High Tide by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online Page B

face, a face that was now twisted in shock and horror.
    For a moment Fiona didn’t understand anything, not until she followed Ace’s eyes and saw that the thing in her hand was a knife, and when she glanced downward, she saw that she and the bed were covered with blood.
    She didn’t scream. She didn’t make any sound at all, just held the knife up and looked at it. She was vaguely aware that there was activity going on around her. Since there wereonly four people on the boat—correction, three live people, one dead one—she knew that the people moving were Ace and Eric.
    Minutes later, Roy’s big body was rolled off of her, but Fiona still didn’t move. The cool night air made the blood that was soaking her clothes feel cold, but she didn’t move. It was almost as though her spirit had left her body and she was looking down at herself. She heard a man’s voice say, “… going into shock …” but she didn’t relate it to herself.
    She heard a voice, the deeper one, giving orders to start the engine and head for shore. Then she seemed to hear water running, as though a teakettle were being filled. Oh, goody, a tea party.
    It wasn’t until she could feel the teeth-shaking vibration of the engine that someone threw a blanket over her and tried to help her out of the bed. But her legs collapsed under her, so the man lifted her in his arms. “Trainer wrong,” she whispered. “Quads no good.”
    Moments after he set her on a chair at the table, he handed her a hot cup of something.
    â€œListen to me,” he said, leaning toward her. “Can you hear me?”
    â€œOf course I can. What is this? Darjeeling? Or is it Earl Grey?”
    â€œI want you to tell me what happened. Why did you kill him? Did he have something on you? Or did he just try to rape you and you let him have it?”
    Fiona looked at him over her mug of hot something or other. “What?”
    â€œWhat did he do to you? I’m a good listener, and we need to get our stories straight to tell the police.”
    Fiona’s head was beginning to clear enough that a few thoughts were coming into it. Gradually, she was beginning to realize what had happened. She had been in bed with …
    She looked up at Ace with his face twisted in an expression of sincerity and sympathy. For all the world he looked like an actor playing a rape counselor.
    She set the mug down. “You think I
killed
someone,” she managed to breathe. “Murder?”
    Ace sat back in the chair, and his face hardened. “Look, I’m trying to help, but maybe you should save everything for the police.” With that he got up and walked to the back of the boat, where she knew the body was.
    Fiona wasn’t going to let him get away with what he’d just said. Instantly, she stood up, and when she did, the blanket that was wrapped around her fell to the floor. She looked down at herself and saw that she was covered in blood from her neck to her knees, and when she looked back up, she saw Ace bending over the bloody body of a man she’d had dinner with just hours before.
    Fiona had no idea that she made a sound, but the next minute Ace grabbed her and was holding her head over the side of the boat as she heaved again and again, until there was nothing left inside her.
    Gently, Ace set her down on a wooden seat at the side of the boat. “Better?”
    She was trembling, shaking so hard her teeth were chattering. Ace disappeared for a moment, then returned with something in a small water glass.
    â€œDrink this,” he said in a way that made her obey without question. After she’d drunk the whiskey, he pulled her up to stand in front of him. “Look, I know that I’m destroying evidence, but …”
    She didn’t understand what he was talking about. But then, nothing in the last two days made sense to her. Holding her wrist in a gentle way, he pulled her