Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

At the same time as Charity was leaving Heathrow Airport bound for Florida, Greg was racing up the stairs of Rhona's beach house. He knocked fast and began to pace about. He dug into his pockets and felt the half pack of Coyote cigarettes he still had with him. He rolled it around and around, it was days like these he wanted to start smoking again. He patiently knocked again, damn secret agent wannabe, thinks she can sleep in during a mission.
He had barely gone back to pacing, his mind fighting with itself to light up when the locks clicked and the door opened. She looked like hell, well just her face. She was clad in a tight black tank top and Greg's favorite colour, pink panties. Her eyes didn't just have bags, it looked like they were carrying a complete set of luggage. " Interrupt your beauty sleep?" he asked.
" Someone was here last night" said Rhona, " they left a message."
" Let's see it" said Greg.
Rhona led him through the house and to the porch. Greg looked down at the strange symbol on the railing. " Interesting" he said, " I've seen this before."
" Where?" asked Rhona.
" On a few tombstones in the graveyard and occasionally on a wall or two" he said, " a few of the local boys picked it up from somewhere and now use it as their official symbol. They're trouble makers but nothing serious."
" I had visitors last night" said Rhona, " I had the distinct impression they wanted to break in."
Greg scratched his head, " Local boys do like to break into vacation homes but mainly to steal liquor or loose cash" said Greg, " but never when anyone is home. Strange, last night was certainly the night for robberies."
" What do you mean?" asked Rhona.
" Someone broke into the missing girl's beach house" he replied, " the caretaker came by again and said he saw a girl with pink hair inside. He ran for his life and when my officers arrived the only evidence we had was the back door was slightly open."
" Hell of an evening" said Rhona, " how many girls with pink hair on this island?"
" Two" said Greg, " neither of them are smart enough or quick enough to break into a house. I think it is related to the girls' disappearance."
" Of course it is" said Rhona, " it makes me more convinced something bad has happened to these girls."
" So what is your plan?" asked Greg.
" I'm going for a walk, the girls didn't have a car so everywhere they went would have been on foot" said Rhona, " I want to see what they saw."
" Okay, I'll come with" he said.
Rhona shook her head, " Nope, you are a cop here. I can't the kind of questions I want with you around" she said, " you go after the pink haired burglar. We'll meet up tonight."
Greg didn't like being told what to do by anybody let alone some spy for hire, but she was probably right. Greg nodded, and took his cigarettes out. " I'll see what I can find" he said, lighting up.
Greg took in a long drag, what the hell this job would kill him long before cancer ever would.

Rhona watched him go, she wanted to believe his theory that her late night visitors were just kids but the tapping made her think otherwise. Rhona changed into a blue and white polka dot bikini and sandals. She slipped her sunglasses on and went for a walk.

This side of the island was almost nothing but vacation homes, some of them looked more like vacation castles securely behind large walls and sturdy gates. Maybe the girls went to a house party or two, they saw something at one of those. Rhona made a mental note to ask Greg for a list of the owners on these homes and see if anybody is in town.
Rhona's feet began to get tired as morning wore on, these sandals weren't designed for hiking so she was figuring she was coming to the end of the girl's walking range. Just as she was about to give up a pickup came round the bend with several teenagers in it. One sight of Rhona's shapely body in her little bikini made them come to a complete stop. " Hiya boys" said Rhona.
" Hey pretty lady" one of them whistled.
" I'm new to this island, is there a place around here a girl can have a good time?" she asked.
" Hurricane Pete's" one of them said, " all us island guys love to hang out down there."
" Where is that?" asked Rhona.
" Just round the bend, we'd take you but Pete is paying us a six pack each to get his booze shipment in" the driver said before speeding off.
Rhona continued walking until she saw it. It wasn't much, nothing more than a shack on the water with an old hand painted sign hanging over the door. That looked like the kind of place where trouble could be found rather easily.
As Rhona made her way down the old rickety dock she wondered if she was going to get into trouble in there, these weren't the sandals to be fighting in. Oh well hopefully they will be a cheery bunch of goons.

Hurricane Pete's interior was not what she was expecting. The interior was lit with dozens of Tiki lights in a multitude of colours filling it with a pleasant glow, stuffed trophy fish, surfboards, and pictures of surfers, fishermen and their various accomplishments. It was not the place she was expecting, it was a cheery welcoming place not the water side dive she was expecting.
It was empty inside, not that big of a surprise being 10 in the morning. Rhona made her way to the bar and leaned over. There was nobody in the place, yet the door was unlocked, very strange. Rhona looked up and saw the incredibly large collection of thongs hanging above the bar and all over the large stuffed shark on the ceiling. Nice to see the bartender has a hobby.

