They walked inside the smudged glass door and headed toward the back of the store.
‘You do need water too.’ Virgie opened a cooler that contained beer, wine and sodas.
In the tight space, she swung around to hand Kit a bottle of AquaHydrate and almost knocked it into the display on the shelf behind her.
‘Take it easy,’ Kit said.
‘No problem.’ She frowned at the shelf. ‘Be glad we ain’t drinking this cheap wine,’ she said.
The words resonated. ‘Wait.’ Kit couldn’t move.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Say it again.’
‘What?’ she said. ‘That we ain’t drinking any of this cheap wine?’ She pointed at the row of bottles in the case across from them, too cheap to warrant refrigeration. Tokay. White Zinfandel. Port. ‘Hey, you drink wine?’
‘Very seldom and not this stuff,’ Kit said.
Yet something was wrong. She couldn’t leave the store.
Virgie stood next to her, clutching her soda can. ‘What then?’
‘Port.’ Kit picked up a bottle, trying to figure out the confused messages attempting to combine and connect in her brain.
‘Well, if it makes the trip easier on you, I’m not going to judge.’ Virgie squinted at the bottle. ‘Still, you’re going to have the biggest headache in the world.
‘I’m not thinking about drinking it.’
Kit walked over and picked up one of the bottles. ‘Remember that receipt Farley left behind?’ she asked.
Virgie sucked in her breath. ‘You’re talking about the expensive liquor store receipt, but we don’t know what Farley bought there, do we?’
‘I do.’ Kit put the bottle back on the shelf as chills shot up and down her arms. ‘I know exactly what he bought, Virgie. Let’s check out the receipt.’
‘I’m on it.’ Virgie slammed some bills on the counter and ran outside.
Once Kit joined her, Virgie leaned against the car, holding a receipt in one hand and the bag they had taken from Farley’s in the other.
‘Taylor’s Port,’ she said. ‘Right? I just checked the price on my phone. It’s an expensive port. So what do you know that I don’t?’
Kit felt the panic crowding in again, and she was grateful for the fresh air and the solid pressing of the car against her back. ‘That his mentor loves expensive port.’
‘How do you know that? What mentor?’
‘Jonas Case, his music teacher from high school. Farley always bought it for him when he visited. I never thought much about it, but Jonas is like an older brother to him.’
Virgie cupped her chin in her hands and gave Kit a hint of a smile. ‘And just where might this Jonas Case live?’
‘Northern California.’ Kit reached for the car door. ‘Now I remember why Willits seems so familiar to me. Jonas lives near there. He runs some kind of school.’
NINE
The pub smells like smoke. Either someone burned the steaks or Mickey has been setting Cheetos on fire again. But Mickey is behind the bar pulling a mug of beer. His scalp shines through his gray strands of hair and Willie Nelson braids hang over the front of his Loggers Jamboree sweatshirt.
A guy getting ready to leave stands up, waves at them and then stops as if he expects them to do the same.
‘It’s just Rudy,’ Will tells Megan. ‘Keep walking.’
Rudy. She should stop and talk to him, say something. She can’t though. All she can do is keep her face set in this neutral smile that won’t offend anyone. Not Rudy, and not this man they have come to meet.
Her spine stiffens as Will nudges her toward the back. No one pays attention to them, not even with her dressed like that, although one guy at the end of the bar turns to watch as they move past. Must be a newcomer. No one around here pays much attention to anyone except strangers, and that’s the way it should be. Megan pulls the jean jacket closer and looks up at Will.
‘I’ll introduce you two and get a round of beer,’ he says. ‘It would be better if you took off your jacket.’
‘I’m cold.’
‘First impressions matter. Why don’t you just take it off? Tie it around your waist if you like. It will hide your hips.’
‘What’s wrong with my hips?’ She doesn’t want to argue with him, especially since this is the last time. As Megan stands there, though, with the noise of too many conversations like fractured music in her ears, she knows that somehow something is different.
In the last of the three booths at the end of the pub, she spots a denim-covered leg sticking out from the table, and she knows that leg in the tan boot is her destination.
