Free The Way You Look Tonight by Richard Madeley Page A

help me fix this. It doesn’t have to be for long – maybe a week at
most. Meantime you get some kind of endorsement from her senior don at Cambridge, something that looks impressive; something that I can wave in Bryant’s face. We just need to keep the guy
happy for a few days until the FBI boys get a lead, which they surely will. The Keys aren’t the Wild West, for God’s sake – we’re talking about a handful of small islands
here. Anyway, you never know, maybe we’ll cut a break. Maybe this girl really
can
help us out. She seems confident enough, that’s for sure.’
    Jack Kennedy stood up. ‘Come on. Let’s go pin a deputy’s badge on the kid.’

15
    Stella heard the den’s sliding door opening behind her and she turned from the beach window to see Jack Kennedy entering the room alone.
    ‘Oh . . . where’s your brother, Mr President?’
    ‘He’s gone to get us some cold beers. I, ah, think you may appreciate a drink when we’re done here. We all might.’
    He smiled reassuringly at her before beginning to lower himself awkwardly onto one of the beanbags. Suddenly he winced and grunted in pain.
    ‘Um . . . I think I may remain standing, if that’s OK with you, Miss Arnold.’
    ‘Of course . . . are you all right?’
    ‘Never better, thank you. I just have a touch of stiffness in my back today, that’s all.’
    She watched him fishing for something in a jacket pocket before he produced a small brown glass bottle and quickly unscrewed the lid. He glanced at her. ‘Aspirin,’ he said. ‘It
takes the edge off. Would you, ah, pass me that water, please?’
    There was a pewter tray bearing a blue glass carafe with matching tumblers set on a small table beside the window. Stella poured a glass out and handed it to him.
I’m giving a glass of
water to the 35th President of the United States and it doesn’t feel peculiar at all
, she thought, as she watched him take a sip from it and throw his head back to swallow the pill. She
caught the briefest glimpse of it on his tongue. The tablet was bright red and tiny. It didn’t look like any kind of aspirin she’d seen before.
    ‘Thank you,’ he said, handing back the glass.
    He smiled at her. ‘Stella, I have to tell you that I think your presence here today is a remarkable coincidence and, ah, a fateful one at that.’
    ‘In what way?’
    ‘You may be able to help us. Help our country, rather.’ He considered her for a moment. ‘You’ve heard of the Florida Keys?’
    ‘Of course. I’ve seen the Humphrey Bogart film
Key Largo
, just like everyone else. And ever since I watched
White Christmas
and those gorgeous opening scenes set
down in the Keys at night, I’ve wanted to go there.’
    The President laughed. ‘Another touch of serendipity, then. Because that is
exactly
where Bobby and I want to send you. The Florida Keys. Tomorrow, if possible. Tuesday by the
latest.’
    Stella felt her jaw falling open and somehow managed to close it again. She swallowed, hard.
    ‘You want me to go to Florida? Why? And why the rush? I’m sorry, Mr President, I just don’t understand any of this.’
    There was a faint clinking behind her and she turned to see Bobby Kennedy coming back into the den, clutching several opened bottles of iced beer to his chest. He slid the door shut again with
one foot.
    ‘Don’t worry, Stella, you’ll understand well enough when we get round to telling you what’s going on down there.
Jesus
, Jack, are you still wandering all over
the course here? Haven’t you got to the damn point yet?’
    He put the bottles down and turned back to Stella.
    ‘OK. Here it is. We’ve got some crazy fellow running around the Keys, killing young women. Four in the last month – in the last three weeks, to be exact. That’s bad
enough, of course. But the thing is . . . well, the thing is, he does terrible things to them before they die.’
    Stella’s air of baffled frustration evaporated.
    ‘I see. What sorts of things? Go