Beneath Winter Sand

by Vickie McKeehan

  “I would, but I need to get back home.” Instead of making small talk, Caleb got right to the point, going over the story for a third time that morning. He watched as Cooper digested the seriousness of the news and wasn’t surprised to see his brother slump into one of the benches in the entryway.

  “I told Eastlyn she was planning something. I didn’t know what exactly. But trashing the cabin is a new low even for Eleanor.”

  “And petty,” Caleb tossed back. He took out his cell phone and brought up the pictures he’d taken of the damage. “This is what Eleanor’s pal left us to deal with.”

  Perusing the photos sucked the joy out of Cooper’s morning. He knew how much the cabin meant to Caleb and empathized with the hurt. “I’m sorry, Caleb. She’s evil.”

  “And then some. Eastlyn volunteered to continue going over the list of parolees who reside or have resided on Eleanor’s cellblock. She promised to focus on the last few weeks. In the meantime, I’m going back up to Cutter Mountain to set things right. I thought I’d install a camera while I’m at it. We might get lucky and catch the bastard in the act.”

  Cooper scratched his chin. “So you’re going to clean the place up and hope the asshole returns to do the same thing again? Caleb, that’s nuts.”

  “If you have any better suggestions, I’m all ears. Landon is in the process of calling the sheriff, the park ranger, and old Tahoe. Remember him? He taught us how to hunt and fish. Anyway, maybe between the three of them they’ll be able to catch this asshole and keep him from doing it again, especially if I install an alarm system along with the camera.”

  “It’s worth a shot. I’d be glad to go up there with you, close the store, and spend the weekend helping out.”

  “I’d planned to take Hannah with me. She doesn’t even know about it yet. I needed to run the camera thing by you first. I’m hoping you’ll tell me that installing it so far up the mountaintop it won’t prevent the camera from working.”

  “Nope. Not at all. If you aren’t installing anything that needs Internet connection and Wi-Fi, you’ll be fine.”

  “I thought I’d buy one of those cameras triggered by a motion detector.”

  “Those are pricey, but they’ll definitely get the job done. Are you sure you don’t want me to close the store and put in the grunt work with you?”

  Caleb’s resolve seemed to waver. He paced a few steps away and then back again. “Tell you what. Let me see if I can persuade Hannah to leave behind all this Bradford House business and come with me. Give us two days of solitude together and then plan on joining us. Otherwise, I’ll just be calling you and nagging you for help with the installation. Alarm systems aren’t my thing.”

  “I can do that. In fact, maybe Eastlyn can use the chopper to fly me up there and avoid all the weekend traffic on I-5.”

  “Lucky you. It still amazes me how she flies that thing with a prosthetic foot.”

  “I know. She’s an amazing woman. She does physical things all the time that I won’t even try.”

  “Then we’ll plan on doing that. I gotta get back now. I’ve been gone way too long as it is.” He turned toward the front door and stopped. “And Cooper, watch your back, watch out for anyone hanging around your house that looks like they don’t belong for one reason or another. Eastlyn will tell you all about one of those types when she gets the chance. But for now, don’t take any unnecessary chances with strangers.”

  “I won’t. I know the drill.” Cooper ran his hands through his hair. “Caleb, do you think this harassment from her will ever stop?”

  A sad look crossed Caleb’s face. “I wish I could be optimistic, but the truth is, as long as Eleanor’s alive to wreak havoc, she’ll forever be a thorn in our side.”

  Thirteen

  Caleb considered how grim those words were as he made the trip home. When he reached the gate, he was surprised when it opened on its own. Either Hannah was operating the console from inside the house or something was wrong. Maybe the guy from last night had broken in. Maybe he was holding her hostage.

  Edgy and nervous, Caleb went on alert and picked up his phone to send her a text.

  Are you okay?

  Yes. Where’ve you been? I called you but your phone went to voicemail.

  Caleb checked his calls and sure enough he’d missed several from Hannah. Sorry. Was running errands. Thanks for opening the gate.

