by Kathi Daley
“If you’re on your way to the phone, check for messages,” Kyle suggested.
“The phone doesn’t work,” I answered. “When Gina bought the house there was a phone already installed, but she told me she preferred using her cell, so she never had this hooked up.”
“Hasn’t Gina lived here for almost a year? It seems she would have taken it down by now,” Kyle commented as he opened the refrigerator.
“I think she meant to but never got around to it.” I opened the drawer I suspected contained the odds and ends everyone was likely to collect. This one contained a variety of pens and small notepads, coupons for nearby restaurants, an address book, a couple of matchbooks, a hair clip, and an assortment of rubber bands and paper clips. I slipped the address book into my bag, then opened the first of the three small notepads I’d found. One was half empty, though all the pages were blank. She probably used it to make lists or notes that she tore off and took with her. Another had names and phone numbers jotted down inside, and the third had rows of numbers and letters on the first page that on the surface didn’t show any real pattern.
“What do you make of this?” I asked Kyle, showing him this notepad.
“I guess they could be abbreviations of some sort or possibly a code. It’s hard to know.”
I put all three notebooks in my bag just in case. Kyle headed to the attached laundry room while I continued to look around in the kitchen. On impulse, I picked up the receiver of the phone Gina had already told me was inoperable. As expected, I didn’t hear a dial tone, but when I put the receiver to my ear I did hear three clicks in rapid succession. I pulled the handset from my ear and looked at it. Okay, that was weird.
“Kyle,” I called.
“Yeah?” he asked when he returned to the kitchen.
“What does it mean if you pick up the receiver of an inoperable phone and hear three clicks?”
Kyle crossed the room and took the receiver from my hand. He held it up to his own ear. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Hang up and then pick up the receiver again.”
Kyle did as I suggested. “Sorry,” he said. “I still don’t hear anything.”
I sighed. “I guess it was just my imagination. I think I’ve seen everything in here. Did you find anything in the laundry room?”
“Not really. We can take a closer look at the notepads when we get back to my place. Let’s see if we can find anything in the rest of the house.”
We went onto the dining area and then the living room. Neither provided anything that could even loosely be labeled a clue. I followed Kyle to the stairs, my heart pounding with fear and anticipation as we climbed to the second story. I wasn’t sure what we’d find there, but I couldn’t quite quell the feeling it would be something unpleasant.
Kyle took my hand as he opened the door to Gina’s bedroom. “It looks like someone has gone through things in here already,” he said.
He was right. While the downstairs was fairly neat except for a few dishes, the bedroom looked as if someone had sorted through everything. The closet was open, and the dresser and nightstand drawers had been left open to one degree or another. I supposed the explanation could be as simple as Gina looking for a favorite pair of earrings she’d misplaced prior to going out, but my instinct suggested there was something more going on.
One box that appeared as if it originally had been kept on the closet shelf was on the floor, upended. I picked up a pile of old bank statements, phone bills, and receipts and slipped them back into the box. “I’m beginning to get a bad feeling about things.”
“Yeah. Me too,” Kyle agreed.
“When Kate first told us she suspected Gina had been involved in an accident that had left Striker Bristow dead, part of me didn’t believe her. Gina’s a teacher at a small rural high school. She’s sweet and conscientious and I couldn’t believe she could be involved in anything dealing with the pond scum who tried to blackmail Judge Harper. But now that I’ve had time to process everything, I’m terrified.” I set the pile of paperwork I was holding on the bed and looked at Kyle. “We have to find her.”
“We will. I’ll finish looking around in here. Why don’t you see what you can find in the other room?”
I wandered into the Jack-and-Jill bath while Kyle took a closer look at the interior of the closet. The counter displayed a toothbrush holder with two toothbrushes, a soap dispenser, and a tiny cat figurine that appeared to be for decorative purposes only. I opened the medicine cabinet. Inside were the usual items—mouthwash, deodorant, nasal spray, and hair gel—but there were also birth control pills and antifungal cream. The birth control pills were prescribed to Gina, but the antifungal cream had been prescribed to someone named Spencer Becker. I had to wonder who Spencer was. Gina had never once mentioned anyone named Spencer to me.
I put both prescription items in my bag and returned to the bedroom.
“I didn’t find anything of note in the bedroom,” Kyle said after several minutes. “Any luck in the bathroom?”
“Not really, although there are two toothbrushes in the holder and some prescription cream with the name Spencer Becker on it. As far as I know, Gina lives alone.”
“So who’s Spencer Becker?” Kyle asked.
“I have no idea.”
“When was the last time you spoke to Gina?” Kyle asked. “I mean really spoke to her about her life and relationships.”
“Not since school let out,” I admitted. “First we were in South Carolina, and then my dad had his accident and I got busy covering for him at the resort. I spoke to her briefly this past week, but only to firm up plans for tonight. Nothing personal beyond the usual inquiries about one’s health and well-being.”
“So it’s possible Gina is in a relationship she just hasn’t mentioned to you.”
