Strangers in the Night

by Patricia H. Rushford

  He followed Jeff out of the building and into the parking lot. Jeff started toward his unmarked Chrysler. “We’ll take my car, if you don’t mind.”

  Jake climbed into the passenger seat. “Sandy told me a Detective Meyers came by. She says he asked about my having something to do with Barbara’s disappearance. What’s that all about?”

  “He had to ask, Jake. You left town about the same time she disappeared. How do we know you didn’t help her disappear, or maybe you killed her, pushed her car off the road, put her body in the trunk, and buried her somewhere between here and Fargo?”

  “I didn’t go to Fargo.”

  “Oh, right, Grand Forks. And what’s the deal with a police officer out there calling us to ask about you? Did you get into some kind of trouble?”

  “Come on, Jeff. You know I didn’t have anything to do with Barbara’s going missing. Charlie, he’s the officer who called, just wanted to make sure I was who I said I was. They weren’t about to send Abbie off with some stranger with a criminal record. Thanks for giving me a good report, by the way.”

  “No problem.”

  “Have you come any closer to locating Barbara?”

  “No, but we did find her car this morning.” Jeff cast Jake a sidelong look before twisting the key in the ignition. “A tourist spotted it when he walked off the path to get a picture.”

  “Where?” Jake’s gut twisted. From the timbre of Jeff’s voice, the news wasn’t good.

  “At the bottom of a ravine just south of town.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Jeff drove out of the lot and turned right.

  “She was in an accident? Is she…” Jake rubbed his brow, bracing himself for the worst.

  “She wasn’t in the car,” Jeff said as he pulled onto Highway 101 and headed north.

  Jake let the news sink in. “So where is she?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out. We searched the area but found no sign of her. First we thought she might have survived and crawled out, but there’s no evidence of that. Of course, we’ve had a lot of rain.”

  “So she could have been thrown free of the car and climbed back to the road. Maybe hitched a ride with someone?”

  “It’s possible. We just don’t know, Jake.” He sighed. “She may have planned to ditch her car and had someone waiting.”

  “That seems pretty farfetched.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. We have to cover all the angles. The gearshift was in neutral, so it looks like someone purposely shoved it over the edge of the cliff.”

  “Why would she do something like that? She needed her car to get around.”

  “To be honest, we really don’t know.” Jeff slowed with the traffic at a stop sign.

  “I think you were right having your secretary call us. I just wished we’d taken your concerns more seriously early on.”

  “Have you found anything else? Any clue as to what happened to her or why she might want to ditch her car and leave town?”

  Jeff hesitated, and Jake suspected he had something but wasn’t ready to share. “Her parents told us she hadn’t been in contact with them.” He blew out a long breath. “We asked the police department in Portland to notify them about the car. Next thing I know Detective Meyers is on the case.”

  Jeff pulled into the café’s gravel parking lot, and they went about getting seated and ordering before taking up the conversation again.

  “Have you checked her apartment?” Jake asked once they’d gotten their coffee.

  “We did.” Jake met his gaze. “Look, I’m not sure how much of this to tell you. We like to keep evidence close to the vest.”

  “Sure. I understand that, but I might be able to help if I know what you’re dealing with.”

  “You have a point.” Jeff blew on his black brew before taking a sip. He took his coffee straight up. Jake added a little cream and sugar to cut the bitter taste. “The only odd thing we found in the apartment,” Jeff went on, “was that her closet had been ransacked and her personal items—things like a toothbrush—were gone. There was no suitcase, and it looked as though she might have packed up and taken off.”

  “Why would she do that?” Jake mused as he tasted the coffee and added a bit more cream. “Barbara seemed to like her job. She had several sales pending.”

  “Truth is, I’m not sure what to think.”

  “Have you talked to Travis?” Jake interrupted. “He’d been dating her for a couple months or so. Maybe he has some insight.”

  Jeff nodded. “I questioned him, but that was before we found her car. I’ll need to talk with him again.”

