Her heart soaked up the music and the sermon, and she leaned over to Zach as the service ended. “I’m glad we came. I needed to be here.”
His smile washed over her. “Me too.” He looked past her shoulder and waved. “Jermaine, Michelle, hold on.”
She turned to see Jermaine Diskin, the paramedic who flew on Zach’s mercy flights, wave. He steered his wife their way. About five eight, he was slightly built with green eyes that stood out in his mocha-colored skin. Michelle was part Asian and had a lavender farm on the outskirts of town. She was nearly as tall as her husband and always wore colorful flowing skirts. Her raven hair fell nearly to her waist. They were in their late twenties and clearly doted on one another.
Michelle started to hug her, then took a step back. “Sorry, I put lavender oil on this morning. I don’t want to give you a headache.”
Nice of her to remember. “It’s good to see you. How’s the farm doing?” Luckily all she could smell was the hint of Jermaine’s pipe tobacco.
“I had a great harvest this month, but I’ve been dealing with EPA headaches. I’ll survive it, though. You look good, girl. I’ve missed you. Jermaine has kept me posted on you, but it’s not the same as seeing your sweet face.” She ruffled Alex’s hair. “And how’s my boy?”
He grinned and sidled closer to Shauna. “We’re staying at the Zachster’s, and we had a Pac-Man marathon last night.”
Michelle’s face was a study of contrasts: disbelief, joy, and curiosity. She glanced at Zach. “Is that so? Sounds like a good time to me.”
Zach touched Alex’s head and shot Michelle a quelling glance. “I’ll tell Jermaine about it tomorrow. It’s complicated.”
“I’ll bet.” Michelle smiled and took Jermaine’s arm. “We’d better go rescue the Junior Church workers from our two hoodlums. Let’s get together for dinner soon.”
“Sounds great.” All Shauna’s warm feelings evaporated. The tongues would go to wagging all over town now.
Zach’s voice spoke softly in her ear. “She’s not going to gossip about it. Michelle is one of the good ones.”
He was right, and she knew it. “I’m just being a little touchy.”
Karl’s voice boomed behind her, and she turned just in time to be enfolded in a hug. “I thought that was you. How are you doing, Shauna? I heard about Lucy. Terrible thing.” He shook his head. “Nora and I had gone to the Gulf of Thailand for our anniversary, and we stopped to see her on our way back from the airport. Nora barely got through our trip without her best friend. I had to call the doctor to give her a sedative when we heard the news.”
She pulled away. “It’s hard to even believe it.” Her head began to throb, probably from catching a whiff of Michelle’s lavender oil.
His lionlike mane of salt-and-pepper hair fell over his forehead. “Anything I can do?” He glanced sideways at Zach, as if trying to figure out why they were there together when the whole town knew she hadn’t given him the time of day for a year. She would have to explain to him too.
Zach spoke in a hushed voice. “Shauna’s house was broken into last night. The killer must think she saw or knows something. I insisted she and Alex stay with me so I can protect them. It was a good thing I did, or they would have been home when he came calling.”
Karl raised his brows. “You’re a good man.” He looked over Zach’s shoulder and waved. “I’d better go. Nora is waiting at the door, and she’ll have my hide if we miss our lunch reservations, especially today. She’s heading for her sister’s soon and will be gone for two weeks, leaving me with the bees to take care of.” He touched Shauna’s arm. “Let me know if you need anything.”
She took Alex’s hand. “Let’s get out of here before we have to explain it to anyone else.”
Zach pressed his lips together and led her to a side door out into the sunshine. He stopped on the stoop. “People care, Shauna. Everyone loved Jack, and they love you and Alex. Quit putting up such a fence around yourself. Let people in.”
She bit her lip. “I don’t know how to do that. Growing up, I was constantly dealing with snickers and whispers from other girls because of my dad. I thought I’d outgrown fearing things like that, but since Jack’s death, I’ve regressed. I’ll try to quit hiding, but it’s not going to be easy.”
