Beneath Winter Sand

by Vickie McKeehan

  A similar thing happened at each of her other stops. Her clients had a laidback approach to the help, which she most certainly was. Most of them applied that relaxed work environment to an often easy-going, friendly conversational tone that came off as chitchat between neighbors. Hannah found it refreshing that she worked for people who viewed her as an equal.

  The talk this morning with Jordan Harris started out over a cup of coffee. “I don’t know how Doc Prescott could’ve missed the fact that Thane and Isabella were having a boy instead of a girl,” Jordan muttered as she put the finishing touches on a chocolate cake. “Six weeks ago we had a baby shower for Isabella based on her third ultrasound—the one Jack gave her—and bought everything in girly colors, pinks and purples, soft yellows. Maybe we should surprise her with another shower for little Jace.”

  “What does the new mom say about that?” Hannah asked.

  Jordan waved a hand through the air. “Isabella is fine with what she has. She’d never one to complain about anything. That’s just the way she is. You know she started that vegetable co-op near the lighthouse. It’s been such a success I don’t know why anyone didn’t think of it before she got here. But Isabella is the one who got it all up and running without a hitch, got the volunteers to show up, and gives most of what grows there to the people who need it.”

  Hannah spritzed the top of the countertops to a shine while she talked and drank the bold, rich-tasting brew Jordan favored. “Right after I came to town, Isabella asked me to take it over, see to it that the co-op kept running after the baby got here. That was back when Eastlyn was still helping. But she’s had to cut way back, too busy with her patrol duties and the Search and Rescue operation.”

  “What did you say to Isabella?”

  “I don’t see how I’d have the time to take care of it properly, either. Although I do love a beautiful garden and watching things grow.”

  “Maybe you should consider dropping the work at The Shipwreck.”

  “But I pick up solid money there in tips. I don’t think I’m the right person for the co-op.”

  “If you ask Isabella, she might pay you a salary.”

  “Hmm. I don’t know, Jordan. I’d have to think long and hard before giving up my extra income from the weekend. And Isabella did offer me a salary.”

  Jordan let out a sigh. “Okay. Think about it though. It’s gonna be tough to find a dependable manager to replace Isabella. And just look how long I had to wait for such a reliable person like you to show up and help me out here. These days, not everyone likes to get their hands anywhere near a toilet.”

  Hannah laughed. She went over and laid a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “I’m not opposed to hard work, even cleaning toilets. I get your point about helping Isabella though. I’ll talk to her about it and see if the two of us are able to work out a solution. You realize if I go, I won’t be coming out here.”

  “That’s the downside. But the town needs the co-op to continue.” Jordan leveled her gaze on Hannah and added, “I like you. How’d you get to be such an agreeable sort?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I’m not usually. But I’m beginning to really fall in love with the town and the people. Are you all so…down to earth all the time…or is that just my imagination?”

  “I remember a time not so long ago the people here were downright rude. They weren’t exactly accepting of strangers. In fact, you could say, they didn’t take to outsiders. I ought to know. I was considered the town outcast.”

  “You? What changed?”

  Jordan thought back to that horrible time in her life right after Scott had brought her here, and soon after, left her after his unit was deployed to Iraq. “It’s a very long story. I guess you could say that somewhere along the way we realized if we didn’t start taking care of each other, if we didn’t change our ways, the town as we knew it, would soon cease to exist.”

  “So. you’re suggesting that the people here haven’t always been flying the friendship flag?”

  “Oh yeah. No place is perfect. But when I got here Pelican Pointe was as far from friendly as you could get. These days, most of us do our best to make sure help is just a phone call away whenever anyone needs a hand getting through a rough patch. It wasn’t always like that. New people have come into the mix that changed the dynamics. You know what they say about small towns, right? You’re never truly accepted in one unless you grew up there. That mindset had to change here, otherwise no one would want to stay.”

  “How far back did this hostility go, that you know of?”

  “Years. Decades. Scott thought he could change it. And, in a way, I suppose he has. Although he did have to die and come back to get it done.”

  Because she’d discovered Jordan’s link to Scott weeks earlier, Hannah took the comment in stride. “That’s just plain sad. I’m not sure how you’ll take this, but, Scott’s the reason I’m here.”

  “I figured as much.” Jordan held up a hand. “You don’t have to tell me the reason. I’ve long ago given up trying to figure out the mysterious ways of my first husband’s ghost.”

  “It doesn’t bother you that he’s still so much a part of your life?”

  “Nope. He’s Hutton’s father. That fact doesn’t change. Besides, I have better things to do than to spend my time figuring out what Scott’s up to. You know, for the longest time, I couldn’t even see him like everyone else claimed to do. His own wife wasn’t in on the whole ghostly encounter thing. It pissed me off. But then one day, I looked up and there he was, standing off to the side watching me.”

  “It didn’t freak you out?”

  “How could it, when everyone else had no problem seeing him? I thought, finally I’m included in the club.”

  “I’m not so sure it’s a club I want to be part of though. I am grateful he showed up when he did to point me in this direction. I’m hoping it’ll pay off.”

  “You’re here on a mission. It sounds like a scavenger hunt.”

