Orchid Beach (Holly Barker 1)

“What’s it all about, Holly?”

“Well, it’s no big thing, Hurd. I found out that this guy, who is one of Barney’s security guards, has a criminal record and shouldn’t be licensed for security work or to carry a gun.”

“And what did you do about it?”

“Barney promised me he’d take him off security work, so I haven’t done anything, except talk to him.”

“Why’d you sic the dog on him?”

“How’d you know about the dog?”

“She made a lot of noise.”

“I didn’t sic her onto the guy. She just didn’t like him, I guess. I don’t know why.”

Hurd nodded.

“What’s the problem, Hurd? What’s on your mind?”

“Tell you the truth, I get the very strong impression that you don’t trust me to do my job. Ever since you got here, we’ve hardly talked about anything, and I guess we didn’t have to, until I got the deputy chief’s job. But now I figure I ought to know everything that’s going on.”

Holly felt cornered. Wallace was right; she didn’t trust him, but she hadn’t meant for him to know that. “I’m sorry I’ve given you that impression,” she said.

“You know, if Chet had confided in me about what he was working on, we would probably have already made an arrest in his killing. And now you’re working on something you’re keeping from me. What happens if you end up dead? Where is the department then?”

“Hurd, you have a very good point there.”

“It doesn’t seem to be doing me very much good, Holly. Are you going to bring me in on this or shut me out?”

“There isn’t anything to shut you out of, Hurd. Ask me questions, and I’ll give you answers.”

“Do you have some particular interest in Palmetto Gardens?”

“What do you know about that place, Hurd?”

“Just what everybody else knows: practically nothing. What do you know about it?”

“Just about what you know,” she lied. “You think we ought to know more about it?”

“I certainly do.”

“Why?”

“I know it doesn’t come as a surprise to you that we have what amounts to a city-state, right here in our jurisdiction—that they don’t allow us to patrol out there, that we can’t even enter the place unless we’re escorted. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“It did until I visited the place,” Holly said.

Wallace came close to changing his expression. “You visited the place?”

“I’ve been out there a couple of times. Barney Noble gave me the five-cent tour, and he invited my father and me to play golf out there once. He and my dad served in the army together.”

“What’s it like out there?”

Holly told him about her two visits.

“I don’t like the idea of the security people having automatic weapons,” he said.

“Neither do I, much,” Holly replied, “but there’s nothing we can do about it.”