by Barry Napier
“Sam and I were sitting right here,” Jenny said, making a little dent in the sand with her toe. “Henry was right there, standing in the surf. The water was no higher than his knees. And he knew that the sandbars don’t reach out here, so he was staying close to the shore. He was bending over and sort of sifting through the sand for seashells. He especially liked the ones that were peach-colored.”
“Not orange, though” Sam said, smiling. “No. Peach.”
Jenny and Sam laughed softly at this. Cooper assumed it was some sort of inside joke between the members of their family. He felt like an intruder.
“Sam and I were talking,” Jenny continued. “I even remember that we were talking about finally letting Henry take surf lessons. We knew Henry was old enough and would put the time and energy into it…he was nine and all he had talked about that summer was surfing. We were trying to figure out which one of the instructors would maybe be best for him and that’s when he started shouting.”
“It wasn’t a scared shout,” Sam said. “It was just sort of a shout of surprise. You know? He was pointing out there, towards those rocks.”
Sam pointed to the two large black rocks that stuck up from the ocean, a little less than twenty yards out from where the waves were currently lapping at the shore. He pointed, but he did not look in that direction.
“Dark water,” Sam said. “That’s all Henry said. We both looked in that direction to see what he was talking about but there was nothing. Just the rocks.”
Jenny picked it up from there. She wasn’t crying but Cooper could tell that she was having to make an effort to keep it together.
“We didn’t take our eyes away from him for any more than three seconds,” she said. “It couldn’t have been any more than that. But when we looked back to him, he was already under the water. It was like some wave came up out of nowhere and pulled him under. He was a long way out from where he had been before we looked away to those rocks. If it was an undertow, it was a damn fast and strong one.”
“I ran out there after him,” Sam said. “I saw him when I hit the water and still saw him when the first wave hit me. They were small waves—nothing big but just strong enough to knock you back a little, you know? But after a few seconds, I couldn’t see him anymore. Not even a hand coming out of the water. Nothing. He was just gone.
“I swam out there, going under and dragging at the bottom with my hands. I never found him. Nothing. I was out there until I just about passed out. Jenny told me later that I was swimming out there looking for Henry for almost half an hour. She had called the life guard station in that time. They had to drag me out.”
“Did the lifeguards find his body?” Cooper asked.
“No,” Jenny said. “No one ever did.”
“Not the police, not the search and rescue units, not the volunteers that pooled together right after it happened.”
“Is that common?”
“It happens every now and then,” Jenny said. “Sometimes bodies that go under near a beach get pulled out to sea. It depends on how far away from the shore they are. But Henry was pretty close. After the service we had for him, the search and rescue guys basically gave up and said there might always be that call weeks or months later once his body washed up on a shore somewhere. But that never happened.”
Cooper felt his heart sinking. He couldn’t remember a time in his life where he had ever felt such compassion for someone. He felt deflated and sad. It was something that the Cooper M. Reid prior to the disappearance would have never been capable of.
“I’m truly sorry,” Cooper said.
“Don’t be,” Jenny said. “Just…I don’t know. I sound like an idiot for even suggestion it, but if you think there’s something you might be able to find out with…well, whatever it is you have…then I think we’re willing to be available.”
She looked to Sam, as if for confirmation, and he nodded his agreement. “Yeah,” he said. “Anything about Henry or what the hell is happening in our house.”
Cooper looked out to those two black rocks, breaking out of the sea. He had noticed right away that the Blackstocks had not taken him directly to them. He had also noticed how they didn’t look at them for very long, not even when speaking directly about them.
He could see nothing particularly sinister about them and wasn’t getting any sort of gut reaction when he looked at them. But if they were the last thing Henry Blackstock had shown an interest in before he died, Cooper supposed they would be the best place to start looking for answers.
Of course, it went a bit deeper than that, and he almost didn’t want to voice it. But he did, offering Sam the brief article he had printed out on Kevin Owens.
“Kevin Owens died over there,” Cooper said, pointing to the beach on the other side of the black rocks. “As you can see in the article, it’s a story very similar to yours.”
Sam read it over, blinking away tears. He handed it to Jenny but she shook her head, wanting nothing to do with it.
“Have you talked to the Owens family?” Jenny asked.
“No. From what I can gather, they left town. I’ll be honest…I was able to get your address by less-than-honest means. I tried the same with the Owens and all I found out was that they are gone for the summer. They left Kill Devil Hills three weeks after their son died. I’m not sure where they went.”
For that, he was fortunate. From just hearing the story of Henry Blackstock’s death, Cooper was basically drained. He’d had a few pretty surreal moments since his return nine months ago and the last two hours was quickly beginning to top the list. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to go through this again with another family.
