Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

have you ever driven a Vespa before?" she asked, continuing to sound skeptical.
    "It's a bicycle with a motor. How hard can it be?"
    She raised her eyes to the ceiling.
    "Well, of course, you don't have to come along. I'm sure you'll find other transportation eventually."
    She realized she was about to sigh again and stopped herself. "I would very much appreciate your being my chauffeur through the disaster area, on one condition. I pay for half of the rental cost, on the bike and the campsite."
    David raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you've given up the idea of finding a motel room?"
    She shrugged and tried not to blush. "If you'll let me share expenses, I'd be most grateful for the use of the bunk for another night."
    He toasted her with his coffee mug. "I assure you, it will be my pleasure."
    An hour later, Holly had her arms wrapped around David's waist from behind and was praying for salvation as he learned the feel of the Vespa. But as they sputtered their way onto Key Largo, she forgot all about her own safety.
    A few of the newer hotels and condominium buildings still had concrete shells to mark their existence. No roofs, windows, or signs had remained intact, however. Much more upsetting was to see walls of homes completely collapsed and furnishings strewn over parking lots and in swimming pools.
    She was stunned to see so many people wandering through the wreckage, some searching for things, others just looking dazed. David barely avoided running into a toilet perched in the middle of the lane. At least the small, two-wheeled vehicle allowed them to skirt fallen trees, broken glass, and sizable sections of concrete walls.
    He interviewed the first police officer he saw. The man had been on duty for thirty hours, in spite of learning that his own home had been destroyed. He just kept repeating how glad he was that he had insisted his wife and kids go north to his parents' house.
    "Any idea how the evacuation went?" David asked.
    "It couldn't have been much worse. A lot of the older people were here during Andrew, back in '92, you know, sort of prepared them for this one, so some of them got moving at the first hint that Brigitte was headed this way. And of course what happened with Katrina is still pretty fresh. But there were still a lot of people who just refused to leave. Conchs are that way. I heard a couple of the older bridges further south collapsed with full loads of cars on them. They'll be searching for bodies for weeks."
    "Any numbers yet?" David prodded in a concerned tone.
    The officer shook his head. "It'll be a while before anything's substantiated, but it could be in the thousands." A shoving match in a driveway across the road caught his attention and, warning David to be careful, he took off.
    They stopped from time to time to take pictures and make notes. He would madly type on his iPad while she dictated her observations over the video she recorded on her phone. Fortunately they had been able to charge their tools in the camper. Unfortunately there was no signal to make a call or send an email. All service towers were down or damaged.
    They passed a fishing boat lodged in a palm tree that had been split in half, and a sailboat skewered on a concrete dock piling. Twisted automobiles had been hurled into houses as well as the ocean. Where an expensive home used to stand, a crowd had gathered to see the nurse shark that had landed in the swimming pool.
    David was able to continue driving south as far as Islamorada, but the bridge between Upper and Lower Matecumbe was gone. There weren't even pilings sticking out of the murky water to show where it had once stood. Very few people had ventured this far and there was no sign of any police or cleanup crews.
    Holly asked David to stop so she could get a closer look at the shore. "I thought that's what I saw," she said with a frown, then began taking pictures. "This was a large mangrove stand. It looks like someone just came along with a giant buzzsaw and mowed them down. It's probably like this along the entire coast."
    David shaded his eyes as he tried to see what she was talking about. "So?"
    She lowered her camera and met his gaze. "The mangroves are vital to coastal ecology. The fallen mangrove leaves feed hundreds of species of fish, which become food for larger fish and birds. Without the mangroves, the food chain is disrupted and many of the animals may leave to find a new breeding area, if they survive at all."
    Shifting slightly, she