Tranquility Falls

by Davis Bunn

  “And Stella’s role in this is what, exactly?”

  Ricki said, “She’s the town bookkeeper.”

  “Who does she answer to?”

  “The mayor. Catherine Lundberg.”

  Megan leaned back and stared at the empty space above Daniel’s head. “Okay. Ms. Dalton will be arraigned tomorrow in San Luis Obispo. Because missing funds are involved, we can expect the prosecution to ask the judge to deny bail.”

  Amber cried, “Mommy will have to stay in jail?”

  “I said they will ask. Our job is to make sure they don’t get what they want.”

  Daniel liked how she addressed the child. Straight, to the point, and full of the determined strength of a courtroom warrior. “I will take care of bail.”

  “The judge will probably set it on the high side,” Megan warned. “We’re talking upward of a million.”

  Daniel swallowed. “I’ll cover it.”

  “I will stay here until she’s settled in for the night. Once they finish the processing, I’ll have my first chance to speak with her directly.”

  Amber said, “I want to see Mommy!”

  “Tomorrow.” The way she spoke that word, calm and yet utterly firm, silenced the young girl. Megan rose to her feet. “Why don’t you all go get some rest?”

  CHAPTER 33

  Daniel spent most of the night fighting old wars.

  He dreamed of waking up strapped to the gurney, being rolled into the back of the ambulance. And there on the asphalt beside his demolished car was a black plastic bag, lumpish and still, just large enough to hold his fiancée.

  He dreamed of lying in the hospital bed, trying to answer questions about the accident he didn’t remember. All the while, two detectives stared at him with eyes that said he was the one who should have been laid out in that body bag.

  Just as dawn began streaking the eastern horizon, Daniel dressed in running clothes and carried his shoes down the silent hall. When Amber had begged to stay with him, Chloe had made no objection to going home. The battles with Chloe’s parents were not erased, just temporarily suspended. As he passed Amber’s door, he heard a faint scratching. Daniel hesitated, then cracked open the door just wide enough for Goldie to slip out. She snuffled his hand and stretched and yawned, then lapped water from her bowl and padded to the front door. Like nothing had happened. Like she had not pretty much ignored him for the past few days.

  As he stretched in his front yard, he wondered if some unknown dog sense made Goldie aware of what he hid from the rest of the world. The wounds that kept opening up again. The scars that refused to fully heal. His need for the company that morning of a big-hearted dog.

  He fastened Goldie to her leash and set off down the silent road. His every action threatened the safe little existence he had built for himself. Stella and Chloe and Nicole and Amber and . . . The list grew in a steady and relentless pattern. He was stretching out in every conceivable direction, linking himself to all these lives, making them rely on him when his past kept shouting at him to step back. Remove all these reasons to fall down. Erase the mess he would undoubtedly make of all these trusting people.

  When running the coastal route, his normal turnaround point was the headland above Miramar’s main oceanfront parking lot. He often spent a few moments in the open-fronted chapel facing the Pacific. There was little difference from the view from his own backyard. But Daniel had always liked the chapel’s sheltered peace. It was a good place to sit and reflect and perhaps pray. But today Daniel kept wondering if others could sense the fault lines running through his life. If they worried that the weight of new mistakes might become too great and he might fracture again. Just like before.

  * * *

  Daniel was still debating his next steps when he jogged down his road and saw Travis’s Escalade parked in his drive. A black retro BMW that Daniel did not recognize was pulled in behind Travis. As Daniel paused to stretch, Travis opened his front door and said, “Leave that for later. You need to have a word with the fellow waiting inside.”

  When he walked inside, he found a wide-eyed Nicole seated at his kitchen counter next to the film star Connor Larkin. Travis said, “You two know each other?”

  “We’ve met,” Nicole said. “At the restaurant.”

  Travis winced, creasing his features from forehead to collar. “Oh. Right.”

