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Unfortunately that first room was a harbinger of things to come. It soon became clear that every single member of Clint’s team engaged in betting on the candidates’ likeliness to fall for this or that seducer or seductress, and the pool must have been a pretty large one, judging from the numbers scribbled on the documents we found in most rooms. It was also the only clue we found, and not the kind of clue we were looking for. And when finally we made our way to Clint’s room, the man in charge, we were none the wiser.

We snuck into the big guy’s room and were surprised to see it occupied by none other than… Kimmy, eagerly going through the man’s personal affairs. She didn’t see us come in, as we treaded as softly and surreptitiously as usual, but we saw her clear as day as she dug through Clint’s laptop, darting anxious glances at the door from time to time.

“What is she doing?” asked Dooley as we hunkered down behind a chair near the window.

“Spying on her boss,” I said.

She probably shouldn’t have done that, for at that moment footsteps sounded in the corridor, and suddenly the door swung open and Clint walked in.

Kimmy, an athletic lass, leaped behind the bed, then rolled underneath before Clint caught sight of her. And as she did so, she saw us looking at her, and pressed her index finger to her lips. I nodded once, which appeared to surprise her greatly.

“Now where did I leave the darn thing,” Clint muttered as he rooted around his desk. “Ah, there it is,” he murmured as he grabbed his laptop. His phone chimed as he opened the door.

“Who is this?” he boomed after a moment’s pause. “Her uncle! A cop! Are you kidding me!”

He closed the door again and started pacing the room.

“No, I didn’t know Odelia Poole’s uncle was a cop. Someone could have told me!” he said, still speaking in that booming voice of his.

The person on the other end must have said something to upset him, for suddenly he sank down on the bed, making it creak.“She did what?!” he bellowed.

“Uh-oh,” I said. “Looks like Odelia’s cover is blown.”

“We have to do something, Max!” said Dooley. “Clint is going to try and grab her!”

Dooley was right, so we snuck from behind the chair posthaste, then out onto the balcony.

We had to warn Odelia before it was too late!

Chapter 38

Odelia had just stepped out of the jacuzzi when there was a sort of commotion nearby. When she glanced over, she saw that Max and Dooley were running full tilt in her direction, but so were Clint and Kimmy. All of them were screaming something she couldn’t quite catch.

“What’s going on?” asked Tina. “Why are your cats being chased by Clint?”

“Probably stole a fish,” Jackie sneered. “Isn’t that what cats do? Steal things?”

Obviously Jackie didn’t know Max and Dooley very well, Odelia thought. And then she caught what her cats were yelling.

“He knows!” Max cried. “Clint knows about you!”

“Oh, darn,” she muttered, and blinked. Clint wouldn’t dare grab her with all these witnesses around, would he? There was a reason those women had only been kidnapped after their return from Passion Island. So she decided to bear the brunt of the man’s displeasure bravely.

“Help me out here, girls,” she said. “I think Clint is about to blow his top.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” said Tina. “We’ve got your back.”

“Yeah, us girls have to stick together,” said Joanna.

Only Jackie wasn’t in a solidarity frame of mind. “What did you do?” she asked.

But then Clint was upon them, and he was looking like a steam engine about to explode.

“You’re a cop!” he screamed accusingly. “You’re a damn cop!”

“No, I’m not a cop,” said Odelia calmly as she came face to face with the women snatcher. “But my uncle is, and he’ll be very interested to know what kind of operation you’re running here, Mr. Bunda.”

“Oh, so now suddenly it’s Mr. Bunda, huh?” He grabbed Odelia’s arm. “Come. All of you. You, too, Kimmy.”

“Yes, sir,” said Kimmy quietly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” said Odelia defensively as she yanked her arm free from the man’s grasp.

“I’ve got them all lined up and we’re going to get to the bottom of this thing once and for all,” said Clint.

“Lined up who?” asked Tina.

“All of my people, who do you think? One of them must be involved in this thing, and I wanna know who. I wanna know who’d betray me like this!” he screamed, raising his fists to the sky and shaking them violently.

The man was losing it, Odelia thought, and she was starting to get a little scared.

But Clint was already heading back to the main villa, and Kimmy was shrugging her shoulders. She clearly didn’t see a way out either.

“Where’s the boat?” asked Odelia. “There’s got to be a boat we can take to get off the island.”

“It’s not what you think it is, Odelia,” said Kimmy, quite surprisingly. “Your uncle called Clint just now, telling him the whole story.”

“What?!” Odelia cried.

“Yeah, I was hiding under the bed, and I heard the whole thing. Alec even told him about my involvement. He says he’s found the women.”

“My uncle has found them?”