He nodded, then scooped Alex up in his arms and headed for his truck, where he buckled her boy into his booster seat in the back. “Let’s go see your dad and try to forget about all this for just a little while.”
She climbed into the passenger seat and fastened her seat belt. Easier said than done.
Chapter 11
Trees pressed close to the vehicle on both sides of the road. Shauna had huddled with her thoughts on the drive out to Pop’s cabin. Her earlier euphoria about being back in church had ebbed. The message at church had given her pause as the pastor talked about trusting God in the hard circumstances. Ever since Jack died, she’d found trust hard. If God would take Jack and leave her and Alex in such dire circumstances, then his promises seemed fickle to her.
She didn’t know how to reconcile her faith with the reality facing her. If she had another bad month, she’d lose her helicopter, and her home would be next. How could she support Alex? She pressed her hot forehead against the cool glass of the door. And now their very lives were in danger.
“You doing okay?”
Zach’s voice broke into her chaotic thoughts. She lifted her head and checked the backseat to make sure Alex was still asleep. “I’m just dreading talking to my dad about the necklace. He doesn’t like to discuss the old days.”
“I could tell when I questioned him.” Zach turned into the long track that led back to her dad’s cabin on the lake.
She pulled up the picture of the necklace on her phone and stared at it. Maybe Pop would keep it civil for Alex’s sake.
“If he turns belligerent, you could take Alex out to the lake while I continue to question him,” Zach suggested.
She looked at Zach again. After the way she’d treated him since Jack’s death, she didn’t deserve the kindness and concern he’d been showing. “Thanks. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The cabin came into view through the fall foliage, and she curled her fingers into her palms. Maybe she should have called first. For all she knew her dad was already drunk. Some days he started off with beer for breakfast.
The gravel crunched under the tires as the crew-cab truck rolled to a stop. She inhaled and squared her shoulders. Putting a smile on her face, she turned to look into the backseat. “Hey, buddy, we’re at Grandpa’s.”
Alex’s eyes flew open, and he smiled. “You think Gramps will take me fishing? It’s a good day for it, isn’t it?”
Zach got out and opened the back door for her son. “If he is feeling under the weather, one of us will take you.”
He was really good with Alex. Shauna had forgotten the bond between the two of them. Or maybe she hadn’t wanted to remember. There were times when Jack was alive that she’d felt like the odd one out. The three were tight, always on the same wavelength.
She pushed open her door and stepped down into the tall grass surrounding the cabin. The three-bedroom home had been built in the fifties, but it looked like it had been there since pioneer days. The logs had weathered more since last winter, and the chinking needed to be replaced all over the structure. Moss grew in patches on the roof, and she suspected the ceiling leaked during hard rains. Her dad had the money to fix it, but he lacked the motivation. Ever since she’d gone off to the navy and then married Jack, he’d spiraled deeper and deeper into the bottle, until his thirst was all he cared about.
She had tried to help him many times, but he brushed off her concern.
Alex ran for the front door and pushed it open. “Gramps, we’re here to see you!”
She slanted a glance at Zach, then trailed after her son. At least she wasn’t the one surprising her dad. Despite never being sober when they came, he always seemed to welcome Alex.
When she reached the door, she caught the familiar odor of beer and cigar smoke. This time it was mingled with the sour stench of vomit. “Dad?” Her pulse kicked up, and she rushed inside. She stepped over a pool of nastiness just inside the door. “You okay, Pop?”
“Fine, I’m fine.” He sat huddled under a Seahawks throw on the threadbare green sofa. He tossed off the blanket, then struggled to an upright position.
His rheumy eyes lit on Alex, and he brightened. “Sit here beside me, boy. You’ve grown since I last saw you.” He glanced at Shauna. “You should have called first. The place is a little bit of a mess.”
