Eighteen years ago. A business trip. But despite the bad news he expected, Enrique had been filled with anticipation. He and
Rachel. Just the two of them. Since they had discovered their love, it had been difficult for them to see each other alone. A clandestine rendezvous in a shabby hotel; a late night in his deserted office. So little to slake his insatiable need for her. There were rumors; people guessed. But he and Rachel had been discreet. They were, after all, still married to others.
That’s why he had been so eager to get to the Olympus with her. Time alone together; a new beginning. Eighteen years ago. It seemed like yesterday. They had flown out to see the ruins of his first effort at showing his father his business savvy. Millions of dollars invested in thatched guest cottages, a casual outdoor restaurant and bar, free-form pool and cabanas, all laid waste by the hurricane that had swept over St. Mary’s.
His father had told him it was impossible to make a go of a resort on a remote island, particularly in the Grenadines. But his father never understood Enrique. Never realized how much pressure was on the son to equal his father’s accomplishments. Everyone admired Carlos Castillo, self-made businessman. A man who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. And here was Enrique. What could he do to trump his father? He’d excelled at school, attending the most prestigious universities in the world. But what good were academic credentials? He had to show his father that he could take the company he had built and make it even greater.
He studied the photo, remembering the moment. Eighteen years ago. He had been staring out at the sea, already planning the Olympus Grande. He had been unaware of Rachel taking the photo until he turned. She still had the camera up against her eye.
“Sorry,” she said, putting the camera in her bag. “I know it may seem insensitive, but I need to document this for the audit.”
“I understand.” He stepped up to the rise where she was standing. He was feeling optimistic, despite the devastation around them. He saw the hotel as a metaphor for his life. An opportunity to start
anew. He had made his decision. His future lay with this woman. “Don’t be discouraged,” he said. “The foundation is still intact. Next time, I’ll do it right.”
“Right?” she said.
“Last time, my father made me cut corners, but I know that perfection can’t be put on a budget. And for you, my darling, I will only build that which is perfect. That which shall last forever.”
“Enrique,” she said.
“I will create a legacy that will sustain the Castillos for generations to come. Greater than anything my father ever dreamed of. A temple that even the gods will envy. A legacy for our children.”
Rachel looked at him— her emerald eyes reflecting the sea and their future. He held her against him and pressed his lips against hers. He could hear the waves breaking, the seagulls screeching.
She pulled away. “I’m sorry, Enrique. I’m so sorry.”
Chapter 38
Elise heard chimes. Church bells. The notes broke through her dream.
Church bells? She shook the sleep from her head. There it was again. Ding-dong.
The doorbell.
Someone was ringing the doorbell. Why didn’t her grandfather answer? Then she remembered. He’d gone to the grocery store.
She sat up on the sofa and adjusted her tee shirt and sweatpants. She touched the three teardrops of her mother’s blood, instantly soothed by her mother’s presence.
Ding-dong.
Maybe it was a delivery or a neighbor. The quilt her grandmother had crocheted fell to the floor as Elise stood to answer the door. Through the peephole, she recognized the polo shirt and khakis of her school’s uniform. A navy blue hooded sweatshirt hung over Carlos’s shoulders like a cape. Elise unlocked both locks. She was surprised by how dark the sky was and the coolness in the air. Wasn’t it still afternoon? Then she heard distant thunder.
“Hey,” Carlos said.
Elise held the door open. “You can come in.”
“Holy shit. I can see why you didn’t go to school today. What happened to your face?”
“My uncle mistook me for a punching bag.”
“Oh man. He hit you? Did you call the cops? What did Jeremy do? He must have gone apeshit.”
“He was pretty angry.” She ran her fingers through her tangled hair and plaited it in a single braid. She’d been so worried last night and most of today. But then Jeremy called and told her he’d taken care of things with Dwight. He sounded almost happy. Their uncle wouldn’t be bothering her anymore. And she wondered, but didn’t ask, what Jeremy had done to Dwight that would make her brother so certain.
Carlos followed her into the darkened living room.
“So what happened? I mean, like why did he hit you?”
“It was just a giant misunderstanding.”
“Are you living here with your grandfather now?”
“I-I don’t know. I’m not sure what I want to do.”
