“See, here’s Zachary. He’s perfectly fine,” Eliza said as she stopped directly in front of the deputies.
Zachary took one look at them and started crying.
“He’s just cranky because I woke him. Can I go put him back down now, or are you going to arrest all three of us?” Eliza was irritated with the entire interruption.
Marshall glared at her, as if to say ‘shut up.’ She ignored him and looked away.
“Yes, you can go put him back down,” the shorter officer replied.
“Thanks for the permission to put my son back down for his nap,” Eliza said sarcastically, as she turned to take the baby back to his room.
When she returned, the deputies were gone.
“What did they say?” she asked Marshall.
“They just told me that we need to keep it down. I assured them that we would. We don’t need the damn cops coming back to our house,” Marshall proclaimed.
Eliza agreed.
She pulled their front window curtains slightly to the side and peered out the window to make sure the deputies were completely gone. Then she looked around at all the neighboring houses that she could see from her window. It was still early enough in the evening that Eliza could see some people milling around in their houses, and even a few out in their yards. Some were standing outside looking directly at the Porter house, probably due to the sheriff’s office having just left. When the cops showed up at someone’s house, neighbors were generally curious. It was not something unique to them, it happened everywhere. Eliza thought about all the gossip that was probably being spread about them already all over the island. She would probably hear about it the next day from Cecily.
“I wonder which one of those assholes called the cops on us?” she asked Marshall, her eyes never leaving the window.
“Probably that old busy body next door. She has nothing better to do than get in the middle of our business,” Marshall responded. “I’m pretty sure she’s the one that called them last time. Remember when she was standing out on her porch with that crooked smile of hers when the cops left that time?”
“Yeah, I remember. I should go give her a piece of my mind.” Eliza was angry that anyone would bother themselves with their issues. She didn’t like having the cops show up at their front door.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Go bully the old lady and have her call the cops again.” Marshall was clearly being sarcastic. Eliza let it go.
“Well, haven’t you been bothering Lindsey and her kids? I guess that’s okay?…Oh wait…maybe they were the ones that called the cops,” Eliza exclaimed.
Marshall just shrugged his shoulders in response. “Yeah, maybe they were.”
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” Marshall’s tone suddenly changed as the enormity of their fight and the police showing up hit him.
Marshall meant it too. He always felt some guilt after one of their fights. Even though Eliza usually started the physical part of the fight, he felt badly that it ended up with them actually getting physical with each other. He did love her dearly and thought about how they should probably get some professional help. They would have to seriously consider that. He was afraid that one day the police would leave, taking their son with them. They would both be devastated if that ever happened.
Eliza turned to him briefly. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied back. That was all she said. She was intent on figuring out which of their neighbors had made that phone call.
Chapter 11
One beautiful Saturday morning that summer at the Wildflower Cafe, Frankie was enjoying the sunshine, and listening to the waves lapping on the beach as she worked. She wore only a pair of small white shorts and a lime green tank top, which complemented her red hair, and her curvy figure, nicely. She hummed as she worked, completely unaware of the appreciative glances her way from a group of local teen boys at a table nearby.
“You know, that Marshall Porter is a piece of work,” Frankie heard a woman’s voice say.
Without missing a beat, she stopped her humming and continued wiping down the table she was working on. Frankie turned her head ever so slightly, hoping to get a glimpse of the person talking. She knew who Marshall Porter was, but didn’t recognize the people talking about him. The woman was in her thirties, with olive skin and dark brown hair. Kind of pretty, in an obvious sort of way, Frankie thought. The man with her had similar features.
“What do you mean?” the man sitting with the woman asked her, leaning in to keep his voice low.
The woman didn’t seem to care if anyone heard them or not. She made no effort to keep her voice down. Frankie appreciated that fact. It made it easier for her to eavesdrop. She smiled at the thought.
“I live next door to him and his wife and they’ve been spying on us over the back fence. Marshall has anyway. I haven’t actually seen his wife do anything. But the whole thing is kind of creepy,” Lindsey explained.
“Really? What are you usually doing in the backyard when he’s watching you?” he asked, slamming his hand down on a napkin that threatened to fly away in the gust of wind that swept through the cafe at that moment.
Lindsey looked down at his hand, brushing a strand of hair from her face in response. “Nothing. That’s the weird part. Usually the kids are playing and I’m sitting there reading a book, or answering emails or something. There’s nothing interesting for him to even look at,” Lindsey told him. “I mean, you’re my brother, are my kids all that interesting?” Lindsey smiled when she asked that.
“Not really, no.”
Lindsey laughed at his honesty.
No one at the cafe seemed to notice that Frankie was taking an unusually long time to wipe down the table next to Lindsey and her brother. She moved to cleaning the chairs, so as to not draw attention to herself. It really didn’t matter though. Frankie had no trouble whatsoever drawing attention. Male attention anyway.
“And…Xander told me that Marshall has been watching him also. Like when I’m not around. He's even threatened my son. It happened right in our own front yard and again at the store the other day,” Lindsey explained. “I just really don't know what to do."
