A Following Sea

by Michael Lindley

  Alex walked up on the porch and sat on one of the chairs, looking down the hill and across the river. There were a few lights on and he could make out the large buildings of the Richards Seafood Company, just one of Beau's many local businesses. They processed and distributed most of the fish and shrimp and crabs caught by the local crews. Alex remembered the days pulling up to the Richards docks with a full load of shrimp on ice in the hold of the Maggie Mae. The tall riggings of his father's old boat were just a shadow in the dim lights and he noticed a low haze was blowing in slowly from upriver.

  He shivered when he thought he could hear his mother's voice inside the empty house, fussing at her husband and calling the boys in for supper. He pushed the sad memories of his mother's sudden death from his mind, only to be replaced by images of his brother, Bobby. Alex closed his eyes and could see the two of them wrestling on the front yard. He never got the best of his older and bigger brother in those furious struggles. One of the parents would always break it up, just when Alex thought he was surely going to reverse the tide of the battle. He hung his head low and listened to the real sounds of the night, crickets and tree frogs, an occasional splash from the river when a mullet flopped.

  Alex stood and walked to the front door. It was never locked. No one locked their doors in Dugganville unless they were leaving for a long trip. He pushed open the front door and was greeted with the familiar smells of his youth. He found the switch to a lamp on a table next to the couch along the front window. The living room opened to a small dining room with the family's old oak table and four chairs. The kitchen was behind with the original white wood cabinets, old gas stove and a newer stainless refrigerator that looked out of place. The three bedrooms were at the back of the house. Alex and Bobby each had their own rooms. He knew they were still left the way the boys had them before they left home for the service. Alex had never been back in his brother's room.

  He walked into the kitchen and opened the new refrigerator. It was nearly empty except for three beers, half a sandwich wrapped in cellophane and a quart of milk nearly gone. He reached for one of the beers and walked back to the dining table, sitting in his accustomed seat on the side facing the living room. He opened the beer and took a drink, the cool fizz chilling his throat. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to push the events of the day from his mind. There would be time for all that tomorrow. He thought of Hanna and cursed silently in not telling her more of what was happening.

  Hanna Walsh. He could see her face now and he remembered their last night together out at the beach house. He could see the curves of her body in the dim light, the smell of her hair in his face. He had never been closer to telling her he loved her. Something kept him from it. He couldn't quite reason why. He had never felt more physically and emotionally attached to a woman, never had a woman make him feel the way he did with her, close and comfortable. They had their moments of anger and frustrations, but the outbursts were short. He sighed as he thought about what he would tell Hanna tomorrow about Adrienne and a young boy that was his son... a boy who needed a father.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lonnie Smith had been Alex's partner in the Charleston Police Department for almost five years. Alex found a new brother in the long days and nights they spent together. Lonnie was born and raised in one of Charleston's toughest neighborhoods. Somehow, he'd survived and graduated high school on time, worked his way through college over six years and joined the Department. He was one of the first African Americans to make Lieutenant in the Detective Squad. He was two inches taller than Alex and a couple dozen pounds heavier. His head was shaved, and his chin framed with a well-trimmed goatee. He had a wife of ten years and three little girls, 2, 5 and 8. Alex teased him he needed one more for a full starting line-up on the basketball court. His wife, Ginny, was a physician's assistant for a dermatologist on the north side. His mother lived with them to help with the kids and their tough schedules.

  Lonnie had called Hanna at 7am to ask if he could come by her clinic later in the morning to talk about the warrant for Moe Hall. They agreed to meet at 8:30 and Lonnie was standing on the front steps of her office when she came down the steps from her apartment. Hanna gave him a warm hug.

  "Thanks for helping with this, Lonnie." She led him back and put some coffee on in the kitchen. In her office, he took a chair across her desk and reached for a file in the leather bag he carried. He pulled out the file on Hall.