What an understatement. Shauna bit back more questions. “I’m sorry. It was spur of the moment.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Zach go to the kitchen, then emerge with a pan of water and a rag. He went to the door and stooped to clean up the mess. She folded up the throw and tossed it over the back of the sofa so Alex could sit by his grandpa.
If she got some food down him to counteract the alcohol, he’d be more apt to talk sense. “Have you eaten today? I brought some vegetable soup in a thermos in the truck. Want some?”
He rubbed his nicotine-stained hands together. “Sounds good. You make it just like your mom did.”
Had he changed his dirty jeans and red plaid flannel shirt in the past month? Both items looked like they could stand up without help.
She glanced at Zach, who was already heading out the door. “Zach will get the soup. Listen, I’m glad you mentioned Mom. I want to show you something.” She turned on the phone screen and showed him the necklace. “Mom had one like this, didn’t she? Zach’s got a bigger picture of it if you need to see it.”
Her dad ran his fingers over his grizzly chin as he stared at the picture. “I bought that for her on our first anniversary. She never took it off.”
“Do you remember where you bought it?”
“Little shop in Vancouver. We got to know the designer a bit.”
“Are you sure it’s hers?”
“Sure, I’m sure. This designer only made one-of-a-kind pieces.”
“Do you remember the jeweler’s name?” She watched him fidget. What was up with his discomfort? It was a simple question.
He rose as Zach came in. “Sure could use some of that soup.”
“I’ll get it for you.” She followed Zach into the kitchen and washed a bowl from the overflowing pile in the sink, then took the thermos from Zach and poured some soup into it. Thanks, she mouthed to him.
He nodded and motioned to Alex. “Hey, buddy, let’s go check out the lake and see if the fish are jumping.”
“Yay!” Alex followed Zach out the rickety back door and onto a porch that leaned precariously out over the water.
“Be careful,” she called after them. “That deck isn’t very safe.”
“We’ll go down to the water.” Zach shut the door behind them.
She set the soup in front of her dad at the table. “Here you go. Now, about that designer. Surely you remember the name.”
He slurped a spoonful of the soup. “Can’t say as I do. It was a long time ago.”
She recognized the stubborn tilt to his chin and sighed. “Was it Dorothy Edenshaw?”
His eyes widened, and he choked on the soup sliding down his throat. She looked around for a napkin or something, but there was nothing around but a dirty kitchen towel. It was better than nothing so she handed it to him.
He coughed into it, then sat back and gasped. “Shew.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.” He went back to the soup, and that chin jutted in an even more determined manner.
“That’s the name, isn’t it, Pop?”
“Why do you care? That was a long time ago.” He set his spoon down on the dirty table. “I’m not answering another question until you tell me what this is all about.”
“When did you last see the necklace?”
“I thought it was buried with your mom.” He didn’t look at her.
“Did you see it on her?”
He rose and started for the door. “This conversation is done.”
“This necklace showed up at Clarence’s, Pop. It was in a box of stuff he wanted me to give to Lucy for safekeeping. Where did it come from, and how did he come to possess it?”
Her dad hitched up his baggy jeans and made a slow turn back around. “You’d better ask Clarence then.”
“He’s dead, and so is Lucy. Someone wanted that box very badly. He broke into my house last night too, evidently looking for the box. Could this necklace be what the killer wants?”
Her dad’s muddy green eyes shifted away from her gaze. “I don’t know anything about this, Shauna.”
She had no answers now, only more questions. And Pop knew something.
Zach had tried his best to keep up a steady patter of conversation with his guests since the visit with Lewis, but Alex had whined all afternoon about not catching any fish, and Shauna stared blankly into space and answered in monosyllables. By the time Alex grumpily went to bed, Zach was out of words and out of patience. None of this had been easy for him either, but he was a big believer in making the best of circumstances.
Shauna stood and stretched, lifting her thick, nearly black hair off her neck as she did. “I think I’ll unpack a few things. I still have a couple of boxes of Alex’s toys in my truck.”
