Beauty and the beard

by Crowne, K. C.

  “Thank you so much. This is perfect,” I told Angela.

  “You’re welcome. And, don’t be a stranger. Over the weekend, Mary Beth and I have activities during the afternoon and evening time. Please, come and join us.” Angela offered.

  “I will. Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Cool. Then see you tomorrow. Come down at about noon. Think we have crafts for the kids first, but it’s fun to join in and help out.”

  “Okay, see you then. And, thanks again.”

  “No problem,” she replied and closed the door behind her.

  I put on some comfortable clothes and got out the laptop. Then, there was another rap on the door.

  I opened it excitedly, happy that Cole might have come back so soon. But it wasn’t Cole. It was a kid from the kitchen with a tray from room service.

  “Good evening Ma’am, I was told to deliver this to you for dinner,” he said. “Would you like me to place it down on the table?”

  “Yes, please. And, thank you. Sorry, I don’t have any money to tip you.” I was embarrassed to say so.

  “I was informed of your situation, Ma’am; please, don’t fret over it. Enjoy.” He closed the door behind him.

  I ate my dinner and surfed the web, looking for any missing persons reports that matched myself. I had no luck, which didn’t exactly do wonders for my mood. Either I had no one in my life to miss me, or the people I did have didn’t care that I was gone. How depressing.

  7

  Sophie

  Voicemail, again!

  Why does Lindsay’s phone keep going to voicemail? I dialed her room number for what seemed like the hundredth time. It rang and rang like it had all day.

  Two days had gone by since I had last talked with her. She was heading out to find her bird and she promised me that she would call me back that evening.

  Okay, so Lindsay was extremely forgetful when she got entrenched in one of her projects, but she would never purposely not call me for two days, especially when I’d been leaving messages on her phone telling her that I was worried about her.

  And, I was extremely worried about her. Lindsay was my best friend. I just knew that something was wrong. I decide to call the front desk of the motel that she was staying at and ask if they had seen her.

  “Hello?” the desk attendant answered.

  “Hello, I’ve been trying to get in touch with one of your guests, Lindsay Gemmer. I haven’t been able to reach her for a couple of days. I was just wondering if you have seen her?”

  “No, I haven’t. Last I saw her was a couple of days ago when she asked me where to find some local hunters,” she informed me.

  “A couple of days?” I repeated. “I’m worried about her. This is her roommate back in New York. She was supposed to call me but hasn’t and her phone keeps going to voicemail.”

  “Well, she is due to check out tomorrow morning. If we don’t hear from her, we will go into the room to clean it. For now, I can take a message and if I see her, give it to her for you?” the attendant suggested.

  “Okay.” I gave her my contact information.

  “You know, if you are really worried, call the local authorities. They can help you more than we can.”

  “I just might do that. Thanks for the suggestion.”

  “I hope you hear from her soon. Good luck,” she said and hung up.

  Yeah, thanks, I thought. I looked up the number to the local Silverthorne police department. All they said was that I could make a missing person’s report. I gave them her description and any other information that I had. They told me that they would look into it and get back with me. They didn’t sound overly concerned.

  Now what? I just knew that something was wrong. I knew Lindsay too well. She would never just disappear like this. Never.

  After thinking about it, I called my boss and asked if I could use some of my vacation days. It was an emergency. Finally, she agreed.

  I took out my laptop and booked a flight to the closest airport to Silverthorne, Colorado, which turned out to be Eagle County Regional Airport. My flight didn’t leave until the next morning, so I called back up the motel that Lindsay was staying at and booked a room for a couple of days.

  I packed my bags and tried to go to bed early. I wanted to be at JFK early. I tried to get some sleep, but I couldn’t, knowing that Lindsay could possibly be in harm’s way.

  Groggy, I got up and threw on some clothes. I ran outside of our NYC apartment and hailed down a cab. “JFK Please!” I yelled at the driver.

  Of course, we were stuck in traffic for about an hour. I sighed a breath of relief when the Yellow Cab finally pulled up to the airport’s big double doors. I paid the driver and grabbed my bag. Before I knew it, I was through security and seated on the plane.

  I felt a sense of urgency and didn’t exactly know why. I just knew that my friend was in danger and I had to get to her.

  Little did I know, I was headed for the adventure of my life.

  ***

  I reached Eagle County Regional Airport early in the afternoon and rented a sedan from the airport’s small rental agency. I hadn’t thought about reserving a car in advance, as I was so used to living in the city where public transport was the prime way to get around.

  Driving out of the airport, toward Silverthorne, I noticed the mountain ranges all around me. I wasn’t too sure about this car they had given me but it’s all that I had.

  It took me about an hour to reach the motel in Silverthorne. I checked in without incident and decided since it was still early, I’d go and see if I could find any clues about Lindsay’s whereabouts.

  I asked the front desk attendant what she had talked to Lindsay about the day that she left to go and photograph the bird. She repeated to me that Lindsay had asked about where she might find some local hunters to speak with. That was all that they had discussed.

