Corpse Suzette

to
their right a long, dark irregular shape stretched between the water and the
sky. “What’s that?” Abby asked. “Some sort of island?”
    “That’s Santa Tesla
Island,” Savannah told her. “It’s quite a ways out there. You can’t usually see
it unless it’s a clear day, like today.”
    “Do people live out there?”
    “Sure they do,” Tammy said.
“There are some beautiful homes there, a couple of luxury hotels, a nice little
town with shops and—”
    “A lighthouse!” Suddenly
Abigail shot up off her towel, pointing toward the end of the island. “I saw a
flash of light! I’m pretty sure it was a lighthouse beam!”
    Savannah chuckled, pleased
to see Abigail animated over something. Anything at all. “It is a
lighthouse,” she told her. “It’s been there forever, even before people settled
the island. There are some treacherous rocks out there, and the light’s there
to warn ships away.”
    “I love lighthouses,” Abigail said dreamily. “I mean I really, really love them. In
fact, I was talking about lighthouses today with Jeremy.”
    “You and Jeremy were
discussing lighthouses?” Tammy asked. “How did that come up in casual
conversation?”
    “He was asking me what I
like. What really inspires me on a deep level.”
    “And you told him
lighthouses?” Savannah said, marveling at this new insight into what made
Abigail tick.
    “Yes, I do love them. The
whole idea of them. There’s a purity about them. They were built strictly to
help people, to save human life. And throughout the ages, lighthouse keepers
lived solitary, lonely lives in those barren, inhospitable places, just waiting
for the chance to go down and rescue people who had run into trouble on the
rocks. And no matter what, the lighthouse keepers and their families kept those
lights lit, even when they were sick or dying themselves, they wouldn’t let the
lights go out, because they considered it their solemn, sacred duty. It’s a
beautiful thing, really, when you think about it.”
    Savannah looked across the
water and saw the tiny white blink of light, then a pause and two more. “I
guess I never thought about it that way,” she said. “But I can see why it’s one
of your passions. Why did Jeremy ask about things like that?”
    “Because he’s helping me
get in touch with who I really am. It’s the first step in creating a style
that’s uniquely mine alone. How can I express myself if I don’t know who I am?”
    “What other sorts of things
do you like?” Tammy asked. Abigail gave her a quick, guarded look and crossed
her arms over her chest. “Just... stuff.”
    Tammy handed her a glass of
iced tea. “What kind of stuff?”
    “Private stuff. I’m not
going to tell you.”
    “Ah, come on. It’s just me
and Savannah, and we won’t tell anybody.”
    Abigail thought for a
moment, then said, “Belly dancing. I like belly dancing, okay? Happy now? The
fat chick likes belly dancing. And you might as well go ahead and say it, ‘I’ve
certainly got enough of it... belly, that is.’”
    “I wasn’t going to say
anything like that,” Tammy objected. “I would never—”
    “No, but you thought it.
What’s somebody who looks like me doing even thinking about something like
that? Nobody would want to see my body doing any kind of dance, let
alone something sexy and graceful like that.”
    “Here, Abby,” Savannah said
softly. “Here’s your sandwich. Take a bite and tell me what you think.”
    As she handed the plate to
her, Savannah thought of the beautiful, sensual woman swaying in her living
room the other night. But the anger in Abigail’s eyes warned her not to say
anything. Abigail had been dancing for herself alone, not for anyone else to
see. And Savannah suspected it was one of the woman’s sacred secrets.
    Abigail bit into the
sandwich. Her face lit up. “Not bad,” she said.
    “You think that’s good...
slap a little of this coleslaw on there and you’ll be in pure tastebud heaven.”
    The threesome sat down on
the blanket and began their meal. For awhile, no one spoke as they took the
edge off their hunger.
    Finally, Tammy broke the
companionable silence. “So, you like that Jeremy guy, huh? He is really
cute and seemed nice.”
    “He’s more than cute or
nice,” Abigail replied. “He’s a genius. Those places of theirs, the Mystic
Twilight Spa and Emerge... those were his ideas. He thought up the whole
concept, designed the facilities. He even decorated