The Mist of Quarry Harbor

by Liz Adair

  “Cassie? Is that you?”

  “Oh, Ben! You’re safe!” Cassie flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

  “Well, yes. It was a near run thing, there, though. I don’t know what would have happened if that fellow hadn’t given me a hand. He wasn’t any too happy with me.” He hugged her back, but it was a perfunctory gesture.

  “I’ve been frantic with worry. I heard about the two policemen killed in Phoenix, and I couldn’t get any information about who they were. I was afraid it was you.”

  “I heard about it, too, but it was clear across town from the precinct I work in. Listen, Cassie, I need to talk to you, and the sooner the better. Is there a place we can go to be private?”

  “We can probably find a place upstairs.” She led the way.

  The lounge was crowded, so Cassie pushed through the door to the open deck at the back of the ferry. “It may be a little chilly, but it will be private,” she said.

  They sat on a bench behind a glass windscreen, and Cassie said, “Where did you come from? How did you get here?”

  “I came on the first ferry,” Ben said. “I figured since it was late, you would wait and take the ferry back tomorrow. But when I got to the hotel, they said you had just left. I drove back like a madman, parked, and looked in every car that was lined up before I figured out you must be on this one. You saw the rest.”

  “I was too anxious to get home,” she said. “I couldn’t wait. But Ben, why are you here?”

  “Two reasons. First, you were scaring me with some of the things you were saying—about how you had found out that Chan was in drug enforcement. I was afraid you would get into a sticky situation if you weren’t careful.”

  Cassie smiled. “Sticky situations. Okay, that’s the first reason. What’s the second?”

  “Ah, well.” Ben hesitated. “The second is that I’ve got some information that I wanted you to hear from me. I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else.”

  The smile was gone. “It’s Punky, isn’t it?”

  “What?”

  “You’re in love with Punky. You think you need to tell me that you’re going to marry her, because of what . . . because of, you know . . .”

  “Cassie. What are you talking about?”

  “You mean you’re not in love with Punky? But she called all twitterpated about someone sending her flowers and said she was in love. She was going to surprise me at church. And you were sooooo complimentary of her performance. I figured it had to be you.”

  “Well, she was great. But she’s dating the fellow who played opposite her. She brought him to church.”

  “The Gideon?”

  “Gideon? No. His name is Ray.”

  Cassie was going to pursue that but changed her mind. “Then what is it that you wanted to tell me yourself?”

  “Well, that comes in two parts. The first part is that we found who hit Chan.”

  “Who was it? Another wife?”

  He looked at her, puzzled. “No. It was a man who had just had a procedure at the cancer center. He had been given some medication that made him unsafe behind a wheel. He wasn’t supposed to be driving, but he told them he had someone to drive him and left. Drove himself to the airport and flew home. He’s dying of cancer, Cassie. I don’t think they’re going to charge him.”

  “Charge him! They should give him a medal.” She shivered.

  “Are you cold? Shall we go in?”

  “No. Tell me the second part.”

  “Come over here and sit next to me,” Ben invited, lifting his arm. “We’ll keep each other warm.” When she was nestled close beside him, he said, “Well, here’s the thing, Cassie. When you started talking about Chan being involved in the drug trade, and you went up to northwest Washington because of something you found in his papers, I started doing some investigating. I found out—”

  Cassie broke in. “You found out that his name isn’t Chandler Jordain, it’s Jared Fletcher. There is a warrant out for his arrest, and he has a wife and child already.”

  Ben’s brows went up. “You know? How did you find out?”

  Cassie smiled. “It’s a long story, and very involved.”

  “You seem to be taking all this very calmly.”

  “I am now, but you should have seen me this morning.” She rested her head on Ben’s shoulder. “The thing about it is, I was never in love with Jared. I can’t really think of him as Chan any more, because Chan wasn’t a real person. I was in love with a façade, with a story that someone made up. I didn’t spend enough time with the man to really get to know him, so when he was gone, I was grieving for the loss of my fairytale, not for the loss of him. I tumbled into love so quickly, and there was nothing to sustain it. I guess I fell out of love just as quickly. I don’t feel anything anymore—except foolish.”

  “He fooled us all,” Ben said. “What are you going to do now?”

  “I’m going to go home and pick up the threads of my life. Take back my name, teach my seminars, find some new clients.” Cassie sighed. “I’m over him, Ben. My love for him was an illusion. But my marriage . . . the intimacy, you know, was very real. Very, very real. That’s what I have to work through. In the meantime, I’ll go to Chuckwagon Chicken with my friends, take Ricky to the park to float his little boat.”

  “Does Ricky have a boat?”

  “I brought him one.”

  Ben took Cassie’s hand in his. “I don’t want to rush anything, but do you think your plans could include me as well?”

  She leaned back and looked at him. “You didn’t even return my hug!”

  “When?”

  “Down on the car deck. I hugged you like crazy and you just stood there.”

  “Well, last I saw you, you were a grieving widow. How was I to know things had changed?” He flashed that attractive smile. “So what do you say, Cassie? Could your plans include me, too?”

  She laid her head back on his shoulder. “Mmmm,” she murmured. “We’ll take it slow, but I wouldn’t wonder if I didn’t turn out to be crazy about you.”