She turns to Will. ‘If I’m going to go through with this I’m going to need a beer. Maybe more than one.’
His cheeks look burnished by something beyond the weather, and his blue eyes are so intense that they seem unnatural. He shoves a strand of hair behind his ear. ‘What’s wrong with you tonight?’ he demands.
‘Not a thing,’ she tells him. But something is. She feels the itch of it under her skin.
‘Can you at least take off your jacket?’ He glances from her to the leg extending from the booth. ‘Can you at least do that?’
‘I’ll try.’ She lifts the heavy fabric from her shoulders and lets the jacket slide partway down her back. ‘Will you get me that beer now?’ she asks.
‘Just let me introduce you first.’
‘No need to,’ she says. ‘I’m perfectly capable of introducing myself.’ If she has to do this, even though it is the last time, Megan needs some rules. She needs to be able to introduce herself to this stranger, to sit with him before they walk outside.
‘Just remember, I love you.’ Will pulled her into a rough embrace. ‘I really do.’ His kiss on her lips is light, sweet.
Megan glances at the booth, at the toe that is now keeping time with the music on the jukebox, Lyle Lovett singing about a boat.
‘Love you too,’ she tells Will. Then, as he walks away, she marches up to the booth, to the man she hasn’t yet set eyes on and says, ‘Hi. I’m Megan. You mind if I join you?’
TEN
Although Virgie had what Kit’s mom would call a lead foot, she was a careful driver who navigated through the forest as if she had driven it many times before. Virgie’s skill combined with their mutual exhaustion had settled Kit. Besides, they had a destination. Not just the general area of Willits, California, but Jonas Case.
‘You got any clues how to find his place?’ Virgie asked as she steered them around a curve that forced Kit to close her eyes.
When she opened them she saw a wooden sign that read, Fresh berries ahead. Flowers. Herbs. Jam. Jelly. ‘I’ve never been there,’ she said, ‘but Farley’s talked to me about it. Let’s pull over and look at the map. Our best shot is to find the school.’
‘Ain’t no pulling over here.’ Virgie’s voice was rhythmic and calming, yet Kit heard something else beneath it.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘Nothing.’
‘You can tell me,’ Kit said.
‘Just my eyes playing tricks on me. For a minute back there, I thought someone was following us.’
Kit jerked around in her seat. ‘Where? What did you see?’
‘Not sure,’ Virgie said. ‘Maybe a van. No worries, though. I got this.’ With a sharp turn, they left the main road onto a narrow one marked with more primitive wooden signs pointing toward the woods.
Kit caught her breath. ‘I thought you just said we couldn’t pull off back there.’
‘We can’t.’ Virgie put down the windows and let the chilled air fill the car. ‘I saw this road last minute. Thought it might be best for now.’
‘You should have kept going,’ Kit said. ‘We might have been able to see who was in that van.’
‘Not in this light. Besides, you don’t want to go confronting people out in these parts.’
‘I’m not saying we should confront anyone.’
‘Not saying you are.’ Virg
ie drove slowly and the mountain air chilled Kit, even through her sweater. ‘Let’s go a little farther, turn around and get back to the main road,’ Virgie said.
Kit glanced behind them again and admitted to herself that Virgie had done the right thing. Out here they would have no protection, not even anyone to notify if they were in danger.
The blast of fresh air was probably another one of Virgie’s anxiety cures, Kit suspected, and couldn’t be angry. Virgie was only trying to help. She was just trying to help too much.
‘Do you mind putting up the windows?’
Slowly Virgie pressed the switch, leaving a crack at the top. Perhaps it was Kit’s imagination but the breeze, heavy with the scent of pine and redwood, seemed to have a soothing effect.
‘You might want to re-think your career choice,’ she told Virgie.
‘Don’t get smart.’ She glanced over at Kit. ‘You ought to be thanking me instead of making fun.’
Kit started to explain that she wasn’t making fun, but then she just said, ‘Thank you, Virgie.’
Virgie shrugged. ‘No big deal.’
