Last Chance Harbor (29 page)

After the fair
ended for the day, Julianne knocked on Brent’s front door. When he answered, the words rushed out. “I’m not here to debate about a spooky séance or the psychic vision thing so relax.”

“Good to know,” Brent said flashing his grin.

“Don’t try to use that smile on me, Brent Cody. It won’t work. Since I’m more like an honorary sister to you than a female, that charming face of yours is of no concern to me.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re both. Come on in.”

“No, I didn’t come here to intrude on your Friday night with your family. So if it’s all the same to you, I’ll just stand out here and say what I came to say.”

He stepped out onto the porch, motioned for her to take a seat on the steps. “Do you plan to tell me why you’re so mad and yelling at me?”

“I’ll tell you why. When an adult drags a child into something dark and evil—your words not mine—it pisses me off. Now, more pieces of the bloodstained shirt turns up, which just proves it wasn’t a fluke. So don’t try to placate me.”

“You’re so worked up, I’m not gonna try to do anything at the moment.”

“Good because that would just piss me off, too.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Why Julianne Dickinson I don’t believe I’ve heard you utter a curse word before now, let alone two times in one night. What would my mother say?”

“She’d probably want to wash my mouth out. Look, I have nothing against the Jennings family, nothing at all. I even spent a Saturday night not that long ago shooting pool with Drea and she seems like a nice person. But when Layne’s kids told you that box didn’t belong to any of them, I don’t think they were telling you the truth. All three are hiding something.”

“I know that.”

“You do?” She suddenly ran out of steam and dropped her butt down on the steps.

“Julianne?”

“What?”

“I’ve been in law enforcement since I joined the army at eighteen. I have a pretty good second sense when I think someone’s deceitful. But I won’t discuss…”

“An ongoing investigation,” Julianne finished. “I get it. What do you think happened the night Layne and Brooke vanished then?”

“Didn’t I just say…?” He blew out a sigh. “Oh hell. These days it’s very difficult, if not impossible to disappear without leaving a digital footprint.” At the look of confusion, he added, “Technology-wise you use a credit card, an ATM, a social security card—it’s easy enough to track. Back in the nineties when Brooke and Layne went missing it might’ve been somewhat easier. For what it’s worth, I already mentioned that I don’t think the two ever left Pelican Pointe…so…what I’m about to tell you is not for public consumption, understand?”

“Of course.”

“Brooke was from Scotts Valley.”

“That’s just a few minutes north of Santa Cruz.”

“That’s right. So after a couple of days of not hearing from her, it was no big deal for her family to drive over to Pelican Pointe to check up on her, make sure she was okay. When her parents arrived at her house—the one over on Pacific Street—they discovered her car still parked in the driveway. It was Brooke’s father who called in a missing persons report right then and there. The thing is Layne’s car was found a few miles south of town, parked on land that used to belong to Eleanor’s family.”

“Ah. That makes no sense. Why would Layne do that? Wouldn’t you need a mode of transportation to run away with your lover and start a new life together? Isn’t that essential for escape?”

“Exactly. So if they didn’t take Brooke’s car or Layne’s, what wheels did they use to head out of town? How did they get to a train or bus station? Hell, how did they get to the nearest airport? A taxi? There’s no service from here. You can rent a limo or a car at the Santa Cruz Airport but back when this happened they didn’t provide service to pick you up in Pelican Pointe. I checked.”

“What about tracing the 1984 class ring? Because Gerald Colter told Ricky Oden who told his wife that he was pretty sure Layne went to UC Santa Barbara.”

“Cut it out. I’m not willing to discuss specifics with you.”

She huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry, Brent.”

“Why?”

“Because now I see that the new police chief has a handle on this whole thing. More than I thought he did.”

“I understand why you’re upset. After all, you’re the one who discovered the evidence that kicked off this entire investigation. You have a stake in it.”

“Does it matter that Eleanor’s dead and can’t be prosecuted if it turns out to be her?”

“My attempt at learning what really happened to those two that night won’t factor in that Eleanor’s gone. If I find out it was Eleanor who did something, it closes the case. But I’m more determined now than ever to uncover where they went. If, after all this time, I find out the couple is living a quiet life in Fiji, or somewhere equally tropical, then I’ll wish them well and put them on my Christmas card list.”

She bumped his shoulder. “I should be mad at you for making Ryder work the entire weekend. By any chance did he talk to you about anything…significant?”

“Julianne?”

“What?”

“In all the years I’ve known you, I never realized you were such a nosy busybody.”

“Oh, be quiet or I’ll tell River about your disgusting habit.”

“I’m sure she knows all about it.” But he cocked one eyebrow as if he’d just thought of something. “You wouldn’t?”

“Oh yes, I would. I’ll tell your wife how you’re addicted to chocolate ice cream, especially triple chocolate fudge with double chocolate syrup. I’ve seen you gorge on the stuff until you make yourself sick.”

