Finding Abby: A Romantic Suspense set in the Colorado Mountains (Whispering Pines Mysteries)

by Rhonda Blackhurst

  “I don’t know when they would have,” Abby said. “They were asleep when I went to bed at eleven. Why do you ask?”

  “What about after that?”

  “I suppose they could have snuck out, but I don’t think they would have. In fact, given how easily they got up this morning, I doubt they were up. Why? What’s going on?”

  Abby waited for Victoria to say something, but she only stood staring at her.

  “Victoria, do you want to tell me what’s going on? Like maybe about some supposed ghosts that like that cabin?” Abby asked, concerned.

  Victoria’s eyes opened wide, her jaw dropped open. “You know about that?”

  “Apparently everyone does except me. Why have you never told me?”

  “It doesn’t seem to be your thing. I don’t really believe it’s haunted, but it’s still fun to believe it might be, ya know?”

  “You didn’t think I would eventually find out?”

  “Guess I didn’t really think about whether you would or not. Are you mad?” Her tired voice sounded concerned.

  “Of course not. Just would have been nice to be in the know.”

  Once again, her eyes opened and her jaw dropped. “You mean you believe in that stuff?”

  Abby laughed. “I didn’t say that.”

  “We didn’t want Cooper to be freaked out, either.”

  “Well, better he hears the scuttlebutt from us than someone else, don’t you think?”

  “Well, after last night, I don’t believe it’s just rumor. It’s real. I swear.”

  Something uncomfortable prickled Abby. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Well, somebody, or something, was out there last night. If it wasn’t you guys, and it wasn’t Sam or his buddies, then who could it have been?”

  “What happened?” Abby pressed. She hardly recognized her own voice as it became shrill. Her imagination was traveling well beyond the speed limit as ideas popped into her mind of the unfortunate possibilities.

  “Somebody was scratching on the windows and knocking on the door.”

  “Well, the wind kicked up pretty good last night. Could the scratching on the window have been a branch blowing against it in the wind?”

  “No branches can’t reach the window. I checked. And what about the door? Someone was trying to get in.”

  “Maybe the guys were playing a joke on you, honey. Boys never really grow up; they just get bigger.” The exhaustion in Victoria’s eyes kept things subdued and serious despite Abby trying to lighten things up. “Did you see the boys at all times? It’s pretty typical for guys to enjoy scaring us girls to death.”

  “Maybe,” Victoria said, clearly not convinced but too tired to argue. “Anyway, I’m here. I can watch the store now.”

  “Don’t you want to take the day off?”

  “Not really. All I would do is crash and burn.”

  “Maybe that’s what you need to do, huh? Get some good sleep?”

  “Maybe later. My parents are gone and I don’t wanna be home alone.”

  She really was scared, Abby thought. This was no act.

  “Okay, then.” Abby circled the top of Victoria’s back lightly with her palm, trying to offer comfort, then headed for the door to make a round through the grounds to make sure everything was as it should be. “Victoria, could you please take the inventory if you have time?”

  “Sure. And sorry if we disturbed any of the guests last night. I know I was screaming but I couldn’t help it.”

  Abby smiled. “Only one complaint so far, if you can even call it a complaint. Harvey was just worried something happened.”

  As Abby trotted off out the door, she saw Sam down by the dock. She took a detour making the dock her first stop.

  “Hey, Sam,” she called as she stepped onto the wooden boards, noticing a couple that needed to be re-nailed and one that needed to be replaced. She made a mental note to ask her father if he could do that today before someone gets hurt. “Have fun last night?”

  “Yeah.” He grinned, his white teeth making the red in his tired eyes stand out.

  “Are you hung over?” she asked, surprised. She didn’t want to think she was naive, but she didn’t peg either Sam or Victoria to be drinkers. Then, again, they were college kids.

  “Me? No!” he laughed.

  “I hear you boys were scaring the girls to death.”

  “It wasn’t us.”

  Either he was very good at lying or he was telling the truth. Either one wasn’t good news. If it really wasn’t them, then Cooper and Johnny had, indeed, snuck out of the house. She groaned.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, trying to read what he wasn’t saying.

