I turned to Miranda and asked the question that only she could answer. “Why did you lie to Inspector Ionescu yesterday? You knew from my descriptions that I’d seen Alexi and Mr. Delos arguing on the beach.”
She slipped her hand from mine and clasped hers together. “I was so worried about Alexi. He hasn’t been himself since Caliban went missing. He loves those cats so much. They were a gift from his father shortly before he died.” She turned to me and met my eyes. “Alexi’s all I have left.” Then she lifted her chin. “But he wouldn’t shoot anyone. He doesn’t even have a gun.”
What she said made sense to me. The young man I’d seen on the beach had acted impulsively out of anger. And from what I’d learned since then, with good reason. But whoever had shot Antony Delos had chosen a spot on the cliff side and taken careful aim.
Unless… Questions erupted in my mind again. What if Alexi’s absences from the Villa Prospero hadn’t had anything to do with the missing Caliban? What if he’d been involved in something else altogether? Guilt flooded through me. I hadn’t even formally met Alexi and I was suspecting him of somehow being involved in a major jewelry theft.
Seeing that Roman had finally repocketed his cell, I asked, “How long will it be before you hear back from Stassis?”
Roman shrugged. “Hard to tell. I asked for a private meeting with Carlo Ferrante.”
My eyes widened.
“Might as well ask for the moon. Ionescu wants to know why Delos came here the day after the robbery. I’d like to know that, too.” He shifted his gaze to Miranda. “What can you tell me about Antony Delos? What kind of a guest was he?”
A line appeared on Miranda’s forehead as she considered. “I thought of him as an ideal one. Quiet, kept to himself. He ate breakfast early, always requested a packed lunch, and he’d be gone for the whole day, exploring the island. When Caliban disappeared, Alexi asked him to keep an eye out for him. Mr. Delos agreed. I don’t understand why anyone would want to shoot him.”
“Did he ever mention why he came here? Why he chose the Villa Prospero?”
Miranda shook her head.
Roman looked at me. I noted that he hadn’t mentioned anything about the jewel theft to Miranda. But why do that if it wasn’t necessary? It would only make her worry more. Roman might be ruthless in his business dealings, but there was an innate kindness about him that had my admiration for him rising even higher.
“Ferrante might very well have some information about what brought Delos to the Villa Prospero,” Roman said. “But Stassis is going to have to call in some favors. Apparently, Ferrante’s eccentric and a bit of a recluse. It may take a while, and in the meantime, we wait.”
“Alexi is going to be so worried about the cats,” Miranda said. “He’s so sure that Caliban is still alive, that he’s trapped somehow in one of the caves beneath the Castello.”
“He is alive,” I said. “But his leg is injured. He can’t move, but Ariel has been bringing him food, and there’s water.”
Miranda blinked and stared at me. “How do you know?”
“Philly has a psychic gift with animals,” Roman explained. “She can communicate with them.”
“You talk to them?”
“Something like that,” I said. Miranda’s tone was skeptical, but I was used to that kind of reaction.
Then she frowned and pressed her fingers against her temples. “Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Your father and Helena told me how special powers ran in your mother’s family. He told me about your ability. But I’d forgotten all of this…”
When she dropped her hands to the table, I covered one of them with mine. Then I filled Miranda in on everything else that I’d learned from Ariel.
Miranda nodded when I’d finished. “Alexi says that she disappears through the gates of the Castello or over the wall. Some of the caves are reputed to have two entrances—one on the cliff side and another farther up the hill. He’s so frustrated that Mr. Magellan won’t let him onto the estate to look for the second entrance. And Mr. Magellan is furious with him.”
I recalled the scene I’d eavesdropped on when I’d first arrived at the Villa Prospero.
“He’s filed several complaints against Alexi,” Miranda continued. “He has all the caves posted with No Trespassing signs. They’re dangerous because when the tide comes in many of them fill with water and escape becomes impossible.”
“What was Mr. Delos’s relationship with the cats? Did they get along?” Roman asked.
A small line appeared on Miranda’s forehead as she considered. “Now that you mention it, he always took the time to talk to them.”
“Did they ever go off with him on his explorations?”
“They may have. I didn’t pay much attention.”
I turned to Roman. “I need to find Ariel. I promised that I would try to meet her on the beach where we were yesterday.”
This was something that I purposefully hadn’t mentioned to him earlier to give him less time to argue. I kept my eyes on Roman’s, trying to make my case. “It was about this time yesterday when she was down there with Mr. Delos, and they’d evidently been in the caves. If Miranda is right and there’s more than one entrance to the cave Caliban is trapped in, we should check it out.”
“I don’t like the idea of visiting the beach where someone tried to shoot you yesterday.”
“Why would the shooter expect me to come back? And if we don’t find Ariel, we’ll leave.”
“Until we know more about what’s going on, it’s too dangerous.”
I rose, meeting his eyes steadily. “I’m going to the beach. I promised Ariel I would come.”
Finally, Roman nodded, and I felt as if I’d just won a major negotiation.
Miranda rose as we did. “I’ll pack you something to eat just in case you miss lunch.”
I was about to tell her not to bother, but she was already hurrying away.
“She’s an innkeeper,” Roman murmured. “She’ll feel better if she makes us something. And she needs things to do to keep her mind off of Alexi being at the police station.”
I studied him for a moment. “Were you born with an innate knowledge of people or did you acquire it at Oliver Enterprises?”
His lips curved and he reached out to trail just the tips of his fingers down my arm. The touch was so gentle, nothing like the way he’d touched me during the night, but I felt the warmth right down to my toes. “A little of both, I suspect. You can’t stay in business very long if you don’t know people. Just as you couldn’t build your clientele if you didn’t know animals.”
8
ON THEIR FAST DESCENT to the beach, Roman decided that Philly wasn’t exactly the girl he thought he’d known for years. There were unexpected layers to her that he hadn’t noticed before. The temper for one thing. He found that he enjoyed watching her struggle to rein it in. And she had a steely determination that he’d evidently blinded himself to before. He’d seen it in her eyes when she’d told him she had to go to the beach—he’d known that she would have gone without him.
But he’d also experienced that single-minded determination up close and personal when she’d seduced him last night. He wasn’t sure how he’d allowed it to happen. He should have been able to keep his hands off of her—he’d had seven years of practice. Seven years to learn to live with the dull ache of always wanting her. Seven years of telling himself she was too young for him.
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