Afoot on St. Croix (Mystery in the Islands) Read Online Free

knows? They might have found a way to amicably coexist until their children were grown and sent off to college. Perhaps, they might even have made it to their golden years, aging into a peaceful détente before gently drifting off, one after the other, into the great unknown.
    But that didn’t happen.
    One gray frostbitten winter, Charlie fell prey to temptation.
    •
    THAT JANUARY, NORTHERN Minnesota’s public broadcasting station ran a sweepstakes fund-raiser. The contest featured several Midwestern-themed items and events, including a pair of football tickets to a Vikings home game, a dinner theater performance for two in the Twin Cities, and a family pass for a daylong moose safari. But the grand prize of the affair—and the main topic of conversation at truck stops and coffee shops across the broadcasting area—was a tropical vacation featuring a week on St. Croix.
    Charlie tried his best to avoid the nonstop chatter about the island giveaway. He was a practical man, he told himself. Everything a person might need or want could be found right there in northern Minnesota. He had no desire to visit exotic Caribbean locations. There was no reason to mar his often wet and chilly reality with the fanciful distractions of sun and sand.
    That resolution lasted right up until the final day of the fund drive.
    •
    AFTER A PARTICULARLY arduous roofing job that had required Charlie to harness himself to a steep incline through several hours of frigid wind and sleet, he climbed into the cab of his truck, cranked the engine, and turned the heater’s dial to its highest setting.
    The radio came on with the engine. Charlie had been listening to the news when he parked the vehicle earlier that morning, and in his haste, he had forgotten to punch the off button before he pulled the key from the ignition.
    Despite the fund-raising jabber that immediately filled the truck’s cab, he couldn’t bear to take his hands away from the heater long enough to hit the volume knob.
    As Charlie pressed his frozen digits against the heater vents, the voice of a well-known travel personality boomed out of the truck’s speakers.
    “The lucky winner will be treated to six days and five nights at a beachside resort on the gorgeous island of St. Croix . . .”
    The sound of crashing waves swept through the transmission background while the voice described the prize details: resort lodging in a luxury villa on a golf course overlooking the Caribbean Sea, meals provided by a five-star restaurant with a reputation for tropical delicacies, and endless activities for families with children of all ages.
    “You’re killing me,” Charlie moaned, his frostbitten fingers burning from the blast of the heater’s hot air.
    More waves swept through the truck’s interior as the singsong sales pitch continued. Outside, the sleet turned to hail, peppering the truck’s metal hood with popcorn-sized pellets. It was more than he could take.
    Charlie reached for his cell phone and made a call—not to the radio station to sign up for the sweepstakes—but to a travel agent.
    •
    “PACK YOUR BAGS, honey,” he told his wife when he got home from the work site. He threw his hands in the air, as if capitulating. “We’re going to the Virgin Islands!”

~ 4 ~
    The Air-Conditioner Salesman
    THE OTHER PASSENGERS began filtering out of the seaplane hangar as Charlie stood on the pier staring forlornly at the Christiansted shoreline.
    The salesman who had occupied the adjoining seat approached the pile of luggage that had been removed from the plane’s underside storage compartment and removed his two items, a roll-around suitcase and a leather satchel. After extending the suitcase’s retractable handle, the salesman swung the satchel’s strap over his shoulder and nodded to Charlie.
    “Later, pal,” he said before heading toward the hangar exit.
    Charlie issued a cordial grunt and waved an absentminded good-bye.
    •
    IN THE FIRST spot of shade, midway