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What the hell had she been doing?
Lena and Suzette were seated at the table when Drew arrived He was a little bit late, but they had waited for hilass of wine, but didn’t seem to mind that they’d waited to order dinner
"Hey, for a redhead, you’re getting a nice tan," Lena approved
He gri for a beer The fellow grinned and nodded
"Thanks You are a kind woman, Lena, to call this rosy hue a tan But I thank you Maybe if I nurse it along, I can look good and buff by the ti?"
"Oh, yes, he intends to join us," Suzette assured hiht Drew’s beer He drank it slowly, idly chatting with the girls about little improveotten their feet wet and had a better idea of hoould all go "We’ll have to check these ideas out with Stephanie, though," he said
Lena waved a hand in the air "Of course! But she loves it when people coood--she isn’t afraid to let others have artistic opinions"
Drew shrugged "Yeah, she’s cool She can even give up control to be able to get in a smoother floith the rest of us as an ensemble So… hey, what do you all think the story is between Liz and Clay?"
"They’re sleeping together Definitely," Suzette said sagely
Lena arched a brow "Hmm I don’t know He has an interest in Stephanie"
"Well, we all have an interest in her," Suzette argued "She’s the boss"
"No, no, no, the way he watches her… he has an interest in her," Lena said
"Ah, but there’s Grant!" Suzette said
"Ureed
"Did you have to make that sound as if the
"Sorry There’s so
"Yeah, yeah, and Clay, too, and I’et into these conversations," Drew said Then he frowned "Doug really should have been here by now And he didn’t look so good today
I’ht--that sounds like a really good idea"
Dreent to Doug’s and pounded on the front door There was no answer, so he hesitated, then went around back and climbed the stairs to his friend’s balcony
The doors were open The draperies were blowing in the breeze
"Doug?" Drew called carefully
There was no answer He fought adrapes, and entered
The television was on Loud
And there was Doug He was collapsed beside the bed
"Sweet Lord!" Drew cried out, reaching down quickly to feel for a pulse His friend was cold, as cold as ice For awas dead He forced hiain At his throat, he found a pulse
Staggering to his feet, he hurried to the phone
It ency response ift Within minutes, he heard the sound of sirens
Arturo came to translate for him as the men asked hi had coreat that afternoon, and that he’d found hiirls rushed up in a panic, and Drew tried to cal Arturo--drove to the hospital behind the a
They drove for at least ten minutes in tense and painful silence before Grant spoke at last His steely gaze caught Stephanie’s in the rearview idly
He didn’t actually ask for forgiveness, so she didn’t offer it
"All right"
"You were in a really dangerous place!" he reht out there All those workers… they could wander at night, too," Liz said "It’s just… a dangerous place Once it gets dark"
"It’s an archeological dig!" Clay said "Not an Italian theain
The drive back was interminable
And then, at last, they saw the resort ahead of the place to the far left of the entry
"Ah, a shower, a drink, and dinner!" Liz said "Everything will look better then Grant, thanks for driving
It was a fantastic place to see, and thanks to you, of course, ere given really special treativen you special treatlad you enjoyed seeing the excavations," Grant told her
Clay was already out of the car When Stephanie exited, she saw that he was standing rigidly He certainly didn’t have a forked tongue he injected into the air or anything of the like, and yet Stephanie had the notion that he was feeling it
"There’s so," he murmured
Grant slammed the driver’s side door "There’s definitely so into the resort He walked straight up to the receptionist’s desk and began speaking to the clerk on duty in rapid Italian The clerk spoke back excitedly Stephanie caught Doug’s name, and the word mal or bad, but the rest of it, she could only surhtly behind her, said