Fatal Tide by Iris Johansen Page A

I didn’t mean to be insensitive. It’s just that this crime is posing a problem for us on a number of levels.” He turned and headed for a brown sedan. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
    “Come on.” Kelby nudged Melis toward the Mercedes. “Let’s get this over with.” He retrieved the key from a magnet box under the rear bumper and unlocked the car. “Or I can get Halley to wait until you’re less upset.”
    “I’m not going to be less upset. Not until we find Carolyn.” She got into the passenger seat. “I was hoping— It’s much worse than I thought. Maria . . . they killed Maria.”
    “You knew her well?”
    She nodded. “She’s worked for Carolyn as long as I’ve been her patient. She went along on a few of our trips. Carolyn thought she was good for me.”
    “Why?”
    “She was . . . different. My exact opposite. But . . . I liked her. She was always . . .” She stared blindly out the window as he started the car. “They slit her throat. My God, they slit her throat. Why?”
    “The knife is quiet and quick.”
    Yes, he’d know about that, she thought. She remembered reading somewhere that he’d been in the SEALs and they were accustomed to inflicting quick, quiet death. “She never hurt anyone. She just wanted to have a good time and squeeze joy out of every minute.”
    “Then she must have gotten in the way.” He started the car. “It’s usually how the innocent are made victims.”
    “In the way of someone who wanted to get to Carolyn?”
    “Or the files. Halley seems to think you may not be the only target.”
    “What do you think?”
    “Unless your friend made more than one phone call last night to people on her client list, then I think you’re the target and the other records were taken as red herrings.”
    “And Halley would have told us if someone had come forward and said anything about hearing from Carolyn.”
    He nodded. “But if those records were compromising, they might not have come forward. I’m only telling you what my gut feeling is.”
    And that was what she was feeling too. “Carolyn wanted to come to the island to see me right away. I knew she was busy and told her to wait until the weekend. Jesus, I wish I’d let her come.”
    “So do I. But how could you know this was going to happen?” He reached and touched her hand that lay on her knee. “Hindsight is easy. You can’t blame yourself for not being psychic. You were focusing on me as the only threat in the entire scenario. And I don’t believe you’d consider me a murder suspect.”
    “I was followed from my hotel to the docks in Athens. I just didn’t want to think about anything concerning Phil until I could come to terms with it. I thought I was the only one who might be at risk.”
    “Do you have any idea—” He shook his head. “Sorry. You don’t need any more questions thrown at you right now. Halley is going to be doing enough of that when we get to the station.”
    “I never saw him before.” She hadn’t moved her hand from beneath his, she realized dully. Strange. She didn’t like to be touched, yet she had accepted physical contact from Kelby without question. “And I couldn’t be sure that he had anything to do with Phil. I was a woman alone, and there are a lot of sexual predators out there.”
    “And I can see you’d be a prime target.”
    She stiffened and tried to move her hand.
    His grasp tightened. “Not for me, dammit. Not now. It would be like kicking a puppy.”
    “A puppy is helpless. I’ll never be helpless.”
    “Perish the thought. But since we’re in this together and I’m no threat at present, there’s nothing wrong with letting me stand by you in a bad situation.” His lips tightened. “And I’d say this is one hell of a bad situation.”
    “I don’t need you.” Bad didn’t describe the horror swirling around her. She felt as if she were enveloped in an icy, smothering fog. But Kelby was strong and full of life, and he had promised her he was