Kit spotted a stand on the other side of the road. Beside it stood another sign. Berries. Jam. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘Maybe someone out here has seen Farley.’
‘Or knows Jonas.’ Virgie paused and slowed the car. ‘Guess it won’t hurt. But we should hurry. I don’t want to head any deeper into these woods and I don’t want to be here much later.’
Kit peered ahead into the quiet darkness and the narrowing path bordered in green. ‘Neither do I. But Farley loves fresh berries. I promise you, if he found this place he would have stopped.’
Virgie turned the car around and they returned down the road. Kit couldn’t help glancing around. If that same van were still tailing her, it would show up again, and if it had anything to do with Farley’s disappearance she almost hoped it would return.
At first, she thought the stand was one of the Little Free Libraries that people put up in their front yards. But, although the structure was similar, this was no micro-library.
‘Looks like some kind of store.’ As Virgie parked the car beside what appeared to be a freshly painted white stand, Kit spotted bunches of lavender and jars of purple jelly. A large vase in front was marked for donations.
‘Nobody here,’ Virgie said. ‘Might as well head back.’
Just then, a slender brunette about Kit’s age wearing a prairie-style skirt and sunglasses rimmed in white plastic appeared from behind the booth. She smiled at them and walked behind the counter.
‘Come on,’ Kit told Virgie and opened the car door.
As they approached the woman, another one, a little older and with hair down to her waist, joined them from behind the booth. Her hair was a variegated blonde that would ease into silver and then white as she aged. Before her pregnancy she must have been slender.
‘Welcome,’ she said. ‘We have fresh blueberry jam today. Would you like a sample?’
Kit hesitated but the brunette joined them carrying a small tray with crackers smeared a chunky purple. The scent hit Kit’s nostrils and she took a bite of fruit so pure and sweet that she could taste the sunlight in it.
‘It’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘Actually, we’re looking for a man named Jonas Case. He has a school out here.’
The two women glanced at each other, their smiles frozen in place.
‘There are many schools out here.’ The pregnant woman gestured at the shadows of the trees surrounding them. ‘It’s getting dark, though. I wouldn’t go looking for it tonight.’
‘Good idea,’ Kit said. ‘But there can’t be that many of them, can there? I’m Kit, by the way, and this is Virgie.’
‘Pleased to meet you.’ The woman put out her hand.
‘And you are …?’
‘Priscilla.’ She nodded toward the younger woman, who was pulling her dark hair back into a ponytail. ‘And this is Megan. We are a small community here, but we have a fair number of schools and I couldn’t begin to tell you how to find most of them.’
‘That’s kind of hard to believe,’ Kit said, a little more confrontationally than she had intended.
‘Not really. My daughters are too young, especially this one.’ She patted her stomach. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, but Megan and I need to close up now. Driving at night out here can be treacherous.’
‘We better go,’ Virgie muttered.
‘First, I’d like to buy some of your jam,’ Kit said.
Megan turned from where she was trying to balance a large cardboard box on a middle shelf. ‘I need to get home, Priscilla.’
‘Tell you what.’ Priscilla walked over, picked up the jar she had used for the sample and handed it to Kit. Her thick hair blew around her face as if she were standing in front of a fan. ‘My gift to you. I hope you enjoy it as you continue your trip.’
‘We can pay for it.’ Virgie headed toward the jar on the other side of the booth just as Priscilla handed it to Megan.
‘We’re not about materialism out here. Safe travels tonight, you two.’
Virgie glanced at Kit as if to ask how far they should push it. Kit had no idea what else to say. Darkness moved in by the moment, and these women, pleasant enough on the surface, had no intention of telling them where Jonas Case’s school was, assuming they knew. Kit clutched the jar of jam and started to leave. Then she realized she couldn’t just do that. This might be their only hope. She placed the jam on the counter.
‘A friend of mine from Sacramento visited the school recently.’ She dug into her purse. ‘I have his photo right here. His name’s Farley Black.’
‘Never saw him.’ Priscilla rested her hand on Megan’s shoulder.
