Beaches in Paradise Read online

  “Awesome bonfire last night,” Alyson commented. At twenty-four, she was our youngest staff member. She’d done her student teaching with Gina last year and had been hired for the upcoming year to teach basic freshman and sophomore math classes.

  “It was a beautiful night,” I agreed.

  “So what exactly is going on with Gina? The new deputy said she was looking for her. She isn’t in some sort of trouble, is she?”

  “I think Deputy Baldwin just wants to talk to Gina, but she hasn’t been able to find her. You haven’t seen or spoken to her, have you?”

  Alyson shook her head. “Not since yesterday morning at the wakeboarding competition. We only spoke for a minute, but she looked pretty haggard. I figured she didn’t show last night because she was sick, but the deputy said she wasn’t at her house.”

  “I checked later and she wasn’t there. I’ll admit to being a bit worried about her. Did anyone in the crowd last night say they’d seen or spoken to her after she got off volunteer duty yesterday?”

  Alyson paused. “You might want to talk to Rick. He started to tell us about a call he got and then everyone got distracted by the lights.”

  “Lights?” I asked.

  “The lights on the lake. Maybe it was after you left. It looked like they were coming from the island. You know, that island is supposed to be haunted.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard the legend.” I didn’t necessarily believe in ghosts, but it was true that a lot of odd things had occurred on the island in the twenty years since its only resident, Amelia Rosenberg, died under mysterious circumstances. Amelia was an heiress who’d moved to the island after her parents passed away. For reasons unknown to me, she became a total recluse who rarely left the island, choosing to live in isolation until the day she died. The shadowy woman had left a mysterious legacy that served as the basis of a local legend that was shared around campfires to this day.

  “Anyway,” Alyson continued, “after we saw the lights, the topic of conversation drifted away from Gina, and I don’t remember if Rick ever did finish what he’d been about to say.”

  Rick Tolley was another physical education teacher and the varsity football coach. He and Gina had dated from time to time, but I never had the impression it was anything serious.

  “Maybe I’ll call him,” I said.

  “I hope Gina’s okay. Ask her to call me once you track her down. Now I’m worried something bad might have happened to her.”

  “I’ll have her call you once I catch up with her, and thanks again for the information about Rick.”

  A waitress brought our food and Alyson went back to the table where her friends were eating and sharing a pitcher of beer.

  “What do you think?” I asked Kyle after I’d taken the first bite of my hamburger, chewed it, and swallowed.

  “I think maybe you should call Rick.”

  “I plan to,” I said after taking a sip of my beer. “But it’s the lights on the island that most interest me.”

  “The lights on the island?” Kyle asked.

  “I saw them too. Remember when we were talking before Kate showed up? Rosenberg Island has been uninhabited for twenty years. Occasionally, a boat will dock there and someone will take a look around, but it was late when I saw the lights and completely dark otherwise. It didn’t make sense that there would be day trippers on the island, and with all the ghost talk, no one ever camps there.”

  “So you think there might be a link between the lights and what’s going on with Gina?”

  I nodded. “Bristow’s car was found in the parking lot of the marina closest to the island. By the time I saw the lights, Bristow’s body had already been found in Gina’s car, but what if he’d been on the island earlier in the day? That would explain why his car was at the marina. What if whoever he was with shot him and somehow Gina got involved and tried to help him? We’ve pretty much decided Gina was most likely kidnapped by whoever she struggled with near the scene of the car accident. What if they took her back to the island? It’s as good a place as any to hide someone. What if she’s still there?”

  Kyle frowned. “I suppose that’s a viable theory.”

  “We need to check out the island. Let’s finish eating and then grab your boat,” I suggested. “I know it will be getting dark by the time we get there and docking on the island is tricky even in the daylight, but your boat has lights and there’s no way I can wait until morning to see if Gina is being held there.”

  “Okay, we’ll go, but we’re going to tell Roy what we’re doing. Maybe he can come along as well. If Gina’s being held there, we can assume there’s someone else on the island too.” Kyle paused, then continued. “In case there are guards on the island, I think we should wait until it’s completely dark to make our approach. I can anchor offshore and we can use the dinghy to land on the island. We’ll have a better chance of going undetected if there are no lights or sounds from the boat’s engine.”

  “That’s a good idea.” I looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost seven thirty. “The sun will be down in an hour, and it should be dark enough to avoid detection by nine. Let’s finish eating and I’ll call Roy.”

  “Do you have warm clothing at my place? It might be chilly on the water after dark.”

  “I have a sweatshirt and jeans in my bag. I’d planned to stay the entire weekend, so I came prepared.”

  I called Roy, who agreed to meet us at Kyle’s in thirty minutes. We finished our burgers but left the beer. We didn’t know what we’d encounter and didn’t want to be impaired in any way. We arrived at Kyle’s ahead of Roy, so I took the dogs out while Kyle got the boat fueled and ready to go.

