TWENTY-THREE
Cat was sitting sullenly at her desk a couple of days later, while Aiden was just as silent at his own, doing something on the computer. It was certain that he’d be off soon to another day of diving, leaving Kellen and Cat to deal with yet another day of annoying mishaps and the constant barrage of Brynn’s insistent attacks and snide remarks whenever she thought she could get away with them.
If the woman sneered at her one more time, she would make quick work of the remaining fifty-three days she had remaining in her marriage, whether she and Aiden ever managed to make up with each other or not. The dislike she now had for her had little to do with him, and everything to do with Brynn’s attitude. The more she knew him, the sorrier she felt for Aiden that he’d tolerated the woman as long as he had.
When the phone on Aiden’s desk rang, Cat and Kellen both glanced up as he answered. “You’re kidding!” he gasped, making both of them wince and look worriedly at one another, rolling their eyes at those familiar words. His next words, however, had them both sitting up with alarm. “There’s no way this could possibly be an accident. I’ll be right out.”
When he slammed down the phone and got to his feet, both Cat and Kellen sprung up in alarm. Kellen asked, “What’s going on, Aiden? You look upset.”
“The lifeguards just arrived to open the pool, but the family pool won’t be opened anytime soon,” Aiden replied as he headed for the door.
“What are you talking about?” Cat called after him, beginning to follow behind him.
“Stay inside, Cat, I’m not having you anywhere near that pool right now.”
“Why not?” she demanded, exasperated, though she stopped in her tracks and threw up her hands.
“Crocodiles. Two of them. Apparently nasty, big ones,” he called over his shoulder. “Luckily, both Declan and I are trained in handling them. We should be able to capture them ourselves.”
Cat would have started to run after him, this time to stop him from doing something crazy, except that Kellen caught her by the shoulders and held her back.
“He’ll be all right, you know,” he reassured her. “He has wrestled a croc or two before.”
“Seriously? When?”
Kellen grinned. “I’ve known the man for almost twenty years. Do you expect me to recall the exact times and places where those adventures occurred?”
“You’re teasing me, Kellen,” she complained. “Has he really wrestled a crocodile?”
“I do not tease, Miss Addison,” he insisted. “It’s not in my nature.”
“Well, at least the guests need not know much about this,” Cat sighed. “Most of them are still sleeping.”
“A good thing, too,” Kellen replied. “If this bit of nonsense gets into the papers nobody will want to come to the resort at all.”
“Well, unless they want a crocodile encounter,” Cat added dryly.
“Touché, Miss Addison,” Kellen chuckled. “Shall we see if we can catch a glimpse of the extraction?”
“He doesn’t want me anywhere close to that pool, remember?”
“No, though I daresay he wishes he could throw Brynn right into it after the effect she’s had on the two of you over the last few days,” said Kellen as they began walking up the hall. “Must you be quite so hard on him, Cat? It really wasn’t his fault.”
“Told you everything, did he?” she surmised.
“Just as you told Ellen,” he said, chuckling. “What an interesting pair of confidants! Kellen and Ellen—help when you need it.”
“You’re just as crazy as Ellen,” she told him as they headed down the stairs.
“I know,” he chuckled, and the two arrived just in time to find Aiden and Declan loading one of the crocodiles into the back of the SUV. Cat could clearly see that somehow they’d managed to tape shut its jaws, but the creature was making its best attempt to writhe free of their grasps, and very nearly succeeded.
Unfortunately, a small crowd had gathered to watch. Aiden cautioned them, “Folks, you need to stand back. There’s nothing here to see, somebody must have left the gate unlocked and a few of the locals decided to take a swim. We’ll have it cleared up directly. The best thing you can do from now on is to ensure the gate is not left open anymore.”
The flash of a camera left Cat feeling quite concerned, and she looked around trying to see who had taken the shot, but it was impossible to tell. She worried at her bottom lip and stopped the moment she realized Brynn was watching her. The woman smirked, and Cat scowled at her in return. If only she knew how she could wipe that smug look off her face.
“Aiden, why don’t you let me drive these two up north and release them at the preserve?” Declan suggested, glancing over at the two women. “It looks to me like you’ve got other problems.”
“There’s no way I’d endanger you in that way, my friend,” Aiden insisted. “These two animals are pretty big. I don’t want you harmed on my account.”
“Fine, then, let’s get this over with,” he sighed. “We’re meant to take out a boating group in another hour, and I’d rather not disappoint them.”
Aiden cast an apologetic look in Cat’s direction, but she simply nodded and sighed heavily. For a while now, she’d been more than willing to forgive him, but she just didn’t know where to begin. Before he was able to drive out, though, Brynn stepped in front of the vehicle and leaned in.
“We still need to talk, Aiden,” she insisted. “Don’t disappear on me when you get back this time. I promise you I’m not going anywhere. Understand?”
“Get off the hood, Brynn,” he told her. “You’re being childish.”
Brynn moved away, standing aside so he could start driving again. Cat frowned and shook her head. It reeked of a certain desperation to throw oneself on top of a car just to get somebody’s attention. What else might the woman do in her desperation?
The glare Brynn gave Cat as she returned to her cabin was far from reassuring. Cat turned to Kellen and asked, “You did see that, didn’t you, Kellen? I want to make sure I didn’t just imagine it. My eyes aren’t playing tricks or anything?”
“Not even a little,” Kellen replied. “Brynn looks ready for a fight. If I were you, I’d run and hide. The woman has taken kickboxing lessons, and she’s as ruthless as they come. If she’s got you in her sights it won’t be pretty, right?”
“Thanks for the warning, but I almost wish she’d try something so I could have her arrested and removed,” Cat told him, visualizing the fantasy in the back of her mind.
“I think you’re the one who sounds crazy now,” said Kellen. “And I also think we ought to find out if our two security guards saw anything unusual going on last night.”
“Yes, you’re right,” said Cat, warming to the subject. “And we can also check the video feeds. You did say that the cameras were finally online.”
“That’s a great idea,” Kellen agreed. “I’ll get Max on the phone too. Aiden told me he’s been keeping an eagle eye on cabin number four. If anybody from there got out of line, he’ll be the one who knows.”
“Max, as in room thirty-two?” Cat smirked. “So he’s the detective, eh? I never would have figured it out in a million years.”
“Yes? Then I probably was not supposed to tell you,” Kellen sighed. “Oh well, it can’t be helped now. With any luck, we’re about to bring all of our troubles to ground. Will you call in Denny and Boris?”
“You bet I will,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”
Interviews with the security guards and detective both revealed the same thing. Brynn’s reporter friend, Art, had been skulking around near the pool last night. With a grim expression, Kellen asked the two men to bring him into the office so they could ask him questions. And, after a bit of time, the man finally broke.
“Reviewing a resort that is no more interesting than any other in the area would make for a boring article. So I decided to stir up some trouble to make the piece a bit more sensational. I know it was a cruel joke, but I can assure you that Brynn was not involved. It was all me, guaranteed.”
“If that’s so, I believe you’ll be writing that article from inside a jail cell,” Cat told him, smiling. “Vandalism is a serious crime, sir.”
“I’m willing to endure,” he told her stoically. “They may do their worst, and it cannot affect me too much. I knew I was doing wrong, and now I’ll simply have to pay the penalty.”
When they were alone, Cat asked Kellen, “What did you think of that?”
“He was obviously lying,” he said. “But if he’s willing to take the fall for Brynn, there’s nothing we can do about it, to be sure. I say we should just let it go, and tell Aiden exactly what we observed. And Cat—I really think that you should be the one to make the call.”
“You’re right,” she sighed. “I’m going to have to start somewhere, it may as well be there.”