  “I told her to check across the street at the diner. Lots of hunters and townspeople hang out there in the mornings for breakfast and coffee. I did notice that she spent about an hour inside, before coming back over and getting into her SUV, so she talked to someone over there,” the desk girl informed me.

  I thanked her and headed over. Now, it was mid-afternoon, and I doubted that the hunters that Lindsay spoke with would be there. I decided to go anyway, just in case.

  Inside, I asked the hostess if she remembered a girl come in the other morning and showed her a picture of Lindsay on my cell phone. She told me that she didn’t work mornings and referred me to another, older lady.

  I asked the older lady if remembered Lindsay. “I do remember a girl with that description. Tall, about 5’8”, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Skinny. Pretty girl,” she described her.

  “Yes! That’s her!” Just in case, I showed her a picture on my phone.

  “Yep, that’s her all right.”

  “Do you remember who she talked with? She’s been missing, and I am trying to find her. She’s a photographer and was here to photograph some birds in the mountains.”

  “She talked with a group of hunters. Big Jim and his clan. They come in every morning for breakfast and coffee. Early. About seven. It’s the weekend though and they might be going hunting. So, all I can say is stop in in the morning and see if one of them is here. I’ll be here, so I’ll introduce you. Sorry, I can’t be more help right now,” she apologized.

  “Do you by any chance have a phone number? Or an address for Big Jim? I’d really appreciate being able to speak with him today,” I pleaded with her.

  “I’m sorry hunny, but I don’t. I know he lives up in Blue Haven somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where or if he even has a phone. I’ve never seen him with one.”

  “Okay. Do you know his last name?”

  “No, he goes by Big Jim and always has.” She got tired of me questioning her and turned away, pretending to be busy.

  “Thanks,” I called out to her and turned to leave.
>
  Blue Haven? I googled how far away it was. About twenty-five minutes. I decided to take a ride up there. No point in sitting around for the rest of the day.

  About a half of an hour later, I arrived in the small town of Blue Haven, Colorado.

  Where did I start? I don’t know anything about this guy except that his name is “Big Jim.”

  I decided to stop in the local diner, but they were busy for dinner. “Do you want to sit down?” a waitress asked me.

  “No, I was looking for someone named Big Jim?” I asked hopefully.

  She eyed me up and down. Obviously, I wasn’t from around here. I looked down at my outfit. Designer blouse and black dress pants. Louis Vuitton purse and dress shoes. I should have changed my clothes to fit in better. Lesson learned.

  “Nobody by that name here, honey.”

  “But, do you know him. It’s an emergency.”

  “Are you family?”

  “Well, no. I’m looking for a missing person.” I informed her.

  “A reporter? We don’t talk to reporters from out of town.” She turned her back to me.

  How rude!

  I sighed. I wasn’t going to get anywhere like this. As I was walking out the door, a man bumped into me. By now, I was officially annoyed.

  “Watch it,” I snapped.

  “Excuse you?” he asked, grinning.

  His grin annoyed the shit out of me even more.

  “You weren’t watching where you were going,” I informed him.

  “I can say the same about you.”

  I kept my face straight. I wanted to be mean to this guy. To give him some NYC attitude. I was dressed for it.

  I gave him my best, snooty scowl and walked away.

  His grin got wider. That irritated me, but I didn’t let it show.

  “Hey,” he called out.

  “Hay is for horses,” I called back.

  “You dropped this,” he said, holding out a small piece of paper that I had some notes written on. He glanced down at it and asked, “You looking for Big Jim? I know him.”

  “You do?” I asked excitedly.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you know where I can find him? Please, it’s an emergency. My roommate is missing and I’m here to find her.”

  “Maybe. You know you aren’t too nice. A bit of a snob.” He made his face as straight as possible.

  “I’m sorry. That lady in there was rude to me and it pissed me off. Then, you ran into me,” I said more nicely now.

  I smiled. He smiled back.

  “I’m Alec. Alec Randel.” He reached out his hand to shake mine.

  “Sophie. Sophie Matlock. Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.”

  “So, can you give me his telephone number? I just have a few questions for him. I believe that he was the last person that Lindsay talked to before she went missing. She asked him where she could find some kind of bird she wanted to photograph.”

  Alec raised his eyebrow at me.

  “Lindsay Gemmer is a famous photographer. Look her up if you don’t believe me,” I offered. “You can find her wildlife photos in Nat Geo amongst others,” I added.

  “Hmm, well that makes more sense now. Why an overly-dressed-up girl like yourself would be here in Blue Haven. Your friend probably got lost. Not being from around here and all and wandering around the mountains.”

  “Look, Lindsay is an experienced outdoorswoman. She’s traveled to and lived in remote places. It’s not like her to not be careful or to ‘get lost’ as you put it. She is missing and I’m worried sick.”

  “Okay, I can help. But no phone calls. Big Jim doesn’t have a phone. I can take you to his place.”

  “Yes, please!” I said a little too enthusiastically for my liking.

  “Okay, my truck is parked over here, come on.”

