Bob Rawlins looked at Randy Watts. “Randy, you have to get Suzette to help me.” His hands gripped the arms of the old chair so violently that the maroon, rubbed leather stretched and began to tear. His blue eyes were haunted and his voice ragged. His blond hair was mussed but it was because he hadn’t combed it, not because it was the style. He was normally well groomed, but now he had the appearance of a man who hadn’t thought about this clothes in a week.

“Suzette is on vacation.” Randy said coldly. He didn’t like Bob Rawlins. He had cheated and lied and defrauded Suzette, his partner and the godmother to his infant son. “This vacation is vital to her happiness.”

Bob reached over and gripped Randy’s wrist. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The emotion made his voice sound raw. “Randy, I know you don’t like me. You probably hate me because of what I did to Suzette.” He closed his eyes for a minute, struggling to keep control. “I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what James did to her. I wouldn’t even ask for her help, if I wasn’t so terrified for my granddaughter.”

Randy gently pulled his hand away. “Tell me about it.”

Suzette stretched her arms over her head as she looked out across the cocoa colored sand to the deep teal blue Atlantic Ocean. “It has been so good to have a few days to relax after my last case.” She smiled at her sister who was laying back against a bright flowered lounge chair, her pale yellow swimsuit matching the flowers on the chair “It’s also been good to have a some time to get to know my new found sister.”

Suzette’s parent’s car had been struck by a gas truck which had lost its brakes coming down a steep mountain road when she was six months old. Her car seat had, miraculously, come loose and she had been thrown from the car. Her parents hadn’t been so lucky. They had probably been killed instantly, but no one would ever know for sure because the car and the truck had caught fire and burned until even the car frame had melted into the asphalt.

Rebecca nodded. “It has been nice, but with all the publicity and fanfare, we haven’t had much time together to really get to know each other and now you have to head back to San Francisco.” Her voice was tight, almost brittle sounding.

Suzette shrugged. “Well, unless we hole up in Cordelia’s cottage forever, we can’t have any time alone. If Cordelia didn’t have so much pull, we couldn’t even sit out here on the veranda and watch the ocean. But if I go back to work now, I’ll be able to come back once the furor dies down.”

“That would probably be best,” Rebecca replied as she bent forward to take the tension out of her back. “Some other crisis is bound to come up soon to deflect the media’s attention. I just hope it’s Miami Beach or Destin or someplace far away. I am tired of all the falderal.”

Suzette said, plaintively, “I just wish we didn’t have to wait so long. It seems like I have been looking for my family forever, and now I’ve found them and I can’t even get to know them without a bunch of nosy reporters butting in.”

Rebecca nodded, then said in a cool voice, “I know. It is sad.” She sat back with her arms crossed.

Cordelia, at first, a client of Suzette’s and then a friend, looked at Rebecca’s posture and position while she pondered her words and tone.  The words that Rebecca said seemed to be contradicted by her tone and posture. The words said yes, I want to get to know you better, but the posture and attitude said, “bug off, dear sister.” There was a closed, faintly angry attitude about Rebecca that Suzette either didn’t see or was ignoring.

Cordelia set her mystery novel down and looked from Suzette to Rebecca. “Why don’t you go someplace where you aren’t known?”

“What did you have in mind? The moon?” Rebecca said tartly.

“Well, I was thinking more about Hawaii, but, if you are serious, I could try for reservations on the next space shuttle. That would probably be private enough. Few reporters could afford the tickets.”

“I think I’d like Hawaii better,” Suzette laughed happily. “The temperature there would be better than on the moon and I know it would be better than San Francisco in late February–no cold, no fog, no sleet, and no puddles.”

Rebecca nodded and pretended to sigh sadly, “I guess I agree, but I’ve always wanted to go to the moon.” She laughed, “not that it matters since I can’t afford the moon or Hawaii and I’m not sure Suzette can either. I priced some of the hotels last year when I was so sick and all I could find this time of year were rooms in so called ‘cheap’ hotels that went for $350 a night which is way out of my price range.”

Suzette nodded. “You are so right. After all, I’m a partner in a small insurance consulting business. We don’t make that much on a case, even with big spenders like Cordelia and her nephew.”

“Well, I do have a small house at Kona on the Big Island--”

“When you say small house, how small are you talking–smaller than The Palms?” Suzette looked back at the 40 room mansion that had been her home for the last three weeks.”

“Well, yes. It is a little smaller, but you don’t have to worry about being squashed. It has 8 principal bedroom suites so you’d have plenty of room.”

“But--” Rebecca began.

“And I’m sure that my best friend, Ruth Arbuthnot would be delighted to take you with us on her private jet. That would take care of the cost of the plane tickets. You’d have to rent a car since I don’t drive well yet, but the rates are reasonable.”

“You drive very well for just getting your learners permit.” Suzette looked at her hostess suspiciously, “are you by any chance inviting us to go with you on your vacation?”

“Better you than my darling sister, Dorothea,” she said tartly. “She has been angling for an invitation ever since I kicked her out. This way I can tell her that the house is full It won’t be, but she doesn’t have to know that.” She rubbed her temples. “I wish I weren’t so tactful so I could tell her to take a flying leap off a cliff, but I just wasn’t raised that way. You’d be really doing me a favor,” she paused. “If you don’t come, my feelings will be hurt because you’d leave me to suffer through a visit with my sister and that would not only be unfair, but downright cruel.” She sniffed forlornly.