Hurricane Pete walked into his bar and saw a really cute butt leaning over his bar. " Hello" he said.
The woman turned her red hair sparkling in the morning light. " Hi" she said.
" I'm Pete" he said, " how can I help you?"
" I'm looking for two of my friends" she said, a big friendly smile on her face, " Stacey and Carrie."
" Them two" he said, " nothing personal but you don't look like a friend of theirs."
" How so?" asked Rhona putting her hands on her hips.
" You are too classy, nothing against them two but they aren't you level" he said.
" We go to college together" said Rhona.
" Hm, I haven't seen them in a few days" said Pete, " probably went diving someplace else."
" They do a lot of diving?" asked Rhona.
" Just about all they did" said Pete, " I gave them a few tips on some good wreck to dive on. This place has tons of them."
" Where are the best ones?" asked Rhona.
" Let me buy you a drink and we can talk wrecks" he said walking around the bar, " if you care to donate a thong to the bar you get to drink free."
Rhona smirked, " Sorry, I'm not a thong girl" she said.
" Too bad, you certainly would look good in them" he said pouring her a shot of rum.
Rhona slammed the shot and turned the shot glass over on the bar. Pete's scruffy eyebrows were raised by her bold move, for so early in the morning he expected her to fall right over. " I told them about some good shallow wrecks on the east side of the island close to White Tip cove" he said.
Pete knew this chick wasn't a friend of theirs, this chick looked more like a model, and that accent. No way have two Florida swamp girls had a friend this classy. She was up to something, she was too busty to be a cop. He did another shot, he needed courage in the worst way. He knew this chick could see straight through him, it was like she had super powers or something.

Rhona knew he was lying, she wasn't sure why. It could be harmless or it could be he had an active hand in the girl's disappearance. She looked at him, and quickly dismissed the theory he was in on the crime, he probably had other vices he wanted to keep secret. But he had supplied her with a good tip, they went diving, that meant they had a boat or rented one and they would keep the boat at the harbor. " Thanks" she said, " I will look up there."
" Just be careful, we got a lot of sharks out there" he said.
" I will, and thanks for the drink" said Rhona.
Rhona left Hurricane Pete's and stopped. She carefully leaned against the wall and listened inside. " Wow, I should have asked her out" said Pete, " man I can't believe those fun bags she had. No way a girl that hot is a friend of those two swamp rats. Man I hope she ain't one of them, man I don't need them breathing down my neck. I'm just a business man, yah I sell party favours but hey this is a party island they can't be coming after me for that."
Pete's voice dissolved into grumblings and Rhona, proud of reading Pete right, decided to head towards the marina to find the girl's boat. She had barely reached the end of the dock when her cell phone rang. She took it out and answered it. " Fisherman spotted a body on the west side of the island" said Greg, " we'll have to go out there immediately before the tide washes it away. I'll meet you at your beach house in half an hour."
Rhona knew she didn't have long she'd been walking for over forty five minutes before she found this place. Rhona looked down at her sandals, theses definitely weren't the sandals to run in. Rhona sighed and started off at a steady jog, she had to get back.
Rhona thought back to her training, the trainers took a certain degree of pleasure in tormenting her. She remembered that ten mile hike on the rocky beach. They made her take her shoes off and do the entire hike bare feet. She swore her feet would never heal afterwards but she did it.

Rhona reached the house with enough time to hurry inside, put on a pair of shorts and have a glass of water before Greg arrived. " When did they find the body?" asked Rhona, climbing into the Jeep.
" Twenty minutes ago, they were an absolute wreck" said Greg, " it took us this long to pry it out of them. We're taking the police boat hang on."
Greg sped down the road at lunatic speed. " I have a lead on the girls" said Rhona, holding on the roll bar bracing her back against the seat, " the girls had a boat. We should check with the harbor master afterwards."
" Good idea" said Greg, taking a corner almost on 2 wheels.
Rhona clamped her eyes shut, she didn't want to see the accident they were going to get into.
They arrived at the docks, alive and in one piece. She stumbled out of the Jeep feeling weak in the knees. She stumbled down the dock until she came to the small boat. " Come on" said Greg, leaping into the boat, " we have to hurry, a storm is coming up. I don't want to go chasing this body out to sea."
Rhona climbed into the boat and Greg took off, driving the boat as wildly as he had driven the Jeep.