“I’ll get them.” When he stepped outside, he heard a car engine roar off. His senses went on high alert, but it was too dark to make out more than the shape of a full-size car. Hopefully, it was nothing.
He used her key to unlock her crew-cab truck. Two boxes were in the backseat, and he carried them to her room and set them down on the floor by the closet.
She looked up from her task of putting clothes on hangers. “Thanks.”
While he was outside, she’d pulled on a Seahawks sweatshirt, and her hair was up in a messy ponytail. He averted his gaze from the enticing sweep of her bare neck. “You know, we haven’t examined the pictures in Clarence’s box at all. Seeing that necklace threw us a curveball, but maybe there’s evidence pointing to the killer’s identity in a picture. Maybe there’s one that implicates him. Want to go through them?”
She looked adorable with her hair half falling out of the ponytail. Her slight frame swam in the baggy sweats she wore.
He stopped his thoughts before they could head in an even crazier direction. “Let’s take a look.”
She rubbed the back of her neck and nodded. “Let’s make it fast. I want to go to bed. It’s been a rough week, and I have to work tomorrow.”
After seeing the fatigue and discouragement in her eyes, he almost told her to forget it, but that car outside had made him uneasy. He still believed she and Alex were in danger, and he didn’t think the sheriff was going to move fast enough to figure this out on his own. “Let’s go to the kitchen. The box is on the table.”
She followed him into the kitchen, and he retrieved the box of duplicate pictures he’d made. She settled onto a stool and watched as he pulled a sheaf of photos out and put them on the counter.
He made a cursory glance through them. “Looks like aerial photos.” He picked up the closest one and studied it. “Looks like it’s a shot of the paper mill.” He set it aside and moved on to the next one and then the next. “These are all of the paper mill. Did Karl commission him to take some photos?”
“He commissioned me. It was my photography job. I didn’t take all these pictures, though. Some Clarence must have taken. Lots of the businesses around like to have shots from the air to assess maintenance issues.” She picked up another picture and perused it. “This doesn’t seem to be a photograph of anything except dirt with cracks in it.” She shuddered and put it down. “It makes me think of earthquakes.” She studied another picture. “This one is just a building in the forest.” She squinted. “I don’t recognize the area.”
He was only listening with half an ear. She’d been paranoid about earthquakes ever
since he’d known her. Though now he understood why.
“This one is of Rainshadow Bay. What’s that blob in the water? It almost seems like oil. I didn’t notice it when I took the picture.”
At the interest in her voice, he took the photo from her and held it under one of the pendant lights over the island. “I’m not sure. I can scan it and enlarge it if you think it’s important.”
“Maybe it’s some kind of pollution.” Her voice rose, and pink rushed to her cheeks. “You might be right, and some of these pictures are incriminating to someone.”
“The blob could be algae. It’s probably nothing, but just in case, we should check it out. Who are you taking up tomorrow?”
Her gaze remained on the photo. “Some biologists with the EPA hired me to fly in and out of river areas and throughout the bay. They want to assess if placing boulders and logs in some of the waterways will help fish spawning grounds, and they’re looking for toxic runoff.”
“So you’ll be in a perfect spot to check out the bay. You have a camera?”
She nodded. “Clarence bought me a good one.”
“I’m picking up a patient in Alaska first thing in the morning and flying him to the hospital, so I’ll take a gander myself.” He picked up several photos. “I’ll scan these, and we can assess what you see tomorrow night. It’s nearly ten. Get some rest.”
The smile that lifted her lips made the past year fade from memory. He was beginning to remember how much he’d always liked being with her.
Chapter 12
With her headset on to block out the roar of the rotors, Shauna guided the chopper over the treetops. Up here at the controls, she found that the joy of flying always caused her troubles to slip away. She spotted several eagles on high branches. From this altitude she caught glimpses of several waterfalls and saw fishermen hauling up Dungeness crab pots out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She itched to pull out her camera.
The View from Rainshadow Bay Page 8