The Precipice

by Penny Goetjen

  “Where could they have disappeared? Do you think the Chief would have picked them up and kept them thinking they might be evidence?”

  “Oh, why would he do that?!” She was completely exasperated. “Let’s go see.”

  Rashelle and Elizabeth reached the top of the trail winded. Elizabeth was looking worse for the wear, but resolute. They walked out into the clearing toward the inn and things looked amiss. Three police cars lined the circular drive. Then it dawned on her.

  “Shelle, my car is gone!”

  Chapter 9

  There was quite a commotion going on between state troopers milling about and their squawking radios. Reinforcements had been called in. It was beginning to look like they were being occupied by a foreign police state. Elizabeth searched frantically for her friendly local chief. She finally found him in a sea of navy blue shirts with navy blue wide brimmed state trooper hats. She got as close as she could to the chief and rose up onto her tiptoes.

  “Excuse me, Chief Austin…..” He didn’t hear her with the din around him so she reached in and grabbed his forearm and repeated more loudly, “Chief Austin!” He spun around quickly to face her, pulling his arm out of her firm grasp.

  “Yes!” a bit short tempered. The chief was starting to wear the stress from the situation on his shirtsleeve. “Oh, Miss Pennington.” He tried to lighten up his tone.

  “Do you know where my car is?” She was trying to keep her voice from sounding desperate.

  “Well, you may want to speak with Lt. Perkins of the Maine State Police. From what I understand, they had reasonable suspicion to search the car and upon inspection, ordered it impounded and towed to the evidence collection center at the Portland barracks.”

  “WHAT!? THEY TOWED MY CAR?” Several officers’ heads turned toward her raised voice. She lowered her volume a couple of notches. “What could they have possibly found that they thought was suspicious?” What did I leave in it? Did someone put something in it?

  “And Elizabeth…,” he leaned over and put his hand firmly on her left shoulder like a father reprimanding his delinquent daughter, “I wouldn’t be making any plans to go anywhere in the near future. I’m sure the lieutenant will want to have a little chat with you.”

  The chief removed his hand from her shoulder but held his gaze for effect, then he was quickly swallowed by the sea of state police as the troopers jockeyed for position to hear instructions from Lieutenant Perkins. Elizabeth took a step back to avoid being bumped by the entourage. She couldn’t believe it. They took her little Z4. How was she going to get back to the city? She spun around to reconnect with Rashelle. Then she remembered her portfolio and turned back. “Hey, Chief, did they take my portfolio, too?” She doubted that he had heard the complete question. He looked in her direction from inside the crowd with a look on his face like he was wondering if someone had spoken to him. He was quickly brought back to the task at hand by a man in blue. They had a lot of questions for him. If Elizabeth could have seen through the crowd to the edge of the woods, she might have noticed Kurt lurking just out of sight, keeping his eye on the activity. In particular, he had his eye on her.

  Elizabeth took a deep breath. Everything was happening too quickly and was making her feel like she was getting sucked in by the whirlpool of activity. Her head was spinning. She wanted to be in control again. She turned back away from the crowd to search for Rashelle who was right where Elizabeth had left her. Her good friend was standing off to the left side of the driveway with her arms folded and a look of trepidation on her face. Their little Camelot known as The Pennington Point Inn was in a veritable state of turmoil. Where was a knight in shining armor when you needed him?...or her?

  Rashelle looked at Elizabeth for direction. “I have got to get back that portfolio. I don’t know who has it but my job, my career, depend on it. My boss is going to be on my back to get design ideas to her. I already got an earful this morning.” Her voice was starting to quiver and Rashelle could tell her friend was starting to lose it. The best thing she could do was to keep her moving. They needed to be productive.

  “One step at a time,” she advised. Extending her arm around her friend’s shoulder, she guided her toward the inn. It was time to find Amelia and check in with her. Elizabeth and Rashelle headed up the front steps to the inn and were greeted by Tony on the porch. He wore a furrowed brow and stood at the top of the stairs with his hands on his hips, the cool sea breeze tossing his wavy brown hair about his head.

  “Tony, this whole thing is unbelievable!” She was relieved to have someone else to commiserate with.

  “Oui, incroyable!,” he agreed, with his French Canadian background showing through.

  “What’s going on?” she pressed. It’s always good to get a fresh perspective on a particularly stressful situation.

  “What’s going on? I’ll tell you. I stand here and wait while the police are trying to decide if it’s okay for me to go ahead with the clambake on the beach. The majority of the food is prepared and the guests are going to start complaining any minute.”

  “Where is my grandmother?”

  “Amelia was not feeling so well so she went upstairs to lie down for a while.”

  Elizabeth suppressed a gasp and asked softly, “Is she alright?”

  “She’s fine, Lizzi. She was just overtired. I think this whole thing is starting to get to her.”

  Elizabeth knew her grandmother was having a hard time dealing with this, which made her very concerned about her. Dear Lord, please allow me to help her through this difficult time with her health intact.