  Jake wiped a hand across his jaw. “None of this makes sense.”

  “You’ve got that right. So, what can you tell me about Barbara?”

  “Not that much. She was quiet. Kept to herself a lot.” Jake thrummed his fingers on the Formica tabletop, trying to remember more about the woman.

  Jeff nodded. “Travis told me he’d had a date scheduled with her the night before you left, but she cancelled on him. She told him there was something she had to do.”

  “But she didn’t say what?”

  “Nope. He said it might have had something to do with a project she’d been working on, but he couldn’t tell me about that either.” Jeff looked into his cup before adding, “Detective Meyers considers him a suspect too.”

  “I figured as much.” Jake couldn’t see Travis doing anything to hurt Barbara.

  “Sandy told me Barbara was thinking about breaking up with Travis. That gives him motive. He also had the means and opportunity. Trouble is, there’s no real evidence of foul play. Right now it looks like she skipped town without letting anyone know.”

  “I don’t believe Barbara would skip town. And if she did, why would she push her car over an embankment?” Jake thought about his statement and backed off a bit. “On the other hand, even though we’ve worked together for two years now, you’d think I’d know her better than I do. She rarely talked about her personal life. Kept to herself a lot. The only reason I knew she was dating Travis is because he told me, and I’d seen them having coffee a few times. She’s good with people, but not pushy. Barbara brought in a lot of business.”

  “So you’re saying that you’re better off with her alive.”

  Jake shrugged. “Of course.”

  “Did you ever date her?”

  Jake shook his head, thinking immediately of Abbie and not sure why. “Not my type, I guess. We talked a fair amount, but mostly about business. Like I said, she rarely if ever mentioned family. About all I know is that she had parents living in Portland.”

  He looked up at Jeff. “I wish I could offer more. Come to think of it, she seemed jumpy…agitated before I left town.”

  “Sandy mentioned that.” Jeff pushed his empty cup toward the waitress when she came by offering refills. “Did she ever tell you about any previous jobs she might have had?”

  Jake pursed his lips, trying to remember. “She used to be a bank teller in Portland. I never checked her references. I suppose I should have, but it didn’t seem necessary. When she came to me to apply for a job, she’d just gotten her real estate license and that was good enough for me. She was on a six-month probationary period and passed with flying colors.”

  Jeff leaned back and studied Jake’s face, then, apparently coming to a decision, leaned forward again. “When you clued us in that something might be wrong, I did some digging. Ordinarily I wouldn’t tell you this, but there’s good reason to suspect foul play and/or the theory that she skipped town. She was a bank teller until five years ago when the bank she worked in was robbed. It didn’t go down well. The bank robber took a hostage and got away with half a million in cash.”

  Jake whistled. “And Barbara was there?”

  “Saw the whole thing. The gunman disappeared with the money and a twenty-five-year-old woman who worked with Barbara at the bank. There’s been no trace of them since. The hostage was Barbara’s best friend, so it was doubly traumat
ic for her. Her mother said she changed after that. Wouldn’t go back to work and sort of shut down for a while. She lived at home and finally went back to school and decided to go into real estate.”

  “What brought her to Oceanside?” Jake asked as he processed this new information. Barbara’s past experiences shed a whole new light on her disappearance.

  Jeff shrugged. “No idea. Her parents said she thought it was time to move on and she had always liked this area. The robbery is why Meyers is chiming in on the case. He thinks she may have come here because of some tip they’d gotten about two years ago that the bank robber had been seen out here. About the same time a few bills from the robbery surfaced in Oceanside.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not following you. You think Barbara came here to work so she could search for a bank robber? Isn’t that up to the police?”

  “Yes, but Barbara was apparently obsessed with the case. For a while after it happened, she drove the police nuts calling in with sightings. After a while she stopped calling them.”

  “And now she’s missing.”

  Jake straightened when the waitress brought their orders. The breakfast special for Jeff and a BLT for him.

