Under the Carib Sun: An Adel Destin Crime Novel

Prologue

The MDMA had been wearing off for a while now—since before the villa’s lavish fireworks display had even begun. It was Lili’s last bump of blow that’d gotten her vertical again, motivating her to go explore the surrounding area, away from the main house, even though all the guests had been politely reminded not to at the beginning of the event. Too many men were hitting on her, getting on her nerves.

This was no way to start the new year.

Lili followed the LEDs of the meandering flagstone path in front of her and slipped past two men working security without even trying. Walked right behind them as they chatted with each other in the dark, one of them holding what looked like a beer bottle in his hand. Lili kept going, advancing through the tropical garden and its lush shadows, the path soon winding around a tall bamboo grove. Maybe twenty feet high, some of its stalks as thick as Lili’s thighs. Bamboo was not indigenous to the island. Lili told herself this one must have been planted here a long time ago.

She pushed on for another hundred yards or so and came upon a series of white bungalows. They were set against a small rocky hill and faced the ocean, a wide deck extending in front of them over the water. Save for the sounds of the waves before her and the hectic serenade of insects behind, the night was quiet. Lili could not even hear the music from the party anymore.

She approached the bungalows and stepped onto the deck, going past a few chaises longues and a couple of teak tables, closed canvas umbrellas through their centers. She stopped against the railing to gaze at the moonlit sea, the endless Caribbean night sky stretching high above her. Lili closed her eyes, enjoying the warm ocean breeze on her skin, her bikini bottom still slightly damp from the pool. She was now on the other side of the point and the surf boomed against the rocks at her feet.

Turning, Lili counted six bungalows, all identical and of medium size, each with a small front porch. All were dark except for the second to last one where soft light glowed through a window in the back. She walked toward it without thinking, grass and dirt under her bare feet as she stepped into the narrow alley between the small wooden buildings. She paused as she heard moaning inside, a woman. Then grunting. Some kind of rhythmic slapping.

Lili resumed her advance and reached the window. She peeked through the downward angled slats then quickly stepped back. A smile formed on her lips. She looked back inside. A raven-haired girl in her early twenties faced the window, naked on all fours atop a queen-size poster bed, her eyes closed. She was the one doing the moaning. Lili recognized her, too—some cocktail waitress who’d briefly worked at l’Oubli a while back. She even remembered her name.

Rachel.

Thrusting behind her on his knees was a big, well-built man in his late-twenties or early thirties, naked as well and very tanned, with short brown hair and one of those generic tribal tattoos around his biceps. He was responsible for the grunting. Lili knew his name, too, even though she’d never seen him before. Jason. The man was the spitting image of his father, whom Lili had spotted several times throughout the night, always with that shaved-head tattooed guy at his side. Frédéric de La Salle was the owner of the villa, the man throwing the New Year’s Eve party.

Everyone knew that name on St.-Barts.

Lili noticed another naked couple across the room on a couch, a skinnier man with dark hair in a ponytail, tangled with a young blonde whose features Lili couldn’t fully see. But they were sleeping or passed out, and her gaze swung back to the couple having sex. She focused on Rachel’s pretty face, framed by her sweat-matted hair. The girl appeared on the verge of climaxing, frowning as though absorbed in some complex calculations, biting her lip, breathing fast.

Lili felt a ring of tingling heat shoot through her belly and lower back. The window was opened and, with the coke and leftover ecstasy in her system, she might as well have been on that bed with them. She stood there staring, attempting to tune out the man’s groans, doing a pretty good job at it until she saw his hands slide from Rachel’s hips to her shoulders, and then to her neck, Rachel suddenly honking like a goose, jarring Lili who realized the man was strangling her.

Lili watched in horror as Rachel collapsed forward, gasping and gargling, her fingers desperately clawing at the man’s large hands around her throat, her eyes tearing up, her face turning crimson and swollen.

“What are you doing here?”

Lili’s heart jumped and she whipped around, letting out a small frightened shriek. A blond-haired man was in the alley, coming toward her, blocking her escape.

“You’re not allowed here. Guests are not to leave the main house.”

“Hey, Stéphane,” said Lili, recognizing him and forcing a smile. “Sorry, man, I’m kinda high right now. I just got lost.”

Stéphane came closer. His gaze went from her face to the bungalow’s lit window.

“Come with me.”

His arm shot out and Lili shrank away, but not fast enough. He caught her wrist and pulled her to him, and Lili instinctively brought her knee up between his legs. Stéphane let go of her and dropped to the ground with a groan of pain.

Lili flew past him and ran like hell.