Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (18 page)

“Have faith in her—she’ll work it out
.”
He t
apped
his fingers
on his knee
.

“Buddy,
y
ou didn’t see the hurt
in
her
eyes
.”

We
pulled
into the lot of Arnold’s
shop
wher
e Sam’s SUV
had been towed
.
Alec
rep
laced me in the driver’s seat
and
maneuver
ed
back onto the road.
I followed in Sam’s vehicle
.

Dri
ving Sam’s
SUV
felt like I’d been
ca
ptured and tortured
. T
he
smell
of her
perfume,
the
lipstick outline of her lips
o
n a coffee cup, Goldie’s leash.
The sound of the CD she
play
ed
—she couldn’t hear the musi
c
—she tu
r
ned it on
for Goldie.
Father
,
h
ow can I
help her
?

In
Maggie’s driveway
,
I set the pa
rking brake
,
r
elieved
to get back into my own ride
as
Alec
jogged around to the passenger side.

“
I’ll ta
ke the night shift.”
Driving around would
give me time to
analyze the situation. T
here had
to be a way to reach
John
.

On the way to the station, w
e ro
de without unnecessary
chatter
. I pulled into the lot, parking in my assigned space
. “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime, boss.”
He opened the door to the side entrance
of the building.
I
n the
locker room, I uniformed up
, grabbed
the keys from my office and
traded my truck for a
cruis
er. My hunger pangs were bordering on
ferocious
,
so I drove through In-N-Out for a
Double-double A
ni
mal style, which would mean extra time at the gym.
I wolfed it down as I
made my
routine trek, including a pass-
by of Mi
ck’s
B
ar. A glance at the dash told me it was a
few
minutes past ten
. Time to visit
Main Street.

When I
parked across from the bookshop
, r
ed paint lit up lik
e a neon sign
on the glass. L
ight
s
glared from
inside.
I hit the code for
Maggie’s number
. “Hey
,
s
is,
Sam
with you?”

“S
he’s right here
. Why?”

“The window
painter’s returned.
Make s
ure she stays with you
.”

I
alerted
Alec
, and he
arrived
in record time
. “Strange how this guy keeps painting on the same windows and no one notices
him
.”
Alec s
tood with his hands planted on his hips
.

I nodded toward the well-lit shop. “
Sam only leaves one small lamp lit
.
”
I felt inside my
pocke
t for the single key
.
“
Let’s
see what we’ve got.”

W
e
looked
ar
ound and made our
way
to the
supply
room
. I jerked the
door
open
. “Nothing.” I shook my head.

We went
back
into the main part of the shop.
“
Most of the
books
are
pulled off the shelves.”
Alec
pointed to the heaps
on the floor.

“
What’s this guy looking for?
Let’s check
the apartment.”
We double-timed it up the stairs.

Alec
rattled the doorknob. “L
ocked.”

“
B
ust it down.”

“Hold on
,
boss.”
Alec
pulled
out
a
miniature
tool kit
and popped the lock
.
He grimaced and closed one eye.
“Don’t ask.”

I threw my palms up. “D
idn’t see a thing.”

Gaining entry, the
apartment was
untouched—until we got to her bedroom.
W
e found c
lothing
ripped off the hange
rs a
nd
the
contents of the dresser drawers
dumped on the floor.
We both tugged
on latex gloves. Using the eraser tip of a pencil
,
I
open
ed
the cover of a book on the floor
—a
personal
journal with
several
pages ripped out
.

“
Sam
seems
to be the target of this attack
.”

Alec
pee
led
the protective layer off his hands
. “Unless they
expected to
find
Anne
’s belongings
.
”

“Possible. But they only tossed Sam’s
bedroom, and
the mutilated
journal
is hers
.
Let’s try for fingerprints. Maybe we’ll get lucky this time.
”

Alec
looked over his shoulder
as he jogged down the stairs
. “You want them here
tonight?”

“Morning’s good
. Tell Hank
first on the list.
We’ll secure the building and tape
the entrances
. Get a crew out here to
remove the paint
,
immediately
.
All
the locks need to be rekeyed
.
The sooner the better.”

“
I’m on it.
”

“
Now
wou
ld be a good time to review
the video foota
ge we have from the crime scenes.
I
’ll meet you at the station later
.” I climbed
into the patrol car
an
d looked across at the bookshop. W
e we
re missing
something
.
Were
we
dealing with a ghost from
Anne’s past or wa
s Sam the sole focus of a sordid
vendetta?

Chapter
Twelve

C
oming to
Serenity
Cove
,
I’d envisioned a s
mall town without much to offer
.
Without warning
, I
unintentionally
fell
victim to its captivating charm
.
The town. The people. The lifestyle
.
It
’
s a
chicken or egg type
conundrum
.
Was it the
town or
Logan
that
first
claim
ed
my heart?
~
Journal entry

Maggie spread
her straw mat under the noon
rays.
“Nothing
rival
s
soaking in nature’s
soothing
balm
.
”

“
It’s a gorgeous day
.”
I unrolled a
mat near
hers, and
Goldie claimed a
spot.
“May I ask you
a personal question
?”

Her wide grin made me smile.
“Go for it.
” S
he
sat
,
hugging
her knees against her chest.

I
faced
her
, mirroring her position
. “You have it all—b
eauty
, personality, intelligence. You’re
a
successful businesswoman. Why are you still single?
”

“
Aw, you’re sweet
.
I dated a guy
in college. W
e became serious to the point of discussing a future. H
e decided to drop out o
f school
and join
the Marines. I couldn’t deal
with it. I
broke
it off.” She
toyed with one of her
coppery curl
s.

“It ended, just like that
?”

“He wrote me
—I never responded. I had
a few sessions with Dr. Ellie
not
long ago. It confirmed what I already knew.
Death stole everyone important in my life—my father, my mother,
and eventually my grandparents. E
veryone except
Logan
.” She stretched her legs out and leaned
back on her palms
. “W
e’re
usually
unaware of the magnitude of our strength until
bein
g strong is the only choice
we have.”

“Except this minute
,
I seem
fr
esh out of choices
.
”

“
God
never leaves us without options.
You’ve had so much
thrown
your way
, like
a juggler,
jug
gling
for the first time—he ends up chasing after the balls.
”
She pulled her bag closer and searched through it, finally pulling a card out and handing
it to me
.
“Dr. Ellie has an appointment available Saturday.”

I tucked the card
into Goldie’s vest.
“I’ll think about it.”

“Dr. Ellie
help
ed me
sort
out my
fe
elings. I learned two really important facts of life. People aren’t perfect—including me. A
nd life do
esn’t
have any fairness rules.
Now I’ll stumble
off my soapbox.
”
She aimed
that smile of hers
at me, the one
that beamed hope.

“I prefer to not discuss
your brother.
I—
”

“Talk
to
her
for your peace of mind—nothing to
do with Logan
.”

I merely
nodded
. We waded
a
long the shore, the coolness of the water lapping on our feet
,
and then dragged our mats under a Willow oak, and lounged in the shade
.
T
he afternoon whirled by,
and
a
salty light wind
kicked up.
Sandpipers scurried
to the water’s edge and back again with each receding wave
.