreshing. Toni is one of those women who always look perfect. We love her anyway.

I signaled to Drew, the bartender, that we were ready for another round. Drew, one of the most smoothly gorgeous men I’ve ever seen, had become one of my best friends and-cliché though it is-my confidant after I’d moved into the Biltmore. The hotel is a five-star beauty in downtown Los Angeles, and living there is a little slice of heaven. No dishes, no laundry, no vacuuming, and I never have to worry about drinking and driving. Neither do Toni and Bailey, who routinely crash in my suite. Given the frequency of our visits to the bar, it wasn’t such a surprise that Drew and Bailey eventually hooked up. They’ve been dating for the past couple of years now, and they’re still going strong.

When Drew brought our drinks, I raised my glass. “To white sand, warm water, and ice-cold drinks.”

“Ten days of nothing to do,” Bailey said as she clinked.

“No suits, no calendar, no judges,” Toni declared.

Drew started to pull out his cell phone. “Hold on, now. I think I’d better call J.D.”

J. D. Morgan was Toni’s boyfriend-and he also happened to be a superior court judge. Toni put down her drink and grabbed at Drew’s phone. “Give me that!”

Drew laughed and stepped out of reach.

I sighed happily. “To ten days of nothing but play.”

“This place is incredible,” Bailey said as she craned her head out through the window of the taxi and tilted her face up to the midmorning sun.

I was doing the same on my side. It’d been raining and in the forties when we left Los Angeles, but here in Aruba the sky was a clear, limitless blue and the balmy wind was so soft it felt like cashmere. Though the landscape was more austere than Hawaii, its openness beautifully showcased the glittering sand and topaz water along the coast. I breathed in the fresh, salty air and closed my eyes. Heaven.

Toni looked out at the view over the rim of her sunglasses. “I’m going to be on that beach with a drink in exactly ten minutes.”

I held up my hand for a high five, and she slapped it. “Then you’ll be about three minutes behind me,” I said.

But when we got to the hotel, there was a long line at the front desk and the lobby was packed. Toni rolled her eyes and Bailey groaned.

“Take out your gun,” I joked.

Bailey seemed to be seriously considering it when a voice called out, “Ms. Knight!” I turned to see a tall, blonde, apple-cheeked man hurrying toward us, his hand extended and a wide smile on his face.

“What a pleasure to meet friends of Graden Hales!” he said as he vigorously shook our hands. “He’s quite the hero around here. And I must say that I’m delighted to have members of the Los Angeles Police Department as guests. Welcome!”

“Well, actually, we’re-,” Toni began.

I quickly jumped in to keep her from correcting him. “Prosecutor” was close enough, wasn’t it? “We’re delighted to be here, Mr…?”

“Call me Diederik. I’m sorry about these crowds. It always fills up for the Carnival celebration.”

“Carnival?” I asked.

“Kind of like our Mardi Gras. It’ll be like this until it ends on Ash Wednesday. Parties, parades, people go a little bit crazy, but it’s all in good fun. Now let me show you to your suite. It’s a beautiful day and”-he looked at his watch-“it’s only ten o’clock, so you’ve still got most of it ahead of you.”

He pulled us out of the line and summoned a bellboy to take our bags. The twentysomething couple who’d been ahead of us turned and glared. I shrugged, gave them a phony smile of apology, and trotted out of the lobby behind Diederik. When we reached a glass-walled corridor, I noticed a camera crew set up at the edge of the restaurant’s patio.

“What are they shooting?” Toni asked.

Diederik made a face. “A reality show. About a Mississippi family and their nine-year-old wunderkind, Tammy Susie. Though what makes her a wunderkind isn’t entirely clear to me.” He sighed. “We’re all hoping they’ll be finished shooting soon. They’re… a challenging group.” Diederik stopped abruptly. “Please don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“Said what?” I grinned.

Diederik gave me a grateful smile. “Just let me know if they bother you.”

“Why would they bother us?” Bailey asked.

Diederik sighed. “Because they have the suite next to yours. It’s one of our best suites, and all the others in that class were taken.”

“We’ll be fine,” Toni said. The steel in her voice told me she intended to deal with any issues the Tammy Susie clan might pose herself. I smiled inwardly. If they did cause any problems, it wouldn’t be for long. Toni gets what she wants, and she gets it now. Last summer, we’d gone to a Steely Dan concert at the Greek, a beautiful outdoor amphitheater. The band had barely played the first notes of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” when a couple in front of us stood up and started to dance (badly), which completely blocked our view of the stage. Toni leaned forward and said something to them. After a quick backward glance, the male pulled his girlfriend down onto the bench so fast they bounced. Toni wouldn’t tell me what she said, but the couple stayed in their seats for the rest of the concert. Bottom line: the proximity of the Tammy Susie company didn’t worry me.

We got out of the elevator at the top floor, which was occupied by only our and Tammy Susie’s suites. When I got inside, I found out why. Our suite was probably bigger than most single-family homes: three spacious bedrooms-each with its own bathroom-a dining room, a living room with a wet bar, and a wide balcony that wrapped around the entire suite and afforded an unobstructed 270-degree view of the ocean. I’d never seen anything like it.

Personally, I would’ve been happy to just plop down on one of the plushy lounge chairs on that balcony for the rest of the day. But Toni wasn’t having it. The door had barely closed behind Diederik when she gave an authoritative clap and ordered, “Let’s hit it. Into our suits and onto that beach. Now.”

There’s no point arguing when she’s in a mood like this. We were suited up-our glowing winter-white bodies tastefully covered in sarongs-and marching toward the sand in under ten minutes.

“I’m going native,” Bailey said, pointing to a grass-roofed open bar. “Anyone want to join me in a fruity umbrella drink?”

“Some of us can’t afford the calories,” Toni said, shooting daggers at Bailey. “Get me a vodka soda.”

Bailey is one of those tall, lean types who can eat like a stevedore and never gain a pound. Having a metabolism so despicably impervious to weight gain is unforgivable. Yet we forgive her. And we tell her just how hard we plan to laugh when it all catches up to her. I saluted and fell in behind Bailey while Toni went to claim us a real umbrella and some lounge chairs. Bailey and I reached the open-air hut that housed the bar, and she leaned in toward the bartender, a short, dark-skinned young man with soulful eyes. “I’ll have a piña colada and two Ketel One and sodas with lime for my friends. Oh, and a bag of those potato chips, please.”

