Continued from above...

Jen and Kay had not forgotten about Morgan as the others supposed.  They had deliberately placed themselves in a seemingly vulnerable position to smoke him out.  Now Jen closes her eyes to concentrate better and alters the appearance of reality so that she and Kay seem to disappear.  As Carla, Laine and Morgan gasp in disbelief, Kay whirls around and grasps Morgan’s pistol, wrenching it from his grip with her left hand and simultaneously kicks him in the head.  The hapless Morgan is knocked off his feet and lands with a tremendous splash in the pool.  Jen lets up and they seem to blink back into sight.  Morgan is sputtering in the water.  Carla and Laine stare in disbelief, their jaws sagging open.

Kay: (now smiling in turn) Like I said, tape her up, Laine.  Then you can fish Bozo out of the pool, put him in one of those chaise lounges and make sure he won’t be getting out of it on his own.  And tape his mouth shut for good measure.

Laine recovers his composure alarmingly quickly and does as Kay requested without speaking.  Carla Knotlin apparently takes her cue from him and clamps her lips shut, but glares furiously at the girls.  Once her hands are bound, Laine grasps her arms and raises a quizzical eyebrow at Kay.  With her nodded permission, he lifts Carla to her feet and leads her to one of the poolside benches where she perches.  Then Laine takes care of Morgan.  Once finished, he stands up and faces the girls and Jen motions to the chaise to the left of Morgan.

Jen: Have a seat.  (Laine sits on the foot of the chaise.)  No, no, sit back and make yourself comfortable.

Laine smiles ironically as he slides back, knowing that from this position it will be very hard to make any sudden attack on his captors.  Jen and Kay approach the trio to within fifteen feet.

Kay: Now we’re gonna have a little chat.
Carla: About what?
Kay: About what happens next.
Jen: The sun is setting.  Once it does, we’re leaving this place.
Carla: (sarcastically) You weren’t exactly invited here.  Leave now!
Kay: You’re such a gracious hostess, Carla, how will we ever tear ourselves away?
Jen: There’s just one little thing we’d like to know before we go.  Why’d you do it, Carla?
Carla: Do what?  I never laid eyes on you before you burst in here waving those guns in my face.
Kay: That’s not precisely true.  You had a clear view of us in the bay off Paradise Island yesterday.  Just as clear a view as we had of you.
Jen: The irony is that if you hadn’t ordered Laine to kill us, we never would have thought another thing about it.  Now we’ll never forget it.
Carla: What makes you think you’ll ever get out of here alive to tell anybody about it?  Maybe you don’t know it, but I have a whole lot of…
Laine: (interrupting abruptly) Hush, Carla!
Kay: That’s okay, Laine.  We know about the search party.

Laine remains poker-faced, but Jen and Kay don’t miss the look of surprise in Carla’s eyes, followed by one of sly satisfaction.  They exchange a glance and retreat a little way so that they can converse without being overheard.  As the sunlight fades, electric lighting around the pool and on the lanai behind them comes on automatically.

Jen: (softly) You saw that?
Kay: (also softly) Yes, I don’t think she was going to say “a whole lot of manpower,” do you?
Jen: No.  Well, we knew we didn’t have all the pieces of this puzzle yet.  What now?
Kay: I think we should take her with us.
Jen: That would be kidnapping.  Everything we’ve done up to now is excusable as self-defense, but I don’t know about that.  We should just stick to our plan to get out of here with as much information as we can and then go straight to the authorities with it.
Kay: Okay, but if it comes to a choice between kidnapping and death…
Jen: (grinning) Kidnapping, of course.
Kay: (returning the grin) Let’s see if we can tease a little more out of the widow Knotlin before we go, shall we?