  No problem. You took my car. I had no way to get home unless I walked.

  Sorry.

  He was still formulating that last part of the text when she opened the front door.

  He hopped out of her Suburban and darted up the front steps. “I had to take your car because mine’s still at work. I hope you haven’t eaten breakfast. I wanted to fix you my scrambled egg special.”

  She let out a sigh. “I woke up and you were gone. I took a shower, put the same clothes on as last night, and you still weren’t back yet. I thought you’d probably gone to the diner to get a to-go order or something and would be back in ten minutes. And when you didn’t call me back, I began to get worried. Before I knew it, that worry began to morph into a feeling that I was being watched. It creeped me out.”

  He saw unshed tears shimmer in her eyes. His arms went around her. “I’m sorry I left. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You didn’t, but he did. Just now when I went into the kitchen to put on coffee. I saw that guy again from last night. He was poking his head up out of the drainage ditch and staring toward the house right into the kitchen.”

  “I’ll call Brent right now.”

  “I already did. I took the initiative myself this time.” She pointed to the police cruiser pulling up to the gate and hit the button again to let the vehicle enter. “Looks like Brent brought Eastlyn.”

  “Where’d you last see this guy?” Eastlyn called out as she brought out her nightstick.

  “In the back,” Hannah answered, wrapping the sweater she wore tighter around her body.

  In response, Brent signaled for Eastlyn to head to the right corner of the house while he took the left side.

  Caleb went into his study and opened the desk drawer. He reached in, gripped the Berretta in his fist, and headed toward the kitchen.

  “What are you planning to do with that?” Hannah asked. “You should let Brent and Eastlyn handle this.”

  Caleb stood in front of the slider that went out to the deck, his eyes searching the landscape between the house and the drainage ditch. “I intend to, but I want to be ready if things go south and that guy hightails it up the hill. What did this guy look like?”

  “Tall, reddish brown hair, cropped in a military-style cut, wearing camouflage pants and jacket. He looked to be in his late thirties.”

  “Good description.”

  “I’m detail-oriented.”

  “So I’ve noticed.” He spotted Eastlyn and Brent meeting up from two different directions near the easement as they approached the canal. He watched as the cops took a long time studying something in the beach grass. “Looks like he took off already.”

  Hannah moved to stand beside Caleb and watched as Eastlyn and Brent took their time perusing the area back toward the house.

  “Someone’s definitely been camping out down there,” Brent noted. “Guy left in a hurry but not before leaving behind his bedroll and a canteen. We’ll confiscate it all for evidence if it should come to that.”

  The police chief spotted the Berretta in Caleb’s hand. “Put that thing back where you got it or holster it. I don’t want you firing at what might be nothing more than a trespassing vagrant. I understand you think it’s related to Eleanor. But if it isn’t, there could be a simple explanation, some drifter who thought he’d found the perfect spot to set up camp for a few days and go unnoticed. After all, you just spotted him last night, correct?”

  “That’s true,” Caleb admitted.

  “Then let me collect DNA off what he left behind and check the system for matches, see if he was ever in lockup or has a
violent history. Just promise me until I know for certain this is related to Eleanor, leave the intimidation to me. Scaring him off with that gun might be a good idea to you, but this is what I do. Are we clear on that?”

  “Understood,” Caleb said, reluctant to put the weapon back in its drawer.

  Eastlyn tried to smooth over the directive. “Look, we understand you’re concerned about strangers lurking around here, especially if they’re here to spy on you for Eleanor’s sake. No one wants you to take unnecessary chances. But—and this is the part that Brent’s trying to convey—what if this guy is simply a homeless person without an agenda? Many of these transients are mentally ill, some schizophrenic with violent tendencies. Without daily medication to keep them calm they get rattled and lash out.”

  Brent took in the panic on Hannah’s face and cut his eyes toward his partner. “Eastlyn, you might be making it a tad worse with that explanation.”

