Free Fatal Tide by Iris Johansen

some heat. It’s—” He broke off at a knock on the door. “There’s your meal.” He crossed the room and she heard him talking to the waiter. Then he was shutting the door and wheeling in a cart. “Sit down and eat something. I’ll answer any questions you want after you finish.”
    “I’m not—” She met his gaze. He wasn’t going to budge and she needed information. It was a small price to pay. She sat down and began to eat. She finished the sandwich, left the soup, and pushed the cart aside. “When will they release Carolyn’s body?”
    He poured her a cup of coffee from the carafe. “Do you want me to ask Halley?”
    She nodded. “She wanted to be cremated and her ashes thrown into the sea. I want to be here when that’s done. I need to say good-bye.”
    “Her ex-husband, Ben Drake, is already taking care of the arrangements. All that’s left is the release.”
    “Ben must be heartbroken. He still loved her, you know. They couldn’t live together, but that didn’t mean anything. Everyone loved Carolyn.”
    “You most of all.” He studied her. “You’re more composed than I thought you’d be. You’re pale as a ghost, but I was expecting a complete breakdown when I brought you here. You were on the brink.”
    She was still on the brink. She felt as if she were walking on the edge of a cliff, putting one foot in front of the other, and never sure if the ledge would collapse beneath her. “I wouldn’t do that to Carolyn.” She kept her voice steady with an effort. “She would have been disappointed in me if I let myself go to pieces. She would have felt as if she’d failed me.”
    “If she was as kind as you say, I don’t think she’d mind if you let go and—”
    “I’d mind.” She stood up and moved toward the window that overlooked the sea. “Have they found anything more about Carolyn’s death?”
    “The official verdict is loss of blood.”
    She braced herself. “She was tortured, wasn’t she? Her poor face . . .”
    “Yes.”
    “What . . . did they do to her?”
    He was silent.
    “Tell me. I have to know.”
    “So that you can hurt more?” he asked roughly.
    “If they tortured her, it was because they wanted her to get me here. They almost succeeded, so they must have hurt her terribly.” She folded her arms across her chest. Hold tight. Draw into a shell and the words won’t hurt so much. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll ask Halley.”
    “They used a knife on her face and breasts. They pulled two molars out by the roots from the back of her mouth. Are you satisfied now?”
    Pain. Hold tight. Hold tight. Hold tight.
    “No, I’m not satisfied, but I know the tally now.” She swallowed. “Halley has no clues? No witnesses?”
    “No.”
    “What about the name she said? Cox.”
    “Immigration has one Cox who’s recently arrived here. But he’s a solid citizen in his seventies, a philanthropist. Besides, I don’t think the scumball listening to Dr. Mulan’s conversation would have permitted her to tell you his name. Maybe she was confused.”
    “No names in her appointment book?”
    “No appointment book. Gone with the file records.”
    “When are they having Maria’s funeral?”
    “Tomorrow at ten. Her mother’s coming in from Puerto Rico tonight. You’re going?”
    “Of course.”
    “There’s no ‘of course’ about it. There have been two murders in the last forty-eight hours, both of them linked to you. Someone wants to get hold of you very badly. Yet you’re going to go to that funeral as if nothing has happened.”
    “Why not?” She smiled crookedly. “You’ll keep me safe. You don’t want anyone else to know anything about Marinth. Isn’t that why you’ve been parked on my doorstep?”
    He stiffened. “Sure. Otherwise I’d just let the people who carved up your friend have their go at you. What the hell do I care?”
    He was angry. Maybe even hurt? She didn’t know and she was in no shape to analyze what Kelby was feeling. She