  Jeff and Jake talked while they ate, but not about Barbara. Jeff’s wife was pregnant and due in October. They were all friends—Jeff and his wife, Becky, Travis, Sandy, Jake’s sister Peggy, and her husband, Brent, Jake’s primary carpenter. Jake had known all of them for as long as he could remember.

  He had to smile at the weaving of people making up the town of Oceanside. It was like a lot of tourist towns along the Oregon and Washington beaches. There were the locals—people who lived there year-round—and the tourists. But there was also a division between the locals. There were the natives, those who were born and raised Oceansiders, and there were those who had moved in as adults.

  He and his friends were natives and tended to band together. Not that they excluded others, but they had an unspoken pact. He’d gone through grade school and high school with these people. In a way, their closeness was a good thing. In another, they were like a high-school clique that made outside friendships difficult.

  As an outsider, Barbara had never been part of the group, but not because they didn’t want her to be. He couldn’t ever remember her wanting to be with them. Early on, he’d invited her to a few of their get-togethers and she’d turned him down. Come to think of it, Travis had mentioned inviting her as well. Jake wondered if Barbara had made any close friends in Oceanside outside of Travis. If she had, he didn’t know about them.

  “Did you talk to any of Barbara’s neighbors?” Jake set his empty plate aside, thinking maybe someone at the apartment complex could tell them something about her or people who might have visited her.

  “I made a quick run-through. A couple of people know her by sight. None of them remembered seeing anyone come or go from the apartment but her.”

  “Not even Travis?”

  “Apparently not. I showed them photos of both you and Travis, but no takers.”

  Jake frowned. “You showed them my picture?”

  “Well, you are her boss.”

  “And a suspect, I know.”

  “Sorry about that.”

  “What about Travis? No one saw him at her place either?”

  Jeff shook his head. “Seemed strange to me, but Travis says he was never invited to her apartment. She always met him somewhere.”

  Jake frowned. It sounded as though Barbara was hiding something. “Come to think about it, I’ve never seen the inside of her apartment either. I picked her up outside or dropped her off a couple of times when she had car trouble or needed a ride, which wasn’t very often.” The more Jake thought about it, the more he realized how little he actually knew Barbara Nichols.

  Jeff wanted to know about Jake’s trip to the Midwest, so Jake filled him in. Talking about Abbie and Emma raised his mood considerably. His friend apparently noticed. “You like her.” He grinned. “Don’t try to deny it, buddy, you’ve fallen big time.”

  “It’s not like that. I do like her. There’s something special about her. She’s an artist. I’m not into art, but I appreciate it as much as the next guy does. I care about her. Abbie has been through a lot and I want to help in whatever way I can.”

  “Oh, yeah. You have all the symptoms.” Jeff chuckled. “You’re even playing the knight in shining armor.”

  “It’s more than that.” Jake wanted to tell him about Abbie’s ordeal with her late husband’s family but thought better of it. If there were a warrant out for Abbie, Jeff would feel obligated to act on it. His friend was an honest cop, which was one of the reasons Jeff couldn’t arbitrarily rule out Jake and Travis as suspects in Barbara’s disappearance.

  Jake paid for their lunches and the two walked out to the car. Jake felt more confused than ever. Had Barbara really skipped town? Somehow, he couldn’t see her doing that. True, he didn’t know her as well as he’d thought, but her leaving town so suddenly and mysteriously didn’t seem like a reasonable theory. If he was right, and she hadn’t sent her car over the cliff, then someone else had.

  CHAPTER 10

  A few minutes later, Jake returned to his office to take care of the work that had piled up in his absence. He’d asked Sandy to show a couple of properties and spent the rest of the afternoon returning phone calls and making appointments.

  By eight that evening, he’d pretty much caught up. He’d shown three houses to three of Barbara’s clients and taken earnest money on two of them—all in all a productive day. Two things remained outstanding, though. Barbara was still gone, and he missed Abbie and Emma.