Rhona caught her first glimpse of the body after ten minutes on the rough sea. It was gently bobbing up and down like a log. The closer and closer they came the more human the form became. Finally they were right next to it, a foul stench seemed to surround it. " I'm going to need a hand" said Greg.
Rhona and Greg leaned over the side and put their hands around the corpse. It had been in the water a long time, the skin was starting to get mush and the little fish had already started nibbling away at it. The lifted the body from the water and laid it on the tarp in the stern of the boat. After stepping back Rhona got her first good look at the body.
There wasn't much to tell, her head and hands had been cut off. The flesh around the wounds were ragged which probably meant it had been done in haste. It was a girl, her naked body was heavily sunburned except for the outline of where her bikini bottoms were. There were little red dots all over the body were the fish had begun to devour the body. But it was the neck wound that seemed to draw Rhona attention.
She felt the boat rocking more and more which started the cauldron of fire in her stomach to stir. She didn't want to look at the hideous wound but found herself drawn time and again to it. Sea water dripped from the throat, she could see parts of the spine which hadn't been cut all the way through. Rhona felt her head started to spin as a burning sting rose up her throat. She fought it hard, she didn't want anyone to see her throw up. It would be a sure sign of weakness.
Greg looked back at Rhona several times during the trip. She was turning a sickly shade of green the more time she spent looking at the corpse. He was just waiting for her to stick her head over the side and start to blow her lunch. But he reached the dock and she hadn't thrown up. Maybe she wasn't the complete rookie he pegged her for.
Doc Compton took one look at the body and the old booze dog puked into the ocean. Greg wasn't sure if it was his four lunchtime cocktails or the sight of the body that made him do that but he declared her dead and staggered away leaving his assistant to do all the messy work.
Dr Julius Monroe motioned for his two assistants to take the body. " If you wish" he said, cleaning his glasses, " you may witness the autopsy."
" Fair enough" said Rhona, the feeling of the sturdy dock seemed to calm her stomach a great deal.
The drive to the hospital was silent, each was consumed with their own thoughts. Rhona was wondering if this was one of the girls were is the other, could she have done this? If so why? What would drive a college girl to hack up her best friend like that? Granted Rhona had some roommates that she would have liked to strangle but this seemed a bit much. If it wasn't one of the girls then who could it be, this didn't look like the kind of place with a huge murder rate.

Twenty minutes later the three were standing around the autopsy table as Julius slowly circled about. " White female, age between 16-24 years old, weight 118 minus a head and both hands" he calmly said into his tape recorder, " what can be said she is of Scandinavian extraction, probably lived in the northeastern area of the United States, athletic, died within 48 to 60 hours ago."
" What about the removal of the extremities?" asked Rhona.
" Post Mortem" said Julius, " there is no clotting around the wounds. My opinion it was done probably in haste after they realized she was dead."
" How can you tell all of that?" asked Greg.
" Well look at her sunburn" said Julius, " the only person the island that burns like that is me, Scandinavians don't like sun all that much. Athletic, the muscle tone on her limbs is very firm indicating she worked out a lot. I'm going to have to do a full autopsy and send the blood and fluid to Florida for analysis if everything goes well I will have a definite answer by the end of the week."
" Put a rush on it" said Greg, " I want answers."
Julius nodded, and went to work. " See me tomorrow I'll have answers" he said.

Greg took Rhona home, she made her way into the beach house and fell into the chair. " What a day" she groaned.

Rhona looked over at Charity as the rain began to pelt the windows. " Hell of a day" said Charity.
" And I think it won't be the last" said Rhona, " there is something else."
Rhona took her phone off the cocktail table and showed Charity the symbol. " Hm, interesting symbol" said Charity, " it looks kinda familiar."
" Really?" asked Rhona.
" I've seen it before" said Charity, scratching her ear, " back when I was in records in San Francisco, it is some sort of occult symbol."
" Hm great" said Rhona, " you look like hell, take a shower and get some rest. We can look at your findings tomorrow."
Charity nodded, " Thanks" she said.
Charity got up and headed for the bedroom. " And Charity" said Rhona, looking back at her.
" Hm?" asked Charity.
" Thanks, I'm glad to have some help here" she said.
Charity smiled broadly, she was glad to hear that.