  “Positive! It was the weirdest thing! Vic’s boyfriend—”

  “Wait!” She held up a hand to stop him. “Her boyfriend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I hadn’t realized one of them was her boyfriend.”

  “Don’t worry, Ms. S. They didn’t sleep in the same room.”

  Abby breathed a sigh of relief. What they did at college, or even at Victoria’s house was one thing, but she didn’t want it happening here. If something resulted from it, it would be on her conscience forever.

  “Anyway,” he continued, barely missing a beat, “Vic’s boyfriend felt sorry for her because she was so freaked, so he told me, ‘Dude, I know you’re just having fun, but Vic’s really scared. Knock it off, okay?’ I told him it wasn’t me and finally got him to believe me. I know it wasn’t him, because he was too worried about Victoria. Besides, much as I like the guy, he’s too much of a sissy to go out by himself in the dark.”

  “Hmm … , if you’re sure. I guess I’ll have to talk to Cooper and Johnny.”

  “We finally decided that’s who it had to be.”

  “No chance it was the wind, huh? It got pretty gusty. The branches of that big old silver maple were slapping against my window.”

  “No, I’m almost positive it wasn’t the wind. The loud thump, though, that was a bird that flew into the cabin. I found it this morning and got rid of it.”

  “Got rid of it?”

  “Yeah. It hit so hard the poor thing died. I didn’t want Victoria to see it so I took care of it.”

  “Always the gentleman, aren’t you?” She felt her lips quiver slightly as she tried to smile. “And always looking out for Victoria. Just friends, huh?”

  “Far as I know.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned, something that said a whole lot more than he probably thought it did. “We grew up together, so she’s more like my sister. Anything more than friends would just be weird.”

  “Uh-huh. Right.” She laughed, walking back to the shore and solid ground.

  “Hey, Ms. S?”

  She stopped and turned around, making a visor out of her hand, shielding the sun. “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for letting us use the cabin. Despite being really freaked out, it was awesome. In fact, it made it even more awesome! It was like a real-life ghost story.”

  “Crazy kids.” She laughed. “Thank Stewart when he’s here next weekend. And speaking of ghost stories, thanks for telling me about the history of cabin five.” She drew her hand to her chest and let her jaw drop dramatically. “Oh, that’s right. You didn’t!”

  He grinned, his gaze falling to the ground. “Yeah, Vic just texted me about it. Sorry about that.”

  Abby waved her hand in dismissal and smiled. “No worries. Just no holding back on letting me in on the—the—well, the history of this place.” She started to walk away again and turned to face him again. “Hey, aren’t you taking the day off?”

  “In a while.”

  “Yup, y’all are crazy.”

  “Hey, about that ghost stuff, so you believe it?”

  “I didn’t say that.” She laughed and turned, shaking her head. Man, when she was their age and if her boss would have told her to take the day off, she’d have been long gone before the boss changed her mind.

  Just as she finished making her
rounds, which included letting Harvey Halston know that everything and everyone was okay from the night in question, she saw Gabriel, Cooper, and Johnny motoring slowly toward the dock. When they got to water shallow enough, Cooper and Johnny stripped out of their life jackets and hopped out of the boat, walking the rest of the way to shore pulling the boat behind them.

  “Hey, Mom!” Cooper called out. “I had to pee so bad there was no way I could wait, so I peed overboard!”He laughed as Abby shot an accusatory glance at Gabriel.

  “A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do!” He smirked and shrugged.

  “Gabriel, seriously?” She reprimanded him as though he were one of the children.

  He looked at her sheepishly. “The kid had to go. Didn’t want it in the boat, did you?”

  “Next time take a coffee can for crying out loud. By the way, how did you get here so fast this morning?”

  “I was already on my way. Sam called to see if we could hang out today. Since he wanted to work for a few hours I made good use of my free time.” He smiled the smile that made her legs remind her of those Jell-O jigglers she used to make for Cooper.