  Chapter 10

  When Roy showed up with guns strapped to most parts of his body, I began to panic. What was I thinking? I was a high school teacher responsible for raising my two young sisters, not James Bond. The sight of Roy all decked out in his vest and weapons brought home the potential danger of the situation.

  “Here’s how it’s going to go,” Roy said after he handed over Gina’s computer to Kyle but before we boarded the boat. “We’re going to the island in a recon capacity only. If there are individuals on the island who appear to be armed, we’ll call Kate to request backup. We’ll watch from a distance until backup arrives, but we won’t in any way approach anyone who even looks like they might be armed.”

  “Agreed,” Kyle said.

  “Yeah, okay,” I seconded.

  Roy continued. “I considered calling Kate before I came over here, but it’s most likely the lights you saw were just kids partying, and I didn’t want to alert her to the fact that we’re working together if I don’t have to—although she’s a smart woman and probably already suspects something like this.”

  Roy was right. Once he came back, it made sense she’d realize we’d been talking to him. For some reason she hadn’t made an issue of it yet.

  “If there’s someone on the island, will they be able to see the boat’s lights from the cove where you plan to anchor?” Roy asked Kyle.

  “No, there’s a hill between the cove and the part of the lake where the island is located.”

  “That’s good. If there’s anyone there, we’ll need to sneak up on them if we want to avoid engagement.”

  Roy went over a few additional procedural and safety items while Kyle prepared to depart. By the time we left the dock it was almost dark. Kyle used his lights as well as his instruments to navigate a safe path to the cove where he’d decided to anchor and transfer to the dinghy.

  Roy sat in the front of the dinghy with me in the middle and Kyle in the back. The small boat had a motor, but we wanted to arrive on the island undetected, so we rowed quietly toward the mouth of the cove as the sky darkened completely and the stars began to shine in the night sky.

  “That’s the island just ahead,” I said in a soft voice. “It’s probably ab
out a half mile from here.”

  “I don’t see any lights,” Kyle replied.

  “Yeah.” I felt my hope fade. “Me neither.”

  “Let’s continue and look around,” Roy said. “Even if no one is there now, there may be clues left behind if someone was there last night.”

  Kyle, Roy, and I settled into a steady rowing pattern as we neared the backside of the island. I’d been so hopeful that we’d find Gina. It had been almost twenty-four hours since I’d learned she was missing, but it felt like days. God, I was tired.

  “If a boat were to dock on the island it would be on the east side,” Roy said. “There’s only a narrow strip where the rocks can be navigated. We can maneuver around the rocks with the dinghy, so I suggest we tie up on the west side and then make our way around the island by foot.”

  We agreed with him and quietly and carefully tied up the dinghy and started around the island, hugging the beach as we did. I hadn’t seen any lights or heard anything, but I was still hopeful there would be clues to be found. When we were almost exactly halfway around the island, Roy held up his hand. We’d been walking around him but now paused.

  “Do you see anything?” I whispered in Roy’s ear.

  “Maybe.” He turned around. “The two of you wait here. I’m going to check it out.”

  “But…”

  Roy gave me a hard look. “Wait here. That’s the deal.”

  I nodded, and Roy headed inland. There was a large rock nearby, so I took a seat. After a minute, Kyle joined me.

  “What do you think he saw?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see or hear anything.”

  “It’s so quiet. There’s no way Gina’s here.”

  Kyle put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “We’ll find her.”

  “In time?”

  Kyle didn’t answer. He was a smart man and I was sure he realized, as I did, that with every minute that passed, the chance we’d find Gina alive diminished.

  I looked out over the calm water. The moon had begun to rise over the distant mountain, creating a trail of light in the inky darkness. I felt so lost and alone, even though I knew Kyle was doing everything he could to keep my hopes up. Where are you, Gina?

  “What’s that sound?” Kyle asked after a few minutes went by.

  I listened carefully. At first I didn’t hear anything, but after listening hard, I realized I was hearing a strange tapping. “I don’t know,” I whispered back.

  “I thought it might be a tree branch hitting against something, but there’s literally no wind,” Kyle replied.

  “It could be a bird, though most birds aren’t out after dark.”

  “Maybe it’s a squirrel up a tree, trying to dislodge a pinecone?” Kyle suggested.

  I listened again, but the sound seemed to have stopped. I waited for it to return. Now the only sound I could hear was my own breath. “I wonder what’s taking Roy so long,” I said after another minute. “It seems he should know by now whether or not we’re alone.”

  “I imagine he’s taking his time. If there’s anyone on the island, I’m sure he doesn’t want to alert them to our presence.”

  I closed my eyes and laid my head on Kyle’s shoulder. It seemed like Roy had been gone for hours, even though I knew that couldn’t be true. I was beginning to nod off when I heard the tapping again. I sat up straight. “Did you hear that?”

  “I heard it. It sounds like it’s coming from farther inland.”

  “Maybe we should check it out,” I said.

  “Roy told us to wait here.”

  I was about to argue when Roy came toward us from down the beach. He had his flashlight on, so he must be fairly certain we were alone.