‘What about you?’ Kit asked and showed the photo to Megan.
‘Never.’ Although she shrugged, her voice came out faint.
‘We all know each other around here,’ Priscilla said. ‘We don’t mix much and that’s the way we like it. If your friend came this way, he probably drove on through.’
‘He wouldn’t have done that,’ Kit said. ‘Jonas was his teacher. Farley would have been on his way to the school.’ Then she remembered. ‘Ananda Free School. That’s the name of it. Are you sure he didn’t stop here to pick up something?’
Megan took in a sharp breath. Virgie moved beside Kit. Priscilla’s placid expression crumbled.
‘I told you, I don’t remember seeing your friend,’ she said. ‘That doesn’t mean he didn’t stop here, of course. Many people arrive when we aren’t even around. That might have been the case with him.’
‘He drives a fancy Corvette. Black.’ Virgie cleared her throat the way she did when she disagreed with someone. ‘Would have been hard to miss.’
‘Well, apparently we did miss him.’ Priscilla lowered her voice. ‘I wish I could say it is safe out here at night. I can’t do that, though. Especially not on a weekend with all the tourists passing through.’
‘We are staying,’ Kit said.
‘Your choice.’ She turned her back and joined Megan. ‘I think that’s enough for tonight,’ she said to her. ‘Let’s leave the rest here in case anyone comes by early.’
Even though Kit could still see her, it was as if Priscilla had shut a door behind her. She and Megan were real, but at the moment they were shadows under the darkening sky.
Kit and Virgie nodded to each other and headed back to the car.
Once inside, Virgie shuddered. ‘Well, that was creepy. They sure wanted to get rid of us, didn’t they?’
‘Priscilla did.’ In spite of the façade of calmness outside, Kit realized how tense the exchange in this isolated little spot had felt. ‘Let’s head for the campground where Farley keeps his car when he’s here.’
Virgie started the car and drove it toward the dim lights of the main road. ‘You know where we’re headed then?’ she asked, and Kit tried to rub the stiffness out of her neck.
‘Not really.’
ELEVEN
All Kit could remem
ber Farley saying about the campground where he left his car when he visited Jonas was that it was located north of Willits off of the 101.
‘Why don’t he just take the car to his friend’s place?’ Virgie asked. Then added, ‘Never mind. I forgot. Farley’s particular about it, ain’t he?’
‘He’d say he’s caring for his investment.’ Kit felt a pang as the reality of Farley’s absence hit home once more. He vacuumed the top of the Corvette, removed stains with an old toothbrush, cleaned the engine with furniture polish and buffed his exhaust pipes until they sparkled. Even at the mall, he protected it with a gray silk cover lined in fleece. ‘Yes, I guess you could say he’s particular,’ she told Virgie. ‘Maybe Jonas Case doesn’t have a garage.’
About five miles north of Willits, they spotted the sign and Virgie turned right over an unsteady wooden bridge. Before them, in a thick woods surrounded by tall, thin redwoods, several simple cabins were scattered among forty or fifty RV and tent sites.
‘This has to be the campground,’ Kit said. ‘I know the one he’s talked about is close to town and we didn’t pass any others.’
Virgie surveyed the old vans and other vehicles. ‘Looks like a lot of people living here fulltime.’
‘Over there.’ Kit pointed at a covered wooden structure large enough for at least four cars. ‘This is the place.’
The structure was vacant, and Virgie backed inside one of the parking spaces.
At the first cabin, they spotted a pristine wooden sign with the word Manager neatly painted onto it. They went inside but encountered only an immaculate table holding a bowl of beads and an overstuffed chair with a footstool holding a partially beaded strip of fabric and a folded newspaper.
‘You ladies need any help with your bags?’
They both jerked around. From behind them, a long-haired man, who might be fifty, maybe sixty, entered the cabin, ducking under the low door and then smiling over at them as if apologizing for the intrusion.
‘We’re fine.’ Kit pointed at the bag over her shoulder.
I Wish You Missed Me Page 5