  It was dark when he left the office. He really needed to go home, unpack, shower, and get some sleep. Trouble was, when he entered the gates of the Pacific View Estates, his car seemed determined to pass by his place and go straight to the Grants’ home a quarter mile away.

  Jake might have been able to resist if they lived anywhere but in the housing development where he’d built his own house. He drove past their home, debating whether or not he should stop. It wasn’t exactly late, but he hadn’t called. Jake stopped at the lookout, where the earth dropped out of sight on the other side of the guardrail. Pacific View was one of his favorite developments. He had bought the property, along with a number of other properties in the area, after his parents died and left him and his sister a sizeable estate. So far, real estate had been the best investment he could have made. He and Brent had gotten together right out of college. They built the house Jake now owned on spec, to be used as a model home, then Jake began selling lots and Brent built the houses.

  They made a great team and had earned a lot of money. The development was different from the places where homes were pressed together as close as building codes allowed. Brent and Jake preferred parceling out one- and two-acre lots. The lookout cut into the coastline, creating a perfect place for a park for residents to enjoy. The view itself had settled the deal for most of the people who bought there. He’d sold forty places, and they had ten more lots to go.

  Jake turned around and went back to the Grant home, this time pulling into the driveway. He turned off the engine and was just getting out when he noticed the red glow of a cigarette and two silhouettes on the porch swing.

  “Jake!” Abbie’s voice drew him forward. Maybe he was imagining it, but she sounded happy to see him. “Come join us. I was just telling Skye about our trip.”

  He greeted them as he took the steps two at a time.

  “What brings you out here?” Abbie asked. “Did we leave something in your car?”

  “No, truth is, I missed you and Emma.”

  “Abbie was missing you too.” Skye’s raspy voice gave way to a cough. She leaned forward to snuff the cigarette out in the ashtray.

  Jake turned to look at Abbie and smiled. “Were you really?”

  “Maybe just a little.” Abbie returned the smile. The soft light from the street lamp illuminated her face as she tipped her head back to
meet his eyes.

  “I’m going inside,” Skye announced. “Why don’t you sit here on the swing with Abs.”

  “Abs?” When she vacated the swing, Jake followed Skye’s advice. He wasn’t about to argue.

  Abbie laughed as the door closed. “Skye has always called me that.”

  “It’s kind of cute.”

  “Better than Abigail.”

  Jake relaxed against the cushion, his arm stretched across the back, almost touching Abbie’s shoulders.

  “Any word on Barbara?”

  “Quite a lot, actually.” Jake told her what he’d learned from Jeff.

  “So basically, no one knows what really happened to her.” Abbie took his hand. “I’m sorry you’re having to go through this.”

  “You know, Abbie, the strangest thing is, I thought I knew Barbara. It’s unnerving to find out I hardly knew her at all.”

  Abbie nodded. “I know the feeling. I’m finding that out with Skye, and she’s my sister.” She pulled her hand back and knuckled away a tear. “I’ve been out of her life for six years.” Her voice rose and cracked. “During the most important times of her life, I wasn’t there for her.”

  “It happens.”

  “It wouldn’t be so bad if she hadn’t made so many bad choices. If I’d known what she was going through, maybe I could have stopped her.”

  Jack swallowed back a lump building in his own throat. He didn’t know how to respond. “Unfortunately, we can never go back.”

  “I know. If-onlys are as bad as what-ifs.”

  Somehow he had moved closer to her—or had she been the one to move? His arm easily slipped around her shoulder and he lifted his left to complete the embrace. They had traveled together for five days and four nights, but he’d never come this close. Jake wanted to kiss her and sensed she wanted it too.

  Jake’s arms tightened around her and Abbie melted against him. He was warm and masculine, gentle and understanding. She wanted to stay in his arms. She wanted him to kiss her. All she had to do was tip her face toward his and turn ever so slightly, and his lips would cover hers. But as her desire grew, so did caution. Abbie pulled back. She shivered, not so much from the cold as from what she’d almost done.