“Right.” He pulled on the loose sleeves of his sweatshirt and hung his head. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t get it out. Elise had been avoiding him since the night he’d wanted to have sex with her. “Well, I didn’t mean to bother you,” he said finally.
“It’s fine. I’m glad you came.”
“Really?” He straightened up. “Do you want to go for a ride or something?”
Elise glanced around the living room. She’d closed all the drapes, and her grandfather had let her stretch out in here on the sofa.
“We don’t have to talk,” Carlos said. “You know, just hang out.
”How close the room felt suddenly. How much she needed to smell fresh air.
Her grandfather came in with several plastic grocery bags draped over his arms. His forehead and glasses were covered with droplets of water.
“Hi Grandpa. I’m going for a ride with Carlos.”
“Hello, Carlos.”
“Hello, Mr. Lazar.”
Her grandfather placed the bags on the table, took off his glasses, and dried them with the bottom of his shirt. “It just started raining. Be careful.”
“I will.” She kissed his cheek. His sweet, scratchy cheek.
Elise stepped off the front porch of her grandfather’s house. The rain was coming down with force. She opened her arms and turned her face upward. She tried to catch the drops in her mouth. How good the rain felt. How good everything smelled. The damp dirt, the grass, the flowers. Dwight wasn’t going to bother her anymore, and Jeremy sounded almost happy.
“You’re getting soaked,” Carlos said, grabbing her arm. “I’m parked just over there.” He ran and she ran with him. She climbed into the car. The rainwater was streaming down her face and neck. Her tee shirt was soaked through and the teardrops had spread. They felt warm against her skin.
Carlos got in the driver’s side and slammed the door after him. “Here, Elise. Put this on.” He took his hooded sweatshirt off his shoulders. “I don’t want you getting sick on me.”
She slipped it over her head. It smelled vaguely of Carlos’s cologne. Nice.
The rain pounded against the windshield.
“Not a great day for a walk in the park,” he said.
She laughed.
He smiled, then sucked in his lip. “Look, I know things turned kind of shitty last time we were together.”
She looked away. The rainwater had created a puddle along the side of the road.
“I feel like a real jerk. You’ve been going through this terrible
time and instead of helping, all I’m doing is trying to get you stoned and, well, whatever.” He touched her shoulder so lightly that her nerve endings tingled. “I miss you, Elise.”
She leaned against the side window. It felt cold against her forehead. A child’s faded blue ball was floating on the stream of rainwater.
“I’m getting heavy on you,” Carlos said. “I didn’t mean to do that. I just…Well, never mind.”
She couldn’t speak. She wanted to tell him it was okay. That just him being here and caring about her made it okay.
“You want to go to the yacht?” he asked. “My parents aren’t around. No one will bother us. We can watch a movie.”
Elise turned toward him.
“Just a movie,” he said. “Nothing more. I promise.”
“Do you have
The Sound of Music
?”
“
The Sound of Music
?” Carlos’s face broke into a wide grin. “I’m sure my parents have that on DVD somewhere.”
Elise reclined against half a dozen blue and green silk pillows on the king-size bed in the yacht’s master suite as Carlos removed stacks of cassettes and DVDs from the cabinet beside the large-screen TV. “My dad keeps the old movies in here,” Carlos said.
This was the first time Carlos had brought her to the master cabin. The walls were paneled in polished wood and fitted with built-in cabinets and mirrored display shelves. The crystal vases and sculptures looked expensive. How dumb— expensive crystal. It was obvious the Castillos didn’t use the yacht for boating.
She and Carlos had driven directly to Lotus Island and sneaked through the park and around the back to avoid being seen. She was grateful that Carlos hadn’t asked if she wanted to stop by her house. Her uncle had contaminated it for her. Maybe she’d be able to talk Jeremy into moving in with their grandfather. She brightened at the
idea. Why not? The three of them and Geezer. Then no one would be lonely.
She raised the hood of Carlos’s sweatshirt over her damp hair as she tunneled deeper into the pillows. It was windy outside and the yacht rocked ever so slightly, like a cradle. Coming here was a good idea. She took off her sneakers and ran her feet against the silky comforter. If Mrs. Castillo caught them in here on her expensive bedding, she’d kill them.
