A Following Sea

by Michael Lindley

  Adrienne said, "I got your number from Alex's phone."

  How did she get Alex's cell phone? Hanna didn't respond.

  "Hanna, are you there?"

  "Yes... I'm here."

  "I'm sure Alex has spoken to you about us," Adrienne said.

  Hanna felt her temper start to flare. Again, she didn't respond.

  "I know you two were close and I just wanted to say how sorry I am that Scotty and I have complicated things for Alex."

  "Complicated things?" Hanna repeated.

  There was silence on the phone for a moment, then Adrienne said, "So, he hasn't spoken with you yet?"

  Hanna put the phone on "speaker" and set it on the dash, gripping the steering wheel hard with both hands. "Adrienne, just tell me why you called."

  "It really is best, for Scotty, I mean. He should be with his father and he should have a real family."

  Hanna was stunned and couldn't think of what to say.

  "Hanna, I'm sorry if I surprised you with all this. I just wanted you to know I appreciate how hard this must be for you."

  Hanna reached for the phone and slammed the "end call" button, then threw it down on the passenger seat. Her hands were shaking, and she felt a sick hollowness in her gut. She drove for several miles, trying to calm her emotions, replaying the conversation with Adrienne in her mind. She was furious with Alex for not calling her to tell her he was getting back with his ex-wife.

  By the time she reached the bridge across the marsh to the island, she had calmed herself some, but Adrienne Frank's smug voice still echoed in her mind. She had resigned herself days ago that things hadn't worked out as she had hoped with Alex Frank, but she hadn't been able to fully close the possibility of them reuniting. She still had strong feelings for Alex and secretly hoped there was some chance down the road they could reconnect. When she looked down at the phone beside her, she reconciled herself to the fact that wasn't even a slim hope anymore.

  Hanna's spirits lifted some as they always did when she came out to the island. There was something about the place that was a safe harbor for her from the stress and challenges in her life. As she pulled up behind the beach house and opened her door, the smell of the salt off the ocean, the sound of gulls, the fresh breeze in her face, all helped to calm and renew her.

  Her cell phone buzzed again. She reached over and saw "Alex Frank" on the screen. She didn't hesitate when she hit the "decline" button and threw the phone in her purse.

  Chapter Forty-one

  Alex saw his call to Hanna go immediately to voice mail and he knew she had declined to answer. He thought about it for a moment as he pocketed his phone. She had every reason to avoid talking to him with all the issues with her father's health and certainly, their latest discussions about his ex-wife.

  He was walking back to his father's house after the confrontation he and Sheriff Stokes had with the widow, Meryl Bayes. The shade from tall trees along the river helped to cool the hot summer afternoon. A big sailboat under power caught his attention, making its way out toward the ocean. Alex turned and saw Connor Richards and his girlfriend, Lily, in the cockpit of the boat. Connor saw him onshore and waived. Alex nodded and continued on, suddenly thinking how odd the man was heading out for a sail this late in the day. He looked up and saw there was barely a whisper of wind in the trees.

  Alex's old family house was up ahead now, and he thought about Adrienne. He had no idea what to expect. With Adrienne, anything was possible.

  When he opened the front screen door, the aroma of cooking came from the kitchen. He heard muted voices and walked back through the house. Entering the kitchen, Alex saw Adrienne working over the stove, stirring something. Their son, Scotty, was at the kitchen table, playing with a toy car. The boy looked up and saw him.

  "Alex!" Scotty shouted and jumped out of his chair to rush over. "Mom says we can go for ice cream after dinner," he said, excitedly.

  Adrienne turned and smiled at Alex. "Welcome home."

  Alex took a deep breath. He sunk to one knee. "How are you, Scotty?"

  "You've got a cool house," the boy said. "Mom says we can stay here. Grandma's mad at us."

  Alex looked up at Adrienne who turned from her work at the stove. She smiled at him and said, "Scotty, why don't you go out in the backyard and play with your car for a while 'til dinner. I'll call you."

  The boy started to protest but she said, "Don't make me say it again."

  "We can go for ice cream, right?" he asked.

  His mother replied, "Yes, after dinner."

  Scotty grabbed his toy from the table and pushed through the back door.

  Adrienne said, "Thank you for taking us in."

  Alex stood and walked to the refrigerator, reached in and grabbed a beer. "Would you like one?" he asked.

  "Please."

  Alex opened the beers and then sat at the table. His thoughts were spinning with his mixed emotions about this woman trying to make her way back into his life. He looked out the window and saw his son at the picnic table playing. He realized he was also feeling guilty for not taking more time to connect with his newfound son. Why was he feeling so uncertain about all this?

