Free Gnarly New Year (Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #2) by Anna Celeste Burke Page A

balled up. “What if that whole fire alarm deal was a distraction to get us out of our room so they could search it?” Brien stood up from where he had been on his knees, plugging that lamp back in.
    “It’s okay, Kim. There probably wasn’t much the police could do with those stinky things. If somebody searched the room, they know we're not hiding anything. And, if they took that bag thinking the GPS device was in it, they’re in for a nude awakening!” I blinked.
    “A what?”
    “A nude awakening. When you’re suddenly faced with the naked truth. It’s not always pretty, Kim.”
    “ Rude awakening, Brien. Not nude.” He blinked back at me.
    “The naked truth can be rude, but…” I interrupted him, speaking of rude.
    “Oh, never mind. I’m going to call Alex to ask if housekeeping was really in here during a fire drill or whatever it was. Not that I believe bad guys would have made the bed and left us chocolates.”
    “Delicious chocolates, too. You want one?” Brien popped a little truffle in his mouth as he asked that question.
    “No, I’ve had too much sugar today as it is. I feel almost as jittery as Twitchin’ Mitchum. What is it with that guy?” I groused under my breath as I waited for someone to answer the call I had placed to room service. When they picked up, I asked to speak to Alex. No luck, dang it. I left him a voice mail message inquiring about housekeeping’s visit to our suite.
    I hung up the phone and dragged myself out to the veranda. Brien was polishing off the rest of those chocolates with a canned espresso he must have found in the tiny, well-stocked fridge in our suite.  I slumped into a chair next to him and pondered our situation. Despite our vow to stay out of it, here we were knee deep in muck and mire. How had we gotten into this mess? Mick's turning up on our doorstep, so to speak, was a big part of the problem but not all of it.
    Why had those two stooges been interested enough in us to follow us around that day? Had it been the news coverage, or Davis’ accusations that we were in cahoots with Owen? Were his suspicions enough to get the Rich Guy with deep pockets to have us followed? Visiting Willow at the hospital the day after that confrontation with Davis could have added fuel to the fire, inflaming speculation that we were plotting with her. It also probably didn't help that we had wandered around behind Corsario's Hideaway and tried to have a chat with Goddard. Interesting how shady an innocent set of events could look, reflecting on them later. I had to admit, Brien and I sure appeared to be mixed up in the mess with Owen. If that was true and we were all in it together, why hadn’t Goddard welcomed us into his bar when we knocked? That was a question I hope Rich Guy never got close enough to ask.
    If only Mick hadn’t decided to follow us that day, rather than finish what he had set out to do and deliver that GPS device to Willow. If they had called the police, things might have gone in a different direction for Mick and the rest of us. Not that he seemed worried about it. He dozed in the chaise lounge.
    He had to be exhausted by the ordeal. Who could blame him for that? Trying to fight off the sense of impending doom that engulfed me, I made a few half-hearted attempts to dig up background information about the resort developers. I didn’t have my laptop, so I searched the web on my smart phone. That was slow going but I did find a few old pictures of the development team.
    When I roused Mick from his sleepy state to take a look, he recognized none of them as the Rich Guy he had seen talking with Davis and the diver we now called Larry. Nor was the Rich Guy in pictures I showed him of happy developers sitting around a conference table or posing with members of the San Albinus City Council on a newly opened boardwalk. Not long after, Mick dropped off, again, snoring this time.
    Maybe I was crashing after that sugar and caffeine binge, but I felt despondent