Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 01 - Peril in Paradise (22 page)

Finally, the tropical storm had passed and the sun
blazed down with cheery brightness. Jack Hillman’s murderer sat in jail. Kong seemed almost on the brink of tolerating the beach. Everything had turned out just fine.

Except one thing.

Nick Billie refused to answer any of my calls. I’d left
him voice mails with long, rambling apologies, but he
didn’t respond. Maybe he’d eventually relent once he
had time to cool down.

When donkeys fly, to quote Wanda Sue. Still, I clung
to the hope and didn’t press it further.

My world had changed. I’d changed during the last
couple of weeks. I felt like part of a community for the
first time in my life. Risked my life for a man I barely
knew. Maybe even grown up a little in the process. This
is where I belonged-for now.

Just then, the door to the magnificent RV next to me
opened, and my honeymooning neighbors emerged in
all the splendor of their matching gold swimsuits.

My eyes widened as I took them in. Both tall and
lean, with wrinkles from head to toe, they had to be
every day of seventy or more.

“Hi, I’m Ron Clark. This is my bride, Irene,” the
man spoke up.

“Hi, yourself,” I managed to get out. “I’m Mallie.”

“Sorry we’ve been kinda preoccupied. We just got
married” Irene beamed. She flashed her wedding ring
at me. “Did we miss anything over the last week?”

I didn’t know where to begin.