Thanksgiving Past

by Kathi Daley

  The story made perfect sense, although I still had no idea how all of that led to the disappearance from Gooseberry Bay five Thanksgivings ago. “Okay, I’m following,” I said. “Go on.”

  “After my father was released from the hospital, my parents grabbed all the cash they could get their hands on, and then the six of us snuck away in the middle of the night. We moved around a lot for the next two years, rarely staying in any one place for more than a few weeks before moving on again. I’m not sure if the wannabe politician who’d killed his mistress, or anyone else involved in the case, was actually after us, but my dad had become paranoid after being shot and left for dead, and he was constantly looking over his shoulder. If someone even looked at him funny, he was packing us up, and we were once again taking to the road.”

  “That must have been hard on all of you.”

  “It was. We weren’t allowed to go to school or have friends, and my dad kept changing our names. Half the time, I couldn’t even remember what my current name was supposed to be. It was awful. But then we came to Gooseberry Bay, and my dad began to relax. After a while, he even let us go to school. I was happy for the first time in a long time. We all were. I really thought that maybe we’d be able to live a regular life, but then my dad noticed a blue sedan parked on our street, and his paranoia came back. Before I even knew what was happening, he was gathering up his cash and preparing to move us again.”

  “You must have been so upset.”

  “I was devastated. I had friends and a boyfriend. I was almost eighteen and knew that in a few months, I could begin making my own decisions. I loved my family, but I hated my life, and I figured that if I left my family, I’d be safe. The bad man, if there even was one, which, trust me, I was less than certain of by this point, was, after all, after my dad and not me. I decided that if I set out on my own, I could finally be free.”

  “So, what happened?” I asked. “Did you separate from your family?”

  “Eventually, but not yet,” she answered. “Let me back up a bit to the point where my dad first noticed the blue car. When he brought it up, I tried to tell him that a lot of people parked on the street when visiting friends in the area and that just because someone had parked in front of our house, that didn’t mean they were looking for or watching us. My very paranoid father, however, was absolutely certain that the blue sedan had been in the area to find us, and that the only choice we had was to run again.”

  She paused. I could hear her breathing heavily. It sounded like she was crying.

  “I tried to tell him that it was very unlikely that anyone was here for us, but there was no reasoning with him. He assured me that this very powerful man had tried to kill him once and would try again. I made the point that if the people in the blue sedan were here to kill him, they’d just get on with it and wouldn’t be sitting around watching us, but he had this whole conspiracy story that he’d created in his imagination, and he was sure they were just waiting for the right time.”

  “I’m so sorry. That must have been awful.”

  “It was.”

  “Did your mom seem to think there were people in the area, just waiting to pounce?”

  “I don’t think she was as certain as my father, but she loved him, and he had almost died, and I think she’d decided to support him no matter what. If he said run, then she was darn well going to pack us up and run.”

  I supposed I could understand that to a point.

  “Anyway,” Vanessa continued, “since there is only one way in and out of the area, actually two if you include car and boat, but only one way by road, my dad felt it was necessary to come up with an elaborate plan. There are those traffic cameras as you merge onto the bridge, so he felt that once the man who was after him realized the family had fled, they’d access those cameras in order to look for the vehicle we escaped in. My mom came up with the idea of leaving behind evidence that made it appear as if we disappeared just as we were sitting down to our Thanksgiving meal so that this guy my dad was sure was after us would look at the tapes from Thursday evening, but in reality, we’d actually left in the middle of the night on Wednesday.”

  Well, I supposed that explained the meal, which appeared to have been staged. “I guess your mom’s plan worked. Everyone does assume that the family disappeared on Thursday evening.”

  “Yes, it was a good diversion.”

  “But how did you get away? The family car was still in the garage, and I understand the family only owned one vehicle.”

  “My dad paid cash for an old van. He bought window shades so no one could see inside, and he parked it in the forest behind the house. We left through the rear gate. Dad put on a wig and hat, and he drove while the rest of us hid in the back. Once we got safely away from Washington, my dad dumped the van, and he paid cash for a station wagon that was being sold by a guy who didn’t seem to care about legalities, and was just happy for the money.”

  “It sounds like your dad had a lot of cash.”

  “He did. It wasn’t in the bank. He was a frugal sort of guy who stashed as much cash as he could in a lockbox he kept in a locked drawer.”

  “And after you left Gooseberry Bay?”

  She sighed. “We drove around for weeks and weeks. Eventually, my mom was able to talk my dad into looking for a place to settle down. By this point, I’d had my birthday and was eighteen, so I told my parents I wanted my independence. They said that if I left the family, I had to cut all ties. I couldn’t even know where they’d settled or what name they’d be living under. I didn’t want to lose the people I loved most in the world, but I was just so tired of running that I agreed. I think watching them drive away that final time was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.”

  “Wow,” I said. “That must have been so hard. I can’t even imagine.”

  “It was pretty awful.”

  “So, what did you do next?”

  “I had a boyfriend, Logan Hudson. He’d lived in Gooseberry Bay for a while, but he moved to Seattle a year before my family left the area. We stayed in touch despite my father’s rule about cutting all ties. He was a year older than I was and had his own apartment, so I called him and told him I was on my own, and he let me stay with him. Four years ago, we were married, and three years ago, we had Arial.”

