"Wow," Sara said flatly as she took in the sight of the motel. As she read the sign, laughter bubbled upward. "'The Bait and Hook!' That's beyond perfection!"

"It gets better, Sara." Nick chuckled.

"Better? How could it possibly get better?"

"Well, they only have one room with a hot tub. It's in the honeymoon suite."

"There's a honeymoon suite in a motel called 'The Bait and Hook?' I can't wait to see this!"

"I thought you'd enjoy the novelty. That's why I chose it."

"You're a fabulous person, Nick! Can we register under fake names? You could be Ozzy and I could be Harriet--or I could be Joni and you could be Chachi!"

"Or I could be Neo and you could be Trinity."

"How about if you're Beetlejuice and I'm Lydia?"

"Actually, Sara. I've already reserved the room under my real name. I'm sorry. If I had known…I would have probably still reserved it under my real name. I do have to use my credit card, after all."

"Buzzkill. I doubt that they would question 'Beetlejuice' using 'Nick Stokes's' credit card at a place called 'The Bait and Hook.'"

"Now to be fair, Sara, the name refers to the fact that this motel is the home-away-from-home to all of the people who come to the lake to participate in fishing tournaments."

"Well that's so logical that it spoils all the fun!" Sara punched Nick's shoulder playfully.

"I'll go check us in," Nick said as he turned to walk to the office.

"Oh, yeah. How much do I owe you for my half?"

"The room's on me if you buy the booze. Did you see that liquor store about a mile back?"

"Yeah."

Nick threw her his keys. "Why don't you drive over there and get us some beers or something?"

"Alone?"

"You're armed, aren't you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ready?" Nick asked as he prepared to insert the key into the door to their room.

"Well, this beer isn't getting any lighter."

"Voila!" Nick threw open the door. He took the beer from Sara and placed it on the wobbly dining table.

"It's kind of run down," Sara said as she stepped inside and looked around, "Maybe 'The Bait and Switch' would be a better name."

"I don't know," Nick said, testing the firmness of the mattress with his hands, "I wouldn't say 'run down.'" He approached Sara, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her toward his body. "I'd say it's 'broken in.'"

Sara grasped Nick's hands and removed them from her hips. "Um, I'm not drunk yet, Nick."

Nick laughed. "Let's check out the hot tub, huh? It's on the screened-in porch. It has a great view of the lake…and there's a TV, too!"

They walked out onto the patio together.

"This looks like a completely different place!" Sara said as she turned on the tub. "It's really nice!"

"The manager told me that the whole thing was built only about two months ago. Check out the TV. It's a wide-screen with HD."

"You're not going to get a hard-on, are you?"

"What I'm going to get is a bucket of ice for the beers. You can control the remote--for now."

Sara watched Nick walk away. She was surprised by how uninhibited he was about flirting with her. Perhaps she would have to step up her own level of flirting.

She picked up the remote and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels until she found something that appeared to be at least moderately interesting. Then she went into the bathroom to get some towels. She was relieved that she didn't see any roaches scattering when she turned on the light.

When Nick returned with the ice, beers, and a couple of glasses Sara was seated on the edge of the hot tub, tightening her hairdo.

"You know, if this room weren't visible from the surrounding area, we could bathe in the buff." He raised his eyebrows repeatedly in a comedically exaggerated expression of seduction.

"Alas it is visible and we must remain clothed."

"Are you ready to get in?" Nick asked.

"The question, Nick, is whether you're ready for this jelly and I don't think you are."

"What?"

"My body's too bootylicious for you, babe," she sang, mustering up her best Beyonce impression.

"What?"

"Once again, you prove that country people have no taste in music." She began to remove the clothes that were covering her swimsuit. "Whether or not I'm ready, I need to get in. Perhaps the hot tub will calmmy lastnerve that you've decided to tap dance on."

"Please, Sara," Nick said as he took of his tee-shirt, "Don't mention me and the word 'dancing' in the same sentence. It makes my legs hurt worse at the thought." He bent over to remove his pants and when he stood, hesaw the type of bathing suit that Sara was wearing. "I never pegged you as the string-bikini type, Sara," he said, feeling slightly flushed. She looked incredibly sexy to him at that moment. She looked like a goddess.

"I'm not. Not really," Sara said, stepping into the tub, "A friend of my in Frisco gave this suit to me after she had gained a little weight. God. That was a lifetime ago. The fact that the suit hasn't been eaten awayby chlorine after all this time should tell you how often I go to the pool." She looked at Nick in his trunks and laughed. "Check it out, Nick. We match."

Nick looked down at his yellow trucks that had a blue floral print and then looked at Sara's blue bikini with yellow strings.

"I guess I should call Becky up and make a match, since the two of you have such similar taste in swimwear."

"I'm not interested." He raised both hands as he stepped into the tub and sat down, facing Sara. "I went on too many blind dates in college. So what did you find to watch on TV?"

"I'm not sure what it is," Sara replied, "At first I thought that it was Law and Order because there was a dead body in the streets of New York City, but it must not be because they're showing all the forensic stuff and they don't go into that on Law and Order unless it exposes that the guy they got in custody isn't the guy who did it--like they shouldn't be able to figure it out on their own." She scoffed."If they have a solid suspect at fifteen minutes into the show, he's not going to turn out the be the right guy."

"He it's Lieutenant Dan! I didn't know he was a TV star."

"His name is Gary Sinise and I think he does whatever tickles his fancy. He's a really good actor, too."

"Why do you say that?" Nick reached behind himself and poured a glass of beer.

"Ooh, give me one!" Nick gave her the glass he had poured and began pouring another. "Gary Sinise played in the mini-series adaptation of The Stand and made you believe that he was actually attracted to Molly Ringwald."

"You know, I never thought she was pretty."

"Nor should any man equipped with functioning eyes--of course, women have much better taste in women than most men do."

"I'd take offense to that if it weren't true."

"Oh my God! Did you see that?"

"What?" Nick looked around, startled by Sara's sudden outburst.

"On TV. They had just ordered a DNA test and they got the results back, like, two minutes later. That's not the way DNA works! It takes days!"

"But, Sara," Nick said gently, "How boring would a television program be that actually showed a bunch of people having to wait around for days on DNA results?"

Sara squinted her eyes at Nick. "On a soap opera, it takes a whole week to get through a wedding ceremony--and they usually last about thirty minutes in real life."

"Well a prime time drama has to be much faster-paced because they come on at night and you don't want your audience falling asleep in the middle of your show."

"Okay. I'll concede that."

There was a long break in their conversation during which Sara and Nick watched the program. Sara guessed the killer correctly, but Nick was dead wrong.