“Must you?” I asked.

“What?” Bailey replied, feigning innocence. “You don’t have to have any.”

I looked at her, exasperated. “Yeah, right.” Bailey was well aware that I could never resist.

Toni had scored us a primo spot close, but not too close, to the water. A gentle breeze blew the scent of lemon blossoms our way, thanks to all the lemon trees that had been planted around the hotel. The sun was just warm enough to feel good on our backs, and the sparkling water looked enticing. Perfect. We’d just dug our feet into the sand and raised our glasses to toast the beginning of our Caribbean island vacay when a skinny young woman in flowered Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt that said REALITY SUX scurried over to us. She darted a glance around the beach and nervously tucked a hank of long brown hair behind her left ear, then thrust out her hand. Her words shot out at us as though they were spring-loaded.

“Hi, I’m Erica. Erica Garber. Pleased to meet you and sorry for interrupting and everything. I’m not usually like this, seriously, I’m not. But I saw you guys in the lobby and I heard you were cops and I…” She finally paused, then swallowed with a near audible gulp and dragged in a heavy breath. “I need help. Seriously, big-time.”

“Then you’ll need to call the local police,” Bailey said. “We’re just-”

“I can’t go to the local police! I’ll be fired, I’ll never work again, my career will be ruined! You’ve got to help me.” She gave us a beseeching look that would’ve made Grover Norquist raise taxes.

I couldn’t stop myself. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m a production assistant on Tammy Susie and Company. I’m Tammy Susie’s wrangler-”

“Whose… what?” Toni wrinkled her brow.

“I’m Tammy Susie’s… well, basically, I’m her gofer.” Uttering those words unleashed Erica’s pent-up frustration. “My parents went into hock to put me through Harvard, I graduated with honors, won an award for my screenplay in drama lit class, and now I fetch caramel corn and Slurpees for a nine-year-old beauty-pageant runner-up.” She held up a hand. “Excuse me, sorry. Anyway, we’re taping here because the family wanted a vacation, so the producers decided to kill two birds with one stone by making their vacation an episode. The reason I’m jumping you like this is… she’s gone missing, and if I don’t find her quick, I’ll be out of a job.”

Oh, and a missing child was kinda bad news too. But I got why she couldn’t afford to call in the police. “As of when?” I asked.

“As of an hour and a half ago. She’s wandered off before, and the show gives her a limo to take her pretty much wherever and whenever, but-”

“So she might just be rolling around the island with her chauffeur,” Bailey said.

“She might, but I just… have a bad feeling about the way it all went down-”

“Which is?” I asked.

Erica swallowed again and took a deep breath. “We went shopping… she wanted to get ‘in character’ for her scenes with a fortune-teller-”

“Why on earth would you want to do a show with one of those crackpots?” Toni asked, incredulous.

“Fortune-telling is big on the island. The producers thought it would be fun to show all the high jinks Tammy Susie and her family got into. Anyway, Tammy Susie decided she wanted to wear something ‘Gypsy’ for the show, so I had to take her shopping. I think it was just an excuse to go to the Royal Plaza Mall. She loves that place.”

“Where’s the Royal Plaza Mall?” I asked. From what I saw on the way to the hotel, there was no shopping mall nearby.

“Downtown, in Oranjestad. The place looks like Disneyland… on crack. Tammy Susie loves it. We wound up at this little boutique. Tammy found a couple of skirts she liked, so she went to the dressing room to try them on. I stayed right outside… well, pretty close. I just went over to the jewelry counter for, like, maybe five minutes at most, but-”

“How’d you get to the mall?” I asked. “Did you take the limo?”

“No, we took a bus. Her choice. She said she was tired of always riding in a limo.”

“Who can blame her?” Toni asked, deadpan.

But the sarcasm was lost on Erica, who was practically wringing her hands by now.

“When you went back to check on her, she was gone,” I said.

Erica nodded.

“Isn’t it possible that Tammy Susie just got lost?” Bailey asked.

Erica nodded. “Yeah. But she hasn’t called. And, believe me, she knows my number.”

“And I take it she didn’t answer when you called her,” I said. Erica shook her head.

Bailey shrugged. “Maybe she took off on purpose. Wanted to get away, have some kid time.”

Erica shook her head. “Not Tammy Susie. She lives for this show. That girl sucks up attention like a dry sponge.”

But even as she uttered the words, Erica turned away and swiped at her cheek. This wasn’t just about losing a job. She really cared about the little girl. By the looks on Bailey’s and Toni’s faces, I saw that those tears had undone all of us. We exchanged glances, and Bailey gave me a look that said, Why not? I saw her point. Given Tammy Susie’s access to limos and her history of wandering away, the police were unlikely to take action this soon. And at this point, there was nothing the police could do that we couldn’t. In fact, unencumbered by paperwork and procedure, we’d be able to do it a hell of a lot faster.

Toni put down her drink and looked Erica in the eye. “Okay, listen up. We’ll help you. But you have to calm down because we need you to be able to think. And I’m telling you right now that if we don’t find Tammy Susie pretty damn quick, we’re going straight to the police.”

“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” Erica swallowed her remaining tears. “You’re saving my life.”

“You have a picture of Tammy Susie?” I asked.

“Seriously? You’ve never seen the show?” We all shook our heads. Erica looked at us as though we’d just stepped out of a spaceship from Mars. “It’s only, like, the biggest reality hit since Survivor.” She scrolled through her cell phone and then passed it to us. The face of a chubby little girl with a cupid’s bow of a mouth and blonde ringlets grinned back at me mischievously.

“So if someone recognized her, they’d know she was worth a lot of money,” Toni said.

“Which is what has you worried,” Bailey said.

Erica blanched visibly and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I’m just hoping she kept the scarf on. She had a red-and-pink scarf tied around her head, Gypsy-style. We were shopping for one of those long, wide skirts to match.”

Toni frowned. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to buy the skirt and then look for a scarf?”