  Goldie lapped from her water bowl, then padded down the hall and sat in front of Amber’s door. She looked back at Daniel, then at the door. Waiting.

  Daniel asked, “Amber’s still asleep?”

  “As far as I know,” Nicole replied. “I haven’t heard a peep.”

  Daniel walked down, listened, then cracked the door wide enough for Goldie to enter.

  When he returned to the kitchen, Connor pointed to the coffeemaker. “Any chance I could sample your goods?”

  Travis said, “Nicole, honey, why don’t you give us a minute?”

  Daniel stepped around the counter. “Nicole is welcome to stay or go, but it is absolutely her decision.”

  “I’m absolutely staying,” Nicole said.

  Travis sighed his way onto the corner stool. “Chloe always claimed I have a natural gift for saying the wrong thing for all the right reasons.”

  Daniel took his time preparing four cappuccinos. When everyone was served, he remained where he was, the counter between him and whatever came next.

  Connor said, “Ricki and Sylvie are friends.”

  “That being Sylvie Cassick, who owns Castaways,” Travis offered.

  Connor went on, “Ricki told Sylvie about what happened last night.”

  Travis said, “He means with Stella.”

  “Travis,” Daniel said.

  “What.”

  “Let the man speak.”

  “Hey. It’s not every day I get a call from a real-live movie star who says, drive me to your pal’s so I can lay . . .” When Connor turned and added his gaze to Daniel’s, Travis raised two massive palms and backed up. “This is me, shutting my trap.”

  Connor said, “A while back, Sylvie got into this huge fight with a local mover and shaker. You ever heard the name Phil Hammond?”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “He owns a couple of the oceanfront hotels. Made a run for Castaways. And some other stuff.” Connor waved it aside. “Ancient history. Mind if I ask you something?”

  “You’re in my kitchen, drinking my coffee. Ask away.”

  “Ricki says she and Stella suspect the mayor might be behind the missing town funds and is using Stella as her scapegoat.”

  “Somebody certainly is. The evidence I’ve seen suggests it has to be an individual with enough power . . .” Daniel stopped, halted in his verbal tracks by a sudden thought.

  Connor asked, “You were saying?”

  Daniel shook his head. Not to the actor. To the impression behind the thought. That it was too late. There was no returning to his safe little existence. He was already committed. All he had to do was look across the counter, to where Nicole tracked his every word with absolute intensity. There was no going back. Daniel shivered.

  Travis said, “You need to go shower?”

  “I’m good.” Daniel’s voice sounded weak to his ears.

  “This is excellent brew.” Connor sipped from his cup. “Where was I?”

  Nicole offered, “The mayor is a crook, and Stella has been set up.”

  “Right. When Sylvie faced her own assault, I got hooked up with a guy.” Connor rattled his cup. “Any chance of a second round?”

  Daniel busied himself at the machine. “What kind of guy?”

  “He makes his living hunting down hidden online evidence,” Connor said. “The kind of hunt, and evidence, that you won’t ever be able to use in a court of law.”

  Daniel said, “You’re talking about a hacker.”

  “Right down to his Ukrainian accent.”

  Nicole said, “This is so totally cool.”

  Daniel started steaming the
milk. “You want to introduce me to a Russian hacker.”

  “He claims to be in Alabama. I never bothered to check.”

  Daniel tamped down the milk pitcher. He took the cup from the machine, layered in the foam, handed it over, and asked, “Anyone else?”

  “I wouldn’t say no,” Travis said.

  Nicole pushed her cup across the counter. “Count me in.”

  Daniel took his time, making himself a fresh cup as well. Thinking. Because the fact was, Connor’s offer dovetailed with remarkable precision with the thought that was still hammering away at his brain.

  When he handed over the new brews, he said, “This sounds like somebody I need to meet.”

  Committed.