“You should call the cops,” her brother told her.
“Yeah, I thought about that. But he hasn't actually done anything wrong that I can see. I don't think looking over your own fence is illegal, and I can't prove he threatened or ever even said anything to my son. I didn’t hear any of it and Xander is only 8. I’m not sure he’s a credible witness.” Lindsey looked around the cafe. “Where is our waitress?”
That was her cue. Frankie stuck the towel she had been using in her pocket and walked over to the brother and sister. “Hi, can I take your order?"
Once the two of them had ordered, and Frankie had put in their ticket at the window for the cook, she asked the other waitress to cover for her for a few minutes. Then she left the café in search of Piper and Mary. Once Frankie found them, the three girls made a plan to meet at the lighthouse later that evening.
Frankie had to finish her shift and change, making her the last to arrive that evening at the lighthouse. When she opened the door, it creaked loudly, as if the hinges hadn’t been oiled in about a hundred years, which was probably a pretty accurate estimate.
“Shhh,” she said out loud without thinking. “Oh great, now I’m talking to a door…and now I’m talking to myself.” When she laughed, it bounced off the concrete walls and drifted upward. “Wow, no way to sneak around in here.”
It was almost pitch black inside the lighthouse, with just a faint light at the very top. She had to stand at the bottom of the stairs for a minute while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Once she felt confident enough in her ability to navigate her way up, Frankie ascended the stairway slowly, holding on tightly to the railing as she did so. She wondered how many thousands of nasty hands had used that railing over the last couple hundred years. She was sure that no one ever took the time to disinfect it. Even so, she wasn’t about to loosen her grip.
She made a mental note to wash her hands thoroughly when she got back home.
The metal steps to the top were very steep and wound their way up in a tight clockwise spiral. Though it was the perfect private space for the girls to meet and talk, Frankie never did like the lighthouse very much. It gave her the creeps, especially after the events that had happened there. She would have to figure out a better meeting place for the next time they needed the privacy.
With each new step, the old lighthouse creaked and groaned. She wondered what kept it from falling apart altogether. It was overrun with rust, and webs, and had been neglected for decades. Even when it was in operation, she doubted that much work had actually been done to keep it maintained. As she passed a dirty window, Frankie looked out at the ocean below. She couldn’t see much due to the fact that the window was covered in filth and spider webs. The ocean appeared to have a surreal, hazy kind of glow through the dirty window.
“Frankie, is that you?” she heard a whisper from above. She couldn’t tell which twin it was.
“Yes, it’s me,” Frankie whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”
“I don’t know. It seems like something we should do in here.”
As soon as Frankie stepped onto the top platform of the lighthouse, she could see that it was Mary she had been talking to. Frankie looked down at the floor and saw a group of candles sitting on top of a blanket. Piper was sitting on the blanket waiting for her. Mary and Frankie sat down across from her.
“Do you think having these fire hazards sitting on top of a blanket is a good idea?" Frankie asked, gesturing toward the lit candles.
Piper just shrugged at her. “We need the light. We’ll be careful. Besides, this place is all metal and concrete, it won’t burn anyway.”
“The blanket will burn,” Frankie explained. “And us. We can burn.”
“Oh relax. You’re such a worrywart,” Piper responded.
Frankie shook her head back and forth slightly, but didn’t respond verbally. No need to get into a fight over something so stupid, she thought.
“What were you laughing at when you came in?” Mary asked Frankie, in an attempt at changing the subject.
“Oh you heard that, huh?” Frankie shrugged her shoulders. “I was just talking to myself, I guess. I told the door to be quiet and it made me laugh,” she admitted.
The twins giggled at her comment. Frankie smiled in response. She didn’t mind. It was kind of funny after all.
“This is kind of a freaky place to meet. Don’t you think? I mean after Dixie died here and all.”
Frankie looked around for an escape route. The only way out of there was down that tight circular stairway. She wondered what would happen if an axe murderer decided to come after them. They had absolutely nowhere to go. She shuddered at the thought.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” Mary answered.
The three teens took a moment to reflect on the tragic death of their friend, not long ago. Dixie had been pushed off the top landing, from exactly where they were at that moment, by another girl that they thought was their friend. She wasn’t.
“So…what is this all about, Frankie?” Mary asked her, snapping Frankie out of it.
“Okay,” Frankie began. “So you know how Marshall and Eliza Porter were acting weird at the ferry port that day we saw them? You know, when Lola was leaving?”
“Yeah?” Piper replied.
“Well, I’ve noticed other strange stuff too. Like today. Their neighbor was at the cafe talking to her brother about the Porters. Mostly about Marshall. I don’t remember if Eliza’s name ever came up. I kind of overheard their conversation.”
Both of the twins nodded, waiting for the rest of the story. Piper picked up the lighter and relit one of the candles that had gone out.
“She said that Marshall has been looking over their back fence, at her kids. And that Marshall threatened her son. I don’t know exactly what was said or anything, and I have no idea what it was all about. But, isn’t that weird?” Frankie looked to both girls for a response.