Erica sighed. “Welcome to my world. Tammy Susie wasn’t about to let go of that scarf.” She described what the girl had been wearing. Other than the scarf, Tammy Susie was dressed unremarkably in a pair of cutoff jeans, a blue T-shirt with pink daisies, and white sandals. We told Erica we’d meet her in the lobby and went back to the room to change into kid-hunting attire. For Toni, that meant wedge sneakers that coordinated with her matching shorts and tank top. For Bailey and me, that meant running shoes and track pants. Bailey managed to make that look elegant. Me… not so much.

When we got to the lobby, Erica was nowhere to be found. We walked out to the front of the hotel-didn’t see her there either. But then we heard her hiss from behind a large bush just outside the lobby door. “Get us a cab,” she whispered. “Tell him to take us to the Royal Plaza.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “What are you doing in that tree? And by the way, I’m not sick of limos, so why don’t we use one?”

“The limos work for the show. If I call one, everyone’ll know I’m out here without Tammy Susie.”

I flagged down a cab while Toni muttered under her breath about white girls and their silly TV shows.

Erica’s description of the Royal Plaza Mall as Disneyland on crack wasn’t too far off. Actually, it reminded me of Oz. Or the top tier of a wedding cake. You could probably see it from space. Ornately carved spires of bright pink lined the rooftop, and turquoise canopies suspended like eyelids over white balconies stretched across the front of the building. A huge gold dome sat at the center of the plaza. I’ve seen bigger malls, but none that were brighter. And it was situated on the waterfront, just a stone’s throw from the port. I didn’t blame Tammy Susie for liking the place.

With Erica in the lead, we headed for the shop where Tammy Susie disappeared. I looked into the stores we passed and noticed that they were largely stocked with merchandise from high-end designers. If there was a casual skirt under two hundred dollars, I sure didn’t see it.

“A nine-year-old shops here?” Bailey said.

“For an outfit she’ll never wear again?” Toni added.

“Money’s not an issue,” Erica said. “The whole family’s stinkin’ rich. Now.”

As we wound our way through the mall, it occurred to me that it would be relatively easy for a kidnapper to blend into the crowd with Tammy Susie. Because Aruba had once been the property of the Netherlands-and before that had been conquered by Spain-there was a rich mix of ethnicities everywhere you looked. From tall and blonde, like Diederik, to short and black, there was every racial permutation in abundance here. A little blonde girl like Tammy Susie wouldn’t attract any notice, regardless of who was with her-unless you recognized her famous face.

I still hadn’t ruled out the possibility that Tammy Susie had deliberately flown the coop. Being the center of a show can be a lot of pressure for anyone, let alone a nine-year-old. And Erica had said they were in their third season. But the fact that she hadn’t called in-by now it’d been about two hours-did worry me. I thought about who might have snatched her. If it was someone who recognized her, we could expect a ransom demand soon-unless it was someone who’d seen her show, pegged it as the demise of civilization as we knew it, and was holding on to her to prevent any further erosion in the collective IQ level in English-speaking countries.

On a serious note, I was even more worried about the possibility that she’d been snatched by someone who didn’t recognize her… I couldn’t bear to think about where that scenario might end. It would be far better if this was a kidnapping for ransom. At least Tammy Susie’s people would have no problem paying up.

Finally, Erica stopped at a small boutique that featured brightly colored oceanscape and flowered clothing.

“You took her here?” Bailey asked.

It was a fair question. I didn’t see any kids’ clothing in the window.

“First of all, I didn’t take her anywhere. Tammy Susie took me here. And depending on the cut, she’s big enough to wear women’s sizes. She takes after… both sides of the family.” Translation: it was a big-boned family.

Just to lighten the mood, I cracked a little joke. “Look on the bright side, Erica. You wouldn’t have known Tammy Susie’s dress size if you’d gone to work for Scorsese.”

Erica glowered at me. Hey, they can’t all be gold. Jeez. I shrugged and we entered the store. The decorator had a penchant for sensory saturation. Caribbean music and an overly sweet scent filled the air, and every inch was packed with bright clothing and accessories. Blouses hung on the wall, pants were draped on bamboo chairs, and costume jewelry dripped fetchingly from the branches of tiny metal trees. It was no mystery why a young girl was attracted to this kaleidoscope of the senses. A small, light-skinned Hispanic girl with waist-length hair who was standing behind a glass counter smiled at us hopefully. “Can I help you?”

Erica had entered behind us, and now I felt her tugging on my sleeve. I turned. “What?”

“She’s the one who helped us. Don’t let her see me, okay?”

It didn’t seem worth arguing that this girl’s identification of Erica was the least of her problems. “Send Tammy Susie’s photo to my phone. Right now.”

Erica backed out of the store, and I approached the salesgirl. “We’re looking for a girl, about so tall.” I gestured four feet in height. “She was wearing a red-and-pink scarf on her head and she tried on some clothes here a couple of hours ago?”

The salesgirl’s brow wrinkled, and she stared off for a moment. “You mean Tammy Susie?”

I didn’t need her blabbing that the little celeb had dropped off the radar, so I tossed out the first lie that came to mind. “Yes. We’re working on the show, and Tammy Susie lost her uh… scarf. We need it for the episode we’re taping now. Can we check out your dressing rooms?”

“Sure, no problem.” She led us to the back of the store, where drapes closed off the fitting area. She pulled them back and gestured to the dressing rooms. We checked every room, looked behind mirrors and under chairs… no Tammy Susie. Bailey moved back toward the draped archway and pointed to a door that was next to the first dressing room on the left. “Where does that lead?”

“Just to the office.” The girl opened the door and showed us a small room that held a chair, a sofa, and a dusty computer sitting on a wooden table.

I walked around behind the table and scanned the room. A full-length mirror on the wall to my right looked a little askew. Crooked hanging things always make me nuts, so I went over and straightened it. And that’s when I noticed the mirror was actually hanging on a door. The mirror was large enough to hide the knob and obscure the seam where the door fitted into the wall. “What about this?” I asked.

“I never saw that before,” the girl said. “The owner’s the only one who uses this office, so I hardly ever come in here.”

I turned the knob and pulled, taking care not to knock the mirror down. It led out of the store and into another side of the mall. I stepped through and studied the knob from the outside, searching for pry marks or some evidence of forced entry. It looked pristine to me. I waved Bailey and Toni out to give me their opinions.

“Looks clean,” Bailey said.

“Yeah,” Toni said. “But what’s that?” She bent down and picked up a little red beaded bracelet with a silver smiley face in the center.

