Hanna poured her third glass of wine, sitting in a white Adirondack chair in the grouping around the fire pit in front of her beach house. Her bare feet were buried in the sand. She hadn't started a fire and she pulled the sweater up around her neck as the evening continued to chill. The tears were still wet on her cheeks when she started to cry again... for Jenna Hall, for all that was falling apart in her life.
There was a strong wind from the east blowing in across the dark ocean. Large waves were crashing on the shore with a relentless thunder. She leaned her head back against the chair and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to put images of Jenna's beaten body out of her mind.
She must have dozed or passed out. She woke with a start, the waves still crashing out in front her. Her wine glass had spilled over in the sand beside the chair. She reached for it and was startled by the dim silhouette of a woman sitting in the chair beside her. As her consciousness cleared, she started to stand. "Who are you?"
There was no answer from the woman and Hanna got to her feet and backed away. There were no lights from the porch above and she stood in near darkness, only the faint shape of the woman could be seen against the white chair. She appeared to have a long dress on and her hair was long around her dark face.
"Who...?" Hanna started to say again.
Then, she heard the quietest voice, just barely loud enough against the sound of the waves, say, "Follow your heart, Hanna."
"What?" She tried to clear her head. The wine and the nap had dulled all her senses. She squinted through the darkness, still backing away. And then, she realized the woman was gone.
Or was she ever there?
Chapter Thirty-one
Alex sat alone in a booth at the back of Gilly's Bar. He hadn't really eaten when he'd taken Adrienne and Scotty to dinner. He was too preoccupied with the reality of sitting there on the picnic bench outside the Dairy Queen with his newfound son and the woman who had been his wife. He had enjoyed the time spent back at Ella Moore's house with the boy. It reminded him of earlier days playing catch with his own father and older brother, Bobby.
His time with them had ended when he got the call from his partner about the death of Hanna's client, Jenna Hall. He had made up an excuse to call it a night with Adrienne and Scotty and left them there with a promise to see them soon, whatever that meant. He had no idea at the moment.
The crowd and noise at Gilly's were building and Alex tried to block it out as he thought about Hanna and how devastated she must be about Jenna Hall. He wanted so badly to call her but knew she wouldn't want to hear from him or talk to him about it. He pushed the half-eaten sandwich on the plate in front of him aside and decided to get home early to think about his father's case and what he could get done the next day. He stood to go to the bar to pay his bill with Gilly when he saw a young man walking through the tables towards him. He recognized the younger Horton Bayes, son of the deceased. Alex hadn't seen him in town yet but realized he must be home from school for the funeral and to help on their family's shrimp boat.
His eyes were trained right on Alex and he was coming up quickly. Alex could tell right away he'd had too much to drink.
He got to Alex and before he could do or say anything, the boy pushed him hard back down into the booth.
"Your old man's a sonofabitch!" he screamed through blurry eyes. "The bastard killed my dad!"
Alex stood up again and faced the boy, their faces just inches apart. "Horton, you need to take it down a notch." Alex noticed everyone in the bar watching them.
The boy tried to push him back again and Alex grabbed both of his arms and held him as he struggled to get loose. "Let go of me!" he yelled out.
Alex saw Gilly rushing over and then the young Horton Bayes pulled his right arm free and took a long roundhouse swing at Alex's face. It happened so quickly that Alex only partially blocked the blow and it caught him high on the side of his forehead. He stumbled back into the booth again and this time the kid came crashing in on top of him, his arms flailing. The blows began to land. Alex reacted quickly and threw a short punch that caught the boy square on the nose and sent him falling backward, sprawling across a table and chairs behind him.
Alex had lost all sense of reason and patience after what he'd been through all day, and he'd had enough of this. He got up and went after the kid before Gilly grabbed him from behind, holding his arms tightly in his grasp.
Gilly said, "Easy, Alex. That's enough. The boy was drunk when he came in here a few minutes ago. Should have sent him home right away."
Alex watched as Bayes struggled to get to his feet, pushing chairs aside and holding a hand to his nose. Blood was dripping down over his mouth and onto his white t-shirt. "You broke my nose, you mother..."
Another man grabbed the boy and said, "That's enough," and started pulling him away towards the door. Alex didn't know who the man was but was glad he was getting the kid away from him. He was just mad enough, he wasn't sure what he would have done if he'd come at him again.
Gilly said, "You okay, Alex?"
"I'm fine. Sorry to mess up your place," Alex said, looking at the table and chairs knocked over.
"Not your fault," Gilly said. "Saw the whole thing. The kid's got his old man's nasty disposition."
Alex settled his tab and was leaving when Chaz Merton stopped him at the door. He had a half full bottle of Budweiser in his hand.
"Hey, Alex, nice right jab on the kid," Chaz said. "You got to stop beatin' up my crew, though."
Alex said, "Heard you got a new spot on the LuLu Belle. Had a little run-in with Ms. Bayes, too. Said you were gonna captain the boat."
"Yeah, with your pop out of commission, I need the work."
