Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 02 - Vacation is Murder by Carolyn Arnold Page B

behind. There is one thing, though. Earl must not have known about Bud when he wrote that letter to his wife, or he would have mentioned it.”
    “Yes, that is interesting. So, Amelia has wine in the room and talks to Earl, warns him.”
    “At what point did Earl write that letter?”
    “Maybe he saw Amelia in the bar last night and that’s why he went up to the room ahead of his wife.”
    “Not too bright, though, why not stay in the bar area, around others?”
    “He needed to write that letter for Catherine. He couldn’t say it to her face.”
    “Let’s be honest, the guy isn’t the best communicator.”
    “True.” Sara laughed.
    “Let’s focus on the entire picture. Earl comes up to confess the affair because he got spooked that his mistress showed up in Cancun.”
    “And he could have slipped it into her purse then because she didn’t have one with her at dinner.”
    “All right, so her purse was in the room. Going back to Earl’s mistress, we know that she was after fifty thousand, but why follow him all the way to Cancun for it?I admit that would freak me out, too. He excuses himself to go up and write the letter.”
    “He feels he’s in danger.”
    Sean thought back to what Earl had said to him on their evening walk. “He was already feeling that way last night after dinner.”
    “Here’s a question, though, why answer the door if he saw her there? If he was leery, why let her in?”
    Sean shrugged his shoulders. “He could have told himself he was making too much out of it. Maybe he still had feelings for her?”
    “I don’t know, yet, but I guess we’ll find out. First, we have to figure out where this guy took Amelia—I see it on your face, you’re on to something.”
    Sean pointed at the white sunhat lying on the bed.
    “Let’s hope it works.”

 
     

     
    Face-Off
     
    AMELIA BUCKED AGAINST THE VISE-LIKE grip he had on her wrists. “You’re not going to get away with this. They’ll come after me.”
    He pushed her onto a spindle-backed chair and pulled a bunch of rope from the corner of the bed. “You make a move, it will be your last one.”
    “They will come.”
    He laughed as he worked at tying her around the torso, securing her wrists to the arms of the chair, pulling extra tight on the last hand.
    She yelped as pain flashed white over her vision. She worked to steady her breathing, willing the rush of adrenaline to ebb away.
    “They’re cops from New York,” she said.
    He dropped on the corner of the bed, and a certain light crept into his eyes causing her stomach to heave.
    “They were cops, Mia, you should get your facts together.”
    “No, they are . Earl told me.”
    “Then he’s misinformed. In fact, they aren’t even from The Big Apple, they’re from a smaller city in the state of New York—Albany. But really, all of that is tediously boring news.”
    He paced around her.
    She willed her mind clear of all the colliding thoughts that were assaulting her from many directions. She glanced at her bonds and attempted to lift her arms. There was no movement.
    “As you can tell, I’ve done my homework on the couple. The Internet really was a glorious invention. It lets anyone know anything about anyone. Really there is no privacy for any of us.”
    She looked over a shoulder when he went behind her.
    He reappeared in front, a second later, and bent over the chair, his nose less than an inch from hers. “It turns out Earl’s new friends are wealthier than God. They inherited billions from a business tycoon. It’s all over the news in the area. Maybe Mrs. McKinley would make a more effective bargaining chip. I’m sure her husband would pay handsomely for her safe return.”
    “Don’t do this. You can stop now. No one needs to know.”
    “No. See, I believe it is too late.”
    “They don’t know anything about you. You could walk away as far as they’re concerned.” Her thoughts traced back to the note she had left in her novel. She hoped that the