Chapter 10

The next morning we all trooped over to the Webber's place. Sue had invited Beth to spend the morning with her while Bob took the three of us out to his favorite reef for our diving lessons.

We loaded the Lady Suzanne with tanks, fins, masks, PFDs, weight belts, and the kitchen sink for all I knew. Bob just kept pulling stuff out of the boat house and directing us where to stow it on board.

By the time he pulled away from the dock the three of us were ready to sit down and rest for a few minutes.

"What do you think you're doing?" our host asked as we grabbed chairs on the aft deck. "You can't very well dive if you don't know where you are."

I looked in his direction and saw he'd pulled out a chart of the area. Looked like it was time for a lesson in navigation. I saw Gail hanging back until Bob pointed at her.

"Don't think you're going to get out of this because of that cute bikini you're wearing," he said as he motioned her forward.

By the time we got to the dive site, it was obvious who was the best mathematician of the three of us. Gail picked up navigation as if she'd been working geometry problems in her sleep her whole life. It was easy to see why she and Beth got along so well.

"Okay, let's start with some basic safety rules. I'll warn you now, if I see you break any of them, the lesson's over. Got that?"

"Yes, sir," we all responded. It was funny, but when he used that voice he was 'sir, ' not 'Bob.'

Twenty minutes later he declared us ready to dive ... Almost.

"Gail, I'd put on a T shirt. Remember, sun block washes off in the water and I'd hate to see all that pretty skin looking like a lobster."

Bob's comment left Gail simpering as she dug a shirt out of her pack. As an avid reader, having a well-known author show concern for her welfare must have been a real kick.

Kevin looked as if he was ready to take exception to the fact that our instructor had even noticed.

It was three hours later when we got back to the dock, only to find Matt's Helm tied up where the Lady Suzanne would normally berth. Obviously, Beth and Sue had decided to do something besides sitting around waiting for us to return.

After a little boat-jockeying we ended up with the Lady in her rightful place, with Matt tied along side.

With that out of the way, we started unloading all the dive equipment and hauling it back into the boat house. By the time we were done the smell of food was wafting down from the house only to be met by a chorus of tummy rumbles—diving is hard work!

As we sat down for dinner, Sue and Beth began loading the table. When they brought out the last dish the table was almost groaning under the weight of all the goodies.

The pièce de résistance was a bottle of bubbly Sue had chilling in a bucket of ice. "Don't expect this kind of service every day," she joked as Bob worked the cork out of the bottle. "Today is a special day and should be commemorated with much pomp and circumstance. Unfortunately, we're low on both, so a bottle of domestic bubbly is what you get."

As we ate it was fun to watch Gail—she was ready to explode from excitement, but at the same time trying to act as adult as possible in the presence of two famous authors. Kevin, on the other hand, was almost sullen. He took part in the conversation and thanked the Webbers several times for both the diving lesson and the meal, but I could tell he was sulking, and I thought I knew why.

When Beth suggested that we should get home Gail stood up and almost fell on her pert derrière. Obviously, the wine had gone to her head. I didn't know if it was from a lack of experience with alcohol or maybe she had a metabolism that didn't handle it well, but either way, my brother's girlfriend was more than a little tipsy—all from one glass of bubbly.

We said our goodbyes and thanked Bob and Sue for the memorable day and soon had our—our!—boat pointed toward home. While Beth and I were tying up the boat, we watched as Kevin had to almost carry Gail up to the house.

"Oh, I think she's going to regret that later tonight," Beth said.

When Beth and I finished we walked up to the house we found Gail sprawled out across the bed, face down, and snoring.

"Hmmm, that looks familiar," I kidded my lady, forgetting her elbow.

Kevin was sitting at the kitchen table wearing the mother of all scowls.

"Okay, little brother, what's got your knickers in a knot?" I asked.

"What do you think? I mean he's old enough to be her father! And trying to get her drunk on top of it all!" he railed.