I shrugged. “Sure, I guess.” I looked around the room for any additional evidence that a man had spent a significant amount of time here. I didn’t find anything of note, although I did notice something on the bedside table and walked to it. “Look at this.” I held up a small sticky note. “It says ‘Murphy’s, eight o’clock.’”
“Is there a date as well?” Kyle asked.
“No, just a time and place. It’s probably unrelated to the accident, but it was sitting on her nightstand. Murphy’s is closed for the night, but I’ll follow up tomorrow if all of our other ideas peter out.”
“I don’t suppose you know where Gina kept her computer?” Kyle asked. “We might be able to find clues to what she’d been up to since school has been closed.”
My eyes grew big. “I do know. She told me when I spoke to her this morning that her computer was glitching and she planned to take it to the repair shop in town. I bet it’s still there. I also bet Kate doesn’t know it’s there, so maybe we can get our hands on it before she does.”
Kyle looked at his watch. “It’s almost midnight. We’ll need to contact the owner of the repair shop tomorrow. Maybe we should head back to my place and try to come up with a plan.”
“We can’t go there yet. We need to go to the crash site and have a look around.”
“Kate and her crew have already been there,” Kyle pointed out. “She said she didn’t find anything.”
“Maybe Kate didn’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. The driver of the vehicle, whether it was Gina or someone else, is missing. What if after the accident Gina or whoever was driving her car was dazed and simply got out of the car and wandered away? She could be lying out in the woods somewhere, maybe bleeding to death.”
“I’m sure Kate has thought of that and has searched the woods as well.”
“Maybe. But I need to check it out for myself. Let’s run by the resort, get Echo, and then go to the crash site to look around.”
“It’s pretty dark,” Kyle said.
“The lack of light won
’t matter to Echo.” Echo, my Bernese Mountain Dog, had been trained in search and rescue. I grabbed some clothes from Gina’s hamper, which should provide the scent we needed.
“I guess Echo might be able to pick up a trail even Kate and her crew could have missed,” Kyle acknowledged. “Did you look in the guest room?”
“No. I was going to go there next. Gina has a desk in the room; it doubles as an office.”
I was about to head into the second bedroom when Kyle held up a finger, indicating that I should wait. He walked over to the window and pulled back the blind. “Someone just pulled up out front.”
My first instinct was to let out a sigh of relief—perhaps Gina was home.
“It’s a sheriff’s vehicle,” Kyle added. “It looks like Kate with someone else.”
“Great.” I glanced toward the bedroom door. There was no way we’d make it down the stairs and out the back door before Kate came in the front door. “The window,” I said. Gina’s bedroom was at the back of the house; if we could sneak out of the house without having to go down to the first floor, we might get away without being seen.
Kyle nodded and lifted the window. He removed the screen and set it on the part of the first-floor roof that hung out farther than the second story. I climbed out onto the roof and grabbed the screen, and Kyle followed, then quietly closed the window. We couldn’t both replace the screen and close the window from the outside so we’d need to take the screen with us and return it later. I could hear someone enter the house through the front door, so I knew we had to hurry. I jumped from the roof to the ground below, stashed the screen behind the tool shed, and hurried into the woods with Kyle behind me.
“What do you think?” Kyle asked as we paused to make sure we hadn’t been seen.
“No one came out of the house, so I think we’re fine. We should be as quiet as possible as we make our way through the woods to the truck, though.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we parked beyond the wooded area. If we’d parked on the street in front of Gina’s house, we’d be busted for sure.”
“Things really were a lot easier before Kate came along,” I whispered. “If Roy was here he’d be working with us, not against us.”
“Do you think Kate would actually arrest us for trying to find Gina on our own?”
“Knowing her, probably,” I answered.
“Then we’ll need to be extra-careful.”
I was about to agree when I heard a loud snap. “What was that?” I whispered.
“It sounds like someone stepped on a tree branch,” Kyle replied, so quietly I was barely able to make out what he’d said.
I held my breath and listened. I heard another snap. This time the noise sounded closer. I hoped there wasn’t someone searching the woods. If there was, we’d never be able to avoid detection.
The lights in the kitchen at the back of Gina’s house went on. I scooted farther into the dense brush just in case someone looked out the window. I could see Kate and a deputy with dark brown hair walking around inside. I didn’t recognize him, so I figured he must be a temp sent to help by the main office. Kate picked up the handset to the phone, listened, then replaced it. She motioned for the man to check upstairs before making a call from her cell.
“We need to get out of here,” I whispered. “If Kate looks in our direction she might see us.”
Kyle nodded.
I took a small step and almost jumped out of my skin when the rustling in the bushes indicated that whoever was in the woods with us was getting closer.
Kyle put a finger to his lips and I nodded. He crouched down low and very carefully and slowly made his way through the thick brush. I followed, staying low too. After a few minutes Kyle stopped and slowly stood up. I did likewise. Kyle tapped my shoulder and then pointed to a clearing just beyond the shrubs we were hiding behind. I let out a sigh of relief when I realized our visitor was a bear, not a cop.