We all exchanged looks. It appeared to be a kid’s bracelet. If it was Tammy Susie’s, the theory that she’d just wandered off on her own or even sneaked away on purpose could pretty much be ruled out. No way would a nine-year-old have discovered that office door, let alone the door behind the mirror. The possibility that we were dealing with a kidnapping had just been upgraded into a likelihood. I leaned down to examine the area for blood, hair, or some other signs of a struggle. “What’s that?” I pointed to a smudge on the door frame.

Bailey peered at it. “Hard to tell just by looking. Might be blood, but it could be dirt.”

Toni called out to the salesgirl through the doorway. “Where’s the store owner?”

As the person most likely to know the layout of the mall and where all the doors were in this store, the owner made for an attractive suspect.

“At home, probably. She doesn’t come in much.”

She. A woman was less likely to be a kidnapper, but then again Tammy Susie was a pretty small target, even if she was, as Erica intimated, a tad chunky. “Why not?” I asked.

The girl shrugged. “It’s hard for her to get around. Grieta’s pretty old.”

Old. But to this girl that might mean thirty-nine. “How old?”

“We just threw her a party for her eighty-first birthday.”

Eighty-one was a little too old to handle the kidnapping. At least, without help.

“Does anyone work here besides you?” I asked.

“No. Not anymore. Renzo, that’s Grieta’s nephew, used to work on the weekends, but he just left for school up in Amherst.”

“How’s the store doing? Sales good?” Bailey asked.

I knew she was fishing around for motive. If the store was going under, an owner might get desperate enough to collaborate in a kidnapping scheme for some quick cash.

“Sales are okay…”

The way she trailed off told me sales were nothing to write home about. Maybe we were onto something.

“Okay… but not good,” I said. “Is Grieta maybe a little strapped for money?”

“Grieta? Strapped for money?” The girl laughed. “Her husband left her a fortune. This store’s just a hobby.”

I won’t lie. The owner wasn’t looking like our best suspect.

“Do you remember seeing anyone else in the store at the time the little girl was here?” Toni asked.

“I think the lady who works for Tammy Susie was here. I’m pretty sure I showed her a pair of Tahitian pearl earrings.”

Tahitian pearls are not cheap. That Erica has nice taste. And I bet she’d love to hear that she works “for” Tammy Susie. Not to mention the fact that the salesgirl had called her a “lady”-teenage shorthand for “old.” It was probably best that Erica had stayed outside. “Did anyone else come into the store?” I asked.

The girl frowned, then looked up at the ceiling. I watched her eyes move back and forth for a few seconds, as she played back her mental video. “It’s possible someone walked in and then walked out without my seeing them. But if you mean someone who could’ve gotten past me and into the dressing room area without my noticing, no way.”

We’d reached the bottom of this well, and it was bone-dry. I asked Bailey to collect Erica and meet Toni and me outside the newly discovered back door.

After a few minutes, Erica and Bailey came into view. Even if I hadn’t been looking for them, I’d have noticed Erica. She held her head down and shot furtive sidelong glances at the crowd around her as she walked. She may as well have been wearing a sign around her neck saying, I JUST DID SOMETHING HORRIBLY WRONG. I told her as much and warned her to chill out. Then I showed her the bracelet and told her where we’d found it.

Erica paled. “That’s Tammy Susie’s. But I don’t understand. If even the salesgirl didn’t know about that back door, then how could some stranger figure it out? You said it was hidden by a mirror.”

Apparently Harvard hadn’t been a complete waste. “Obviously, whoever took Tammy Susie out of there knew the lay of the land. Maybe the owner’s nephew told someone about it.” It was just a guess but, all things considered, not a bad one if I did say so myself. “But the salesgirl didn’t see anyone else in the store. So whoever took Tammy Susie came in through that secret door and left with her the same way.”

“I didn’t notice any security cameras in the store, did you?” Toni asked.

“No,” I said. “You see any cameras that might’ve picked up activity outside the shops on your way here?” I asked Bailey.

She shook her head. “Nada. We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way: canvass the area and ask whether anyone’s seen her.”

Toni added, “And hope to get very, very lucky.”

Finding the hidden door and the bracelet had a sobering effect on all of us. With the last vestiges of hope that Tammy Susie had skipped out on her own now pretty much obliterated, we moved with greater urgency, working the shops most likely to be on the kidnapper’s escape route, showing Tammy Susie’s photo and asking if anyone had seen her.

But we kept getting the same response: “No, sorry,” or just a shake of the head.

I looked at my cell phone. We’d been at it for only one hour, but the pressure of time passing was making me sweat. We couldn’t put off notifying the police for much longer. The only thing that kept me from insisting on doing it right now was the knowledge that we were already way ahead of them. At this point, if we called in the police, they’d only waste precious minutes redoing all of our legwork. The best thing to do now was hit every place in the immediate vicinity that we-mainly Erica, who knew Tammy Susie and the area-could think of. Given our lack of success so far, that wouldn’t take long.

We managed to get to all the stores closest to the back door of the shop before the island’s traditional afternoon break. Most of the stores had closed down, but we hit the ones that stayed open. Boutiques, jewelry stores, a pet store (because maybe the kidnapper had stopped there to keep her happy-a long shot, but we couldn’t afford to miss any kind of shot), and every fast-food place along the way (because Tammy Susie loved fast food). Zilch. No one had seen a little girl matching her description, with or without a red-and-pink scarf.

By the time we hit our last stop-McDonald’s-it was a quarter to two. We had fifteen minutes before the rest of the stores reopened. Two men in bright-orange loincloths and matching feather headdresses stood in line.

Erica saw me gaping. “Carnival parades,” she explained. But Bailey didn’t notice. She was staring at the menu that hung above the cashiers.

“A Big Mac,” she said with reverence. “I’m starved. I couldn’t eat that cardboard junk they gave us on the plane. Anyone want to join me?”

“For different cardboard junk?” I asked.

Bailey stepped into line behind the men in orange. “I need fuel.”

Erica, her face as tight as a drum, declined. I wanted to do the same, but the familiar greasy-yet-tantalizing smells were making my stomach growl. I compromised by ordering a plain hamburger patty on lettuce, and Toni followed suit. But Bailey, the sadist, got a Big Mac and a large order of fries. We sat down at one of the plastic tables and took stock of the situation.

