Desperation on Wildflower Island

by Michelle Files

  “No, not really,” Isabella replied, quietly, without looking up from her plate. She tensed, half expecting him to pound the table with his fist again.

  “Come on, it’ll bet fun,” Beth told her. “We can stop for ice cream on the way over, if you like.”

  That got Isabella’s attention. “Okay, fine. I like chocolate chip ice cream.”

  “Chocolate chip it is,” Beth smiled at her.

  About an hour later, the two of them arrived at the Ridge Path. It was a trail on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. It was a popular walking area for locals and tourists alike and was usually very busy. However, on that particular evening, it was a bit chilly and they were the only two there. They could see some people off in the distance, but no one was near them. Beth was happy about that, as she wanted to have a nice conversation with Isabella without others around to hear, or to even distract her. She wanted the bonding time. It was very important that the girl like her. Beth expected to be her stepmother some day. Some day soon, she hoped.

  “Would you like me to get you a sweater to wear? I have one in the trunk of my car. It will just take a second,” Beth asked Isabella as they stood next to the path.

  “I’m not a baby,” Isabella responded sarcastically.

  “No, of course not. It’s just a bit cool here and I thought you might want one.”

  No response was given by Isabella.

  “Okay, well, let’s go this way.” Isabella followed Beth as she headed south.

  “Have you been here before?” Beth asked Isabella as they started walking down the path.

  “Yeah, lots of times.”

  Isabella walked over to the edge of the path and picked some beautiful yellow flowers she saw there. She picked at the petals as they continued their walk. It was still early enough that the sun hadn’t quite gone down. Several seagulls flew by them with a skyline backdrop of beautiful shades of red and orange.

  “Look at that sky. Don’t you just love it?” Beth asked her, trying to keep the conversation going.

  “I see the sky every day.” Isabella stopped and threw a handful of yellow petals into the wind and watched them as they floated down to the ocean below.

  “Yes, of course you do. But look at the colors. You don’t see those every day. It’s breathtaking.” Beth was trying her best to engage Isabella in an actual conversation.

  “Yes I do. That’s what the sunset looks like every night.”

  Beth clenched her jaw in an effort not to say something sarcastic to the little girl. Oh how she hoped Isabella was just going through a temporary phase. Otherwise it was going to be a really long few years until the girl was old enough to not have to deal with every other weekend.

  “Have you ever killed anybody?” Isabella asked Beth, as she continued looking over the edge of the cliff to see if she could spot her yellow flower petals.

  “No, of course not. Why would you ask me that?” Beth was completely taken aback by the odd question that came out of nowhere, from a 10 year old, of all people.

  “I don’t know. I was just wondering if you knew what it was like. I’ve killed someone before.”

  Isabella looked up to see shock, then disbelief, on Beth’s face. She smiled to herself at getting such a reaction out of the woman.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Beth asked her. “I don’t believe that you’ve ever killed anyone.”

  “I killed my neighbor’s cat once,” Isabella offered.

  Beth briefly closed her eyes with relief. Not that she actually believed that the little girl in front of her could really kill a person. It was just a strange way for her to explain that she had killed a cat. Even that was odd though. It had to be a pretty rare thing for a young girl to kill a pet. Wasn’t it?

  “Why did you kill your neighbor’s cat?” Beth pressed, wondering if anything Isabella said was the truth.

  “I gave him some flowers to eat. I didn’t know he would get sick and die. But then I gave some to our dog to see if he would die too. And he did.”

  Isabella sounded like she was bragging. Beth felt sure she was making up the entire story, probably to get a reaction out of her. Well, it was working. But Beth kept it to herself. She didn’t want Isabella to think that she actually believed her ridiculous story. Beth wasn’t entirely sure that she didn’t believe it.

  “Is that right? You gave your dog some poisonous flowers to eat on purpose? I’m going to have to ask your dad about that.”

  Beth shook her head back and forth slightly, wondering what in the world she had gotten herself into by dating a man that was still married and had with children. They obviously resented her. Well, Isabella did anyway. She thought Sawyer seemed okay with the whole situation.

  “Don’t ask my dad, because I’ll just tell him it was an accident,” Isabella ordered. “How was I supposed to know that the flowers were poisonous?”

  Isabella gave Beth a smile that made Beth’s skin crawl. She would have to remember not to eat anything that Isabella prepares.

  As they continued walking, Beth wondered if it was worth it. Was Jacob worth the aggravation that Isabella would probably heap on her for the next few years? She honestly didn’t know. She loved him, she knew that. She was starting to love his son, Sawyer, too. He was a nice kid that was always respectful to her. Isabella? No, she didn’t love her, but she wanted to. She would love nothing more than to have a daughter, even a stepdaughter, that would go shopping with her and do all the girl things that Jacob was never interested in doing. Maybe Isabella would come around, only time would tell. She was a patient woman. And did she actually believe the ridiculous story Isabella just told her? No, not really. She knew it was just a 10 year old girl telling stories. She would outgrow it.

  The wind picked up then, spinning swirls of dirt and sand in the air. It caused Beth to lose control of the little plastic spoon she was using to eat her ice cream out of the bowl.

