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Peta had returned to Grenada with a lot of thinking to do Most of it was unpleasant at worst and difficult at best, so she was perfectly happy to find ready-ot her wish Independence Day festivities, just over, had increased her patient load The newly arrived medical students, unruly as the ones before them, demanded far more than their fair share of attention Not only did she have to help them in the classroory landlords anted to kill the kids or sue their parents, whichever turned out to be simplest

Her life developed a tedious rhythm She worked She slept She ate Now and then she had dinner with an old friend, but knowing she was not good co from Manny and assumed that he was off-island on one of the mysterious trips which often kept him away forthe end of May

Carnival wasn&039;t until August, the students had settled down, and fewer tourists than usual demanded her time She even found herself with a whole weekend to spend sitting on her balcony The postcard perfection of St George&039;s and the Carenage provided her with a backdrop for a too-long-delayed replay of the happenings in her life since December

Mostly, her mind was not so much filled with questions, but rather with answers she was loath to accept For one thing, she was sure now that Frikkie - who had not so y for the events at San Gabriel - didn&039;t care if the rest of the Daredevils were killed In fact, though she had no proof, she suspected that he had been instru back to that night in New York alone to the restrooms a little while before Arthur Ray was a de a bomb in the toilet, wait for Arthur to enter, and then detonate it by remote control

That would place Ray Arno squarely in cahoots with Frik

But why?

What she needed was someone to talk to about all of this, someone she could trust completely

With Arthur dead, that left only Manny She would have called his home to see if he was back in town, but he eschewed telephones and refused to have one in his house His e center was Aboo&039;s, a bar owned by his father

Since she was tired of her own cohts, around sundown on Sunday she left her house to find him

Accompanied by the sound of church bells, she walked past the Parliah the s and stray huh the wilted leftovers of Saturday&039;s traffic Rather than struggle over the hill on Young Street, she cut through Sendall Tunnel to the Carenage Grenadian drivers weren&039;t known for their caution, and the narrow hundred-year-old passage under the large hill provided little roo the stone wall Then, safely through, she slowed to stroll along the Carenage, enjoying the sounds and smells of the compact waterfront

When she passed the new Cable and Wireless building, she crossed the street to Aboo&039;s Bar

The se&039;s Grand Central Station for a certain class of people Though Peta had chosen never to ask Manny about it or to explore it herself, rumor had it that there was a dark room behind the bar which had served - still served - as the overne mistresses

The bar itself was s his father of Sunday- evening duty He grinned broadly when she entered and instantly pulled out two cold bottles of Carib froood" He kissed her on one cheek, then the other, and handed her a bottle

Peta slad to see you too"

"You come all this way for a beer or - "

"I need to talk to you" Peta drank deeply, hot after her long trek

"So talk" Manny waved at the empty bar "Croon&039;t hit till after church"

Peta settled herself on a worn barstool and lit a cigarette Manny took it fro deeply Peta nodded and lit another

"You&039;re hopeless," Manny said

"Probably" She flicked into a piece of misshapen aluminum that passed as an ashtray "There&039;s so in"

"The last time I saw you, you were headed up the hill in San Gabriel," Manny said

"Right I was off to save Simon"

"Did you?"

Peta shook her head Like soain, Peta was off and running She told hi Siot the artifact If the sharks didn&039;t get him, I assume he made it to the exploration platform and, eventually, back to Frik," she said

"So you think Frikkie has it now?" Manny asked

"Absolutely" She crushed her cigarette, reached for another, and thought better of it Twirling the pack around like a top, she filled in Manny on her convictions about Frik and her suspicions about Ray

Manny put his hand over hers to stop the nervousto hurt Arthur, so let&039;s talk about Frik," he said "CorrectFrikkie has two pieces of the artifact, one that he had in the first place and the one Simon died to retrieve The sa that you think Arthur died because of the piecehe had - which the police took to their evidence lockup Have you tried to retrieve that one?"

"Yes I&039;ve called NYPD countless tiood part is that they&039;ve assured me they won&039;t release it to anyone else"

In San Gabriel, Peta had told Manny that she had a piece of the artifact, yet neither one of them added the obvious: if Frik knew she had it - and if her theories were correct - he wouldn&039;t hesitate to kill her for it when he was good and ready to do so Now, Manny verbalized his fears for her safety "We know he&039;s unscrupulous," he added, after a short pause

"Believe ht about that a lot," Peta said "I think that I&039;m safe, for the moment"

"Why?"

"Because it suits his purposes We talked before about the possibility that Frik was the person who had Arthur killed to get at the artifact We know for a fact that the killer didn&039;t get it My guess is that Frik called NYPD, said he was Arthur&039;s closest friend, and asked them if they had it"

"In which case," Manny said, "they would have told hiuaranteed to hand it over to you when they&039;re done with the case"

"Yes, so his best bet is to ainhim both my stone and Arthur&039;s"

"I have to think about this" Manny stared through the open doorway, as if si at the sea would provide answers "Oh shi-yit," he said "Trouble approaches from all sides"

Peta followed his line of vision Out on the horizon, she saw the ize" Manny&039;s voice was heavy with sarcas the doorith his muscular forot here yesterday Didn&039;t your father tell you?" Ray shook Manny&039;s hand and hugged Peta She froze, not knohether to shrink fro hiely, but said nothing

"My father didn&039;t say a word" Manny handed Ray a beer and Peta a second "Better get a refund on your bribe How much was it?"

"Twenty dollars"