  CHAPTER 34

  A half hour after Travis and Connor left, Sol Feinnes called to say the arraignment had been set for three that afternoon. They could meet at the courthouse a half hour earlier, and Sol would arrange for Amber to spend some time with her mother. Daniel agreed to stop by Stella’s home and pick up clothes suitable for the courtroom.

  About twenty minutes later, Amber emerged from her bedroom, tousled and cranky. She moaned that her back hurt from the lumpy mattress. She complained that Goldie kept waking her up and licking her face. She stated that her room was too bright and demanded to know why Daniel didn’t have decent curtains. She wanted to go see her mother, and she didn’t want to wait until the afternoon.

  Daniel made her a bowl of cereal, which she ate with her face almost in the milk. The spoon traveled a distance of maybe an inch and a half with each bite. When she was done, she did a boneless slide off the counter stool and started back down the hallway. Goldie walked alongside her, nudging Amber with her nose. Amber kept pushing at her, telling the dog to go away. Goldie remained right where she was. Amber entered the room, yelled for Goldie to leave, then shut the door with the dog still inside.

  Daniel asked Nicole, “Was it something I said?”

  “She’s scared. She’s angry with the world. She wants to be home with her mom.” Nicole shrugged. “I’d say Amber has every reason to be in a mood.”

  Daniel looked at her. “When did you grow up to be a very wise thirty-five?”

  Nicole did not smile, but he could see she was pleased. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “I assume we’re no longer talking about Amber.”

  “Of course not. You got an idea when Connor was talking. I saw it happen.”

  Daniel gave that the silence it deserved. “You are quite possibly the most observant person of any age that I have ever met.”

  Nicole liked that even more. “Will you tell me?”

  “I’ll do more than that. I’ll ask for your help. But only if you want.”

  “Why do you think I’m sitting here?” She bounced in her chair. An excited young girl once more. “Tell me!”

  “I don’t have a lot worked out. But here goes.” Daniel sliced banana into two bowls, then added blueberries and yogurt and topped it with a sprinkling of granola. He set one in front of Nicole and stood on the counter’s other side, not eating. The words came slowly, but not because he needed to think things through. The first step was fairly clear now. What impacted him far more deeply was what this move represented.

  By the time he’d finished outlining the day’s plan, Nicole had stopped eating as well. “This is amazing.”

  “It’s hardly even half an idea at this point,” he warned. “But I think it can work.”

  “I know it will.” She lifted the spoon and took a single blueberry and a smidgen of yogurt. “About what you plan for this afternoon. Have you ever done that before?”

  He nodded. “Back before. Several times.”

  “Is it legal?”

  “It’s not illegal. Officially we should ask the court’s permission.”

  “But that would mean letting the bad lady know we’re onto her.”

  “We don’t know for certain the mayor is actually the real criminal. Not yet, anyway. But at least I think we’re moving toward finding that out.” He picked up his spoon. “Why aren’t you eating? You don’t like your breakfast?”

  Nicole revealed her mother’s dimples. “I like how you say that. We’re moving.”

  “You have a beautiful smile,” Daniel said. “You should try using it more often.”

  CHAPTER 35

  Daniel spent the next hour on the phone. The longest conversation was with Veronica. The photographer did not object to his plan. But she was cautious, insisting he walk her through the planned events twice. When he was done the second time, she stayed silent so long Daniel feared she was looking for the exit. But, in the end, she merely asked for his credit-card details and hung up.

  Nicole volunteered to wake Amber and explain what they were planning. Daniel waited until he could hear the two girls talking softly in the back room, then carried the phone outside and seated himself by the vacant firepit. The Pacific was a burnished, golden-blue mirror, stretching out to where it joined with the pale horizon. A feather-like wind streaked the surface, as if the waters shivered in nervous anticipation of what Daniel intended.

  He took Connor’s slip of paper from his pocket, fed the number into his phone’s speed-dial memory, then called. The actor came on with, “I thought it would take you longer than this to get in trouble.”

  “I’m not there yet,” Daniel replied. “But I may be before the day is out.”

