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rolling out with her, then dissipating in the faint breeze. She caught the scent of jasmine. The sky was deepest blue, touched by moonlight and dotted with stars.
    Finally the shower went off, and Gail leaned against the open door. The shower enclosure was visible, and so was Anthony.
    Water had run from his chest to his groin and down his legs, making the hair lie flat and dark. "Give me a towel." She tossed him one, and he wrapped it around his waist and took another to dry himself. He pressed his face into it. He had left his jewelry on, a gold watch, a heavy bracelet, three rings. He drew the towel down his face and looked at her. His eyes were so dark they could seem black, and they did now, underneath thick, straight brows. He smelled faintly of scented soap.
    "You want to know why I handled the arson case as I did."
    "What I want is for you to stop treating me like a weekend girlfriend."
    He looked at her for another moment, then put on the hotel robe. "You know very well I don't think of you that way." He lightly kissed her lips. "Come outside with me."
    They stood at the railing. "The last time I was here, the landscaping wasn't this full. Martin has done a beautiful job. Did you know that the lights are all solar powered?"
    "Really."
    "Each cottage has a panel on the roof." He leaned on his elbows and smoothed his damp hair. It fell into curls at the back of his neck. The moonlight gleamed on the white robe and lit his eyes when he turned to look at her.
    "I was going to talk to you, Gail. I am sorry that Lois got to you first. She doesn't like Billy. She never has, or Teri either. Lois was born in the Keys and she stayed here. Martin left but came back after nearly dying in New York of a heart attack, and she took care of him. He put her in charge, and no one can say she hasn't done a good job. She took it from a second-class bed-and-breakfast to a small resort featured in travel magazines. Then her brother remarried a young woman, an attractive woman with a difficult son. Lois was demoted, one might say. Martin and Teri are very much in love. It's rare, no? Martin is a fine man. A good father to Billy, but Billy can't see it. Where did I put my drink?"
    In the bedroom Anthony went through the shelves of the armoire for a pair of the satin boxers and soft cotton T-shirt he liked to wear to bed. He dropped his jewelry on the dresser. His drink was completely diluted, so he went to the living room to make another.
    Gail moved her legal files off the sofa and curled up on one end. "Tell me about Billy."
    "Ah, Billy. I don't know who he is anymore." Ice clanked into Anthony's glass. "Four years ago, I could tell you, but now? He's intelligent. A dark sense of humor. His childhood was lousy. Give me a criminal defendant, I give you a lousy childhood. His father is a fishing guide named Kyle Fadden, they say a very good one, but during his marriage he was a drunk and an abuser. Teri was too loyal to leave, or lacked the courage. There were two sons. Billy was eight years old when his little brother Jeremy, age six, drowned in the canal behind their house. It was Billy who discovered the body."
    "Oh, no. That's horrible. Where were their parents?"
    "Teri was a waitress on the night shift. Kyle was at home working on his car in the garage. It was an accident. No one was to blame, but it didn't matter, the family fell apart. Fadden spent time in jail for a series of DUIs. Teri lost her job. The house went into foreclosure. Billy got into trouble. Shoplifting, fighting at school. A psychiatrist put him on Ritalin and antidepressants. But now the story takes an upward turn. Teri was hired to clean rooms here at the resort, and Martin noticed her. He had been a widower for six years, and he fell very hard. So did Teri. He was the first man who had treated her with respect and kindness. She got a divorce and married him. Kyle didn't take it well, and Billy was caught between them."
    Anthony came over to the sofa, and Gail pulled