  "This guy's a real creep," he said, looking at the long list of infractions on his sheet. "How does a guy like this end up with a wife and kid he's never gonna take care of?"

  Hanna sat at her desk, "I'm afraid he's going to hurt them again. We've got to get him off the street, Lonnie."

  "The wife has no idea where he's staying now?"

  "No, they lost their old apartment," Hanna said. "The only place Jenna could think of was a friend's place where they both stayed once when they were between permanent homes." She slid the address across to him on a piece of legal pad paper. "I had to press her to even get this. She wants to get back together with the idiot and doesn't want him thrown in jail."

  "Love is blind."

  Hanna said, "He came after me with the slightest provocation. Fortunately, Molly and one of my volunteers were here to get him to back down."

  "This parole thing and assaulting you can take him down," Lonnie said. "It's not the first time he's skipped his mandatory Parole Officer meetings and he's been warned."

  "How long can you put him away?"

  "Not sure what a judge will do but probably not more than 90 days."

  Hanna shook her head and walked to the window. "That's not good enough," she said, feeling the sad realization that women like Jenna Hall were victims of sociopaths who somehow entered their lives and often there was very little that could be done to free them of the dangerous burden.

  "Lonnie said, "There was an arrest two years ago where Hall was a suspect in an apparent murder of another drug dealer. The case could never be made, and he was never charged."

  Hanna turned. "I saw that."

  "We're going to take another look."

  Hanna tried to take a break a couple times a week to get out and run a few miles. It was her only way to get some time alone to think, unwind, reflect. It also helped balance a diet she never stuck to and she had to admit, too many glasses of red wine on too many nights. It was just past 10am and she was running now along the walk on the South Battery, the park to her left and the river off to her right. She saw her old house coming up through the trees but looked away and tried not to think about the terrible financial loss her husband's indiscretions had caused. She was not a fast runner and wasn't training for any marathons, she just liked the time alone, the race of her heartbeat, sweating out the day's stress.

  Alex hadn't called her yet. She thought about their conversation the night before. He was going to call when he was headed back to Charleston. Phillip Holloway was standing by to meet with them to discuss Skipper Frank's murder case. She was still upset with herself for accusing Alex of having drinks with his ex-wife. She couldn't help herself when she thought about this woman back home and clearly intent on seeing Alex. Old jealousies and doubts of who she could really trust continued to haunt her.

  Hanna picked up her pace a little to get her mind off Alex and his ex-wife. She ran hard for a hundred yards until she had to walk to get her breathing back under control. Her cell phone was in a waist pack she always used when she ran because she didn't want to be totally out of touch. She thought about calling Alex but didn't want to seem desperate.

  And then her phone rang. She stopped and spun the pack around her middle so she could unzip the pouch and get her phone. She looked at the screen and smiled. It was her son, Jonathan.

  "Hello, honey," she said, putting the phone to her ear and trying to catch her breath."

  "Hey Mom! Got a minute?"

  "Of course." The sound of his voice always brightened her
day, the few times he did call. She didn't blame him. His life was hectic at school and he had a part-time job to help with the expenses. He was living off-campus now at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in his second year. He shared an old three-bedroom house with two other friends. His abduction the past year during the horrifying ordeal with the men trying to recoup money from Ben's land deal still kept her awake at night. She tried not to imagine how wrong things could have gone. The men involved were truly ruthless and it could have ended much worse.

  Jonathan said, "Mom, I want to come home this weekend."

  "Great!"

  "Will you be out at Pawleys Island?"

  Hanna thought for a moment. She hadn't spoken with Alex about weekend plans, but they often stayed out at the beach. "Not sure yet but, I imagine we'll be out there if the weather looks good." Jonathan knew about her growing relationship with Alex Frank and Hanna was relieved to see the two of them were getting along well. "Why don't we plan on it," she said.

  "I'm bringing a friend."

  "Sure, one of your roommates?"

  Hanna waited a moment for his response. She could tell he was nervous about something. Finally, he said, "No, I want you to meet someone."

