Читать книгу Jewels On Tiger Island - Catherine Pickren - Страница 11

Surf Restaurant, Fernandina Beach, Florida

John, Mary, Lucy, and Logan decided they needed to go home, take a shower, drink a beer, and then hopefully, go to sleep, in that order. They wanted to remain isolated for the next week, but they would meet up again at the Surf Restaurant around eight o’clock the next Saturday night since there was a live band playing, and they would need to get out in the public again and act like two normal couples out to enjoy themselves.

John picked up Mary around seven forty-five that Saturday evening. They arrived at the Surf Restaurant before Lucy and Logan, and found an isolated table for four on the back deck of the restaurant. Lucy and Logan arrived around eight and John ordered beer for all of them.

Lucy spoke to Mary in a soft voice, “Just think. If we had not gotten up with John at the Le Clos Restaurant, we wouldn’t have been on that boat ride or that island exploring”.

Mary’s voice matched Lucy’s, “Yeah, and if John had not had an old map he’d found in his uncle’s attic, and if all of us had not agreed to explore Tiger Island, the body of that poor woman might not have been discovered.”

Logan replied as he guzzled down another large swig of his beer. “It’s kind of creepy in a way. I guess it was providence that led us to the body.”

John got up out of his chair and gesturing a knightly bow towards Mary said, “Hey, I hear the band’s pretty good. Would you care to dance?”

Mary replied, “I thought Sir Lancelot would never ask.”

Lucy and Logan followed John and Mary to the dance floor. Everyone seemed to have a good time, swaying and dancing to the lead singer crooning out Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” when flashes from a camera began illuminating their silhouettes on the dance floor. Logan looked straight at the camera the last time the flash went off. Even though he was momentarily blinded by the light, he immediately recognized the press had found them. Logan yelled to the other three, “We’ve got to get out of here or this fellow will be letting his other colleagues know we are ‘fish bait’ for the taking.”

All four of them started darting towards the exit area when John spoke quickly to Logan, “Let’s all get in your jeep and park it in the parking lot behind Bret’s Restaurant. My boat has enough provisions to last us a few days, and by then these vultures will get tired of ‘buzzing around.’”

They ran quickly, got in Logan’s jeep, and drove quickly towards Front Street. Finding an empty parking spot beside the souvenir shop, they got out of the vehicle and hurried towards John’s boat, which was tied to the dock’s pilings outlined beautifully by the moonlight.