  “Oh, dang it. I dropped my spoon.” As she bent over, she started talking to Isabella. “You won’t tell anybody if I just wipe this off and …”

  Chapter 10

  Beth never got a chance to finish her sentence. She felt a hard, deliberate, kick to her butt just as she touched the spoon. Her body was propelled forward and she saw the cliff coming at her. Many people would probably say that it felt like it was in slow motion, but that was not the case for Beth. It happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to react. She was over the cliff and falling rapidly as she swung her arms wildly, trying desperately to grab onto anything she could. It was of no use, there was nothing between her and the rocks below. She didn’t even have a chance to scream. It all happened so fast.

  Isabella stood at the edge of the rocks, watching Beth fall to her death. There was no emotion whatsoever on the little girl’s face. It could only be described as apathy. She stood there for the longest time, just staring down. She didn’t even notice that the sun had dropped below the horizon and it was starting to get dark.

  “Hi sweetheart. What are you doing out here all alone?”

  Isabella jumped at the voice. She was so engrossed in watching the rocks below, that she hadn’t even heard the man walking up behind her. Isabella turned to see a familiar face. It was the old man that pushed her and her mother into the wall the other day when the boys were riding their bikes down the sidewalk. She frequently saw him walking around town. Isabella didn’t know his name though and didn’t remember ever actually meeting him, even on that day.

  “Hey, aren’t you Jeanette’s daughter? Isabella right?” George asked her.

  “Mmm hmm,” was all Isabella responded with. It took all she had not to turn back around and look over the edge of the cliff.

  “Why are you out here by yourself? Where is your mother?” George asked her, looking around. “Did she go over there to the bathroom?”

  George had reason to be concerned. Out on the cliffs at night, was no place for a young girl alone. He couldn’t believe that her mother would leave her stan
ding there by herself.

  “She’s…” Isabella looked up then and saw a man and a woman walking hand in hand toward them on the path. They were still at least a hundred feet or so away, when Isabella noticed them.

  Suddenly, Isabella let out a blood curdling scream, and started running toward the couple. George just stood there, perplexed. He called after her. “What are you doing?”

  Isabella never answered him.

  “Please, help me!” Isabella sounded frantic as she reached the couple.

  The man knelt down on one knee, so that he was almost eye level with her. He adjusted his blue baseball cap so he could get a better look at her face.

  “Okay, we’ll help. Tell us what happened,” he said to her as he grasped her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down.

  “Him.” She turned and pointed at George, who was still standing there, confused. “He pushed her off the cliff!”

  All three looked at George, who heard every word that Isabella had just said.

  George’s blood ran cold as he looked over the edge of the cliff to see if there was indeed someone down there. He couldn’t tell for sure, as it was getting dark, but he could make out something below. Or was it, someone?

  Isabella moved over to the woman in front of her and hugged her tight. She was kicking her acting into high gear as she began sobbing uncontrollably.

  “I’m calling the sheriff,” the man said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Don’t you go anywhere,” the man told George while pointing his way.

  George didn’t know what to do, so he just stood there where he was until the authorities arrived. Where would he go anyway? Most people on the island knew who he was.

  The ambulance showed up first, but couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t get to the body. It was way too far below the steep, rocky cliff. While they were waiting for the rescue and recovery helicopter to show up, Jacob Hale arrived. He saw the ambulance and then his daughter standing with two people he didn’t know. He ran over to her.

  “Izzy, my god, what happened?” he asked, while he knelt down and hugged his daughter tight. “Are you all right?”

  The man had called Jacob after he made the call to the sheriff’s office. He hadn’t told Jacob what happened though, just that he found Isabella alone and she was very upset.

  “Daddy! That man pushed Beth off the cliff. She’s dead!” Isabella wailed, as she held her father tight, and buried her face in his shoulder for emphasis.

  “What? No!” Jacob was in shock, as he looked up at the couple standing next to them for confirmation.

  “We didn’t see anything. We got here after it happened. Your daughter was hysterical,” the woman told him.

  Jacob began sobbing. It was only recently that he realized he was in love with Beth. She was the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and he had planned on proposing to her on her birthday in a few days.

  “Why would he push her off the cliff? What happened? Did they get into a fight?” Jacob was finally able to ask after he took a moment to stand up and collect himself.

  That’s when the street lights kicked on and he could see the man clearly. He recognized him immediately.

  “Is that George?” he asked his daughter, already knowing the answer. She nodded. The sheriff was talking with George, but they couldn’t hear anything they were saying.

  “Honey, are you sure he pushed her off the cliff? That sounds really unlikely. I’ve known George a long time. Maybe she fell?”

  “You don’t believe me, Daddy?” Isabella threw the sweetest voice, and the saddest face, she could muster at him.

  “Well, it’s not that. Of course I believe you.” How could he say he didn’t? “Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened.”

  “Why don’t you tell all of us exactly what happened?” Sheriff Rex Roberts walked up while they were talking. All eyes turned toward him.

