“I can’t believe how crazy this party is,” Kacy says. “Leslee is Her.”
Coco understands how Kacy might think that, especially after Leslee reentered the party in her second outfit of the evening, a jumpsuit so tight you could see her religion.
Kacy gazes over at the other guests, who are swimming at the opposite end of the beach. “But ugh… I did not need undeniable proof that Addison has a flat ass.”
Coco laughs and floats on her back, nipples pointing to the sky. This is how people drown, she thinks. Swimming when they’re as tired as she is.
There’s a disturbance in the water and Coco freezes, thinking it’s a fish (or a shark!). A head breaks through the surface right next to her and she shrieks.
It’s Lamont.
He laughs. Coco splashes him, and soon they’re tussling. He grabs her ankle and pulls her under; she surfaces and jumps on his back and—what possesses her?—nibbles on his ear. He responds by reaching around underwater and grabbing her ass cheek (out of Kacy’s line of sight), and Coco feels a surge of desire. She wraps her thighs around him. If Kacy weren’t here, they would start making out. Coco would stroke his erection and get him up to her apartment as fast as she could. She doesn’t care about Leslee’s stupid rule.
How, she wonders, can they get rid of Kacy? Will Kacy pick up on the nature of their roughhousing and head for shore? She will not. When Coco turns, she sees Kacy only a few feet away, treading water.
Shit, Coco thinks. Whenever she bumps into Lamont around the Richardson compound, he’s polite and friendly but nothing more. Leslee has clearly given him the lecture: No dating the other staff member or you’ll both be replaced like that. Snap. But right now they have a chance to sneaky-link. Who knows when another opportunity like this will come along?
A voice cuts through the inky air. “Lamont!”
Coco looks in the direction of the voice and sees Leslee in all her daily yoga-practice perfection on the bow of Hedonism, windmilling an arm. Leslee is Her, Coco thinks unhappily.
Lamont loosens his grip on Coco, dumping her back into the water. He starts swimming toward the boat. “Have a good night, ladies.”
The Chief is still dancing to Frank Sinatra, who’s currently singing “The Way You Look Tonight.” This is the song he and Andrea danced to at their wedding. Andrea comes from a large Italian family; her uncles had approved. In the next instant, Frank Sinatra has changed his outfit (that seems to be a trend tonight). Instead of a black tuxedo, he’s now wearing a pink velvet tuxedo. Ed is about to ask Andrea if she noticed this—except it isn’t Andrea he’s dancing with, it’s Leslee Richardson.
The Chief startles awake. He’s lying on the curvy white sofa in the Richardsons’ party room. Andrea is next to him. The Chief looks around—everyone else is naked, or nearly so. What is going on? Addison wears only a towel; Phoebe is snoring under a throw blanket. Eddie Pancik is wearing boxer shorts and a pink wig. Busy Ambrose from the Field and Oar Club is lying on the floor, her head on a turquoise pillow. She isn’t wearing a stitch of clothing—and neither are Dr. Andy and Rachel McMann. (The Chief can’t unsee a naked Dr. Andy; he may have to change dentists.)
There’s pearly light coming through the windows; the birds are singing. Ed checks his phone; the battery is at 3 percent, but there are no missed calls, no texts. There were apparently no party-related crimes or misdemeanors last night, which is a darn good thing since the Chief was dead to the world and couldn’t have responded. It’s a quarter past four in the morning. His head aches.
Gently, he nudges Andrea. Her eyelids flutter open and she too gazes around the room like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. Was there some kind of orgy that they missed—or (god forbid) took part in?
Delilah and Jeffrey are nowhere to be found; they probably acted like responsible adults and left when people started taking their clothes off. Ed gets to his feet. He considers waking Addison but decides it’s better to make a clean getaway.
He offers Andrea his hand. “Let’s go,” he whispers. “Party’s over.”
15. Thursday, August 22, 9:15 P.M.
A welcome breeze has cleared some of the smoke from the air; Stu Vick and his team are investigating the fire site. Zara strides over to where the Chief is standing with his daughter, Kacy, and Lamont Oakley.
She offers a hand to Kacy. “I’m Chief Washington,” she says, hitting the word Chief hard for Ed’s benefit. “I’m sorry about your friend. We’re going to find her. Right now we need to ask Lamont some questions.”
“Yeah, of course, okay,” Kacy says. She sinks down onto the low granite wall that encircles the garden. “I’m going to keep calling her.”
Ed takes an intentional breath. Kacy no doubt realizes now that Coco missing is a thing, it is real, they are not watching a movie, this is happening. He once attended a seminar about missing persons and learned that, in some ways, it’s more challenging for people to grapple with loved ones’ disappearances than their deaths. Missing causes one to feel equal parts despondent and hopeful. It nags: What happened? Where is she? The mind craves an answer. Missing is a special hell—and missing at sea feels worse than just missing.
Ed squeezes his daughter’s shoulder. “We’ll just be a minute,” he tells her.
Zara and Ed settle with Lamont on a wooden bench in the middle of a circle of hydrangea bushes, which affords them all a bit of privacy. “Walk us through the evening,” Ed says. “How did Coco seem?”
“Normal?” Lamont says. “She was working, she wore her uniform, she served the welcome cocktails, she served the hors d’oeuvres. I didn’t really pay attention; I was sailing the boat. I normally have two crew members, Javier and Esteban, but it was their abuela’s birthday so they weren’t working. I had no problem handling the boat alone but I needed to give it my full attention.”
“When was the last time you remember seeing Coco?” Zara asks.
“She passed around the champagne right after Leslee and Bull did their vow renewal.”
“Did you know about the vow renewal?”
“I did,” Lamont says. “But it was a surprise for the guests.”
“Coco knew about it?”
“Yes,” Lamont says.
“Can you run through the timeline from there?” Zara asks.
“Bull and Leslee renewed their vows just as the sun was setting,” Lamont says. “Leslee was very particular about the angle of the sun and how they’d look in pictures. They did the vows themselves, without an officiant—they just read some stuff that they’d asked Coco to pull off the internet.”
“Romantic,” Zara says.
“Was Coco present during the renewal of the vows?” the Chief asks.
“Yes.” Lamont pauses. “She was standing next to me in the cockpit.”
“So after the Richardsons renewed their vows…”
“Coco passed around glasses of champagne, we all toasted Bull and Leslee, then Coco collected the glasses.”
“Was Coco drinking at all?”