  Hanna grinned and looked out over the water. "A girl?"

  "Yeah, I want you to meet Elizabeth."

  "Elizabeth?"

  "She's a friend," Jonathan said. "She's great, Mom. I really want you to meet her."

  Hanna felt a little pang of remorse as she thought about how quickly her "little boy" was growing up. Jonathan had always had girlfriends in high school and she knew he was meeting plenty of girls up in Chapel Hill, but this was the first time he was bringing a girl home to meet mom. She pushed her motherly concerns aside. "That would be great, honey. We'd love to meet her." She realized she'd said "we", but Jonathan didn't seem to notice or care. He liked Alex, and Hanna had been relieved when Jonathan had accepted their new relationship, even with his father's death so recent.

  Jonathan said, "We can come down Friday night."

  "Let's plan on it."

  "Great. We don't have any classes on Friday afternoon, so we'll probably get down there before you."

  Hanna said, "I'll pick up some fish and shrimp and we'll have a big dinner and maybe a beach fire later."

  "That would be great, Mom. You're really gonna like Elizabeth."

  "Can't wait to meet her."

  They said their goodbyes and Hanna checked her messages before putting her phone back in the pack. Still nothing from Alex.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alex woke with a headache from the beers. He'd finally fallen asleep on the porch, well after 2, sitting on one of his mother's wicker chairs. He was startled awake an hour later by gulls or some other noises down at the dock and had gone inside and fallen into his old bed with his clothes on. He looked around now at the room he had grown up in. Light was coming through the window above him. He looked at his watch and it was already 8:30. He sat up and rubbed at his temples. There was a half-empty beer on the nightstand and the sight of it made him cringe.

  The walls of his room were still adorned with the same music and sports posters. His desk had the five books that had been there for years, held between jumping fish bookends that had been a gift from his parents. The titles were all detective stories he had loved as a kid. He thought about how he rarely found time to read any more. When he looked down, he saw he'd slept with his shoes on and he realized he didn't have a change of clothes for the coming day. He doubted anything in the drawers here would still fit him. There wasn't a lot more weight on his frame since he left home for the service, but he knew his waistline had grown a couple of inches and he wasn't keen on wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt. He'd either have to do a little shopping at Troy’s downtown, the only clothing store in town, struggling to keep their doors open with the new Walmart just five miles away, or run home to Charleston later in the day.

  Alex pulled his phone out of his pants pockets. There were two calls from his partner, Lonnie, but no messages; nothing from Hanna. He knew he was supposed to call her this morning. He felt a tinge of nausea rise in his throat as the night's excesses continued to punish him and he thought of the discussion ahead with Hanna about Adrienne... and his son, Scotty.

  Walking into the kitchen to try to find some aspirin in his father's cupboards, he pressed "call back" on one of Lonnie's messages.

  He heard his friend and partner say in the familiar deep voice, "Where you at, man?"

  "Up in Dugganville, still." Alex had talked to Lonnie yesterday several times about his father's arrest and the attack on Hanna at her clinic.

  "You finding anything?"

  "No, not yet," Alex said.

  Lonnie said, "Met with Hanna this morning on this deadbeat of a husband."

  "Thanks, man."

  "We're gonna take another look at that murder beef he got brought in on."

  "Good, good," Alex said. "Really appreciate you taking the time on this."

  "No problem."

  Alex was tempted to tell his partner about Adrienne and the new developments in his life. There wasn't much they didn't share. He knew he needed to talk to Hanna first. "You sure you're okay with me takin' a little time off?"

  "You need to take care of this thing with your old man," Lonnie said. "We'll cover the shop."

  "Hopefully, we'll get this sorted out soon," Alex said, though he knew in his gut there was a lot stacking up against his father's guilt in the death of Horton Bayes.