"Sure, I'm glad for you. If you're going out tonight, you better lay off the sauce, Chaz."
"Just headed home now to get my stuff. I'll be fine."
Merton took a drink from his beer. "Say, heard they found a knife out there today. The divers, I mean."
Alex nodded.
"It's your old man's?"
"We'll see. Probably."
"Long fillet knife? Black handle?" Chaz asked.
"Yeah."
Chaz thought for a moment, then said, "You know, he used it mostly when we brought up fish in the nets to fillet 'em before we got back to the docks, to sell over at Richards Seafood."
Alex said, "I know he had a folding table he set up to clean fish."
Chaz scratched at his forehead and took a drink from his beer. "Sorry, Alex. Give my best to your old man."
Chapter Thirty-two
Hanna woke in her bed at the beach house the next morning, still groggy from the wine. Her head was on fire and she struggled to push the covers back. She looked down and saw she had managed to get her slacks and shoes off but was still wearing the blouse from yesterday. She walked barefoot into her bathroom and looked at the face staring back at her, then looked away in disgust. She ran some cold water to splash on her face, found some aspirin on the shelf beside the sink and then went to the toilet. As she walked back to her bed, she looked around for her cell phone. She didn't see it on the bed or nightstand. Her pants were in a heap on the floor next to the bed and when she picked them up, she felt the weight of the phone in one of the pockets.
As she sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, she suddenly had an uneasy feeling about the previous night. She remembered getting out to the beach house well after dark, grabbing a bottle of wine from the frig and a glass and going down to the fire pit. The wine was going down much too easily as she stressed about Jenna Hall and her father... and Alex.
Then, she had some recollection of talking to someone. Hanna thought about it for a moment and then recalled the other woman sitting next to her in the dark. She must have been dozing when the woman came up. She remembered then how scared she had felt when she woke and saw her there beside her.
The woman had said something about following her heart. As she thought about it
, Hanna wondered if the woman was talking about Alex or her father ...or what?
She shook her head, trying to clear her memory. She got a chill when she remembered the woman had suddenly been gone.
Hanna chastised herself for drinking so much of the wine. There had been too much of that lately, she had to admit.
You’re losing your mind, Hanna Walsh.
Hanna had showered and changed into fresh clothes she kept out at the beach. She looked out the back windows from the kitchen while she sipped her coffee. The morning sun was up high now on a bright blue-sky day. The surf was still heavy and rolling, lit with colors of blue and green. There were a few people setting up umbrellas and laying out towels up and down the beach. She decided to take a walk to clear her head and she refilled her coffee cup.
Walking down the back steps from the deck, she decided the shorts and shirt she was wearing seemed comfortable enough. The breeze off the water was keeping the day cooler, at least for a while. As she walked down to the water, she felt the cool loose sand beneath her feet. She unconsciously headed north along the water with no real destination in mind. She knew she needed to get back to work in Charleston. She had so many open cases to deal with and felt guilty about leaving the work with her associates. Just a short walk, she thought.
Jenna Hall's death was weighing heavy on her mind. She was still having trouble accepting she was really gone. Jenna and her son had just been in her office the other day. The woman loved her son so much and just wanted him to have a real family. Unfortunately, his father was a very dangerous man. Hanna chastised herself again for not being more proactive in protecting Jenna and William. She needed to call Lonnie and Greta to see if there was any news about the boy but knew they would most likely have already called if there was anything to report.
The only bright spot on her horizon was her son coming to visit the beach house this weekend. She was really looking forward to spending time with him and meeting the new girlfriend. She thought through her schedule for the next couple days before getting back out to the island by Friday night. She realized she better get back.
As Hanna walked by the fire pit before going up to the house, she thought, who in heck was that woman last night? She stopped for a moment and looked at the chair the woman had been sitting in. There were so many tracks in the sand it was impossible to tell where she might have come from or where she walked away.
Before she went up the stairs, she threw the rest of her cold coffee out onto the sand. Thoughts of returning from walks on the beach with Alex Frank crept into her mind, but she quickly pushed them aside. Twenty minutes later, she was on the highway back to Charleston.
Chaos greeted her as she entered the house that was now her legal clinic. Phones were ringing, people were rushing about. Three people were waiting in chairs along the wall to see attorneys. It was almost a welcome distraction. She could dive back into the work and put thoughts of the last couple of days out of her head. Her assistant had a phone to her ear and nodded as Hanna passed, handing her a pile of pink phone messages.
Back in her office, Hanna closed the door and sat down to sort through the messages and go through her calendar. She knew she had clients waiting to see her out there, but she needed just a minute to decompress and plan the day. She sorted through the messages and pulled out a note from Lonnie Smith at the police station. Why hadn't he called her cell?
He took her call right away. "Hanna. I tried your cell early this morning."
"Sorry, I didn't hear or see the call."
"We have the boy."
"Oh, thank God! Is he okay?"
The detective said, "He seems fine. We got an anonymous call he was down at the bus station. Figure his dad left him there and called us before he headed out of town."
"Where is he?" Hanna asked.