“Given what we’ve seen so far, I’m not all that optimistic about our chances of finding a witness in this mall,” Toni said. “And I still haven’t spotted any security cameras.”

“Me either,” I said. That seemed a testament to the general claim that they didn’t have a serious crime problem here. Unfortunately, that wasn’t much comfort when the rare crime was committed. I sneaked a couple of fries from Bailey’s bag. “Granted we haven’t been able to get to all of the shops, but we did get to the ones that were most likely on the escape route. I hate to say it, but our chances of finding Tammy Susie without calling in the troops are not looking good.”

“Erica, I think it might be time to go ahead and report this to the police,” Bailey said. “I don’t want you-or us-to be accused of letting the trail get cold.”

Erica nodded glumly, then gave us another one of her damnably heartrending looks. “But can we try just one more place? Tammy Susie really likes the Harbor Outdoor Market. She’s been making me take her there practically every day since we got here.”

“And how long have you been here?”

“Ten days, four and a half hours, and seven minutes-”

“No, seriously, how long-any idea?” I joked. Erica just stared at me. “Right. Maybe she got someone to take her there.”

It was unlikely but not impossible that the kidnapper might pass through the area as a way of preventing Tammy Susie from making a fuss in public. Besides, it was a place the police would have to cover anyway. I slid out a few more fries. “It’s worth a try. But I mean a really fast try.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Bailey said. “If this doesn’t pan out, I’m pulling the plug and calling the cops.” She pushed her fries toward me.

“No, thanks,” I said, and pushed them back. Bailey rolled her eyes and started to toss them into the trash, but Toni snatched them from her.

“My mama didn’t believe in wasting food,” Toni said.

“Your mama wouldn’t have let you say the word ‘french fry,’ ” I said.

Toni gave me an icy glare, then turned to Erica. “Can we walk there? Or do we need a cab?”

“We can walk,” Erica said. “It’s just a few minutes.”

Erica led the way. The Harbor Outdoor Market was a series of connected stalls on the waterfront where lots of brightly colored gewgaws stamped ARUBA were sold-nearly all of which were manufactured in the United States. It reminded me of an upscale version of the boardwalk in Venice, California.

Just feet away, the afternoon sunlight danced across the gently undulating water in the harbor. I deliberately turned my head to block out the sight. We moved from one stall to the next, showing Tammy Susie’s photo and, as before, getting nowhere. Suddenly, Erica stopped, her cell phone held out in front of her with both hands. “Shit, shit, shit!” she cried.

“What?” I asked.

“They keep texting me, asking me about Tammy Susie. ‘Did she find her skirt? Where are you now? Have you given her lunch?’ Damn it!”

“Who keeps texting you?” Toni asked.

“The producers! All day long. And now they’re telling me to bring her back to the hotel!”

“What’ve you told them so far?” I asked.

“That she was fine, still hasn’t found the skirt she wants. Stuff to buy some time.”

I considered our depressing lack of progress and looked down the row of stalls. We didn’t have many more to go. “Let’s get through this market and then you can text them that you’re coming back. Better to tell them about Tammy Susie in person.”

Erica nodded, tight-lipped, more nervous than ever. We resumed our hunt but to no avail, and within ten minutes we’d reached the end of the row. We were waiting for Bailey to wrap up her conversation with the last vendor when I noticed something shiny under the canvas partition of his stall. I nudged it with my toe, and it slid out. It was a cell phone with a Hello Kitty cover.

“Oh my God!” Erica lunged for it. “That’s Tammy Susie’s phone!”

I held her back. “It might have prints. Let me do it.” I gingerly picked it up without touching the front or back. Now we knew why she hadn’t called. But the discovery was almost as puzzling as it was alarming. “Why would the kidnapper let her keep the phone this long? Why not take it from her right away?”

“Maybe the kidnapper was the one who dropped it,” Bailey said. She carefully took it from me and used a pen to scroll through the recent calls. “Nothing in or out since this morning.”

Toni voiced my thought. “Regardless of who dropped the thing, it’s pretty amateurish.”

I was about to say that, given the low crime rates, most criminals around here probably were amateurs, but at that moment, I noticed a sign across the street advertising MADAM JUNAIDA, PREMIER FORTUNE-TELLER.

“Didn’t you say Tammy Susie was about to do a show where the whole family visits a fortune-teller?” I pointed to the sign.

Erica shook her head. “That’s not the one they were going to use for the show.” But she was more than happy to grasp at any straw, no matter how slim, if it meant delaying our return to the hotel without Tammy Susie.

And so off we went to see the fortune-teller. Madam Junaida, a tiny, dark woman with a mass of fuzzy black hair piled high on her head and long dangling earrings, answered the door with a flourish. In spite of her small stature, she had a supremely imperial air about her. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

I’d expected a fortune-teller on a Caribbean island to be more exotic and mysterious than what we had in the States, but Madam Junaida’s setup would’ve been right at home in any suburb in Southern California-or any late-night infomercial. She swept through a glass-beaded curtain, and we followed her into a darkened room. At the center was a table surrounded by several red velvet-covered chairs. The only thing missing was a crystal ball.

I pulled out my cell and showed her the photo of Tammy Susie. I started to ask if she recognized the picture, but she abruptly held up a hand that clanked loudly with the movement of at least a dozen bangles. “Please! Respect my process. All of you, sit down.”

I sank into the chair gratefully. Between the mall and the outdoor market, I’d been on my feet for hours. When we were all settled, Madam held out her hand, palm up. “Now, give me the photo.”

I placed my phone in her hand, and she studied it through narrowed eyes. Then she set it down, picked up a fat cigar, lit it, and drew several hefty puffs. In the confines of that small box of a room, it was enough to make me gag. I felt my stomach lurch and asked myself why I’d been so gung ho to come here. A glance at Toni and Bailey confirmed they were having similar thoughts. Erica had turned a pale green.

When Madam Junaida had the cigar fully fired up, she took a strong pull and blew out a thick stream of smoke. Then she sat back and watched it curl toward the darkened ceiling. I tried to spot something-some shapes, maybe letters, anything that might be called a “sign.” All I saw was a cloud of foul-smelling tobacco. Not for the first time, I conceded it was a good thing I’d gone to law school.