  Isabella spent the next few minutes telling Rex her version of the story. Though he couldn’t figure out why the girl would lie, he had a really hard time believing that George would just push Beth over the edge for no reason. According to George, he had never even met the woman and was just out for his nightly walk. George had no criminal record and no reason that he could think of to kill the woman.

  There was more to the story than what Isabella was telling him, he just knew it. Did she jump? Did she slip? Was she intoxicated? There were so many scenarios going through the sheriff’s mind and it was his job to find out the answers.

  He couldn’t outwardly call the little girl a liar, but he had serious doubts. And, it was entirely possible that she didn’t know exactly why or how Beth went over. He would need more time to figure everything out. He didn’t see any point in arresting George just yet. He wasn’t a flight risk. He had lived in Sea Cove forever, and owned a motel in town. He wasn’t going anywhere. However, just to be safe, Rex gave the ferry office strict orders not to allow George on any of the ferries until further notice. He also made George promise not to leave the island for the time being. George agreed with no hesitation at all.

  The next morning, George headed to the Wildflower Cafe, as usual, to have breakfast with Tim. It didn’t take long for George to realize that the story of Beth’s tumble over the cliff, and his alleged involvement, was all over the island. Everyone was watching him. People stopped on the sidewalks to just stare as he walked by. Not a single person waved their greeting at him. Normally, dozens of people acknowledged him every morning. Not that morning. It ate at his gut that people were judging him like that, without any proof, or even hearing what really happened. But what could he do? He did his best to ignore everyone.

  When he arrived at the cafe, Tim looked up at him in surprise.

  “Oh, hi George. I didn’t really expect to see you this morning.” Tim regretted saying it the moment it came out of his mouth, and he looked quickly down at his newspaper, unable to meet George’s eyes.

  George looked at Tim, disappointed in his reaction to the rumors. Before he had a chance to say anything, he heard a voice calling him.

  “Hey, George, come over and have breakfast with me.” It was his buddy Dooley.

  Relief washed over George. He had a feeling his morning ritual of breakfast with Tim had seen its conclusion. George decided not to respond to Tim. He turned, walked over, and sat down at Dooley’s table instead.

  “So, what the hell happened last night?” Dooley got right to it. Just like him, George thought. At least he was asking, and not just jumping to conclusions like everyone else.

  “That’s a really good question,” George replied. “I’ll have coffee and oatmeal please,” he said to their waitress, Frankie, as she walked up.

  As Frankie turned to leave, George continued. “All I know is that I went over to the Ridge Path for my nightly walk. You know I do that all the time, right?”

  Dooley nodded, taking a bite of bacon.

  “And I found the Hale girl standing next to the cliff, looking over the side. I asked her why she was there alone, without her mother, and she started screaming. She screamed that I pushed that woman over. You know, Jacob Hale’s girlfriend. I don’t even know her. It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. Then the sheriff showed up and questioned me. He said I could go home, but couldn’t leave the island. I don’t think he thinks I really had anything to do with it. He was just doing his job.”

  “Oh, thank you sweetheart,” George said to Frankie as she handed him his coffee and he took a sip.

  “Your oatmeal will be out in a minute, George” Frankie told him, as she turned to head over to another table.

  “Do you think she jumped?” Dooley asked him. “That’s what people have been saying…well the ones that don’t think you pushed her anyway.” Dooley said it all in stride, like it was a normal conversation between buddies, on a normal day, at breakfast.

  “Not a clue. I’ve never met the woman,” George told him, as he put a dab of creamer in his coffee and tasted it again
.

  George really wasn’t too worried about the situation. He knew he didn’t do anything wrong and the truth would come out. He had never gotten so much as a parking ticket in his entire life. He seriously doubted that anyone would really think he pushed a complete stranger over a cliff, in front of a little girl. The whole thing was ridiculous and he did his best to put it out of his mind.

  “Dorothy not feeling well again?” George asked Dooley.

  “No. She was going to come have breakfast with me this morning, but her arthritis was acting up, so she decided to stay home. I’m gonna go check on her before I head to the hardware store this morning,” Dooley replied.

  The two men finished their breakfasts as they chatted about nothing in particular. The topic of Beth’s fall over the cliff didn’t come back up again. George figured there really was nothing else left to talk about. He didn’t know anything. As the two of them left, Tim waved, but didn’t say anything. George had known Tim most of Tim’s life. He was completely baffled by Tim’s reaction to stupid island rumors.

  Chapter 11

  About a week after the search for her daughter’s death certificate proved fruitless, Catherine Rossi arrived with the 10 a.m. ferry on Wildflower Island.

  She had done an internet search for Emily Anders, and found nothing. She had no idea how that could even be possible. No one was unfindable online these days. Everyone left some sort of trail. Or so she thought. She spent many hours searching high and low and not a single trace could be found. Her only conclusion was that Emily must have died years ago. If she had an email account, or was part of any online social media, she would be found easily. But that wasn’t the case.

  Even if she was dead, Catherine needed to find out for sure. She figured there was a minuscule chance that Emily lived under a rock, so to speak. Some people didn’t have internet or smart phones, or online accounts of any kind, though those people were pretty rare. It was almost unheard of these days.