Carolina Isle (Edenton 2)

STRETCHING, ARIEL OPENED HER EYES slowly. So that was what it was all about, she thought. “And well worth all the fanfare,” she said aloud, smiling. She turned to share the joke with David, but he wasn’t there. Still smiling, she listened for the shower, but heard nothing.

During the night they’d moved from his narrow bed to the two beds in the other bedroom. In between, they’d made love on the two couches and the rug in the sitting room. At 3:30, they took a shower together, soaping each other’s bodies, Ariel’s hands exploring every growing inch of David’s anatomy. They’d made love for the fourth time in the tub.

At 4:30, David said he couldn’t do any more and had begged for sleep. Ariel had called him a wimp, but she’d happily nestled in his arms and fallen asleep. “I didn’t know we fit together so well,” she said.

“I did,” David whispered. “I always knew.”

Smiling, more content than she’d ever been in her life, Ariel fell asleep.

Now, awakening slowly, she listened for David. No sounds. She looked at the clock: 7:14. It was still early yet, the stores were closed today, so maybe they could…. Dreamily, she thought of their night. “Make love all day long,” she whispered.

She waited for David to return, but she still heard no sounds. Did he go downstairs to make breakfast to serve it to her in bed? A fitting ending—or beginning, she thought.

She waited another fifteen minutes, then got up. David wasn’t in the apartment. Good, she thought. She’d have time to make herself pretty. Yesterday she’d asked for and received a whole new, clean outfit, plus cosmetics. With forty-five minutes and a good hair dryer, she knew she could look like herself again.

An hour later she was clean, dressed, madeup, and her hair was as good as she could get it since her styling brush was at home. But David still hadn’t returned to the apartment.

Frowning, she went downstairs. Phyllis was standing in front of the coffeepot. “Where is he?” Ariel asked.

“David?” Phyllis had on an ancient chenille bathrobe, a guarantee that no man was within three miles of her.

“Yes, David,” Ariel said, her hands gripping the back of a chair. If she’s touched him, I’ll murder her, she thought.

“I heard him leave about five,” Phyllis said.

“Five? This morning?”

“It wasn’t last night, was it? Not from what I heard upstairs. David may have come, but he didn’t go.”

“There’s no need for vulgarity,” Ariel said haughtily. “What David Tredwell and I do is—Bugger it! ”she said and dropped the attitude. “Where’d he go, and if you tell me you don’t know I’ll tell you the truth of what’s going on, then you’ll be an accessory.”

“Eula Nezbit,” Phyllis said quickly.

“Nezbit,” Ariel said, blinking. She knew without a doubt that David had gone to help R.J. and Sara. Without me! she thought. “What did he take with him? And don’t you dare tell me you didn’t spy on him. If you were sober enough to eavesdrop on us, and you were awake enough to hear him leave, then I know you spied on him.”

“Yesterday, I liked you,” Phyllis muttered. “He had on an old backpack he stole out of my basement. I wonder what else you people have stolen? I’m going down there and—”

“Don’t,” Ariel said quietly as Phyllis started toward the door to the basement.

Turning, she looked into Ariel’s eyes, then sat down at the table. “Something awful has happened, hasn’t it? I knew it would. When Larry came to me and said he and Fenny were going to do it again and I had to take you in, I begged him not to.”

“Why do they do it?”

She shrugged. “Larry needs the money. Fenny enjoys making people miserable, and the judge likes the power. It’s just a game.”

“Not to us it wasn’t and it’s not a game anymore.”

“What’s happened?” Phyllis asked, then raised her hand. “No, don’t tell me. What do you want from me?”

“Do you have another backpack?”

“Yeah. A cute li

ttle thing, but not very sturdy.”

“I need it.”

“For what?”