I was in the dining room of my hotel trying to finish my breakfast. I didn’t feel much like eating this morning. I also didn’t sleep well last night. My mind kept racing on what I witnessed last night in the ballroom. I still can’t get the image of Mercedes and Ralph possibly sleeping together, but it wasn’t the sleeping part that really worried me. For some reason, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut.

Well, if I hadn’t come to Bermuda, I wouldn’t be bothered by all of that. So, if you’re really here to find Holly, why are you so focused on Mercedes? I think I knew the answer to that now.
 
I checked out my plate and I hadn’t made much of a dent in my breakfast. Maybe I should just go over to Mercedes’ hotel and tell her I’m here. No, I think that would upset her…she is here on official FBI business. I thought about being here and doing my own investigation, but realized I was only following them. ‘Them,’ I didn’t like the sound of that at all. I should trust her; after all she has been working with him for years. So, how could he resist her?
 
 
 
*.*.*
 
 
 
I left my breakfast sitting there and went up to my room. I went out on my balcony and looked at the many sailboats tied to their moorings. There must be many rich people here on the island, judging from the size of some of them. Maybe there’s considerable money to be made selling the missing men’s yachts. How would someone go about doing that? That means there might be more than one person involved in the disappearances of the men…but what about the deaths?
 
The sunlight was shining just right and it looked like there were diamonds floating on the water. A slight breeze must have crossed part of the harbor and all of the diamonds in that area rushed together. For some strange reason I remembered my own captivity and was lucky to be enjoying this pretty view. If it wasn’t for Mercedes, I wouldn’t even be here to enjoy it. Life is something that needs to be enjoyed every day…it can be gone in the blink of an eye. Lisa was here one minute and gone the next. Before last night, I had pictured such a bright future with Mercedes, and now I’m not sure about any of that.
 
 
 
*.*.*
 
 
 
I drove my scooter up to Mercedes’ hotel, finding a spot on the veranda. I could view the dining room from one particular location. I spotted Mercedes’ companion sitting alone in the dining room reading a newspaper. I wondered if I had already missed Mercedes. I noticed some heads turning, but I couldn’t see what they were focused on. Then I saw her. Her red hair was gathered on the top of her head, but some of it hung down framing her face. I couldn’t tell if her white shirt was a man’s or not, but it brought back some memories of her apartment. Ralph immediately stood up to greet her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
 
A well-dressed waiter came over to take her order. Mercedes and Ralph then started talking; well Mercedes was doing the talking. I couldn’t see his expression, but she had a frown and she was waving her hands. She gestured with both hands like she was outlining her body. Even from where I was seated, I could see her face turning red. The waiter came over and she settled back into her chair. She nodded her head and he left.
 
She was back at the edge of her chair and was doing all the talking again. Ralph was shaking his head numerous times. Was I witnessing a lover’s quarrel? My stomach started to churn and now I wished I had eaten more of my breakfast. Mercedes suddenly stopped talking, leaned back in her chair, and then looked out the window in my direction.
 
I turned to focus on the lobby windows, but kept thinking about whether she spotted me or not. If she did spot me and saw me looking at them, I’m sure, if she was upset before, she would be furious now. How could I defend sitting and watching her, or them, and how would I explain being in Bermuda without telling her? I waited several minutes expecting at any moment to see her standing next to me. When I thought it was safe to look back, her plate was there with her food, but she was gone. The waiter came over, Ralph waved his hand and the waiter took the plate away.
 
 
 
*.*.*
 
 
 
A half hour later, they both came out the lobby door and got into a cab. It was easy to follow them, but I didn’t know where they were headed this morning. Five minutes later they pulled into the police station parking lot and went in the building.
 
Someone noticed me sitting on my scooter and took a picture of me. He was taking shots of other things in the area, so I thought about a tourist visiting Bermuda. Hey buddy…I’m not a local. If I was that guy, I would wait a few more minutes and take a picture of Mercedes. As soon as I thought about that, she and Ralph came out of the police station and got back into their cab.
 
The guy with the camera was in the right spot to get a shot of both of them. Lucky man…I wish I had a picture of her to carry with me.
 
They were quickly out of the lot, with me their extended tail. There was some traffic on the road, which made my following them less noticeable. At one stop sign I had to let them pull onto the shore road before I pulled up behind them.
 
In fact, I thought I noticed someone on another scooter pull off the road when I stopped. I proceeded onto the shore road after they had driven away. The other scooter was headed our way also, but there were only two directions he could have gone.
 
Minutes later their cab pulled into the same dive shop as yesterday. I pulled over, watching what they were going to do today. The cab quickly pulled away. Mercedes and Ralph walked over to the rustic shack and went in. I noticed there was no traffic on the shore road at all.
 
Several minutes later I heard an engine start and then another. I saw the boat head out into the open ocean just a minute later and observed Mercedes seated in the back of the boat. They must be headed back to where Shawn’s body was discovered. They would be gone for hours. Now I had to decide what I was going to do on my investigation.
 
 
 
*.*.*
 
 
 
I considered what little I knew at this point. Many men were missing, Holly was missing, two men were found murdered, three yachts were nowhere to be found, one other yacht had a man and three women on board and hadn’t been seen since they fueled up, and two men were found in dive cages. I decided to just drive the shore road thinking about those facts and speculating on what I was missing.
 
The breeze felt good on my face as I headed south along the shore. At one point I had to stop along with several other scooters and vehicles, as there was a migration of crabs across the short span of sandy beach and across the road. I had never seen anything quite like this before. One man got off his scooter, taking a picture of all of us waiting for the impromptu parade to finish. It was the same man I saw at the police station. He must have recognized me, waving as he headed back to his scooter.
 
We had to maneuver around some of the crabs, but we were all moving again. There was now considerable traffic following me. I felt uncomfortable leading the pack. I looked for the first available place to pull off the road. It was a small parking lot. I pulled in and went up to the small shack on the property. The sign read; ‘Rusty’s Dive Excursions.’ There were two vehicles in the lot, but I didn’t see anyone around.
 
I went to the building and tried to enter, but the door was locked. I noticed the sign, which indicated ‘Sorry, we’re down at the moment.’ There was a glassed-in bulletin board on the side of the building right near the door. The pictures showed many different groups of men and a few women and most were in scuba dive gear. The common thread behind every one was a tall redheaded woman. She was very attractive and much of her body was there…not adequately covered by her bikini. There were two pictures where she was wearing a wet suit, but there wasn’t much left to the imagination there either.
 
I studied the pictures again, realizing ‘Rusty’ must be the woman in the pictures. Whoever took the pictures did a good job of capturing her character. In every picture, she was either smiling or laughing, and every man’s head was focused on her. The smell of the ocean, the building, the ropes hung on the side of it, all reminded me of my own kidnapping. That woman was also a redhead. She was fairly attractive as well, but not as beautiful or endowed as the woman in the pictures. The hairs on my arms were standing out straight up and I had goose bumps all over.
 
There was nobody around. When I had been captured, I had heard a noise behind me and the next thing I knew was I was tied to a platform and naked. She was too. Despite that entire bad situation, I was really lucky that day. Mercedes had figured out things and tried to rescue me. I couldn’t get my mind off the missing men and what they might be going through.
 
Was I thinking about that time when I heard a noise, or did I just hear a noise behind me? Not wanting to turn around I braced for the worst.