Murder Makes Waves by Anne George Page A

went over to Blue Bay Ranch to look around. It has to be seen to be believed.”
    “I wanted to go,” Haley said.
    “Me, too.” Frances looked slightly pink.
    “You better get under the umbrella,” I said, handing her the sunscreen. “We’ll take y’all back tomorrow.”
    “What’s it like?” Haley asked.
    I tried to explain the split-rail fence, the log cabin, the brightly colored houses that seemed to have been designedby architects who were familiar with every school of design and were determined to show it.
    “Sounds cute,” Frances said.
    I looked to see if she meant it. She seemed to. “How long have y’all been out here in the sun?” I asked.
    “A while.” Haley closed the book she was reading. “We saw Sophie Berliner.”
    I sat down in the shade of the umbrella. “Here at the beach?”
    Haley nodded. “Had to be her. Fit your description exactly, complete with the black gauze outfit. I know she was burning up.”
    “Making a statement.” Frances settled into the shade beside me.
    “Anyway,” Haley continued, “she came over the stile like some kind of crow, sort of creeping along.”
    “And the lifeguard came to attention,” Frances added. “Like someone had poked him with a stick.”
    “We found out why when she got to the water. She shucked off that black gauze and had on a bathing suit that was almost nonexistant. And the kid’s got a shape like you wouldn’t believe, Mama.”
    “She’s only a child, Haley!” I protested.
    Haley and Frances both laughed. “Some child!” Haley said. “I’ll bet pacemakers were popping on all over the beach.”
    “How about that,” I said. “You should have seen the skinny Lolita who showed us the layout of Blue Bay. Sounds like they should swap names.”
    “Sophie’s doing just fine with the one she’s got,” Haley said.
    “Have y’all seen Fairchild?” I asked.
    Haley reached for the sunscreen. “I looked in on him for a minute. I thought you might be over there.”
    “Was he overwhelmed with women?”
    “Nobody was there but Laura Stamps from next door. She was fixing him some lunch.”
    “Had he heard anything? Did he say?”
    “I didn’t ask. I just told him we were next door if he needed anything.”
    I remembered what Mary Alice had said about Millicent’s throat looking as if it had been torn by an animal and told them.
    “Lord!” Frances said. “A shark?”
    “A shark wouldn’t have just torn her throat,” Haley said.
    “He didn’t say it was an animal. He just said that it wasn’t cut with a knife or something like that.”
    “Vampires?”
    Haley and I both looked at Frances.
    “You’re right,” she said. “Vampires just leave teeth marks, don’t they?”
    We continued to look at her.
    “What?” she asked. “What?”
    “Vampires, Frances?”
    “You’re right. This is the Florida panhandle, not New Orleans.” She reached for a beer from the cooler.
    I turned over the book she was reading and looked at the cover. Anne Rice.
    Frances turned a little pinker. “I guess there’s a logical explanation. Right?”
    Haley and I both nodded.
    Mary Alice came over the stile and joined us. “Did Patricia Anne tell you about Blue Bay Ranch?” she asked Haley and Frances as she stretched out on a beach towel.
    “I’m surprised Millicent and Fairchild weren’t building a house over there,” Haley said.
    “Didn’t Laura say she and Eddie were?” I handed Sister the sunscreen bottle. “Here, put some on your face.”
    But nobody could remember.
    Sister handed the bottle back to me. “I’m just going to be here a minute. I’ve got to go read the short story I got at the conference this morning. Critique it.”
    “I’ll go with you,” I said. “We need a few things from Delchamps. We’re almost out of bread, for one thing.”
    Haley looked up. “Get some of that no-fat caramel popcorn. I love that stuff.”
    “And those no-fat cookies, too,” Frances chimed in. “The chocolate fudge