Carlos dumped an armful of tapes on the bed. “Doesn’t look like they have the DVD. Maybe there’s an old cassette of the movie.”
Elise sat up and sorted through the tapes on the bed. There was one of
The Wizard of Oz
. “We can watch this, Carlos.” She held it up. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“I’m sure we have
The Sound of Music
.” He’d completely emptied out the cabinet. From her perch on the bed, she could see the wooden dividers and open drawers. Carlos was tapping on the backing. “I bet this drops down. My dad probably keeps a secret stash of porno in here.”
“Then I doubt you’ll find
The Sound of Music
.”
Carlos pulled on something and the backing flipped open like a door. “Told you.” He reached into the cabinet and dropped a stack of files on the bed, then stuck his head into the empty space. “Man. I was sure they were in here.”
Elise’s foot touched the pile of folders and they spilled over. “Sorry,” she said, sitting up to gather them back up.
They were accounting reports with endless columns of numbers like her mother used to review. But why would Mr. Castillo keep them hidden?
“Wow,” Carlos said. He slid down to the floor with a pile of cassettes. “Would you believe my dad has the complete collection of
The Three Stooges
?”
Elise flipped through the spreadsheets. They went back at least
four or five years. Dates, numbers, initials, a column headed Transfers to Corporate, and columns labeled EX, JR, VL. Strange.
“Hey, look at this,” Carlos said, turning his head to show her a cassette box. He frowned. “What are you doing?”
“N-nothing. These papers fell all over the place. I’m trying to put them back where they belong.”
“Oh, okay. My parents would kill—” He stopped at the sound of something slamming. Voices were approaching, low and garbled. “Shit,” Carlos said. “We need to put this stuff away.”
Elise shoved the accounting reports into their folders. The voices were directly above. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but could hear their timbre and pitch. There was laughter, then an uncannily familiar voice. A pattern of words that she’d heard once before. Elise’s breath caught in her chest. She was hot, then cold; her insides pulverized, ready to explode out of her.
“Elise, give me those folders.” Carlos tried to pull them out of her hands, but she held them with a death grip. “Shit, Elise. Let go.”
The voices were closer. And again, she heard the familiar pattern. A pattern that absolutely terrified her. She couldn’t catch her breath or speak.
He’s coming, she wanted to tell Carlos. The murderer’s coming. But nothing came out. Like Lot’s wife, she’d turned into a pillar of salt.
“And this is the larger master cabin,” Mrs. Castillo said as she stepped inside. Just behind her were Elise’s mother’s two partners, Bud McNally and Irv Luria, and Mr. Castillo. They all looked at Elise and Carlos with confusion. Then, Mr. Castillo spoke.
“What the hell are you doing in here, Carlos?”
“We were looking for a tape,” Carlos stuttered. “
The Sound of
Music
.”
“Don’t get so worked up, Enrique,” Bud McNally said, “They’re just kids.” He glanced at a file and frowned.
Mr. Castillo swooped down and gathered up the files.
It felt like insects were crawling around in Elise’s stomach. The voice. She needed to match up the voice. But whose was it? All four of the adults had low voices. And why did she only recognize it through the hatch?
“Don’t you have your own room, Carlos?” his father said. “Didn’t we spend fifty thousand refurbishing the rec room for your entertainment?”
“Enrique, you’re frightening Elise,” Liliam said. “What’s wrong, honey? You look ill. My goodness, what happened to your face?”
“I said I was sorry,” Carlos said.
Irv Luria was staring at Elise, his fists in two fat balls. He’d always frightened her when she was little, but he seemed even scarier than she remembered him. Scary and angry. But why would he be angry?
The cabin was shrinking, the four adults hovered around the bed like circling wolves. They sucked up all the air in the room. Elise tugged down the hood of the sweatshirt.
“I’m sorry if I upset you, Elise,” Mr. Castillo said.
“Do you want some water, honey?” Liliam said.
“What’s wrong, Elise?” Bud said.
“Maybe you should get some fresh air,” Irv said.
Elise jumped up, pulled on her sneakers, and brushed past the four adults. She hurried out of the cabin and up the ladder. Don’t pass out, she told herself. You can make it. She heaved herself up by the handrails and pushed open the door.