Now, irony like this doesn't come along every day. Here was my brother, almost foaming at the mouth when it wasn't too long ago he was at the other end of the stick. I almost laughed until I realized how much the whole thing upset him.

"Kev, take it easy. Did you ever consider that Bob was just trying to get Gail to relax? It was pretty obvious she was nervous. Between her first diving experience and the fact that Bob is a famous author, it was easy to see why she was on edge. His comment was just to take her mind off it all."

"Well ... maybe, but how about the wine?"

"It was Sue who brought it out, not Bob. I can't believe Gail got looped on a single glass, a little tipsy, maybe, but flat on her butt drunk? I mean, one bottle split between the six of us? I get the idea she doesn't drink very much?"

"No. Neither of us do."

"There you go. It wasn't a big seduction attempt, just a friendly celebration and Gail just didn't know her limit. Nothing sinister."

"Well, I still don't like the way he was ogling her! And that comment about all the skin she was showing!"

I just sighed. "Kevin, Bob wasn't 'ogling' Gail. Although she does look pretty good in that suit," I said as I glanced toward their room where the lady in question was sprawled across the bed, out like a light. Wrong comment at the wrong time. When I got off the floor my jaw felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

"Kevin! What was that for?" Beth had walked into the room just in time to see my brother deck me.

"I just don't like the way guys are looking at Gail. Dammit, it's bad enough when strangers do it, but to have my own brother almost drooling over her!"

Beth's snicker had Kev wheeling on her. "I mean it! She didn't do anything!"

Bath laughed. "Kev, are you really that naïve? Why do you think she wears that bikini? Grow up!"

"Yeah, but she's my girlfriend. Why would she want other guys to look at her?"

Beth threw me a look along the lines of, 'He's your brother, haven't you taught him anything?'

"Kev, she's a girl," I said. "A good looking one. Why wouldn't she enjoy guys drooling when they look at her dressed like that?"

He looked at me. "Tommy, you can't tell me you like it when somebody does that to Beth?"

"Sure I do. I mean, why wouldn't I be proud to be seen with a beauty like her?"

He turned to the lady in question. "Doesn't it bother you when Tommy checks out every pretty girl he sees?"

"No, it just proves he's a guy with a normal libido. It doesn't mean anything.

"Don't tell me you don't get a kick out of the envious looks you get from other guys when you're with Gail."

"Well ... yeah, but—"

"But nothing. Kev, you're just jealous. Remember, jealousy isn't the same as love. As a matter of fact it's the opposite—it's insecurity."

"Yeah, Tommy's said that before, but I still don't get it."

"Look, if Gail really loves you she's not going to dump you just because she enjoys it when some other guy looks at her. And if she does dump you, you're better off without her."

"Well ... I suppose..."

"Kev, would you believe I had almost this same conversation with Gail on New Year's Eve?" Beth asked.

I could see him wince at the memory of Gail's reaction to his time on stage that memorable night.

"You did? I couldn't believe the way she acted that night. I mean I didn't do ANYTHING and she made it seem like I'd ripped your clothes off right on stage!"

"Turnabout may be fair play, but it's also a bitch, eh, little brother?"

Just then the "lady" in question rolled over and gave out with a snore that I was sure would register on the Richter scale.

We looked at each other and broke out laughing, all the tension suddenly gone.

The next morning Beth and I were stretched out on the beach, Kindles in hand. I was deep into a James Hogan novel and a quick glance told me Beth was reading another of her technical magazine articles. When a glance at the page showed me more than one character I didn't recognize in a formula, I knew better than to ask.

What I did recognize was that she had decided to go native and forgo the top of her screaming orange suit. She glanced up at me.

"Oh, good, just in time!" she said as she rolled over to present the world with a view of her beautiful derrière ... and me with a bottle of sun screen.

Oh well, it was a nasty, slippery job, but I knew my duty. I squirted the SPF50 on my lady's back, cracked my knuckles and dug in, rubbing the lotion into all that beautiful skin.

