Permanent Sunset Read Online Free

on St. John, where fancy flip-flops were as dressed up as people got. Ten Villas had to spring for twelve pairs of black Tevas at full price.
    “Heather’s Sean’s half sister,” Henry said, as if Sabrina should know this information. Sabrina could never keep the names of the guests coming to and leaving from Ten Villas straight without her notebook, although she remembered the details of everything else like Rain Man. Henry kept names all in his head like the manifests from his days as a flight attendant. Before things became so tensebetween them, they would joke that between the two of them they had a whole brain.
    “Heather’s a chiropractor from San Francisco. She’s Kate Keating’s daughter from marriage numero uno. Seems nice. Must look like her father,” Henry said, diplomatically omitting the fact that Heather was not as attractive as her mother or half brother. Tall with broad shoulders and narrow hips, she had a masculine look, which was only underscored by her short, frizzy salt-and-pepper hair.
    “No. No sign of Elena,” Sean said, dashing into the kitchen, almost out of breath. Sabrina felt her sense of urgency growing. Two women missing. The prenup and the wedding seemed less important now.
    “Henry, why don’t you and Sean check downstairs and then meet me back here,” Sabrina said, needing time to think. She knew Henry was counting on her to come up with Plan B if they couldn’t locate Elena and, now, Lisa. He knew she was a survivor who always had an alternative plan in her back pocket. If Plan A didn’t work, on to Plan B and down through the alphabet. Somehow, it didn’t seem fair that Henry had insisted they add this eleventh villa to Ten Villas but expected her to bail him out now that the event seemed to be going up in flames. Even after their interview with Sean and Elena, when Sabrina had cautioned Henry that she had an immediate sense that Elena would be difficult to work for, he wouldn’t listen. Then he had done worse. He had accused her of being jealous.
    “Are you sure you’re not just reacting to having to answer to a powerful woman because that’s what you once were?”
    He could have slapped her across the face and she would have been less shocked. But she also wondered if he was right. She had fallen off a skyscraper of disgrace.
    Sabrina checked the clock on the kitchen wall. It was still early, she told herself. There was plenty of time to find Elena and Lisa and keep the wedding plans on track. And so far, other than the missing bride and her future sister-in-law, things were going well. Guests who were staying at either the Westin or Caneel Bay, the two island hotels, had begun to arrive for breakfast. The sound of jovial chatter came from the great room, where Sabrina returned to make certain things stayed on track.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Sabrina saw Sean’s mother, Kate Keating, practically power walking up the slight incline from the front drive. Kate was a wiry, thin woman in her sixties. Her thick, short white hair accented a tan face with just enough wrinkles to suggest she’d been smart enough to wear sunscreen. Kate looked older as she drew closer, almost sprinting toward Sabrina, who rushed forward to meet her.
    “Mrs. Keating, are you all right?”
    “Something is wrong. Really wrong. In the water.”
    Sabrina wondered if the next challenge of her day might be giving CPR to Kate Keating, who looked ready to faint. What could be wrong in the water that she wouldbe so upset? She obviously hadn’t been in the water. Her skirt and blouse were bone-dry other than what looked like little splattered drops of paint.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Come see for yourself.” Kate pulled Sabrina by the hand, dragging her down the small hill at the bottom of the driveway, in the direction of Ditleff Point Beach. The small beach bordered a tiny cove, which was the only place to swim, launch a small boat, or paddleboard in the area. Arriving at the beach,