  Rashelle knew they needed to act quickly and any time spent chit-chatting was not going to help their cause. She grabbed Lizzi’s arm again and directed her toward the front door.

  Elizabeth bid Tony adieu and followed Rashelle through the inn’s door like a sheep in tow. The tennis instructor watched them from a distance as they disappeared into the inn.

  Once inside, Rashelle turned to Elizabeth with her usual spunk and enthusiasm. “I’ve got some more info on the missing girl.” She led Elizabeth through the lobby to the door leading to the front desk. No one was at the desk. Elizabeth casually wondered if that was where her friend was supposed to be. Once behind the desk, Rashelle closed the door behind them and began speaking in hushed tones. “I was at the front desk earlier when the chief came into the lobby with a state trooper and the parents of the girl. They didn’t notice me because I was seated at the computer down below the counter, updating some reservations that had just come in. Well, anyway, they said that this girl is fourteen years old, is about five feet, six inches tall, dirty blond hair, usually pulled back into a pony tail. She was last seen about 3:00 on Thursday afternoon when she headed out to get some fresh air. She wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans, with a light purple, zippered GAP sweatshirt—like the one they found at the lighthouse today.

  She let her last comment hang in the air for a moment. Elizabeth considered all the info, and then asked, “Did the parents confirm it was their daughter’s?”

  “Yes.”

  “To get some fresh air…,” Elizabeth repeated. “Is that another way of saying they were having words and she needed her space?” Rashelle looked at her expectantly, looking for an explanation. “You know, it’s tough to be fourteen. It’s even tougher to be fourteen and on a weekend away with your parents. What were they thinking? This was supposed to be a last fling before she went back to school. For who? Did they really think—what is her name?”

  “Uh, Kelsey…Kelsey Hutchins.”

  “Did they really think this would be fun for her?”

  “Supposedly.”

  “Did anyone hear them arguing?”

  “There was no one in the room next to them. They requested the end room in the Acadia building, the one closest to the woods.”

  “Where ar
e they from and when did they check in?”

  “Let’s see. I remember I was on duty when they checked in. It was Thursday, around noon. They had arrived before check-in time. I wasn’t sure that their room was ready so I sent Marion from Housekeeping to check.”

  “What did the Hutchins do while Marion was gone?”

  “Mr. Hutchins—Bill—just did a lot of pacing in the lobby and his wife, Sara, wandered into the sitting room and sat down to wait.”

  “What about their daughter?”

  “Kelsey? Well, I never really saw her. She must have been outside or still in the car.”

  “So, you wouldn’t know what she looks like if you saw her?”

  “No.”

  “Did Bill and Sara at least have a picture to show the police?”

  “I don’t believe so. I know they apologized for not being more helpful.”

  “So, just the three of them registered at the inn.”

  “Right.”

  “They didn’t have any other children?”

  “…not that I know of. I guess I don’t really know...”

  “How old would you say the parents are?”

  Rashelle looked a little surprised by this question. “Well, I would say around the mid to late thirties.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yeah, they seemed kind of young.”

  “Elizabeth shook her head slightly and pressed on, “How long were they staying?”

  “They were to check out on Sunday morning...tomorrow. Although, they asked if it would be possible to stay longer, if necessary.”

  “Really?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems odd. It’s Labor Day Weekend. Wasn’t this the last weekend before their daughter started school? Wouldn’t they know how long they could stay when they arrived? Who knows what it means, if anything.”

  Silence occupied the small space behind the front desk for a moment. Elizabeth continued, “Wait a minute. You didn’t tell me where they were from.”

  “Oh! Let me just double check.” Rashelle leaned over the ergonomically correct chair parked in front of the computer monitor. Her long slender fingers danced skillfully across the keys until she accessed the screen she needed. “West Hartford, Connecticut.”

  “And how did he pay for the room?”

  “Well, usually we just have the guests give us a credit card number up front and we settle up when they check out. He insisted on paying in cash up front.”

  “Cash.”

  “Yup.”

  “Who does that?!”

  Rashelle assumed that was a rhetorical question so she let it go. Elizabeth continued, “Okay, so one theory may be that she went out for a walk and got lost in unfamiliar woods and darkness fell before she could find her way back.”

  “But the woods have been searched and they found nothing.”

  “It doesn’t mean there isn’t anything yet to find.” The friends exchanged looks of understanding. “Another theory is that she went for a walk on the beach and went too far beyond the beach break water and the tide came in. It got dark before she could make her way back. She fell asleep and missed the first low tide so now she’s waiting for the next low tide. Or perhaps she simply left; she’d had enough of the ‘rents and wanted out. She wanted to do something for the last few days of her summer freedom. She may show up tomorrow morning in time to go home. Won’t she be surprised to find such a large welcoming party waiting to greet her?”

  “Yeah!” The friends shared a chuckle. Rashelle got serious again. “She could also have gone down to the lighthouse and gotten too close to the water. She wasn’t with her parents when I passed along the standard warning that we give to all of our guests about rogue waves.”

