7c6cdd7d45cb035b54aafd3ac9eb9cc8

“Scarlett!” said Vesta. “Stop trying to seduce that kid and listen to me. If we don’t get Chase out of the claws of that Donna person we’re going to lose him, you hear me?”

“Not a chance. That boy loves your granddaughter. He’s not going to risk it all just for the chance to dive into bed with that floozie.”

“That floozie’s got her sights set on him, and she’s working him for all she’s got. Men are weak, Scarlett. You know it and I know it. Remember Jack?”

“Oh, do I remember Jack!” said Scarlett with a grin. Then, as she saw Vesta’s thunderous expression, she dropped the smile. “Look, Chase is not like other men. He’s one of the good guys. He’s not going to cheat on your granddaughter. No way.”

“He doesn’t want to cheat, but he won’t be able to help himself. But I have a plan.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes.“Here we go again.”

“Listen to me!”

“I’m listening, I’m listening!”

“We have got to make sure he doesn’t sleep with the woman, so here’s what we’re going to do.” And as she explained her plan in great detail, earning herself another eyeroll in the process, she couldn’t help but hope that on the other island someone was offering the same courtesy to Odelia, cause if she succumbed to the charms of this Mike guy Chase had mentioned, all was well and truly lost.

Chapter 27

In spite of the fact that she’d sucked in more seawater than strictly necessary, and had spent more time in the water than on her skis, Odelia discovered to her surprise that she’d had a good time. She wasn’t naturally inclined to try out new things, especially when they could potentially end in terminal consequences to life and limb, but the water skiing was a lot more fun than she’d anticipated.

Looking and feeling like a water chicken, she returned to her villa to wash the brine from her hair and skin, and get dressed for dinner. Francine had announced she had a surprise for them, and she had a feeling she knew exactly what this surprise entailed.

Date night.

And since the seducers were the ones taking the initiative she saw a late-night date with seducer Mike in her immediate future.

She reckoned she could have hit it worse. Mike was a nice guy. They’d chatted a little on the beach, after she’d finally decided she’d had enough of the water skiing experiment. He worked as a male model for a New York agency and had joined Passion Island to raise his profile with the company and land more lucrative gigs. He wasn’t necessarily a lady killer, though, and had admitted he actually had a girl back home, and she’d never forgive him if he hooked up with a contestant.

So she was pretty much safe with him, knowing he wouldn’t hit on her. Or at least not too hard.

As she walked up the path to her villa, she was waylaid by Jack Davenport, who’d clearly been lying in wait.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked, looking left and right as if expecting company.

“Sure. What’s on your mind?”

“Not here,” he said, and took her by the elbow, leading her behind the villa. “I disabled the feed before I came out here,” he explained.

Odelia had slung a towel around herself, but was eager to get inside and take that shower, so she said,“Better make it quick. I need to get ready for dinner.”

“Listen,” he said, lowering his voice. “It’s about Joanna.”

“Joanna? What about her?”

“You know how I spied on all of the candidates, right? Back in Bangkok? Making sure they were couples or not? So when I was checking up on Joanna and her boyfriend she slipped out of bed in the middle of the night to make a mysterious phone call in the bathroom. It was really annoying, cause I wanted to leave their hotel room and I couldn’t. I was hiding behind the curtains the whole time, and getting a crick in the neck.”

“What mysterious phone call?”

“I don’t know, but it was obvious she didn’t want her boyfriend to overhear her. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but with what you told me about women going missing…” He arched a meaningful eyebrow.

“You think she’s involved somehow?”

“It’s worth looking into, don’t you think?”

Odelia nodded slowly.“Thanks. I’ll try to bring it up with her.” She wondered how, though. She couldn’t very well confess that she’d made a pact with the intrusive tabloid reporter.

“Oh, and one other thing,” said Jack as Odelia started for the front of the villa. “Better watch your back. I looked into the profiles of the five women who disappeared and they all have one thing in common.”

“What?”

“They’re the spitting image of… you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

As Odelia luxuriated under the spray of the rainfall shower head, she mused on Jack’s words. He was right. Of all four candidates she was the only one who resembled the type the five missing women represented. Which meant that whoever this kidnapper was, he might come after her next. And in spite of the heat of the shower, she suddenly shivered, and wished Chase wasn’t on a different island, separated by a large swath of sea.