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She ducked her head to look in the open passenger"Excuse et to Runaway Bay?"

"Your travel agent book you there, lady? That’s on the other side of the island I don’t go that far" He nodded at a bus "Shuttle to Ocho Rios get you there in about an hour, and it won’t cost you two hundred dollars"

"Money is not a problem" His British accent h cash to e your mind?"

He hooted and reached over for the door handle, and then sat back and sighed "Ah, I still can’t do it My sister needs et back in time"

"I can wait until after you take your nieces home," she assured hio on the island" He grinned and opened the door for her "Half price"

Once she had her seat belt on, the driver held up a scratched CD "You want to listen to Bob Marley’s greatest hits?"

Si from one of the A/C vents "If you don’t mind, Jamar, I prefer Debussy"

"So do I" He tucked the CD into his sun visor, and eased into the strea zone

Jairls who sat together on the bench seat behind Simone and told their uncle about their day at school As Simone listened to the children, she watched the side-viewtheirls’ ave Sihters out of the van and then herded theirls disappear into their home You will be safe, too, little ones

"So where are you staying in Runaway Bay, lady?" Jamar asked once they were back on the road "The SuperFun, the Gran Bahia, or Club A to Winter Cove"

"You really need to fire this travel agent, lady" He shook his head "Winter Cove isn’t a hotel It’s a big ugly old house back in the woods"

"I knohat it is"

Jamar didn’t seem to hear her "My cousin Denisha, she drives a shuttle for the SuperFun, and she go past the road to that house ten, fifteen times every day Nobody ever stays there She heard that as soon as he built it, the owner left the island and never came back" He reached over and patted her hand "I’ll take you to the SuperFun Denisha can get you a nice rooood rate"

"Thank you, Ja at the big, ugly old house"

He gave her a startled look "You knons the place, lady?"

She nodded "Yes I own it"

Chapter 19

O

nce the excavation equipment had been unloaded, the athered in a circle on the beach to share a blunt He watched them as he injected hie off his poundingdealer he’d killed thirty o Bay At least he’d had the sense to search the dealer’s car, which had provided hiripped hihed the needle slipped frolanced back over the partition "You don’t look too good, boss You want to go to your hotel now?"

"Later" He wiped the bloody mucus from his mouth and pocketed the handkerchief before he picked up the GPS unit "Call the surveyor again Tell him if he’s not here in fifteen minutes he’s a dead ht, boss?"

To keep fro the man’s brains out sooner than would be convenient, Pájaro cliulfed hi a layer of briny sweat atop his chilled flesh Whatever infection had invaded his syste into his bones; his very li into his joints

The illness aggravated him, but he kneas only a temporary annoyance He had taken back froed to him Once he unearthed the Trinity cross, the sickness would vanish along with all the other ain have to endure a single e of the beach and surveyed the snohite sands That the old ed to retain ownership of three miles of pristine shoreline for all this time impressed him Now that it was to be his, he would build his first palace here Perhaps he would have the old ht here to serve as some entertainment With all the time and power and wealth in the world at his disposal, he could make her suffer for decades

"Mr Helada?"

He turned to see a nervous-lookinga leather case "Are you the surveyor?"

"Yes, sir" He put down the case and took out a note froave me, and I’m afraid I can’t help you"

"Why not?"