  Both boys started running off.

  “Hey!” Gabriel called behind them. “Cleaning out the boat is part of the deal!”

  “Sorry!” They called back in unison and did an about face and headed back to the boat.

  Abby turned to leave, then turned back to the boys. “Hey, Coop?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you and Johnny sneak out of the house last night after I was sleeping?”

  “No.”

  “Be honest. You won’t be in trouble, I promise.”

  “I am being honest.”

  “Johnny?”

  “What?”

  “What d’ya mean, what? Did you sneak out last night?”

  “No.”

  She watched him closely, finally believing him. “Okay.” She turned around again to leave when she heard Gabriel’s voice.

  “Hey, Abby?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you really think they’d rat on themselves if they had?” He grinned in amusement. “And why the scowl? I was a boy once not so long ago.”

  She looked at him, speechless. Finally, she mumbled, “Apparently,” and walked to the house, uneasiness returning and settling like a wool, scratchy blanket around her. If not Cooper and Johnny, then who?

  22

  Gabriel planned on coming up again the following weekend. He was one of a handful of people who pay to keep their motor home parked at the campground year round.

  “Abby,” Sam told her one morning, “you know he’s only coming here again so soon because of you, right? He’s never come here so much before you were here.”

  “He’s just trying to get a discount on his yearly rate,” she said, one side of her mouth curving upward. Sam looked at her, his eyes more serious than she’d ever seen them before. “What’s on your mind, Sam?”

  “I’m afraid you don’t think of him the same way he thinks of you. I don’t want him to get hurt. Sorry if that’s out of line, Ms. S. Me and him are just really tight.”

  “And you think that’s what I’ll do? Hurt him?”

  “Not intentionally.”

  “You have nothing to worry about, Sam. No one is going to get hurt,” she assured him, hoping with all her heart that was true. She couldn’t imagine him being the one to get hurt out of this, whatever this was turning out to be. But could she say the same for herself? She wasn’t so sure.

  Stewart was scheduled to arrive Friday evening. Abby wished Piper could make it as well but when she was working the night shift, it was nearly impossible for her to find coverage when she wanted to get away. Especially in the summer months. Piper didn’t hide her disappointment when Abby told her about Stewart’s weekend plans.

  “What do you see in him, anyway?” she asked her sister.

  “What’s there not to see?”

  “He’s just so—I don’t know, unkempt. I have to resist the urge to straighten his glasses for him. And he’s kind of feminine. There’s really nothing manly about the man.”

  “I beg to differ. Have you seen those baby blues?”

  “Not impressed. Not to mention he’s totally different than you. Like the sun and the moon different.”

  “Opposites attract. Besides, I didn’t say I wanted to marry the guy. I didn’t even say I’m interested. He’s just nice to look at. Cut me some slack. How’s Dad been? Anymore drinking on the job?”

  “Not that I’ve noticed.”

  “Any more unwelcomed gifts delivered to you?”

  “Nope. Piper, I’m telling you, that still has me creeped out. Just like the commotion around one of the cabins the other night.” She proceeded to fill Piper in on whatever, or whoever, it was that scared Victoria and her friend to death. “They were actually staying in the cabin Stewart canceled out on. Now I wish he would have been there so he could have caught whatever it was.”

  “Maybe it’s a good thing Stewart wasn’t staying there. Maybe he was the intended target and when whoever it was figured out he wasn’t the one in the cabin, they left.”

  “That’s disturbing, because if that’s the case, then Sam and Victoria could have been caught in someone else’s beef with Stewart.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  “Says the woman who was scared of her own shadow out here.”

  “It wasn’t my shadow I was afraid of.”

  “Oh! And get this! Rumor has it cabin five is haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Her voice boomed. “What the heck, Abby? You’re just telling me this now? I was in that cabin!”

  Abby laughed at Piper’s reaction. “I didn’t know it until last weekend.”

  “You didn’t know it or you didn’t hear about it?”

  “Both.” She heard Piper take a deep breath.

  “When did you start listening to rumors, anyway?”