  Hannah bristled. It sounded too much like how Caleb had described her. Although they both might be right. If you could call looking for what was now a grown man a “mission” she should just accept that as her quest and be done with it.

  Instead of getting into specifics, Hannah decided to keep it simple. “Something like that. There’s no point in me going into greater detail because, who knows? Pelican Pointe could be just another dead end and Scott could be full of…you know what.” She stopped short from calling it shit.

  Since Jordan had heard similar stories before, she merely laughed and reached out to grab hold of Hannah’s arm. “One thing you need to keep in mind is if Scott brought you here he usually knows what he’s talking about. If you trust nothing else, you should trust that one thing. It’s uncanny the way he guides a person once they’re here in town.”

  “But I look around and see this idyllic place and wonder how it all fits with what I’m looking for. I am curious to know more about the colder side to Pelican Pointe, that time you mentioned when people were so rude.”

  “Downright unsociable. No community spirit whatsoever, not much connection to each other either.”

  “That’s just it. That description doesn’t sound like the town I’ve come to know.”

  While she scrubbed down the kitchen, Hannah listened as Jordan filled her in on those bad months that dragged into a year and how Nick had helped turn everything around.

  For the rest of the day, Hannah went about her cleaning and thought about Jordan’s experience in town. She mulled over the conversation until one thing about it stood out. Just how imperfect had Pelican Pointe been during its unfriendly past? Had it been a haven for a kidnapper? Had that kidnapper sold her baby brother to an unsuspecting pawn right here in town?

  Right this second, she didn’t know enough about the situation to make an assessment. That’s why she needed to dig a lot deeper. She’d never gotten this close before. She wasn’t sure exactly how to go forward. But she’d have to figure it out…and fast…before thing
s changed and she lost her advantage.

  Once Hannah finished up her work for the day, she headed back to town and dropped by Wally’s Pump N Go to check on her car.

  As soon as she parked the Chevy and got out, she heard the unmistakable high-powered whirring sound of an air compressor. She spotted the mechanic and owner standing underneath an older model SUV, impact wrench in hand, securing lug nuts in place.

  “Hey, Mr. Pierce,” Hannah called out. “How’s it going this afternoon?”

  “I told you to call me Wally. Mr. Pierce sounds like an old man.”

  Hannah tilted her head, studied the mechanic with his long brown hair tied back in a neat ponytail. “How long have you lived here?”

  “All my life. Wouldn’t live any place else. Pretty girl like you ought to think about settling down in a small town like ours.”

  They’d had a similar conversation the very first time she’d come to him about her car. “Any updates yet? Any hope you can give me would be appreciated.”

  He thumbed a hand toward the office. “See Lilly for the bill. The engine got here Saturday. Finished putting it in this morning. Even took her for a spin. For a rebuilt she runs great.”

  Hannah bounced on her toes before throwing her arms around the man’s body. “Thank you! Thank you! You have no idea how grateful I am.”

  “I think you just showed me. That’s what I do, honey. I fix cars, the older, the better. She gives you any trouble from here on out, you let me know right off. Even though, I went over it from bumper to tail end and she’s in good shape. Everything else checks out.”

  “Thank you again,” she said before making her way into the office where Wally’s wife, Lilly, sat behind a counter.

  “I was just about to call you,” Lilly declared. “I bet you’re excited to get your Suburban back.”

  “Oh, I am. That old truck has great sentimental value.”

  “Funny how we get attached to our vehicles,” Lilly said, reaching for the bill.

  Hannah watched as Lilly rang up the amount and sucked in a breath when she saw the total come up in the readout. Digging in her purse, she handed over her Visa card and was surprised when Lilly knocked off twenty percent of the amount. “Why’d you do that?”

  Lilly sent her a wily smile. “The engine guy in San Francisco knows Wally and gives us a discount so we decided to pass it on to you.”

  “What a nice thing for you guys to do. Thank you.” Hannah waited for Lilly to run her credit card and then turned to leave. But a thought occurred to her and she turned back. “Lilly, how long have you lived here?”

  “Years.”

  “I was talking to Jordan earlier about this one odd thing that keeps bugging me about the town. Do you remember a time when Pelican Pointe wasn’t all that friendly?”

  Lilly sat back down on the stool behind the counter. “You bet I do. That’s a time in my life I don’t like to think about. My kids were just babies back then. When my ex was sent to prison, I ended up moving to a rundown trailer south of town that belonged to my stepfather. It was such a mistake because Derek was a real asshole. At the time, I didn’t have anywhere else to go and very few options. What I remember most is that whenever I came in to town to shop, everyone seemed to steer clear of me. I kept wondering how anyone could feel that way when they didn’t even know me. I figured it was because they thought I wasn’t good enough to be around them. Jordan was the exception to that. She befriended me, gave me a job, and then encouraged me to start my own sign business, even do artwork on the side. Then I met Wally and here I am. Happy as a clam at high tide. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. It’s just that it’s such a sweet little coastal town, it’s hard to imagine it ever had a dark side.”

  “Then prepare for the worst. We even had a serial killer a few years back that had been killing for years. They even found a couple of bodies buried up at the lighthouse.”