My odious chore complete, I waded into the water to wash the sun screen off my hands, only to be pounced upon by my almost-naked lady. That meant war!

It didn't take too long before Gail and my brother came down to see what the hollering was all about. I tried to shield Beth until I could find a way to get to the top of her suit, but she just stood there, as calm as could be, while Kevin tried not to stare. Gail, on the other hand, took one look at Beth, reached back to pull the strings on her top, dropped it on the sand, and jumped in the water to join the battle. Eventually, my brother decided to join in the fun and soon the four of us were ducking and splashing each other. Modesty? That was for home, not here!

"Well, Gail, I see you got over yesterday's little adventure," Beth kidded her.

"Ohh, I never want to feel like that again. What was in that wine?"

"Just bubbles and alcohol."

"Kevin, don't EVER let me do that again!"

I glanced at Beth and saw her shoot Gail a sympathetic look. Obviously she remembered those times she'd ended up a bit under the weather. I wondered if Kevin would have any more luck telling his girl not to do something than I had with mine.

"So what have the two of you got planned for the rest of the day?" I asked.

"I want to see that house," Gail said. No one asked which house she meant. We all knew.

"Just remember to stay away from the cliff!" Beth reminded the pair as they started up the path.

"Yes, mother," Gail replied with a grin.

Having had enough of the water for a while, Beth and I dried each other off and settled back down with our respective reading material. After we renewed each other's sunscreen, of course. And then spent some time redistributing it over each other.

It was some uncountable time later when Gail and my brother arrived back from their expedition. I could see they were a little spooked by the trip and knew how they felt.

"So how'd it go?" I asked Kevin.

"Oh, all right, I guess. That house is really spooky. It almost seems haunted."

"Yeah," Gail added. "I can see why Sue has used it in some of her books. I'm surprised she hasn't told Stephen King about that place!"

My brother looked as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't quite decide how to do it. "Um, Tommy, have you met anyone else who lives around here?"

"You mean besides Bob and Sue? Yeah. We met Jamie Swanson and his family last summer. They've got the place just to the west, but that's it. I know there's a rich couple who own the house past the Swansons and four or five people who share the place on the other side of the Webbers but we haven't met any of them. Why?"

"While we were walking up the path to that house we met a kid just sitting on a rock."

I gave Beth a look and got a gentle elbow. I took the hint and kept my mouth shut.

"Anyway," Kev continued, "she said her name was Cecily and claimed she lived in the big house on the cliff, but the only house up there is that old wreck. How could she live there, or was she just pulling our legs? And the outfit she was wearing. It looked like a swim suit out of an old silent movie.

"You guys were setting us up, weren't you? I mean nobody could live in that house."

I glanced at Beth and got a nod. "Kev, you're not going to believe me, but you met a girl who we think died on the Titanic."

He gave me a skeptical look but Gail turned white as a, well, a ghost.

"Are you putting me on?" he asked.

"No, Kev, we're not." I went on to explain what Beth had found out about the Fitzhugh family dying when the Titanic sank, and Beth mentioned the fact that as far as the Bahamian government was concerned there was no house up there.

"Yeah, but how can that be? I mean ... wait a minute. You're paying me back for not telling you about the boat, aren't you?!"

"Kev, I'm not kidding you. The only Cecily Fitzhugh we could find a record for was lost with her parents when the Titanic sank. No shit, little brother."

I could still see a skeptical little edge in his expression while Gail looked even more spooked. She looked at Beth as if she was wanting—begging—my lady to tell her it was all a farce. I could tell from Beth's expression that, with Kev and Gail's sighting, her technically-minded assurance that ghosts don't exist was beginning to fray just a bit around the edges. She looked at me as if asking me to say something to reassure her ... and Gail. Unfortunately, my bag of glib reassurances was pretty much empty. Looked like it was time to change the subject.