  “Oh. Sorry. What we’re trying to say is let us do our job. As for me, I’m happy to drive by, even come back here after dark to see if he’s returned. That’s what I get paid to do, Caleb.”

  “Okay. Okay. I get the picture. Fine. A bigger presence out here from you guys will hopefully deter him from sticking around. That’s fine by me. I just want him to move on and stop scaring Hannah.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Brent assured him. “You guys get some breakfast and enjoy your morning while we get back to work.”

  After Brent and Eastlyn disappeared back down the hill to the culvert to bag the so-called evidence, Hannah huffed out a breath. “Nothing like a lecture from law enforcement before having your first bowl of cereal.”

  “No cereal. I’d planned to make you my special eggs.”

  “So you keep promising.”

  He handed her the Berretta. “Could you put this back in the desk drawer for me while I whip us up some breakfast.” To his surprise, she handled the weapon like a pro. “By any chance do you know how to shoot that thing?”

  She gave him a disgusted look. “You don’t grow up trying to find out who murdered your parents and why it happened without taking a course or two in self-defense. That includes several classes in gun safety and how to hit a target. I know martial arts, own a first-rate Taser, and have a licensed Glock 17, just in case.”

  He got out a carton of eggs and began to crack them into a bowl. “If the camouflaged guy had managed to break in here, you could’ve handled yourself, right?”

  “I like to think so. But I was a little uneasy about being here all by myself. This isn’t my house. I wasn’t exactly sure how nosy I could get in order to find things like a weapon. Should I go through your closet to borrow this sweater I’m wearing, or not? In the end, I decided you wouldn’t mind.”

  He leaned in to give her a kiss. “You look better in it than I do.”

  After beating the eggs, he added milk and cheese to the concoction. “I’m really sorry you were that uneasy alone. It never even dawned on me that you’d wake up before I got back. I left you a note on the dresser.”

  “You did?” She lifted a shoulder. “Oops. I guess I must’ve missed it. What did it say?”

  “That I had to tell Mom and Dad about the cabin. Then stop by the police station to talk to Brent and report to him what you saw last night.”

  “What caused the change of heart?”

  “I couldn’t get past the fact that it’s fairly remote out here. I like it that way. But as distance goes, I know full well it’s probably a mile from the nearest house on this end of Cape May. I’ve clocked it a time or two. Plus, it’s rare for anyone to amble out this way just for a walk. I can’t remember it happening in the last year, that’s how rare it is. And when people want some fresh air, they usually head in the opposite direction to the beach. After I did some thinking on it, I realized what you saw had to be real.”

  “Want a hand with those eggs?”

  “Could you get out the mushrooms and the spinach, maybe chop them up for me?”

  “Sure. Where’s your cutting board?”

  She got busy slicing and dicing and then dumped the veggies into Caleb’s egg mixture.

  He plated the omelets while she got out the orange juice. All the while he stalled, wondering how he could ask her to go back to the cabin. In the back of his mind he had the perfect argument. After sitting down to enjoy the meal, he worked through his pitch before actually beginning the conversation.

  “Someone has to go back up to Cutter Mountain and haul out the garbage at the cabin.”

  She angled her head to catch the look in his eyes. “Let me guess. That someone is you?”

  “I volunteered. I want you to go with me.”

  “You know I can’t. Jordan needs me on Fridays at Promise Cove. And today, at eleven o’clock, I have a standing job to clean the mayor’s house. Then there’s the bar on the weekends. And I should really hang around here and poke into the Bradford House angle, do a lot more research.”

  “I hate to remind you but you’re forbidden to go anywhere near Bradford House. Brent was very specific about that. Not to mention when he finds out your poking into his case, he’ll be furious. We can prolong that if you’re out of town. Besides, when you think about it, what has all this boatload of research done for you so far?”

  Hannah’s face fell, truly offended. “How can you say that? I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Because you listened to Scott, not because you stumbled on a clue from your own investigation.”

  She made a guttural sound in her throat. “Okay, point for you. But work is different—”

  “I happen to know Jordan isn’t full up. She has two guests staying at the B&B. Two. It’s January here, Hannah. Winter is slow along the coast for everyone.”