Minutes passed while Madam Junaida gazed at the ceiling. Antsy and more than a little nauseated, I was just about to call it quits when she spoke up in a dusky, sonorous voice.

“You are afraid this girl has been harmed, correct?”

All those noxious fumes, and this was all she could come up with? Even without lighting up a stogie, I could’ve figured out that much.

But Erica was completely taken in. “Yes,” she squeaked.

“She is safe,” Madam pronounced.

Jeez, brilliant. No proof, no details, just the answer we obviously wanted. What a racket. “That’s really nice to know, but we need to actually find her,” I said. I could see Toni and Bailey smirking. Skepticism comes with the territory in law enforcement, but they tell me I take it to Olympic levels.

Madam Junaida gave me a sharp, knowing look and again spewed out a toxic cloud. After another smelly minute, she spoke.

“I see… a house with green shutters. And a dog… a yellow dog. And children.” She straightened up in her chair. “Your girl is there.”

“Where is there?” Bailey asked. “Where’s that house?”

Madam Junaida studied the burning end of the cigar. “It is not far.” She looked back up at the ceiling. “Someone close to you knows of this place.”

“Close to who? To me? Toni?” I asked. “Erica?”

She shook her head. “That is all I see.”

I leaned toward Toni and whispered, “I’d like to tell her what I see.”

Toni gave me a warning look and quickly jumped in. “Thank you, Madam Junaida,” she said.

Madam Junaida escorted us out. I hung back as the others left. When we walked into the place, I’d only intended to ask if she’d seen Tammy Susie, not engage her services. But, bidden or unbidden, she’d taken the time to do her entire shtick for us, and I could see from her modest digs that business wasn’t exactly booming for her. “What do I owe you?”

She looked down her nose at me. No small feat, considering the fact that I had a good six inches on her. “You owe me nothing. For law enforcement, my services are free of charge. Go. Find the child.” And with that, Madam Junaida waved me away.

I went out to the sidewalk, where the others were waiting. Something about all of this rankled me. Something beyond the obvious-and typical-bullshit chicanery factor. Bailey picked up on my mood.

“What?” she asked.

I replayed our introductions in my mind. “Did you tell her we were cops?” I asked.

“No,” Bailey said.

“Then how’d she know?”

Bailey frowned, but further discussion was curtailed when Toni, who’d been studying her phone, broke in. “There’s a residential section just a few blocks north of here.”

Bailey looked unhappy. “I don’t know. This seems like a gigantic turd hunt. We have no idea where that house is, if it even exists, or if Tammy Susie’s really there.”

I looked at Erica-she seemed crestfallen. Madam Junaida’s pronouncements had given her a real blast of hope. I sighed. “On the other hand, what’s another ten minutes in the grand scheme of things?” I asked. Having found the girl’s cell phone nearby, we at least had reason to believe we were close.

Erica nodded eagerly. “I agree! We have to try this! If we find Tammy Susie, being late won’t matter. And if we don’t…” She trailed off.

“Okay,” Toni said. “But let’s make it quick.” She followed the blinking blue circle on her phone, and we followed her. In mere minutes we began to see small houses interspersed with businesses, and pretty soon there were only houses. A surprising number of them had signs in the window that said fortune-tellers could be found within. Apparently Erica was right: Arubans were big on this sort of thing. That was probably good news for the cigar business. Capitalism at work.

Some intriguing aromas wafted out of the homes we passed. Fish, a predictably popular choice for islanders, seemed to be cooking everywhere, but I also detected the smell of a rich lamb stew and…“Pumpkin?”

“I read that pumpkin soup is a real fave here,” Bailey said. “Supposed to be fantastic.”

“You read?” Toni asked. Bailey couldn’t even drum up the interest to read a dinner menu, let alone take the time to look up exotic culinary specialties.

“Or maybe Drew told me,” Bailey said.

Toni and I exchanged a knowing smile. That was more like it. Drew was a true gourmet. Before he’d settled on the idea of opening his own bar, he’d toyed with the thought of setting up a haute cuisine restaurant.

We moved up and down the blocks but saw no green shutters. Or yellow dogs. Plenty of children, though. They flew by us with happy abandon on bikes, on skates, on skateboards, and on foot. A couple of little girls in leotards and sunflower headdresses strutted past us with stately importance. I guessed they were headed for the same parade as the costumed guys we’d seen at McDonald’s.

Time was running out, and this whole escapade was starting to feel like a wild-goose chase. Or, as Bailey so poetically put it, a “turd hunt.” The fact that we were willing to go in search of a house with green shutters was a serious measure of our desperation. I was beginning to understand how people got snookered into losing their life savings to clowns like Madam Junaida.

We’d just turned the corner on our fourth block and I was about to suggest that we give up after this street when Erica stopped dead in her tracks and pointed to the street sign. “Malmok Weg! I saw that name on a call sheet a few days ago! Remember, Madam Junaida said the place was known to one of us? Well, it is-to me!”

Before I could tell her that it was probably just a coincidence, Erica was off and running, her head swiveling as she scanned both sides of the street for a house with green shutters. We had to run to catch up to her and nearly knocked her down when she again came to an abrupt stop and turned to her right. Sure enough, there it was: a house with green shutters.

“Well, what do you know?” Bailey said.

“Yeah?” I said. “Then how come our fortune-teller didn’t mention the bird?” I pointed to a rooster strutting through the front yard.

“Birds move around,” Toni said. “It’s probably just visiting.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “There’ve got to be other houses with green shutters.”

“You see any?” Toni asked. She had me there.

Bailey strode up the front walk and knocked on the door. There was no response, so she knocked harder. After a few seconds, a woman’s voice yelled from inside, but I couldn’t make out what she said. Not over the noise of a barking dog. Toni nudged me, but I shook my head. So what if Madame Junaida said there’d be a dog? From what I’d seen, everyone around here had dogs. I was about to say as much when I saw Erica staring at the door as though it were the Rosetta stone. No need to squash her hopes. She’d see for herself soon enough that Tammy Susie wasn’t here. I held my tongue.

Finally, a tall, heavyset woman in a caftan opened the door. Her creased face and disheveled hair said we’d disturbed her afternoon siesta, and she looked plenty annoyed about it. Bailey held up her shield and spoke in her most official Joe Friday voice. “Police. We’re here for Tammy Susie.”