  Hannah’s hand flew to her mouth. She couldn’t seem to comprehend that or think of a response until she finally uttered, “I don’t believe it.”

  “It’s true.” Lilly waved a hand in the air. “Don’t worry. He’s long ago locked up. Carl Knudsen will never get out of San Quentin. Never. He got four life sentences without the possibility of parole and that’s only because he took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.”

  Lilly took one look at Hannah’s horror-stricken face and reached a hand across the counter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “That’s okay. I asked. Besides, I should get going anyway. I have a few errands still to run now that I have my own wheels again.”

  But the knowledge Lilly spilled took some of the joy out of getting her Suburban back. When she spotted her gray and white Chevy Suburban looking so forlorn in the corner of the lot, she should’ve broken out in a little dance. But as she crawled behind the wheel, a dread hit her. The car should’ve made her feel like she had a little piece of home in the palm of her hand. Instead, Hannah cranked the engine and put it in gear with her mind on Lilly’s description of the town.

  On the drive home, she began to seriously wonder if she’d landed in a Stephen King novel where his fictional Salem’s Lot, Maine, might just mirror a few of Pelican Pointe’s secrets.

  Instead of heading to the cottage, she decided to drive through the streets and take a real look at where she lived. She went up and down Ocean Street several times and did the same thing along Main. She took her time perusing the side streets but still had a hard time picturing it as the evil killing ground for a serial killer.

  As idyllic as the town seemed, she was beginning to believe she had indeed found where Micah might’ve ended up, stolen by some evil bitch that had an ulterior motive. It didn’t mean her little brother might still be here. But if he had ever been around, she needed to dig up a few secrets, even if she had to stir the pot to do it. If she lucked out, something might come floating to the surface.

  Five

  Hannah had a schedule to keep. Tuesdays she cleaned the Delacourts’ place and Fischer’s little dormer-style house on Breakwater. She routinely did Fischer’s Cape Cod first because she was usually done by eleven o’clock.

  His bungalow had seven rooms total. Since Fischer worked as a chef, he kept his kitchen in immaculate order without her ever doing much to his sanctum, except unload the dishwasher and clean around the sink. That left six rooms, one of which was a guest room that no one used. Each week, she did little more than simply tidying up and was beginning to wonder why the man had hired her in the first place.

  But whatever the reason, Hannah was grateful for the work.

  It usually took her no more than fifteen minutes to scour his one bathroom. From there, she stripped the sheets off his king bed, put on a fresh set, started a load of laundry, and began the task of going room to room to dust his furniture to a shine.

  She had the routine down to the minute. Her precision allowed her to grab a quick bite to eat in between stops before getting to the Delacourt house a few minutes before noon.

  But as she rang the doorbell, it occurred to her that maybe she should have called first. The family had a newborn now, maybe she should have checked to make sure they needed a clean house this soon after the birth.

  But when Thane pulled back the door he looked so harried, so frazzled that she quickly went into apology mode. “I’m sorry, I completely forgot about the baby until I rang the doorbell. By that time, it was too late. I hope I didn’t wake him up. If this is a bad time I can certainly come back next week.”

  “No, no. It’s okay,” he said as he pulled her through the doorway. “I could use a hand in the kitchen. There’s a bit of a mess in there from three days ago when Isabella went into labor. Things have been happening around here so fast I haven’t been able to keep up.”

  “No problem, I’m happy to start in there, anywhere in fact that you need me today.”

  Thane ran a hand through his thick blondish hair and led the way down an entrance hall in
to the living room. Hannah got a good look at the den’s clutter, littered mostly with baby items that hadn’t been put away in the nursery yet.

  “We brought Jace home yesterday,” Thane explained as he made his way into the dining room. “Neither one of us slept much last night. I have to leave for work in a few minutes to help Fischer get through the lunch rush. He’s shorthanded. If you could lend a hand here until I get back, maybe tidy up some, I’d double your pay.”

  Hannah patted his arm. “You don’t have to do that. I’m more than willing to help any way I can. I don’t want to be in the way of the new mom though.”

  “Trust me. You won’t. Jace and Isabella are asleep down the hall. When she wakes up, tell her I have dinner handled. I’ll just bring home food from the restaurant.”

  Hannah had a better idea. “If you want, I could throw a chicken casserole together. I love pizza but it must get old even if you do own the business.”

  Thane’s eyes lit up. “It does. Even Jonah’s tired of pepperoni and sausage. If you could throw something else together that doesn’t include those two ingredients, that would be great. Jonah loves chicken. I think there’s some in the freezer. He’ll be home from school in about three hours.”

  “Don’t worry. You go on to work. I’ll take care of everything.”

  She got busy in the kitchen, starting with digging out the frozen poultry. Solid as a rock, it needed a cold-water bath if she had any hope of getting it defrosted any time soon. She filled one side of the sink with water and submerged the frozen meat down under before turning to the countertops. She cleared away the mess and dirty dishes, filling up the dishwasher to the max. She went in search of the casserole dish and began to set out all the ingredients she’d need for dinner prep.