“You’re a cruel woman, Miss Dickinson.”

“And don’t you forget it.” 

Once she left
the Cody house, she bypassed the food court, even though it was still grilling burgers. The line was too long to wait so she made a stop at the Hilltop Diner to order take-out—greasy cheeseburgers with everything on the side and fries to go. She added vanilla milkshakes and dessert—a triple fudge tunnel cake—Mona, the waitress, dubbed it as her father’s own version of death by chocolate. She figured Ryder and Troy could both use the sugar rush.

She tracked Ryder down at the corner of Crescent Street by the booths near Ferguson’s Hardware.

“What have you got there?” he asked.

She held up the bag and dangled it in the air. “Food. Can you take a break?”

“Sure, as long as we keep it close. What are you doing here, Julianne?”

“I just had a long talk with Brent.”

“That’s odd, so did I…earlier when he came to the school.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I took your advice. After giving him a photo of the woman I knew as Bethany, he says he’ll do what he can to find her using something called face recognition software. If she has a driver’s license anywhere in the US, she should pop up. First, he’ll start with licenses issued within the last couple years. It may take time but for the first time in a long time…I’m hopeful.”

“It’s a start.”

“What about you? Why did you go see Brent?”

“You know why. I was upset about so many boxes turning up. I vented because I didn’t think Brent was doing enough. Turns out, he has it handled. For the second time, he made me feel like an idiot but at least he listened to what I had to say.”

She munched on a fry before assembling her lettuce and tomato on top of her burger. She took a generous, juicy bite. Looking up at the evening sky, the stars winked back at her. “I met a lot of new people today. I started out this morning at five-thirty. I’m exhausted.”

“I stayed up last night until one o’clock putting a business plan together.”

“When do you plan on meeting with Nick?”

“Whenever I think I’m ready. It’s a little intimidating to take a dream to the bank and ask for a loan.”

“But you know Nick. He handled my mortgage like it belonged to him. Professional, thorough, he even explained everything to me in detail.”

In the dark, Ryder saw her eyes sparkle. He drew her close, muffled her words with the press of his lips. “I want you.”

“Same here. I’m tired of waiting, Ryder. We need some alone time.”

“We could pray for rain.”

“How would that help?”

“You could close up the tent.”

“Ah. I’d just like it if we could go to the dance tomorrow night together.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Around two a.m.
drowsiness hit Ryder.

The streets were deserted. The diehards had closed up McCready’s an hour earlier. Even the carnival workers had called it a night.

Bored, he sat down on the bench at the pier to listen to the lapping water hit the shore. He found the sound only made him want to curl up in his bed even more. To fight his weariness, he took out his Thermos, poured a cup of coffee.

He looked up about the time a man appeared right out of the water. He decided he must be seeing things until the figure got closer. He narrowed his eyes, prepared to leap to his feet to defend the wharf against an invading army of one. But then he recognized the walk, the face, and relaxed his stance.

“You’re like the Gill-Man from the black lagoon.”

Scott raised his arms, wiggled his fingers. “See, no fish hands.”

“Might as well sit down, although I’m not sure that Troy won’t freak out when he spots me talking to myself.”

“How do you know Troy doesn’t see me?”

“Does he?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“It’s a little embarrassing to ask a guy if he’s seeing a ghost walking around town.”

“It was a good move asking Brent for help.”

“That was Julianne’s idea.”

“Another good move.”

“You know, I was told you could help me find Bethany. So far you haven’t taken out a map and been my guidepost to her front door.”

“Helping you is why I’m here. Have you ever wondered why Zach acts so belligerent lately? Like today. Why he gets upset at the least little thing? It isn’t like him.”

“Could’ve fooled me. Since I’ve been here I only know Zach’s prickly side. It seems to me he carries around a lot of resentment about something. That chip on his shoulder is about as big as Yellowstone.”

“Ask him about it.”

“You mean the fact he doesn’t want anyone dating his sister? Troy’s putting that to the test.”

“No, it’s more than that.”

“Did you see him this morning in line for coffee? He almost bit his sister’s head off and it was all in good fun. Then later, at the school…”

“Zach’s troubled.”

“Let me guess. Drug habit he picked up working construction in Colorado?”

“No.”

“He’s torn about his sexuality?”

“Not that either.”

“Then what? I get tired of your guessing games especially at two in the morning.”

“Back in Colorado Springs he got picked up for stealing equipment and fencing the goods.”

“Zach got arrested?” Ryder shook his head. “Logan finds out he’s liable to can him on the spot.”

“He wasn’t guilty, you idiot. He was wrongly accused, spent a week in jail before the cops finally wised up and were able to straighten out the mess, get down to the truth, and find the real culprits responsible. The charges were dropped. Like you said though the chip on his shoulder is an indication he hasn’t put the incident behind him. No one stood up for him when it counted. Since then, he puts distance between himself and just about everyone.”