  “I can drive,” I offered nervously.

  “Where’s your truck?”

  “I have a rental car, right there,” I pointed to it.

  He scoffed. “I’m not fitting into that!” He howled with laughter.

  I sighed. “Fine, let’s go.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t kidnap you,” he informed me.

  “Great,” I answered.

  I looked up at him as he opened the passenger side door for me to his truck. He was tall. I was 5’10”, so he had to be well over six feet. Not only tall but big. And big in a muscular kind of way. His eyes were like glowing shamrocks. His red hair and bushy beard looked like flames. I had no other way to describe it.

  He was a fine-looking man.

  8

  Cole

  I had put Lindsay in a room at the resort last evening and never went back in to check on her.

  I woke up this morning feeling guilty as hell for that. I didn’t know why, but I was having seriously conflicted feelings about her.

  For one, I found her extremely attractive. I couldn’t stop thinking of her. Those emerald green eyes had haunted my dreams last night. Under normal conditions, I might allow myself to take her to my bed for a night or two of fun.

  On the other hand, though, it was most definitely not a normal situation. She didn’t even know who she was. Was she married? Did she have kids? A family somewhere that was desperately trying to find her? A part of me felt very protective of her, and that in itself was disconcerting. I didn’t normally allow myself to get close enough to a woman to feel that way about her.

  I’d been single all of my adult life and I intended on staying that way

  Sure, marriage had worked out well for Brad. But he was a family guy. Pure and simple. He always had been. He fell in love with his high school sweetheart, Samantha, when he was like sixteen. After Sam passed away from cancer, God bless her soul, he found love once more, and was now happily married again with three kids.

  Me? No way. Women were nothing but trouble for me. The couple of relationships that I’d allowed myself to be pulled into were nothing but detrimental. Pure drama.

  My high school sweetheart had turned out to be anything but. I had been blinded by her beauty and the attention she showed me when we were together. It had felt good to have her on my arm. Unfortunately, another guy had been feeling the exact same way. I found out that she had been cheating on me for nearly our entire year long relationship.

  I had vowed it would never happen again. But it did. Not in quite the same way, though. When I was in my early twenties, I met a girl from Nebraska. She was visiting our resort on a vacation with her family. I fell for her right away. And hard.

  I don’t know what it was about her. Her smile. Her laugh. Her name was Crystal and we were crazy about one another.

  The thing was, Crystal was a bit younger than me at nineteen, and her dad hadn’t approved of us spending time together. We’d snuck around the resort for two weeks while her family was here. It was late summer, and we went on long hikes and got lost in each other.

  When she left to go back home to Nebraska, I thought that my world was going to fall apart. I had trouble functioning. I couldn’t concentrate on my work and my family was starting to think that I was sick.

  Crystal and I stayed in touch, but the distance, even though it was only about a five-hour drive, was too much for our relationship to endure at that time. With her being fresh out of high school that spring prior, she was headed to college in the fall.

  She was attending Chadron State College in Nebraska which put her another hour out. I went to visit her once at school for the weekend and felt extremely out of place with all the college prep boys staring at me. I was older and had never been the “school-boy” type.

  I mean, there I was, this big mountain-man-type visiting a nineteen-year-old college freshman who looked a lot younger than she actually was. Me, I’d always looked my age or a bit older, with my long scruffy beard and burly build. Even though I was only twenty-three, I looked like a pervy old dude.

  We had tried to make it w
ork; or at least I had tried. When Crystal had met guys her own age that were having the same experiences that she was and that weren’t a six hour trip to see, she had slowly pulled away.

  I didn’t blame her. She was young and intelligent. She had her entire life in front of her, and I didn’t fit in it. She tried to tell me but I didn’t want to hear it.

  It took me a while to move on from that mess. I vowed to never again allow myself to give my heart to someone else who was just going to break it. And so far, I hadn’t.

  Yeah, I’d had women from time to time. I had a good time and made sure they did the same. But after a night, or on the rare occasion, two, I was out. Done. No room for anything serious.

  That’s why I decided to put the new girl into a room at the resort. I did consider letting her stay at my cabin. Of course, it was homier there. But, the more time that I spent with her─even if it was just for that one day─I started to feel more and more comfortable with her. I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  And she was hot. Super hot. Her hair was long and silky and her curves were downright dangerous. Who knew what’s she was doing in Blue Haven, Colorado? But, there was no way a girl who looked like her was single..

  If I let myself get involved with herI would put myself at too much risk of falling for her and that would be a bad idea on so many levels.

  But I did feel bad for just ditching her in the room like that last night. I should have a least called. What did I say to her now? I wasn’t going to apologize. That’s just plain stupid. I didn’t do anything wrong. I gave her a place to stay. If it wasn’t for me, she’d be stuck in the hospital wracking up a huge medical bill.

  I guessed that I should at the very least keep my promise of taking her to the Sheriff’s office. Sheriff Andrews would be able to fingerprint her and run the prints through the National database. Then, she could find out who she was and call her family to come and get her.