Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

When Mike groaned, the others laughed.

“What did I say?” Sara asked in false innocence.

Mike kept his arm around her as he led her down the hall to his department. “You and Joce are a real comedy routine. Mizner Park!” The places she’d mentioned were high-end shopping, but he was smiling as he stopped at his desk, which was neat and clean, with not one personal item on it.

“You have on a gun,” she said.

“Usually do.”

“Not at home you don’t.” She looked around, but the rest of the room was empty of people, just full of desks and heavily laden bookshelves. Now that she was here, she was nervous about how he was going to react. He’d seemed glad to see her at first, but that could have been an act.

“Don’t chicken out now,” he said. “Be brave and take the consequences of your actions.”

“What does that mean?”

He kissed her cheek. “You missed me, didn’t you?”

“Not at all. I just thought you needed to see those cards right away, so I—” He kissed her on the mouth. “Maybe I did miss you a tiny bit, but not much.”

“How’d you get here? That thing you drive couldn’t have made the trip.”

“Joce’s Mini Cooper.”

“So she conspired with you to disobey me?”

“Completely. You want to write her a thank-you note?”

“I’ll answer that after tonight.” He kissed her again, only this time the kiss was more serious.

“Hey Newland!” a man said from the doorway. “Take it outside.”

“You’re just jealous, Ferguson,” Mike answered back. He locked his desk drawer, put his arm firmly around Sara’s waist, and led her to the hallway.

“So where’s your new apartment?” Sara asked.

“I have no idea.” He handed her the keys.

She looked at the tag on the ring. “It’s on Ala Street.”

They were going down the stairs. “Never heard of it. They probably put me in some hole down an alley. Are you sure you read that right?”

“416 Ala Street. All caps.” She gave the keys back to him.

Looking at them, Mike chuckled. “The middle is a number, not a letter. The apartment is on A1A.”

“And where is that?”

“On the ocean, baby. Private beaches. Shall we go see it?”

“I’d love to!”

Sara drove Joce’s car and followed Mike through downtown Fort Lauderdale on to a street called Sunrise. They passed fabulous-looking stores and restaurants, and finally came to a hill that she realized was actually a bridge that sometimes opened to let ships through. It was probably ordinary to the residents but fascinating to Sara. On the other side of the bridge, straight ahead, she could see the ocean. When they got near it, Mike took a left, and she followed him down a narrow street. On the right, the ocean side, were large houses hidden behind high walls and enormous trees. Brilliant-colored flowers cascaded over the walls. On the other side of the street were ordinary-looking motels and apartment buildings, and she assumed Mike would turn in to one of them.

But he didn’t. Just a few blocks down, he turned into a driveway with a high gate set in the walls. At the call box he pushed a button, the gate opened, and Sara followed him inside and parked beside his car. To the left were two other cars.

“Wow!” she said as she looked around. The house was large and two stories—and it looked like something from Old World Hollywood.

“It’s a Mizner repro,” Mike said as though that explained everything and led the way to the front door.