  “Did you find anything?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t appear anyone is here now, but someone has been here recently. Not only are there a ton of fresh footprints on the beach but I found beer cans, chip bags, and candy wrappers floating in the water near the small dock. If I had to guess, the lights you saw last night were teens partying.”

  “So Gina probably wasn’t here last night,” I concluded.

  “It looks that way, but I did find this.” Roy held up a phone with a Serenity High School phone cover.

  “That could be Gina’s phone,” I said. “She has a cover like that, although a lot of people have the same one. Does the phone work?”

  “I found it in the water near the shore. It’s completely drenched and inoperable. If this is Gina’s phone, that would explain why your calls have been going directly to voicemail. I’ll take it back with me to see if someone can pull up ownership information from it. Even if it turns out it’s Gina’s phone though, I’m not sure it will help us find her. She may have been here at one time, but she isn’t here now.”

  “I’m guessing she wasn’t here when the party was going on, but she might have been here earlier in the day,” I suggested.

  “What makes you think that?” Roy asked.

  “Maybe she met Bristow at the marina and came out to the island with him for some reason. Maybe he wasn’t satisfied just with ruining Serenity with his strip mall. Maybe he wanted to develop this island as well.”

  “Doubtful,” Roy responded.

  “Yeah, I know,” I admitted. “I guess I’m just grasping at straws. None of this makes sense. Even if Gina and Bristow did come out to the island for some reason, how did he end up in Gina’s car? Why not take his own back to town after the trip to the island?”

  “Maybe his wouldn’t start and they decided to take hers to wherever they were going next,” Kyle suggested.

  “Did you tow Bristow’s car?” I asked Roy.

  “Yes,” Roy confirmed.

  “Can you find out if it’s operable?”

  “I’ll check in the morning. If it won’t start, I guess we can assume that’s why Gina and Bristow began using her car after leaving the marina. We should head back.”

  “Why not look around some more?” I asked. “There may be other clues.”

  “I looked around as best I could, but it’s dark, and the interior of the island is fairly dense with foliage,” Roy answered. “Maybe we can come back when it’s light.”

  “Did you look inside the stone house Amelia lived in?” I asked.

  “It’s boarded up and doesn’t look as if it’s been disturbed.”

  “What about the strange noise?” I asked.

  “What noise?” Roy asked.

  “Listen. It’s a sort of a tapping sound.”

  Everyone fell into silence.

  “See. Right there,” I said. “Did you hear it?”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s the old pump. It’s an ancient device that draws water from the lake. I noticed a ticking sound coming from it when I checked the house. I suppose—” Roy was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He took it out of his pocket and answered. He listened for a moment, then replied, “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Roy looked at us. “I need to go. There’s been a new development and Kate wants me to come in.” Roy looked at Kyle. “The outboard motor on the dinghy does work?”

  “It works. We just didn’t want the noise as we approached. If being quiet isn’t an issue, I can have you back to your car in thirty minutes.”

  “Let’s go.”

  We’d boarded the dinghy and Kyle had started back toward his boat before I looked at Roy. “What development?”

  “I don’t know, Kate didn’t say. She just asked if I could meet her at the office.”

  “It’s pretty late and you’ve both put in a ton of hours. It must be something pretty significant for her not to just wait until morning.”

  “I got the feeling she had big news she didn’t want to discuss on the phone,” Roy confirmed.

  “You’ll call me once you know what it is?�
��

  Roy didn’t respond right away. At last he nodded.

  When we arrived back at Kyle’s, Roy left immediately, and I helped Kyle tie up and cover the boat.

  “You should think about putting in a lift,” I said as we made sure the boat was tucked in tight enough to weather a strong wind should one come up.

  “I’ve been thinking about building a boat house, but I’d need to move it around the cove a bit. I wouldn’t want to obstruct the view of the water from the house.”

  “I’m sure if there isn’t a deep enough channel to move the docking location, you could have one dredged.”

  “I could. But that would be a big project. For now, the exterior dock is working fine.”

  I followed Kyle up the walkway to the house. The dogs acted like we’d been gone for years instead of just a couple of hours. Despite the fact that I was exhausted, I was wound up. Kyle wanted to check on the program he’d left running on the computer, which he hoped could unlock the secure file in Gina’s account, and I decided to take the dogs for a quick walk. I was super curious about what Kate wanted to discuss with Roy and hoped he’d call before turning in for the night. Of course, I was so tried I’d most likely sleep right through the ringing of my phone if he didn’t call before we turned in. I took my phone from my pocket with the idea of turning up the volume. When I clicked on it, I noticed I had a message from Hunter.

  “Hey, Tj. I just wanted to let you know I got back the DNA results from Gina and the man who’s staying in her house. There’s no way they’re related. Given the situation, I called the sheriff’s office and spoke to Deputy Baldwin. I thought the DNA results for Gina’s mysterious visitor might shed some light on what’s going on if she can find a match. It’s about ten o’clock. I should be up until around eleven thirty. If you get this message and have any questions, feel free to call.”

  I looked at the clock. It was ten minutes after eleven. I hit Return Call and waited.