  “Are you happy?” I asked.

  “As happy as I can be. I love my husband and daughter, and I’ve never regretted making the decision I did, but I do miss my family, and I wonder what’s become of them.”

  “You don’t have any way of getting ahold of them?” I asked.

  “No.”

  What an incredibly sad story. I supposed it was a better story than finding out that the family had been massacred, but barely. I wondered about the other children. Courtney had been thirteen five years ago, which meant she’d be eighteen now. I wondered if, like her older sister, she’d decide that the freedom of independence was worth the cost.

  “Once we realized that Vanessa Hudson and Hannah Hamish were most likely the same person, we actually thought for a minute that you might have married Kyle Hudson,” I said.

  “Kyle is a nice guy, and I did know him in high school. Kyle and Logan aren’t related as far as I know, but I suppose Hudson is a fairly common name.” She paused and seemed to be thinking about it. “If you were looking in the yearbook from my senior year, Logan wouldn’t have been in it since he graduated a year ahead of me.” After another brief pause, she continued. “Actually, I shouldn’t have been in it either. I left in November, and I didn’t take senior photos.”

  “It wasn’t your senior photo we found, but a photo taken of a crowd, and you were standing in the background.”

  She laughed. “That is the exact sort of thing that would have sent my dad through the roof. If we’d still been here in Gooseberry Bay when the yearbook came out and he would have seen the photo, he would have had a fit.”

  “So I have to ask,” I said after a few minutes of chitchat. “Why did you come up to
me on the street that day? Given everything you’ve told me, it seems like sort of a big risk.”

  “I hadn’t planned to. I’m not sure why I even did. Logan was out of town on a business trip, so I decided to take a short trip with Arial to see what was left of the fall colors. I hadn’t planned to come to Gooseberry Bay. I was actually going to take the ferry across from Seattle and maybe try to find a place to stay on Bainbridge Island, but I ended up at the bay. I really only planned to drive through, and I wasn’t going to stay even for a meal since I couldn’t risk anyone recognizing me, but for some reason, I found myself driving by the old house. I was surprised to see that it was still empty.”

  “Yeah, we were surprised about that as well. I guess it’s owned by someone named John Smith.”

  “I have no idea who that is. My dad never mentioned the name.”

  “So, you drove down the street and saw me at the house.” I prompted.

  “Yes,” she answered. “I pulled the car around the corner and parked and then Arial and I walked back toward the house. I’m not sure why I stopped to talk to you. It makes no sense that I would. But I guess I was curious as to why you were at the house, and then you said you were working with Parker, and it occurred to me that you might be able to find out about the blue sedan.”

  “You wanted to know if it was real,” I said. “You wanted to know if your dad had a real reason to flee, and that he’d made the right choice in doing so, or if his paranoia got to him, and he uprooted the family for no reason.”

  “Basically,” she agreed. “I promised my family when I left that I would never try to find them, and at the time, that was a promise I planned to keep. But now I have Arial, and I want her to know her grandparents and her aunts. If the danger was real, and others had actually seen a blue sedan, and it seemed my dad had a real reason to move us, I’d leave it alone, but I feel like the bad men he believes he’s being chased by only exist in his mind. Yes, ten years ago, he overheard something that he shouldn’t have, and yes, it seems likely, especially given the fact that he was shot by an unidentified individual in a parking garage, that at the time, his life may have been in danger. But that has been so long ago, and as far as I can tell, no one followed us once we left Houston. I really think that the ten years my father has spent uprooting the family to escape the danger he is certain is lurking out there has been a waste. A waste of his life and a waste of all of our lives as well.”

  “Whatever happened to the man who killed his mistress?” I asked.

  “As far as I know, he went to prison and is still there. Which is another reason that I don’t necessarily think that anyone has spent the past ten years chasing after my dad.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I think you could be right. It does seem like the danger might be in your dad’s mind rather than in reality.” I paused. “Do you think you might try to find your family?”

  “Maybe. Which is where you come in.”

  That’s right. This conversation started with Vanessa saying that she thought I might be able to help her. “Okay. How can I help?”

  “I haven’t worked it all out yet. Courtney is eighteen now. I’m not even sure she’s still with the rest of the family. She was always so independent and outgoing that I imagine she left as I did. I figure she would be the family member most likely to respond to me if I was able to track her down and ask for a meeting. The thing is, I have no idea where she is, or even who she is by this point.”

  “And you think we can help you figure that out?”

  “Maybe. Parker is a really good reporter.”

  “I suppose there might be something we could come up with that would allow you to let Courtney know where you are or how to contact you. Do you think she suspects that you came back to the area after you left your family?”

  “I do. She knew how much I loved Gooseberry Bay. She probably doesn’t know I ended up in Seattle, but if I had to guess, she’s most likely followed the news in Gooseberry Bay. She had friends here as well. Good friends that she cared about. After I left, I still read the online edition of the newspaper every week, which is how I knew about Parker. I won’t be at all surprised to find out that Courtney has done the same thing.”