  Later, Alex was sitting in the same booth at Andrews Diner he'd been in with Adrienne the day before. He had showered and put his same clothes back on. His hair was still wet. Lucy put a cup of steaming coffee down in front of him and he ordered three scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast and bacon.

  "Got an appetite this morning, hon?" Lucy asked.

  "Trying to soak up the booze," he said and then regretted he'd mentioned it.

  "Heard you had a late night down at Gilly's," she said.

  Alex wasn't surprised people were talking about it. Dugganville was a small town. Lucy walked away, and Alex looked across the restaurant. He didn't recognize anybody at the other tables or the few people up at the counter. He was far enough away from everyone, he decided he could make a call without everyone hearing his business. He pressed Hanna's number.

  The tone of her voice had an edge when she answered his call. "Good morning." To Alex, it sounded like an accusation, not a greeting. He knew it was his guilt creeping in.

  He started to speak and then paused, struggling to sort out what he was going to say. "Good morning. Sorry I couldn't get back."

  "What's the latest?" he heard Hanna ask.

  What's the latest? he thought.

  "Alex?"

  "I have to stay for a few days, Hanna."

  "Okay." Again, the edge in her voice.

  "I let the Department know I'm going to take some time to help my dad."

  There was a slight pause before Hanna said, "Of course."

  "I do need to get back to Charleston to get some clothes and things, maybe this afternoon. You mentioned Phillip Holloway wants to meet. Could we do it then?"

  "What time do you think you'll be back?"

  "Can we plan on 4?" he asked.

  "I'll check with Phillip and let you know."

  There was silence between them for a moment. Alex knew he had to speak with Hanna in person about Adrienne... and Scotty. Finally, he said, "Thanks for your help with all of this, with my dad."

  "Anything new?" she asked.

  Anything new? He tried to put the picture of his son he had never met out of his mind. He couldn't help but sigh when he said, "It looks real bad."

  Hanna said, "You can fill me and Phillip in this afternoon."

  "I will."

  They ended the call. Lucy came up with her coffee pot and held it up for him. He nodded for a refill. "You got a phone book, Lucy?" />
  He found Adrienne's mother's phone number in the directory and wrote it down before he left the restaurant. He walked down the street to the park across from the docks and sat on a bench along the sidewalk. He put the phone number in his cell and then heard the phone begin to ring on the other end. He still didn't know quite how to deal with this or what he should say. After the third ring, he heard, "Hello?" It was Adrienne's mother, Ella Moore.

  "Hello Ella," Alex started and then paused to take a breath. "It's Alex. How are you?"

  Her tone brightened noticeably. "Alex Frank! How nice to hear from you, boy. It's been too long."

  "Is Adrienne there?"

  "She sure is, let me get her. You come by and see me now, you hear?"

  "Sure, Ella."

  "Hold on, let me get her."

  He heard the phone lay down on the counter. He could see the old kitchen in his mind. He'd been there enough back during their time together.

  "Alex?"

  She seemed surprised to hear from him. Did she think he was going to just walk away from this? "Adrienne, I'm still here in town. We need to talk."

  "Of course."

  "I'm down at the park. Can you come over?"

  "Sure. I can be there in ten minutes."

  "Does your son... does Scotty know about this? About me, I mean."

  "No, I haven't talked to him yet."

  Alex watched as one of the charter fishing boats pulled out of its slip for a day out on the Atlantic. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

  She clicked off the call without answering.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The heat was building, and Alex walked towards the shade up the hill in the park. He thought the gazebo had too many old memories, so he kept walking until he found another bench under a big, sprawling live oak. It was a bright day with only a trace of wind. A few billowy white clouds drifted by slowly overhead. Shadows spread across the burned grass of the park. The smell of fish and diesel oil drifted up from the docks. He thought for a moment about what his life would have been like if he'd come back to Dugganville and joined his father on the Maggie Mae or eventually got his own boat. After last night at Gilly's, he felt relieved this place wasn't his daily life. The small town and the same people knowing everything about you seemed overwhelming.