  “You don’t believe it either? Why are you sounding like a little sissy girl then?”

  “I do believe in ghosts. Totally! That’s the problem. I don’t think I’ll be coming for another visit anytime soon. Not even Stewart is cute enough to get me up there after hearing about your paranormal visitors.”

  Abby laughed. “Come on, Piper, you don’t honestly believe in ghosts.”

  “Yes, I do. And stop enjoying this so much. It’s not funny.”

  “It really kind of is. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you’re a contradiction to yourself. You know that, right?”

  “Changing the subject,” Piper said, her words laced with irritation, “maybe it’s a good idea for you to close up the store at night for a while. That way you don’t risk Dad leaving the door unlocked and open again.”

  “I’ve been checking it in the evenings before I turn in for the night.”

  “Humor me and be sure everything is locked up at closing time and not a minute later.”

  “Now you’re scaring me.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m just voicing what you already know. You don’t scare easily except when it comes to Hunter. A little fear when weird things keep happening around there would serve you well.”

  “I’ve been Hunter’s victim too many times. It’s given me tough skin.”

  “Well, the fact that all of this has you spooked when it’s not about Hunter tells me you need to be vigilant about your surroundings.”

  “I didn’t tell you I was spooked.”

  “You didn’t have to,” Piper said, “I’ve known you for enough years to know what you’re not saying. Besides, how do you know it’s not? About Hunter.”

  “I don’t.”

  “I don’t know that either.”

  “Great,” Abby said under her breath.

  “Hey, Abby?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably just the ghosts.” Piper snickered.

  “I’ll be sure to send them your way.”

  “You w
ouldn’t dare.”

  Her tone reminded her of Cooper when Abby told him about the cellar.

  “Try me.”

  The rest of the week was blissfully uneventful yet extremely busy. By mid-week, Abby was finally able to put the events from the past weekend behind her and relax. By the end of the week, she had all but forgotten it.

  Business was in full swing and the pulse of the resort continued beating with life. Late nights and pillow fights, early morning yoga and meditation by the lake, bonfires, and hikes with friends, it was like one continuous party. As much as she had never liked parties and lots of people, this felt so much different. She believed this is what she was born to do.

  Each night she fell into bed exhausted from the constant flow of people. Cooper did, as well. She hadn’t figured out yet if he was finally settling in and comfortable or if it was from all of the fresh air and exercise he was getting.

  Abby spent as many of the daylight hours outside as she could, tending to the store in the evening hours after Victoria left to go home. A couple of times Jeremiah wandered in after working on her studio to sit with her and they bonded over silence, occasionally chatting about this and that.

  “When do I get to see your craftsmanship and masterpiece?” she asked him.

  “Soon.”

  “How soon?”

  “When I’m done.”

  “When will that be?”

  “You ask too many questions.”

  “Only because trying to get information out of you is like getting a cat in a pool of water.” He chuckled and she smiled at the sound. “I was out there when I brought you lunch that time.” She felt like a kid revealing a secret.

  “I’m aware. I was there.”

  “Didn’t see anything, though. I was too worried about you being mad at me.” She glanced at him with a sheepish grin, appalled at his amusement. “No need to gloat.” Tender silence fell around them. “Are you happy, Pops?”

  “Yup. I guess I am. Now quit asking me that.”

  She smiled. That’s all she could have hoped to hear coming from a man who’d loved with all his heart and now, every day since her mother died five years ago, was learning to love with pieces of it.

  Thursday, late afternoon, Abby was standing at the sink cleaning up breakfast dishes she’d left sit, disgusted with the flies a few dirty dishes attracted. She looked out the window above the kitchen sink and saw billows of dark clouds beginning to gather off in the distance, threatening to disturb the scattered white cumulus clusters floating above them. She’d heard two of the guests chatting when she’d walked past the fish-cleaning house that there was a likely chance of thunderstorms this evening, and she was beginning to see evidence that they were right. It wasn’t at all unusual for them to get afternoon showers, but this was supposed to turn into a significant rainfall and high winds.