  “So, what is your real name?” I asked.

  “Actually, it’s Vanessa. After I left my family, I decided to reclaim Vanessa, or Nessa, as my family called me. Before marrying Logan, I also decided to reclaim my original last name, which is Bryant.”

  “And Courtney? What was her original name?” I asked.

  “Jennifer, or Jen, to the family. Sarah is really Carolyn or Caro, and Laura is really Stephanie or Steph.”

  “So maybe we can figure out a way for Nessa to send a message to Jen in the newspaper. A message that Jen will understand if she sees it. Something with an email or a phone number she can use to get ahold of you should she choose to follow up.”

  “It couldn’t be too obvious,” she said. “But maybe the right sort of message would work. A message that’s hidden in an ad, for example.”

  “Let me talk to Parker and the others,” I said. “Maybe they’ll have an idea about how to best do this. Why don’t you call me back Friday afternoon? That will give me time to meet with everyone and come up with a plan.”

  “Okay. But remember, all of this is between us for now.”

  “I agree. They’ve agreed as well. You can trust Parker and the others. Yes, Parker wants to get a story out of this, but she’s most concerned about keeping everyone safe. I’m certain she won’t print anything you don’t agree to.”

  Chapter 10

  I couldn’t believe how nervous I was as I drove toward Piney Point for my lunch with Adam. The last time I’d made the trip to the mansion on the bluff, Josie had been with me, and her chatter and light mood had somehow made things easier. Of course, this time, Kai and Kallie were with me, which was nice as well. I was anxious to meet Adam’s dog, Hitchcock, and I was pretty sure Kai and Kallie would enjoy meeting him as well.

  I thought about the man that I’d already formed so many different opinions about. When I’d first looked him up, I’d had an impression of a sophisticated man who was most likely boorish and entitled. He hadn’t been smiling in any of the photos I’d pulled up, which made him seem so different from the smiling and easygoing guy I’d met at Hank’s Hardware. And then there was the man who’d helped me rescue Damon. He’d endured personal injury in the form of long claw marks on his arm to make sure Damon was given the opportunity for a new home. I remembered how gentle he’d been. How he held the kitten close to his body and even managed to calm him despite the fact that just seconds earlier, the kitten had been totally freaking out. And then there was the man I’d had lunch with Tuesday. He’d been pleasant and polite. Professional. He’d listened intently to what I’d had to say, asked all the right questions, and yet for the majority of the meal, he hadn’t seemed at all like the warm and friendly guy I’d run into up on the bluff. There was that one moment when we’d been talking about Mr. Johnson when I’d felt as if I’d been gifted with a glimpse of the open and tender heart behind the sophisticated exterior.

  As we crossed the bridge that would take us to the road leading up to the estate, I struggled to calm my mind and focus on my breathing. The last thing I wanted to do was to show up totally freaked out before we even got started. Actually, the last thing I wanted to do was to have a nosebleed like I did the last time I’d visited the estate. I knew what to expect this time, and I felt like I had more control over my emotions. Adam seemed to want to help me find my answers. It made sense that I would let him. I just needed to be open and honest, and I needed to take things as they came, rather than trying to force an answer I wasn’t sure that I even wanted.

  I parked in front of the giant home and walked up the stairs to the huge front door. I rang the bell and waited. To be honest, I was expecting Ruth to answer. She’d been the one to show us in when Josie and I had come to see Archie. I was pleasantly surprised when not only did Ad
am answer his own door, but he was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, which made him appear a lot more approachable than he would have if he’d been wearing a suit or even slacks and a dress shirt.

  “Ainsley.” He smiled a warm and genuine smile. “I see you made it despite the rain that doesn’t seem to be quite sure if it’s finished or not.”

  “I heard the storm should blow through by the end of the day.”

  He looked toward my SUV. “Did you bring the dogs?”

  I nodded. “I wanted to check out the situation before I let them out.”

  “Well, bring them in. Let’s have a look at them.”

  I headed back to my SUV and opened the hatchback. Both dogs jumped out. After looking to me for permission to approach Adam, they trotted politely up to the front door to say hi. After Adam had greeted each dog, he called to his own, who I could hear pounding his way through the house, making it seem as if there was a whole herd of dogs running down the stairs rather than just one giant dog.

  “Wow, he’s gorgeous,” I said as I waited for Hitchcock to greet Kai and Kallie before making his way over to me. “And so friendly and sweet.”

  “If he feels you to be a threat, he’ll let you know in no uncertain terms that you might want to back off, but most of the time, he’s a real sweetheart.”

  I ruffed the dog, who was even larger than my two, behind the ears, and then we all followed Adam up the stairs to the second story. When I’d been here with Josie, we hadn’t gone upstairs, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. We traveled down a short hallway and then came to a doorway that opened into a large room with huge windows overlooking Gooseberry Bay.

  “Wow,” I said. “This is gorgeous.” The room was an open floor plan that included a floor to ceiling fireplace, comfortable seating area, gourmet kitchen, and a dining area with a table I estimated might seat ten. A hallway was just beyond the kitchen, which Adam informed me led to a guest bathroom and three bedroom suites.