The door shut with a muffled click.
Nick stared at the door as Zane stared at him. When Nick finally glanced at him, still looking stunned, Zane pointed a finger at him and shouted, “I knew it!”
Chapter 6
Nick emerged from the game room after half a day of interviews, looking ragged and irritable. Ty felt badly for him.
The wedding party and staff had mostly dispersed, the latter going back to work, the former enjoying what was apparently a rare sunny day on the island. There was a pool in one of the wings Ty hadn’t explored yet, a sulfur spring somewhere on the island, and he’d heard people talking about badminton and croquet. There were rumors of a movie room somewhere, too, and tonight’s big event included a screening of something. Ty had a feeling he’d be skipping that in favor of other endeavors.
Amelia and the other Grady kids had all been carted off to the pool by the grandparents and one very disgruntled Snake Eater. Ty and several of the others were loitering around one of the many lounge areas in the great hall. Zane and Marley King, Emma’s cameraman, were involved in a pretty hefty game of chess. Livi and Emma were playing some sort of game they both had on their iPhones, competing for high scores and alternately trash-talking each other and giggling. Deuce and Kelly had drifted away, their heads bent together in a conversation Ty was pretty sure someone should arrest them for having. Take Deuce’s medical-grade weed and grow it with Kelly’s homemade mountain blend, and they could probably occupy small countries with it.
Two of the Snake Eater bodyguards, a Korean of very few words named Riddle Park and a wiry blond named Solomon Frost who never seemed flustered by anything, had been drawn to the crowd, too. Ty had sat talking with them about their adventures for a while. They were essentially mercenaries, but they were interesting men and they’d led interesting lives. By the time the interviews were all over, Park and Frost were trying to recruit Ty into their company, and they were giving it a pretty good sell.
At one time, Ty would have made a perfect mercenary.
When Nick approached, they all halted their activities and watched him expectantly. Deuce and Kelly wandered back over, and everyone was silent, watching Nick.
“So,” Ty finally said after the silence had grown awkward. “Do we talk about your findings and suspects, or do we talk about the more important matter of you and Kelly banging?”
Nick pointed his notepad at Ty. “And there it is.”
The others laughed, and Kelly came over to wrap his arm around Nick’s waist. Nick pulled him closer to hug him. Ty couldn’t help but grin. He was a little thrown by it, he would admit. And he had decided to deal with the horrifying realization that two of his closest friends were now f**king each other by just not ever accepting the fact that they were. Problem solved. But that aside, Nick and Kelly had always been affectionate with each other, and had always loved each other. This wasn’t so huge a step.
As long as Ty didn’t think about them f**king, it was all good.
There was a clatter from the side table where Zane and Marley were playing chess, and Ty glanced over at them.
Zane was peering under the table. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t realize it was under there.”
“Don’t worry about it, man, it’s a tough old bastard,” Marley said as he bent to pick something up. Marley was an easygoing guy with the beginnings of dreadlocks and a perpetual smile. He was wiry and athletic, with the long, lean body type Ty associated with surfers. The flip-flops, cargo pants, and graphic tees he always wore reinforced the image, and his pockets seemed to be loaded down with all kinds of tools and miscellaneous bits. Plus, he was kicking Zane’s ass at chess. Ty liked him.
He sat back up cradling a large camera, patting its side like a baby. “You’re okay.”
Zane was smiling, but as Ty watched, he saw an idea strike Zane like it had physically hit him. Zane leaned forward and pointed at the camera. “Have you been filming with that?”
“Yeah, I got most of the party last night. Little bit of scenery this morning. I was going to go through it tonight, put some B roll together.”
Zane turned to Ty, his eyes wide.
Marley glanced between them, frowning. Then it dawned on him why Zane would be interested, and his face split into a huge grin. “Maybe it recorded something important, right?”
“Wow, if we’d thought of that five hours ago that would have been nice,” Nick grumbled.
Emma hopped up from the couch. “We’re on it!” she said, tapping Marley on the shoulder. “Want us to look for anyone who looks like a rock-bashing psychopath, right?”
“Ideally, yeah,” Ty told her. “Find anything of Milton you can so we can track his movements.”
“There’s a movie room,” Livi told them. She stood as well. “I think you can attach your camera to the equipment and watch the footage on the big screen. I’ll show you where it is.”
The three of them headed off, Marley lugging the camera on his shoulder.
“What are the odds he caught the murder on camera while he was eating or something and we can all go back to being common wedding guests?” Zane asked under his breath.
Park and Frost both shook their heads. “Nope,” Frost said.
They all turned their attention back to Nick. He looked exhausted and frustrated.
“Hey, Irish, you want to get some real food before we powwow on this?” Ty asked him.
“Yeah. I also wanted to take one more look at the body, see if we can pull something off that watch, so I’ll just head for the kitchen.”
Kelly smacked his ass. “We’ll come with.”
Zane snorted and stood. They said good-bye to the two Snake Eaters, who had to go take their shifts, and left Deuce to retrieve Amelia from her nanny. The four of them headed for the kitchen.
They were halfway down the winding steps to the kitchen when Nick stopped abruptly and Ty bowled into him from behind. They barely caught themselves from tumbling down the steps.
“What the hell, man?”
“That smell,” Nick whispered. He backed up a step, reaching wildly. His hand landed on Ty’s stomach and he clutched at Ty’s shirt. His other hand grabbed for the gun he had tucked in the small of his back. Ty hadn’t even known Nick was carrying.
He immediately recognized the panic in the other man, and he knew what happened when Nick panicked. Going for the gun himself would’ve gotten Ty killed, so he grabbed Nick from behind, wrapping him up so he couldn’t get it either. Ty felt like he’d just grabbed a tiger by the tail.