I came into contact with bears on a regular basis, living at the resort, which was surrounded by dense forest. I knew that they wouldn’t bother you if you didn’t bother them, so had learned not to fear the large mammals. But I also knew it was important not to startle the animal. We couldn’t call out or turn on our own flashlights to announce our presence without running the risk of being seen or heard from the house, so I slowly took a step back, keeping my eye on the bear, which seemed to be ignoring us at this point. Kyle took a step back as well. The bear looked up and turned in our direction. He looked right at us before lowering his head and continuing with his meal. Once I was fairly certain he didn’t consider us a threat, Kyle and I continued to put space between us and him, taking only a single step at a time and never once taking our eyes off the large predator. When we were what seemed to be a safe distance away, we picked up the pace a bit until we reached Kyle’s truck. Neither of us spoke until we were inside the vehicle.
“What now?” Kyle asked after starting the vehicle and putting some distance between us and Gina’s house. “Do you still want to go to the scene of the accident?”
“I do. I can’t shake the feeling that Gina could be all alone, clinging to life with no one to help her. We need to hurry.”
Chapter 3
Kyle merged onto the county road that led to the resort where I lived with my father and his fiancée, my two half-sisters who came to live with me after our mother died, my grandpa, and a dozen or so animals. The house was dark, so I assumed Grandpa was asleep. I quietly entered through the kitchen door and then headed to my bedroom where I thought Echo would be sleeping. He began wagging his tail as soon as he saw me. I motioned for him to quietly follow me. When I returned to the kitchen, I scribbled a note, letting Grandpa know I’d stopped by for Echo and would be keeping him with me for the weekend. I grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the refrigerator and then went back out to the truck.
Echo greeted Kyle and settled into the backseat, and we pulled away from the resort and onto the highway in the direction of the place where the accident occurred. The drive was a silent one except for Echo panting behind us. Every time I thought of Gina hurt, scared, and alone, my heart ached so badly I could barely stand it. I was deep in my own thoughts and not really paying attention to the trip, so I was startled when Kyle pulled the truck over to the side of the road.
“What is it?” I asked.
“There’s a car behind us. I think it’s been following us.”
I turned and looked down the empty highway. “I don’t see anything.”
“The car pulled over and turned off its headlights right after I did.”
“Why would someone be following us?”
I sensed Kyle’s frown, although it was too dark to see his expression.
“I’m not sure,” Kyle finally answered.
“Are you sure the car was following us, not just heading in the same direction we are?”
“I’m sure.” Kyle pulled back onto the highway and executed a quick U-turn, heading back the way we’d come. When we came to a dark blue sedan parked on the side of the road, Kyle slowed down a bit but didn’t stop.
“It looked like a Ford Focus, either dark blue or black. I didn’t catch the license plate number,” Kyle said.
“The plate on the front was missing,” I informed Kyle. “I looked as we passed. It was too dark to see the plate on the back after we passed, but I noticed a dent in the front fender on the driver’s side.”
“Yeah, I saw that as well. It’s pretty desolate out here at this time of night and I don’t like the idea that the car was following us. Maybe we should head back to my place,” Kyle suggested.
“But Gina…”
“I doubt we’ll find her at the accident scene. Let’s try her cell phone again. If she still doesn’t answer, we’ll go to my place and come up with a plan.”
“No. I can’t just leave her there. I know you think Kate wo
uld have found her if she’d been anywhere near the accident site, but I need to see for myself. Let’s pull off the road and see if that car passes us as it heads back to town. If it does, we’ll continue on to the scene of the accident.”
Kyle didn’t look thrilled with my decision, but he pulled his truck off the road, positioning it behind some trees. We turned off the lights and waited. Kyle took my hand in his. “I know it’s hard not to worry, but that can cloud a person’s judgement. As I’ve said, we need to stay clearheaded. We still don’t know for certain Gina was even in the car with Bristow.”
“I know that, but Gina didn’t come to the bonfire and she isn’t answering her cell. If she wasn’t in the car, where is she? And if she isn’t involved with Bristow, why would someone go through her room? I’m trying to keep a clear head, but I can’t help picturing her hurt and scared with no one to help her. We have to find her.”
Kyle squeezed my hand. “We will.”
I sat forward and stared at the road in front of us as a car went by. “I think that was the car that was following us.”
“It was,” Kyle confirmed. “I was able to make out the first couple of letters of the license plate, but it passed too quickly for me to see the whole thing.”
“What were the letters you saw?” I asked.
“CV.”
“So we just need to find a dark-colored Ford Focus with a dent in the front left fender and a license plate beginning with CV,” I summarized. “We’ve been successful when we’ve had less to go on.”
“True.”
“Now that the car has passed, let’s go find Gina.”
Kyle frowned. “Let’s wait a few minutes to make sure they don’t double back around.”
A few minutes felt like an eternity, but eventually, Kyle decided it was probably safe to go on. I kept my eye on the rearview mirror as we drove. The idea that someone might have been following us had left me feeling nervous and edgy.
“When did you first notice we had a tail?” I asked, nervously keeping an eye on the road behind us.