“What…?” The woman appeared more puzzled than scared. Then she looked past Bailey as though expecting to see someone else.

I stepped forward and flashed my badge. “Your name, ma’am?”

She jerked her head toward the front window. “It’s right there on the sign.”

“Right there on what sign?”

“Excuse me,” she said as she leaned out the door to look at the window. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. I took it down so I could get some rest. My name’s Babu Maduro, I’m a-”

“Fortune-teller,” I said.

“Right.”

For the record, Babu the fortune-teller had a surprisingly American accent.

She reluctantly stood aside, and we entered. Erica let out a yelp and grabbed my arm. There, on a table to my left, was a red-and-pink scarf. The next thing I knew, Erica was running past us toward sliding glass doors that opened onto the backyard.

The backyard. Where a little blonde girl in cutoffs and a blue T-shirt was playing with two kids who bore a strong resemblance to our host, Babu Maduro.

I pointed. “Tammy Susie, I presume?”

Babu gave me a “no duh” look.

“How did she wind up here, Ms. Maduro?” Toni asked, her voice stern.

Babu was indignant. “Someone brought her here, of course. How else?” With an irritated expression, she said, “Excuse me, will you? I’ve got to make a call.”

She wasn’t acting like a kidnapper. And, based on the happy abandon with which Tammy Susie was currently jumping rope, the child was not acting like someone who’d been kidnapped. I let Babu make her call and went out to see Erica, who was squeezing the little girl so tightly I thought her head might pop off. But Tammy Susie endured the embrace stoically, the way kids do.

“Hey, Erica,” I said. “Do you happen to recognize that woman in there?”

Erica finally pried herself off Tammy Susie. “No. Why would I?”

Because I had a hunch. “What about the name Babu Maduro?”

Erica mouthed the name to herself a few times. “It does sound familiar.”

“Might that be the name of the fortune-teller who was going to be in the next episode?”

Erica’s features opened with the realization. “Oh, yeah! It might be.” Her brow furrowed, and she looked up at me. “How did Tammy Susie get here?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

Erica did. “Mikey’s friend Sasha brought me here,” Tammy Susie said. “She told me we were playing hide-and-go-seek with you. You found me.” She didn’t look terribly pleased about it.

“Who’s Mikey?” I asked Erica.

“Mike Borden. One of the producers,” she explained.

Uh-huh. “One of the producers who’s been texting you about Tammy Susie all day?”

“Yeah. Him and Sasha. Sasha’s his new assistant.” Erica stood up, still holding Tammy Susie by the hand.

I gestured for Bailey to come over and take charge of Tammy Susie and pulled Erica aside.

“Is there bad blood between you? Any chance he might see you as a threat, want to get you fired?”

“No way. I’m just a PA. In fact, there’re rumors Mike’s going to get promoted to co-executive producer next season. And Sasha’s sleeping with him, so she’s good.” She paused, looking perplexed. “And I’ve never had any problems with either of them. So…”

I left Erica with Tammy Susie and went to bring Bailey and Toni up to speed. I’d just finished when Babu came in.

“Do you mind my asking who you just called?” I said.

“Yes, I mind,” Babu said. “What is this, Nazi Germany?” She jerked her head toward Erica. “That Erica Garber?”

I wondered what was with the sudden attitude. “Yes-”

“They want her to bring Tammy Susie back to the hotel, pronto.”

“Who told you that?”

“Someone who works on the show. Obviously.” Babu folded her arms across her impressive bosom. “And that’s all I’m going to tell you.”

There was no point in trying to pry any more answers out of Babu, so we called a cab and headed out. On the ride back to the hotel, new suspicions began to run through my mind. Erica and Tammy were in the front seat with the window rolled down. I leaned forward and spoke into Erica’s ear so Tammy Susie couldn’t hear. “How come Tammy Susie’s parents never called to ask about her?”

She shrugged and whispered, “Probably busy taping their own segments.”

I told Bailey what Erica had said, and Bailey shrugged. “I guess they wouldn’t have any reason to worry if that producer guy, Mike, didn’t say anything to them.”

“But why didn’t Mike say anything to them? Know what I mean?”

Bailey looked at me. “Shit.”

I leaned forward and spoke to the driver. “Could you let us out here, please?”

He nodded and pulled over. Erica turned back to us. “What are you doing?”

“Yeah, what are we doing?” Toni said.

“Just checking something out,” Bailey said. “Erica, we’ll see you back at the hotel.”

One hour later, with Erica in tow, we marched into the suite of Randall Kraft, executive producer-top dog of Tammy Susie and Company. Toni, Bailey, and I made it a point to start by simultaneously flashing our badges. Kraft’s stricken look was gratifying.

“This morning, about five minutes into our vacation, your PA, Erica Garber, came to us, panicked by the disappearance of Tammy Susie,” I said.

“What?” Kraft said. “Tammy Susie was missing?” He turned to look around at the other producers. “Did any of you know about this?”

They all shook their heads. Nos and no ways filled the room. I knew that at least one of them was lying. I turned to him now. “You want to rethink that answer, Mr. Borden?”

He reddened and began to clear his throat. I held up my hand. “Whatever you’re about to say, save it. It’s my vacation. I don’t have to listen to lies.” I turned back to Kraft. “If we hadn’t landed in Madam Junaida’s lap, we’d never have figured it out.”

After finding Tammy Susie, we’d gone back to Madam Junaida. I knew she couldn’t have “divined” as much specific information as she had. It was one thing for her to figure out that we were law enforcement. Anyone could make a lucky guess like that. But “divining” the exact house Tammy Susie was in? No way. After some prodding, Junaida (who turned out to have had a long-standing beef with Babu for stealing one of Junaida’s best-make that richest and most gullible-clients) finally spilled the beans.

“Figured what out?” Kraft said, now agitated.

“I lost a whole day of my vacation running around this island because of your ‘missing’ star. You can hang on for another five minutes.” What few shreds of patience I’d had were gone. “It turns out your pal, Babu, has a big mouth. She bragged to her fortune-teller buddies about some producer who was going to make her a star. He set it up to look like Tammy Susie had been kidnapped, and then Babu, using her ‘special powers,’ was going to provide the information that would help authorities find her. Apparently Babu was going to rake in some heavy coin for it all-”

“Lucky for us, Madam Junaida decided to get even with Babu,” Toni said. “She helped us find Tammy Susie, which ruined Babu and your producer Mike’s little scam.”