  “I know what month it is,” she snapped. “So I’ll change the sheets in two rooms instead of six.”

  He picked up her hand. “It’s just that winter along the coast isn’t exactly anyone’s busy season. Business slacks off.”

  “That isn’t entirely true. Durke does pretty well on the weekend. And I could use the money. Which is the main reason I can’t go. It’s unfair to leave Durke short-handed.”

  “Hear me out. You still have five days or so before the DNA comes back, right? That’s a lifetime hanging around town waiting. Even if you do manage to keep your mind off those remains for one day, will you be able to do it for four or five?”

  “I have to. And another reason why I should keep busy with work and research.”

  “And I say during the time you’re waiting, grab yourself a little R&R. Four days to clear your head. I’m offering four days, Hannah. Then we come back on Sunday night, Monday morning at the latest. After which, we start peeling off the layers of this thing like an onion. For starters, we locate Wheeler and anyone else who worked on Bradford House during the twenty-year time span in question. In the event, the remains don’t belong to Micah, I say we go through public records to show all the baby boys in Micah’s age group who registered for school from here.”

  She pushed her hair back behind her ear and chewed her lip. “That’s not a bad plan. I’m impressed. I admit it’s quite possible I could go nuts waiting for the lab to call Brent and for him to call me. The idea of waiting so long is maddening. That’s why I jumped in the car yesterday and went back to Turlock. You’ve obviously put some thought into your pitch. Let’s say I agree to ask Jordan and Durke for the time off. Haven’t you forgotten one little detail? What happened to the place being uninhabitable? Have you forgotten the toilets won’t even flush?”

  “I have a solution to that. There’s a four-star lodge within twenty miles of the cabin. We sleep there in the evenings and then during the day I work on everything else, plumbing included. I’m not expecting you to do hard labor, Hannah. But I do expect you to relax and enjoy getting away in the mountains. Cooper promised that he and Eastlyn would come up on Saturday to help me with the work.”

  “Four-star hotel, huh? If I give up my weekend
shift, the place better be nice with room service.”

  He saw the first crack in her resolve and added more fuel. “It’s more like a resort.”

  “With a spa? Hmm. Honestly this is sounding better and better. Okay, all things considered, how can I turn down another adventure with the guy who was so romantic last night?”

  “Then we’re good to go?”

  “I guess.” She looked around for her handbag and spotted it on the counter. She dug out her Day-Timer and phone. “I’ll have to cancel on the mayor and reschedule. I’ll put him in the slot that belonged to Bradford House. Jordan deserves to know the reason I’m leaving her in the lurch, as well as Durke. Then I need to go home and pack. I’m sick of wearing these same clothes.”

  Caleb got up to clear the plates and put them in the dishwasher. “You pack while I make the reservations at the lodge.”

  “You haven’t made the reservations yet? What if they’re full up? I’ve cancelled my jobs for nothing.”

  “They won’t be full up. It’s January.”

  “People do travel in January, Caleb. Especially to the mountains.”

  “I know that. But it isn’t like it’s summer and warm weather. And the area doesn’t get a lot of skiers up that way. We’ll be okay. I’ll need you to drop me back at my truck. I also need to find a place to buy an alarm system and a surveillance camera then pack up my toolbox and anything else I’ll need for the job.”

  “Sounds like we’re throwing this trip together on the fly. I don’t think half an hour is enough time for you to get everything you need. Who sells surveillance equipment in town?”

  “Yeah, that’s a problem. I hadn’t thought of making a trip to San Sebastian to buy that stuff. You’d better give me more like an hour.”

  “Here’s a thought. Why not have Cooper pick up the alarm system and camera and bring all of it up with him when he comes? You need his help to install it anyway.”

  “That would work. Good thinking. I’ll do that.” He turned from the sink and picked her up in a hug. He kissed her hair, nibbled on her ear, and finally got to her mouth. “Thanks for coming with me.”