Free Beachcomber by Karen Robards Page B

clouding his judgment. Because he was starting to wonder if Christy was here on Ocracoke of her own free will at all. The tone of that phone call, along with her demeanor and his instincts, had him wondering if she was being threatened or somehow coerced.
    That was the thought he was mulling as he pulled into the parking lot of the Crosswinds Hotel. It was asmall place, two-story frame, seventeen guest rooms with a pool out back. Laid-back family atmosphere. Luke knew, because he’d checked out just about everything and everyone on the damned island before he’d arrived.
    The lot was pretty much full, which meant that it held about twenty cars total. The empty spot where the Maxima had been parked was easy to spot. Luke stopped across from it, got out, and, taking a flashlight from the back, checked out the space and the surrounding area, hoping to find something, an ATM receipt, a dropped business card, anything, that would provide some clue as to who had been in the car. All he found was a crushed coffee cup from Starbucks, which was one of Donnie Jr.’s favorite stops. Could have been anybody’s, he knew, but he picked it up on the off chance that it might provide some kind of useful evidence if analyzed. Other than that, nothing. Not even so much as an oil slick. Tomorrow he would do some discreet investigating into the hotel’s guests, but he was already fairly sure that the party he sought would not be among them. That would make it too simple. So far, nothing about this had been simple.
    Getting back in the SUV, he spent about twenty minutes cruising around the island. The layout wasn’t complicated: besides the long and twisty road that ran parallel to the shore, there were basically two main thoroughfares heading up through town. These were called, imaginatively, Back Street and Front Road, and at this time of night they were pretty much devoid of traffic. The problem was that this was high season in averitable Mecca for tourists. There were cars everywhere, parked in driveways and hotel lots and campgrounds. Along streets. At the marina. Dozens of cars. Hundreds of cars. As far as he could tell, the one he sought was not among them. There were also lots of places, like garages and obscure dirt tracks and under tarps in backyards, where a car could be hidden from view. Finally he gave it up. His best bet was to stake out the ferries when they resumed operating at seven A.M. If he made sure they were both covered, he would at least know if the car left the island.
    It was after four when Luke got back to the cottage and found Gary nodding off in the wicker chair. Luke poked him in the shoulder. Gary roused with a start.
    “Anything?” Luke asked, nodding at the monitor, which was turned on but showed nothing more than a dark screen. There was only the one camera, and its range didn’t extend into the bedrooms or bathroom. Coverage of the doors and central living area had been what Luke had been after, and that was what he was looking at now: clearly the house was dark.
    “Nah. She turned out the lights and went to bed not long after you left.” Gary yawned hugely. “You find anything?”
    “Nope. At seven we start watching the ferries. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to try to grab a couple hours’ sleep.”
    “Yeah.” Gary stood up, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “What about her?” He nodded at the monitor.
    “Got it covered.”
    “Great.” Blinking like a sleepy owl, Gary muttered something that sounded like good night and headed for his bedroom. Luke thought regretfully about the queen-sized bed in the room he’d claimed for his own. But the surveillance equipment was in here, and just in case she should get another call or something during the night he wanted to be on hand. Luckily, he was a notoriously light sleeper. As long as he was in the same room as the monitor he could grab what sleep he could and still be confident of not missing anything.
    A shower would have