Toni made it sound a lot easier than it had been. Junaida, who’d heard about Babu’s scam through the fortune-teller grapevine, was reluctant to tell “outsiders” about it, despite their long-standing feud. It violated some kind of fortune-teller code. So when we’d first shown up with Erica, Junaida hadn’t intended to tell us anything. But she couldn’t help herself. She was dying to get even. So she wound up compromising by giving us the minimum: the house with green shutters. It wasn’t until Toni and Bailey and I went back the second time and voiced our suspicions-and used every interrogation trick in the book on her-that she finally cracked and gave up the whole story. I’ll say this much for Junaida: she’d be a real asset to the CIA.

Bailey jumped in. “Your bun boy over there, Mike Borden, knew who we were because he was in the lobby when we got in this morning. And he knew Erica had teamed up with us because he was watching her the whole time so he could push her buttons, make her panic and call the police-”

“The jerk deliberately tortured her all day,” Toni said, fuming. “He kept texting her, asking, ‘What’s going on with Tammy Susie?’ And when that didn’t work, he ordered her to bring Tammy Susie back to the hotel immediately.”

I folded my arms and stared hard at Borden. “That little stunt of yours nearly gave Erica a nervous breakdown. And you’re just damn lucky Tammy Susie was okay.”

Borden tried for a look of defiance, but the effort was undermined by his fearful sidelong glances at Kraft.

After several long moments of silence, Kraft turned to Erica. “What if Tammy Susie really had been kidnapped?” He looked at her sternly. “I don’t know whether to keep you on the show or not, but I definitely can’t afford to have you wrangle Tammy Susie anymore.” Erica looked miserable, but she just nodded and said nothing. Then he turned to Borden.

I prepared to enjoy the spectacle of seeing Borden get fired on the spot. He needed a good, hard ass-kicking.

“Mike.” He shook his head. “That was friggin’ brilliant, man! Jeopardy, drama, you had it all. That would’ve scored us the highest ratings of the season!” Kraft held up a hand for a high five.

Borden, taken by surprise, squeaked out a laugh and slapped his hand. “That was the plan!”

“How’d you get Tammy Susie out of the dressing room?” Kraft asked. The admiration in his voice made me want to gag.

“I met the store owner’s nephew before he took off for college. He told me about the hidden door because he thought it was funny. But when I came up with the plan, I remembered what he said. All I had to do was send Sasha-”

“Are you out of your minds?” I said. “What if something had happened to Tammy Susie?”

“Nothing was going to happen to Tammy,” Borden scoffed. “I knew Babu was totally safe because I vetted her. If you guys hadn’t gotten in the way, our ratings would’ve gone through the roof, and a fourth-season pickup would’ve been a done deal.”

I looked from Borden to Kraft. “I’d call you pond scum, but it’d be an insult to pond scum.” And on that note, we walked out. We all fumed in silence as we headed for our suite. Were Tammy Susie’s parents in on the fake kidnapping? I couldn’t prove it, but I suspected they were. And I was half hoping to run into them now, so I could confront them.

Fortunately for all of us, that didn’t happen.

We got back to the room and showered. We decided to stay in and have dinner on the balcony where no one could disturb us. Our food came just as the sun was beginning to set. The sky looked as though it had been swiped with a giant paintbrush dipped in hues of red and orange, and the air was still warm and fragrant with the scent of lemon blossoms.

Bailey sat down and unfolded her napkin. “Talk about no good deed.”

“Right?” Toni said. “What a sterling collection of jackasses. They all deserve each other.”

“Well, at least Erica won’t have to wrangle Tammy Susie anymore,” I said. I’d hoped Erica would quit the show after the shabby way she’d been treated, but jobs are scarce in television, and jobs on hit shows are harder to find than a born-again Christian at a Ricky Gervais concert. Erica had called shortly after we got back to our suite to tell us that Kraft had shown a sliver of decency and decided not to fire her. She intended to stay until she could either get promoted or find another show. But it was time to put work behind us… finally. Toni poured the wine and raised her glass. “Want to try again?”

“To our vacation!” Bailey said, also raising her glass.

We clinked and drank.

But as Bailey and Toni rehashed the events of the day-the relief of a happy ending allowed us to laugh about it now-my thoughts turned to what Madam Junaida had said to me privately when we’d gone back to see her.

After she eventually broke down and admitted she’d known about the kidnapping scam and decided to help us in order to thwart it, Junaida had asked to speak to me privately. Bailey and Toni smirked but obligingly left us alone and went out to call a taxi. I figured the little con artist was finally going to ask for money, and as far as I was concerned, she’d earned it. I pulled my wallet out of my purse, but she waved me off.

“No,” she said. “I helped you for my own reasons. It would be bad luck to take your money. I asked to speak to you alone because I see something that I must tell you.”

Oh, brother. Here we go. I could barely refrain from rolling my eyes. “Okay.”

She pulled me into the parlor. “There is a man in your life. He is in a position of power.” She took hold of my arm and looked me in the eye. “With his help you will find her.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. A man in my life-no big deal. Anyone could take that shot and have a fifty-fifty chance at getting it right. And even saying that the man was in a position of power-which did happen to fit Graden to a T-could have been a lucky guess.

But “find her”? How could a fortune-teller on an island in the Caribbean know that my sister, Romy, had been abducted when we were children? And that she’d been missing now for over twenty years? And that I’d been looking for her ever since? Barely able to speak, I asked Junaida, “Is she alive?”

Junaida shook her head sadly. “I don’t know. That’s all I see.”

When I stepped outside, the taxi was just pulling up. “So?” Toni asked. “What’d she say?”

“Tell you later.”

But I hadn’t. And I doubted I ever would.

About the Author

Marcia Clark is the author of Guilt by Association and Guilt by Degrees and the forthcoming Killer Ambition. A former prosecutor for the state of California, she is now a frequent media commentator on legal issues. She lives in Los Angeles.

marciaclarkbooks.com

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Content

Marcia Clark
Trouble in Paradise

About the Author