Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 02 - Vacation is Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

and then back to Sara. “I suppose it would help work off dinner.”
    Sara clapped quietly. “Excellent.”
    “Do you really think you should, with all those gems around your neck? They are stunningly beautiful.” Catherine reached out and pinched a few stones, but with her clumsy effort, she was shuffling her feet for balance. It was apparent she was relaxed by the alcohol and in the state of loving the world.
    Earl, on the other hand, was firmly intoxicated. While Sara and Sean had stopped drinking after the first glass, the Spencers had kept the liberal refills coming.
    Sean placed his hand on the small of Sara’s back, guiding her out of the restaurant. “How about a quick walk around the resort grounds?” Sean started the negotiation.
    “Darling, that sounds wonderful.” She turned to the Spencers. “Thank you again for a lovely meal.”
    “Don’t mention it. All is fair now,” Catherine said.
    Earl grumbled something, but it wasn’t discernible.
    Catherine took up position beside Sara again, whisking her away as both women walked at a faster pace than the men.
    Sean should have thought of an excuse to not go for a walk, but Sara had suggested it and he wanted to please his bride.
    “She is a remarkable woman, Mr. McKinley.” Earl slurred his words.
    “Sean is fine, please.”
    “Yeah? You seem so proper for a younger man.”
    “Manners are never outdated.”
    “Ah, how right you are.”
    “Like my wife said, thank you for dinner.”
    “You don’t know how to accept things, do you?”
    Sean’s pace slowed. “What do you mean?”
    “Just that. You’ve both had it good your whole lives. I can tell.” He flashed a goofy, drunken smile. “Your whole story about day jobs? Good cover so you appeal to the masses.”
    “It isn’t a cover story.”
    “Sure it’s not. She slips into an evening gown like she was born in one. Look at you. Even you shine like a million bucks.”
    “Catherine is a beautiful woman too. And you…well.”
    “Ha! Save your breath about me. She makes me look good. She’s why people tolerate us.”
    Earl continued speaking, not sensing that Sean was trying to communicate he should stop before he said something he’d regret. Maybe it was time for Sean and Sara to move on from Cancun, leave the Spencers behind and travel somewhere else. Since Sara had chosen Mexico, he would pick the next destination, and he was leaning toward Europe.
    “Cathy and I are broke.”
    Earl stopped walking and so did Sean.
    “What do you mean? Your business?”
    “I mean what I said. She doesn’t know. God, it would break her heart if she did. She loves the finer things. I’m worth more dead than I am alive.”
    “I’m sure that’s not true. She loves you, Earl, even though you would drive me nuts.” How large was the resort property? It was starting to feel expansive.
    He looked at Sean out of the corner of his eye. “I know you said that to cheer me up, but I sense I do drive you nuts.”
    “Don’t be silly. You’re just reserved, and you have every right to be. Before this week you didn’t even know we existed.”
    “But now I do and I don’t think life will be the same.”
    “I’m not following.” The cop instinct was buzzing with a life-force of its own. Adrenaline chewed Sean’s insides, infusing a tingling sensation in his earlobes and a burning heat in his solar plexus.
    “There are things a man does that can get him into trouble.”
    If Earl had been confessing this to Sara, she would have been painting him a rose-colored future, but Sean didn’t possess the ability to dab white on black and declare the resulting gray as pure.
    “We all do stupid things, but we can turn them around. Most of the time.”
    “There was another woman.”
    Sean’s mind went to the redhead with the large white hat. “She’s here and Catherine has no idea?”
    “If she knew about the affair, she’d divorce me, and I’d be poorer than dirt—if that’s possible.”
    “I can pay