  Elizabeth realized she had to consider that as a possibility as well. It wasn’t just the possibility of getting swept off the rocks; the temperature of the ocean in Maine, even in the summer, made it impossible to survive in the water for any length of time.

  “I know the diver didn’t find anything—”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, but like you say, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything to find.”

  “True…I don’t know if the current would take away a body from there or wash it back up on shore.”

  The voice from behind them took them by surprise. “It would carry it away and no one would ever see it again.”

  The girls whipped around. “Nana! I didn’t know you…What are you doing here?” Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice how tired she looked. The dark circles under her eyes told of trials and tribulations that had spanned a lifetime. The latest may well be the last for her grandmother. She needed to help her get through this.

  Then Elizabeth remembered what Amelia had said when she had interrupted their brainstorming session. “It would wash it away? H-how do you know?” She asked with trepidation.

  “Oh, Lizzi, it happened a very long time ago, but unfortunately it did happen.” Her grandmother sounded exhausted, spent physically and emotionally. “Different circumstances, but perhaps the same result. Someday I’ll tell you about it.”

  “Amelia, do you think that’s what happened this time?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Anything is possible. She could have gone too far down the beach and around the stone outcroppings where the tide comes in and cuts off the passage back.” Elizabeth glanced at Rashelle. They had already covered that possibility. “For all we know she could have found her way into the tunnels and is lost down there somewhere.”

  “The tunnels!” Elizabeth shuddered to herself. Her voice was not much more than a whisper. “I thought they had been all sealed off years ago.”

  “Well, they were. But every once in a while one of the staff catches a kid nosing around one of the old entrances and shoos them away. A couple of weeks ago, Kurt mentioned he found two brothers trying to open the back door on the tennis shack. That door leads to the tunnel that goes between the main inn and Acadia House. Acadia was one of two buildings used as dormitories back when Pennington was a school. The other dormitory burned down and was never rebuilt. So the tunnel leads out from the inn and forks part way out, one tine of the fork ends up under the guest rooms in Acadia and the other eventually arrives at an abrupt dead end. Moosehead Lodge was built years later, not far from the footprint of the other dorm, after the main building was operating as an inn. Acadia was converted to guest rooms first and then Moosehead was built further behind it after some of the woods were cleared.”

  The girls were listening intently. Amelia always seemed to have something she could teach them about this old inn, yet never seemed to reveal the whole story.

  “Well, I just came back down to find my reading glasses.” She glanced at the desk behind the girls that held the computer. “Oh! There they are. I really should tie them around my neck so I won’t lose them all of the time.” Reaching past the girls, she chuckled to herself. Stepping back to face them, she offered a simple explanation, “I just need to lie down and rest for a while. I find if I read first, it relaxes me. I’ll see you girls later.”

  They watched her go back through the door. She closed it behind her. The friends turned and looked at each other. It was as if Amelia had tried to steer them in a direction to look.

  “Okay. Lizzi. We’ve got to check out those tunnels.”

  “Shelle, you don’t know what it’s like down there.”

  “You heard your grandmother. She practically spelled it out for us.”

  “What?” She didn’t like where this was going.

  “Look. The police haven’t extended their search to beneath the property. They’re having a hard enough time covering the grounds. Here, let’s grab a couple of flashlights.” She yanked open the bottom drawer in the des
k under the computer and fumbled around in the back of it. She came out with two old, banged up metal flashlights that she proudly held up like two rainbow trout from a fishing expedition.

  Elizabeth still couldn’t get her mind around the idea of the two of them descending into the depths below the inn. She had never been down there before. She was strictly forbidden from doing so as a child and she had no desire to enter the dark, dank tunnels as an adult.

  “How are we going to get down there without being seen? They don’t want anyone down there.”

  “You heard Tony. He’s out on the front porch waiting to get the okay to do the clambake. There’s probably no one in the kitchen right now. We’ll just go through the wine cellar.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t think of a good comeback. She really didn’t want to go, but at least she would have someone to go with. What if the girl was lost down there? What if the two of them could put the whole matter to rest? “It could be so easy…alright, let’s do it!” Rashelle handed Elizabeth one of the two clunky flashlights. They each instinctively turned them on in tandem, as if on cue, to check the batteries. Both lights sprung to life.

  “Wow. They actually work. Who knows the last time these artifacts were used.”

  That did not help Elizabeth feel any more at ease about their expedition.

  Chapter 10

  After slipping quietly through the empty kitchen, past the wine cooler, down the creaky wooden steps into the wine cellar, the girls found themselves standing on the other side of the racks of wine staring into an unknown black void. A narrow separation between two racks in one corner had allowed enough room for two thin young ladies to slip through. Rashelle switched on her flashlight and headed into the dark, dank tunnel slowly placing one foot in front of the other, sensing the tunnel floor was slippery. “Let’s meet back here if we get separated.” Elizabeth was behind her, having trouble getting her flashlight to stay lit. She shook it and the large D batteries rattled inside. Finally, the dim light brightened and seemed to be staying on. She started walking toward Rashelle’s light. She was surprised how far her city slicker friend had reached during the time she was struggling with her light.