“I don’t know,” Piper replied. “Maybe he was just being friendly with his neighbors and wanted to talk to them. We have no idea. What do you think, Mary? Do you think it’s weird to look over the neighbors’ fence and talk to them?” Piper turned to her sister.
“Yes, definitely,” Mary answered, twisting her long hair as she spoke.
Piper thought for a moment. “Maybe you’re right. Something might be up,” Piper chimed in. “I just don’t know what it is.”
“Oh, there’s something else about the Porters that we haven’t told you,” Mary added. She looked over at her sister for confirmation, and Piper nodded her approval.
“Me and Piper were at the hospital the other day and we saw Eliza Porter there. She was talking to one of the nurses,” Mary started.
“His name is Nathan,” Piper told the girls. “I work with him sometimes. He’s really nice.”
“We saw Eliza run across the lobby and hide in one of the unused exam rooms, then come out like nothing was wrong. So, we followed her up to the nurses station,” Mary continued. “I guess we were being kind of nosey.” She looked over at Piper, who just smiled. “We heard Eliza yelling at him…well, not really yelling, but she was angry about something. She told him to stop calling her house and harassing them. She seemed pretty mad.”
“Did she say anything else?” Frankie asked, completely enthralled with what Mary was telling her.
“Um, no, I don’t think so,” Mary answered, trying to recall the incident.
“Yes she did. She said that Nathan should stay out of their medical records, because it was none of his business,” Piper added.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Mary agreed. “I think that was about it. Nothing else I can remember.”
“They’ve just been acting weird ever since Zachary was kidnapped and returned a week or so later. You’ve all noticed it, right?” Piper asked the girls.
“Definitely,” Mary answered. “They’ve been acting kind of sketchy. Even when we saw them at the ferry port that day.” She turned to her sister. “Remember when I said that Zachary had gotten really big since I saw him last?” Mary didn’t wait for a response from Piper. “Well anyway, Marshall made some comment about how kids grow and grabbed Zachary from me and they left, without even saying good-bye. It was just very strange. I think they are hiding something. I just have no clue what that is.”
“Ooh, we should go to the hospital and see if we can find anything out,” Frankie blurted out. “Maybe the answer is in those medical records that Eliza was talking about.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Piper answered. “We could get into trouble and I could get fired.” Her arms and shoulders tensed up at the thought. “I really like my job there.”
“Since when are you worried about any of that stuff?” Frankie challenged her. “Besides, even if you do get fired, which I doubt by the way, you know you will always have a job at the Wildflower Inn.”
Piper shrugged her shoulders and began fidgeting with the gold, heart shaped necklace she was wearing. “I’m probably going to live to regret this, but yeah, okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 12
The next morning, Mary was scheduled to work at the front desk of the Inn. No one worked the night shift, except on busy holiday weekends. Her parents were always there in case of any issues with the guests, so no need to pay someone to sit at the front desk all night with nothing to do.
Mary usually did her best not to wake the rest of her family when she had the early shift, though she often wondered why. It seemed that none of them ever had the desire to keep quiet, and not bother the rest of the family, whenever they were up early. Still, it was not in her nature to be rude and disturb the others just because they had no common courtesy.
Braiding her long hair as she walked down the stairs, toward the lobby, Mary switched on the lobby light when she reached the bottom. Startled, Mary lost her grip on her braid and it unraveled as sh
e stood looking at Tim, asleep and snoring on the lobby couch.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” She shook him very gently to wake him up without startling him.
Tim’s eyes opened to barely a slit, as they adjusted to the light. He looked up at his daughter. “Oh hi, Sweetheart. What time is it?” Tim tried to sit up. He was very slow moving that morning.
“It’s 7 a.m. Why aren’t you at home?” Mary took her father’s arm and helped him struggle to a sitting position. His movement was slow and deliberate as he sat up. She made note of how boney his arm had seemed.
Tim no longer lived at the Wildflower Inn with his family. Since he and Roxanne had separated, he had an apartment just down the street. He hadn’t been there long, but he hated every minute of it. He missed his home at the Inn, and more importantly, he missed his family. He wanted nothing more than to be back with them. Back to his life.
“Oh, I was just working late on some paperwork and didn’t feel like going home to that empty apartment. Besides, it’s such a long walk in my condition. So, I crashed here. It’s no big deal.” Tim waved the whole thing off as completely normal.
“I could have driven you home. All you had to do was ask.” Mary sat down on the couch next to Tim, drawing her eyebrows together as she looked at him.
Tim looked over at his daughter and could see the worry on her face. “You don’t even have a drivers license.”
“So? It’s not that far. Frankie has given me a few lessons.” Mary tilted her head and smiled.
“I see.”
“Or you could have stayed in one of the rooms here. You didn’t have to sleep on the couch,” Mary continued. “We do own an Inn, you know.”
Tim smiled at his daughter. “Yeah, I know. It was just easier to lay down here on the couch. It’s fine. Please stop worrying so much. I can take care of myself.”
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