Sam seemed to pick up on his mood right away. He clapped Cooper on the back with hesitancy to his touch. Cooper understood it; although they had just shared something pretty significant, they still found his abilities a bit scary. It was an unspoken understanding that he could feel coming off of them like heat.
“Come on,” Sam said. “Let’s head back to the house and grab a beer.”
Cooper nodded and let Sam and Jenny lead him back to their house.
7
Sam Blackstock had insisted that Cooper stay for a few more beers, but Cooper had politely declined. He knew that if he stayed around, the Blacksctock would start asking him more about his history and how he had come by his peculiar set of skills. So he had allowed himself a single beer with both of them on their back porch, watching the sea as it tugged in the dusk.
He left with only the vaguest mention of possibly coming back to see them and headed for his hotel, tired and wiped out.
The hotel he was staying at was a modest little dive that boasted mediocre rooms and came without any sort of view of the beach although the ocean was in plain sight from the parking lot. It was cheap and it had a bed; those were the only features that Cooper cared about.
When he arrived at his room, he thought he might have a pizza delivered and crash in front of the television until he fell asleep. It wasn’t exactly what he had planned for his first trip out into the world to test his abilities, but it’s what he wanted in that moment. He was sure he’d end up waking up around two or three in the morning—something that seemed to happen more and more as of late—and that he might take the next step in figuring out what was going on in the Blackstock’s house.
But for now, he wanted to rest.
As he collapsed on the bed, he saw that the red message light was flashing on the phone on the bedside table. He dialed the desk operator and asked for his message. He was surprised to find that Stephanie had called him. He had missed her call by less than half an hour. Cooper jotted down the number as the clerk recited it to him and hung up before the man on the other end could finish asking if there was anything else Cooper needed.
Cooper punched the number in to the relic of a phone. Steph answered on the second ring and Cooper was slightly annoyed by how much the sound of her voice could still lift his spirits.
“That took longer t
han I thought it would,” she said, skipping formalities like hello. “Things went well with the Blackstocks, I take it?”
“I guess,” Cooper said. “Thing went weird. Not particularly well.”
“Did they call the police or have you committed?”
“No.”
“Then I’d say things went well.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well, that’s the only way I’m going to agree to have dinner with you.”
Cooper laughed. “Fine. Just tell me where to pick you up.”
“Nice try. I’ll be by your place in about an hour.”
“Okay.”
Again skipping formalities, Stephanie didn’t bother with a bye or a see ya or anything of the sort. She simply hung up. Cooper grinned at the receiver in his hand and then placed it back in the cradle.
He looked to the bed and realized that after talking to Stephanie, he wasn’t quite as tired.
***
Cooper showered but didn’t bother dressing nicely. Even if he’d wanted to, the only nice clothes he had in his single suitcase was a poorly maintained black suit that he had packed just in case he needed to fake his old roots and pose as an FBI agent. He still had his old ID to go with it, something that he kept tucked away at the bottom of the suitcase like a family heirloom he resented but could not part with.
He hadn’t fussed over the way he looked because he knew Stephanie wouldn’t either. And when she knocked on his door exactly one hour after they had ended their call, he saw that he had been right.
Of course, with Stephanie, it never mattered. She always managed to look great, no matter what she wore. In fact, she was in the same outfit she had been in when they had shared their brief lunch earlier in the day. She was even still wearing her sunglasses, despite the fact that night had was less than half an hour away from fully falling.
Cooper found it funny and slightly comforting to see that she had not changed much in the twenty months that had passed since they had last seen each other. They had dated quite seriously once upon a time—that had been nearly three years before his disappearance—and had gotten close to getting back together just before his disappearance. Seeing her now, as he stood at the precipice of the next monumental moments of his life, seemed fitting.
“Ready?” she asked him simply, peeking over his shoulder and frowning at the small room.
“Yeah.”
They walked to her car without a word. The silence fit them well, sliding around them comfortably. She spoke only when it was necessary as she drove them down the main strip of beach businesses. She fiddled with radio and eventually landed on a station that was playing a Jimmy Buffet song.
“I thought you hated Buffet,” Cooper said.
“I do. But we’re at the beach. Might as well live it up.”
“Rebel,” Cooper laughed.
That was the extent of their conversation until they reached the restaurant. She chose a quaint looking place that sat on the opposite side of the beach, away from the water. When they got out of the car and walked into the restaurant, she made sure to never let him take the lead or get in front of her. He knew her well and had expected this. She’d always had trust issues and didn’t like to give anyone control, no matter how trivial of a situation she was in. He supposed it was why she had chosen the less than honest line of business she was in. While she worked IT for a telecommunications firm by day, she was a hacker by night. The hacking was what paid the bills. Her 9-5 was a front. It had been that way since her sophomore year of college.