  He swiftly sketched out what he hoped to put in place. As he spoke, all Daniel could see were the holes in his logic. But when he was done, Connor replied, “You were right to call.”

  “You think?”

  “This is absolutely the sort of thing my Ukrainian boy in Alabama could help with. Let me make a call.”

  Daniel thanked him, cut the connection, then sat cradling the phone between his hands. Finally, he reached the point where he did not feel so much ready as tired of putting off the inevitable. He dialed the number from memory.

  Midway through the first ring, an all-too-familiar voice demanded, “Is it really you?”

  “In the flesh,” Daniel replied. “Sort of.”

  “You bad boy. Making me wait all this time, worrying me worse than my youngest child. Shame on you.”

  In a world known for careers that came and went in months, Kirsten Wright was a world-class exception. She had been head of NBC News on the West Coast for two decades. The network had twice urged her to relocate to New York and take over the entire news division. But her daughter was an anesthesiologist at Cedars-Sinai, her eldest son worked in film, and her youngest was barely hanging on to sobriety. She loved being close to her grandchildren and trying to keep her son on the straight and narrow. She had considered Daniel an adopted basket case and treated him with the same stern affection she showed her own wayward child.

  Daniel said, “It’s good to hear your voice again.”

  Kirsten asked, “How are you?”

  “Staying sober.”

  “Really and truly?”

  “Four years and counting.”

  She sighed. “You should come down and give my son some advice.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Now and then. But I don’t want to cloud our first conversation in too long with such tales of woe. Are you ready to come back?”

  There it was. The question he had both hungered to hear—and dreaded ever since knowing he had to take this step. The draw and the repulsion were equally strong. “Not yet, and maybe never,” he replied. “But I think I may have a story.”

  * * *

  As they left the house, Nicole slipped into the role of diplomat.

  Through his open window he heard Goldie’s howls. Normally the dog was pretty easygoing about life. Not today.

  Amber remained embedded in her dark space. Nicole either did not care or pretended not to see it at all. “Do you know your mother’s clothes?”

  “Duh. We’ve only been living together my whole life.”

  “I mean, do you know what she
would want to wear today?”

  Amber was silent. Then, “I don’t want to go in there alone.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “What does somebody wear in jail?”

  “This isn’t for jail. This is for court.”

  “Oh.” Another silence. “It’s awful. Isn’t it? Jail.”

  “I have no idea. But I doubt she had an easy night.”

  “I need to be happy for her.”

  “Not unless it’s genuine. Seeing you in any mood will be enough.”

  Amber was seated by the passenger window, with Nicole leaning forward, inserting herself into the space between Daniel and the girl. Amber worked one finger between the glass and the frame. “Goldie wasn’t happy about being left behind.”

  Daniel nodded to the road ahead. The dog’s radar was certainly working overtime this morning.

  The pickup remained silent until they pulled into Stella’s drive. Amber said, “Mommy always picks out my clothes.”

  Nicole took hold of her hand. “I’ll help.”

  Amber remained where she was. A tear gentled its way down her cheek. “I’m so scared.”

  “We’re here for you.”

  “What if they lock her up forever?”

  Daniel spoke for the first time since ordering Goldie to stay. “My job is to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  CHAPTER 36

  The San Luis Obispo city and county governments were housed in Spanish-style buildings encircling a tree-lined square. A bored police officer on duty at the courthouse entrance directed them around the left-hand side to a smaller door of reinforced-glass with a police emblem at its center. This duty guard was very alert. He led them through the scanner one at a time. Amber was cowed and snuffling by the time they were registered and seated in the jail’s waiting area. None of the officers paid the miserable little girl any mind. She was far from the only frightened and distraught individual in the windowless chamber. Nicole held her hand for a while, then slipped her arm around Amber and drew her closer still.

  Fifteen minutes after they arrived, Ricki rushed in with Chloe. “Have you seen her?”