Free Bone Island 03 - Ghost Moon by Heather Graham Page B

the choices.”
    Kelsey glanced over to the stage area. She smiled, as well—it looked as if the cast of a college comedy had just walked in. They were beautiful people; three girls who were blonde and slim and wearing tiny shorts and belly-baring ripped-up tees had come in with two young men who looked like linebackers—young ones. They still had baby faces.
    Katie slid behind her computer, politely salvaging her songbooks and apparently telling the crew that she probably had what they wanted right on the computer; they just needed to name their songs. She made an announcement using the microphone.
    “This is O’Hara’s, and it’s Katie-oke here, four nights a week. Sometimes, it’s actually Clarinda-oke, but it’s all the same fun. O’Hara’s offers twenty-five beers from the cleanest taps you’ll find from here to Canada, so enjoy—responsibly, please.” Katie said the last with a hopeful but ironic twist in her tone. Key West and responsible drinking weren’t really known for going hand in hand. Luckily, partygoers usually stayed within walking distance of the bars on Duval, while a lot of the major-chainhotels farther around the island sent shuttles to drop off and pick up their guests in the Old Town area.
    Katie started the music. The college crew whooped and hollered and began dancing energetically to the music.
    “It really wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t ever remember being quite so young,” Liam said, his grin wry as he seemed to echo her thoughts.
    “It’s a good-looking group, and they seem friendly and ready to have fun,” Kelsey told him.
    Liam nodded. “Cheerleaders,” he said solemnly. “You can tell.”
    “A bit too happy for me,” Jaden said. She yawned. “Ted, feel like calling it a night?”
    Ted nodded. “We’re still working on a lot of treasure recently brought up from that film shoot.” He shuddered. “Ugh. We’ll tell you all about it at the barbecue, Kelsey.” He stared at Vanessa. “It was bad. Very, very bad.”
    “Hey!” she protested. “We did capture a pair of truly deranged murderers.”
    “That’s true,” Jaden said happily.
    “Oh! I did hear about that!” Kelsey said. She stared at Liam. She had been so caught up in her own situation, she had forgotten that she had seen their names online, and one night on the news. Sean O’Hara and the Becketts had gotten involved with a film crew, recreating the situation in which two people had been brutally murdered on an uninhabited island. A documentary would air sometime the following year.
    “And it’s over,” Vanessa said with a shudder. “Nextweek, I’m filming dolphins for a public-service feature. I’m much happier!”
    “That sounds great,” Kelsey said.
    “Okay, we’re really out of here,” Jaden said. “It’s wonderful to meet you,” she told Kelsey. “And thanks for letting us get in the place on Saturday.”
    “My pleasure. If anyone is allergic to dust, they’re in trouble,” Kelsey warned as Ted and Jaden left.
    It was a warm group, and she was apparently accepted.
    Sean and Vanessa decided to brave the bouncing coeds and dance; Liam looked at Kelsey. “Want to try it?”
    Dance. He was asking her to dance. Just dance. And yet…
    “Do you remember grade school? Mrs. Miller insisted we have something like a cotillion!” she said, grinning.
    “We can probably still manage.”
    Clarinda was busy taking drink orders at another table; Jonas and David were deep in conversation. She still hesitated.
    It was a dance, just a dance. She wasn’t being sucked back into this actually being her home.
    “Sure,” she said with a shrug.
    By the time they reached the floor, however, Katie was singing at the request of the coeds—she was doing a Shakira number, and Liam told her, “Salsa!”
    “Oh, Lord!” she said.
    “You’ve been gone too long. We have a major-leagueCuban influence down here—everybody salsas. You’ll be fine!”
    Oddly enough, it all kicked in. Maybe it was