Cooper assessed all of this as they were led through the restaurant by a hostess. Familiar facts eased his mind. While being with Stephanie under these circumstances was awkward to say the least, he was able to relax by reminding himself that he knew her well and was in tune with her issues, quirks, and personality. No matter how stand-offish she might be, that was one fact that would never change.
And because he was so familiar with her, he was fully prepared by the onslaught of conversation that erupted form her the moment they were seated.
“So, the Blackstocks,” she said. “Nice people?”
Cooper laughed and shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “None of that yet. I want to know what you’ve been up to. I know you’re still hacking, of course. Without your skills, I wouldn’t be here right now. What else have you been up to?”
She took her glasses off and sat them by the edge of the table. She leaned forward and looked directly into his eyes.
“What is this Cooper? And don’t bullshit me. You disappear from my life for almost a whole year—and I mean literally disappear for three months of that year—and then call me to ask for my help. Would you have even called me if I couldn’t have been of help?”
“Eventually,” he said.
“That’s a terrible answer.”
“But it’s the truth.”
She sighed and seemed to size him up. He looked for something like compassion in that stare but saw none.
“You have three questions,” she said. “Make them good. After that, we’re going to talk business. And since I put my ass on the line for you, business includes you filling me in on where you were when you disappeared, what you’ve been doing for the last nine months since you got back, and what you intend to do with the Blackstocks.”
“I can answer most of that,” Cooper said.
She rolled her eyes and waited for him to start. As he tried to decide on the best questions to ask, a waitress came by and took their drink orders. Stephanie ordered red wine and Cooper ordered a Coke.
“Question one,” Cooper said, folding his hands and leaning into the table. He tried a smile but it felt weird. And it apparently had no effect on Stephanie. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“Not now. After I didn’t hear from you for three months, I figured you were out of the picture. So I started seeing this one guy for a while but it ended quickly.”
“So you’re not seeing him now?”
“Is that really what you want your second question to be?”
“No. I retract that question.”
She smiled at him in a way that showed a glimpse of the rarely-seen sweet side of her. Cooper considered it a small victory and asked his next question before the moment passed.
“What kind of work were you doing before I called you? And I don’t mean the boring telecom stuff.”
“The same old stuff. I’m working with a few groups that are keeping tabs on people that are suspected of being involved in sex trafficking.”
“You know, the FBI actually works on things like that….legally.”
“I know. They are also slow and show very few results. Do you really want to get into a debate on the effectiveness of our government? You worked for them at one time. Remember how awesome they were to you?”
“Touché. Anyway, I digress.”
“Yeah…we’re working on a program that infects their computer with a virus that pings a few government-owned websites. And by ping, I mean it leads those agencies to believe that their site is being hacked. And when they trace it, it goes back to the sex trafficker. ”
“That’s genius.”
Steph smiled smugly and patted herself on the shoulder.
“What’s your third question?” she asked.
Cooper had several he wanted to ask but didn’t know which was the right one. “I think I’ll save it for another time.”
“Don’t save it for too long,” she said. “You have me at your disposal for tomorrow and after that I have to get back to the cubicles of the IT world.”
“I know.”
The waitress brought their drinks and then took their orders. They fell into a silence that was more comfortable than awkward. Cooper considered this another victory. That was, of course, until Stephanie broke it with her usual bluntness.
“So where were you?” she asked. “Everything I could find says th
at you were in Kansas and then you just disappeared. You say you got back nine months ago, but I can’t find any trace of you up until you contacted me two weeks ago.”
“Good,” he said. “If I managed to stay under wraps well enough to elude you and your hacker networks, I must be doing pretty well. Like I said, though, I did have help.”
“Yeah, who was it, by the way?”
“I have connections, too,” Cooper said slyly. “It’s just a guy I knew from the bureau that got fed up with how they were doing business with wire taps and all that. He ended up sliding into the same line of work as you. From time to time, I think there are still some departments in the government that tap him for work.”
“Interesting,” Stephanie said. “But not interesting enough for me to realize that you just tried to dodge my question. Where were you, Cooper?”
“I don’t think you’re going to like my answer.”
“Try me.”
For the first time since sitting down at the table, Cooper looked away from her. His nerves were on edge and his heart was hammering.
“I’m not entirely sure.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know where I was. And I have no clear recollection of the place. It was dark most of the time, I think. And it was quiet.”
“Are you being purposefully vague?”
“Not at all. Steph, I want to talk to someone about what happened. I think I need to. But the hell of it is that I don’t remember all of it. I have only the faintest memory of how I got there and absolutely no idea how I got out.”
Stephanie began to play with her glasses, as if she was thinking of putting them back on to hide her eyes. “Are you talking about some other town?” she asked. “Or are you getting into your freaky-deaky stuff?”