"We took him back to the shelter. He's with Greta there."
"Thank you, Lonnie," she said. "That's the best news."
"We still have the search on for the father, but it's likely he's left town. We're checking the security cameras at the bus station. We've alerted the State Police, too."
Hanna almost hesitated to ask but couldn't help herself. "Did you learn anything from the boy about what happened to his mother?"
"He apparently didn't see anything, or at least we don't think so. His father told him his mother had to leave on a trip but would be home soon and then he just left him at the station."
Hanna's heart was still full of grief for the boy's mother. Now, he faced an uncertain future with no mother and a father on the run from a murder charge. Not a great hand to be dealt, she thought.
Chapter Thirty-three
Enough dining out, Alex said to himself as he worked on a pan of scrambled eggs. This town is just too small, he thought. He wasn’t in the mood to keep running into people he didn’t want to see.
He finished his meal and cleaned the kitchen. Lilly Johannsen, the girlfriend of Connor Richards was on the list of names Chaz had given him of people who had been in Gilly's the night of his father's fight with Bayes. He didn't have a chance to get her aside at dinner out at Beau Richards' place. He dd find she works in one of Beau's real estate offices out at a new golf course and housing development west of town.
Alex drove up to the ornate gated entry to the golf club neighborhood, an elegant sign announcing Chesterfield Manor. A security guard came out of the gatehouse to greet him.
"Morning sir, how can I help you," the guard asked.
Alex pulled out his credentials wallet and showed the man his Charleston PD identification card. "I need to speak with Ms. Johannsen. Is she up at the real estate office?"
"Let me check sir."
The guard went back in the gatehouse and made a call. Alex saw him speaking with someone and then nodding before he hung up. He came back out.
"Yessir, she's up ahead at the office. Second left, you'll see the signs."
Alex said,” Thank you,” as the guard pressed a button for the gate arm to come up.
He heard, "Have a nice day, sir," as he drove away.
Lily Johannsen met him at the door when he walked up from the parking area. "Good morning, Alex," she said, somewhat alarmed. "What can I help you with?" She was dressed smartly in casual business slacks and a sleeveless blouse, a bit more professional than the sundress she was wearing when Alex last saw her.
"Do you have a few minutes?" he asked.
"Sure, come back to my office."
They passed two other agents in their offices as they walked by who gave them puzzled looks. There was a large dimensional display on a long table that showed the holes of the golf course, the layout of the streets and building lots and little colored push pins that showed what was sold and what was still for sale. The walls were adorned with large posters of happy people playing golf, swimming in the pool and dining at the club.
Lily closed the door to her office behind them and had him sit on one of the small chairs beside her desk.
"Nice place out here," Alex said, looking out the window at several large model homes lined-up down the block.
"Yes, one of Beau and Connor's nicer developments," she said.
Alex said, "Sorry we didn't get to talk more the other night at Beau's."
"Wasn't that a nice evening?" she said. "Beau and Amelia sure know how to entertain."
"Yes, they do," Alex affirmed. "I've already spoken to Beau and Connor about the night my father got in the fight with the man who died."
"You mean Horton Bayes?" she asked.
"Yes. Did you know him?"
"Most people around here did, Alex," she said. "Not a very big town and the man was always in a ruckus or argument with somebody."
Alex continued. "I was told you were there in Gilly's that night."
She answered quickly. "Yes, I was there with Connor and his father. Amelia had other plans."
"I've been asking people if they saw anything different or unusual that nig
ht at the bar, anything that may have sparked the fight, anybody else who was involved in things getting out of hand."
She sat back, and her eyes opened wide as she thought about his questions. She finally said, "You know, I already spoke to one of the deputies from the sheriff's office."
"Yes, I know."
"Nothing out of the ordinary comes to mind," she finally said.
Alex could tell she was getting nervous and fidgety about something. "You sure, Lily?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, real concern now clear on her face."
"Anybody else you know have a beef with Horton Bayes that night, or maybe you heard about recently?"
She shook her head, too quickly. "No, no, just your father when he started throwing Bayes around the bar. It was really scary."
"Right, I know that," Alex said. He stood and handed her one of his cards. "You think of anything else, you call me."
He watched her look down at the information on his card. He noticed her hand shaking a bit.
"Sorry to bother you, Lily. Have a good day."
Chapter Thirty-four
It was past five and things were starting to settle down at Hanna's clinic. The waiting room was finally empty. The other two legal volunteers had their doors open and were catching up on calls and paperwork before heading home for the night. Her assistant, Molly, was cleaning up the carnage in the lobby from the long day.
Hanna had just finished a conference call with an attorney at the firm she worked for part-time back on Pawleys Island. She had three active clients there, paying clients. Her nerves were wired from the busy day and all that had happened during the past few days. She was tempted to get a glass of wine from the refrigerator in the kitchen but chastised herself after drinking too much the previous night. She thought again about the strange woman at the beach fire pit. She still couldn't piece together what had happened. Maybe I dreamed the whole thing in my wine-induced stupor.
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