  "My mother thinks you're a saint, by the way," Adrienne said.

  He looked over at her and thought to himself about how much he would have welcomed the sight of her here in his kitchen years ago when they were starting out together, how much they had really cared for each other. Was all that a myth from the beginning?

  Adrienne walked over to him and sat on his lap before he could protest. She put her arm around his neck and lifted her beer to his. "I know this all so strange for you," she said. "Can you please give it some time? We can make this work again." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

  After the dinner of spaghetti Adrienne had prepared, Alex did take them into town for ice cream and after, suggested they go for a boat ride up the river in his father's little skiff tied up at the docks in front of their house. Adrienne and Scotty sat in the front of the boat while Alex stood at the center console and navigated away from the docks and then east out toward the bay and ocean beyond. The sun was still high above the trees and with almost no breeze, the water was glassy calm. The heat and damp air pressed in on them. Scotty was fascinated by the gulls trailing the boat hoping for some morsel to be tossed overboard for them.

  They passed slowly through the town and then out further through the lush canopy of Low Country foliage along the river in the wild country on the winding route out to the ocean. Alex looked down at Adrienne and Scotty and tried to come to grips with this new reality in his life. Would they move to Charleston to be near him? When would they tell Scotty about his real father? Where would he go to school?

  Adrienne pointed to the riverbank where a long gator lay motionless in the mud. Scotty stood, excited to see the big animal. "How fast can they swim, Alex?" he asked.

  "Pretty fast, but he won't mind us," Alex answered over the low rumble of the outboard motor.

  Alex steered the boat around the next bend of the river and the wide bay opened before them. He could see the line of the horizon across the ocean between the south and north points of the bay. Several large cruising yachts and sailboats were anchored in the calm sanctuary of the bay for the night. He noticed Connor Richards with Lily on his boat, anchored furthest out toward the ocean. They were several hundred yards away from Alex's boat and didn't seem to notice them passing.

  With the low wind, the ocean was also flat calm, and Alex continued out of the bay and turned north along the shoreline. There was protected National Seashore for two miles up the coast used as a park during the day. The sandy beaches pushed up into low dunes and broad green forests beyond. A few beach-goers were still settled in along the shore and some were swimming and playing out in the calm water of the Atlantic.

  Alex had made this trip on many occasions, crewing on his father's shrimp boat. He remembered happy times pulling in large n
ets full of shrimp with his brother while his father barked out commands and kept the Maggie Mae on course. His heart suddenly felt heavy as he thought about the new evidence against his father.

  Tomorrow, he would go to see Meryl Bayes again. Something wasn't sitting right with him about her account of the story the night of the murder. He was also having that "itchy" feeling, as he called it back at the police precinct, about the Richards. Another discussion with the girlfriend, Lily, was definitely needed.

  Chapter Forty-two

  Hanna was finishing a salad and sandwiches for dinner when she heard her son's car pulling into the drive behind the beach house. She washed and dried her hands and rushed to the door, opening it to see Jonathan and his new girlfriend, Elizabeth, climbing out of the low white Porsche that had been a gift from Jonathan's father when he graduated from high school. Hanna had pushed back on her husband, Ben, on the extravagance of the gift, but he had insisted. She noticed Jonathan had let his beard grow scrubby. The girlfriend was tall and lean with long blond hair and deeply tanned skin evident below short cut-off jeans and a light blue tank top.

  Hanna hurried down the stairs and saw Jonathan wave before he reached in to grab bags for the weekend stay. He gave her a warm hug and kiss and then Hanna reached out her hand. "Elizabeth, it's so nice to meet you and welcome!"

  "Hello, Mrs. Walsh. Thank you for having me out for the weekend."

  "Call me Hanna, please."

  Elizabeth smiled and nodded. Jonathan walked over and took the girl's hand to lead her inside. Hanna could tell they were deeply into each other and she was pleased that Jonathan looked so happy.

  After the dinner, where Hanna updated Jonathan on the situation with his grandfather in Atlanta, they started a beach fire in the stone pit down in the dunes in front of the house. The sun was setting behind them and casting a soft orange glow out over the calm ocean. They sat in the sun-faded Adirondack chairs around the fire, each with a glass of red wine.

  "So, Elizabeth," Hanna said, "I've been meaning to ask how the two of you met?"

  Elizabeth smiled at Jonathan, then said, "He ran me off the road on my bicycle on the way to class and nearly killed me."

  "What?" Hanna gasped.

  Jonathan jumped in. "It wasn't like that. She rushed out from a side street without looking."

  "So, you say!" Elizabeth responded and laughed before taking a sip from her wine. "He took me down to the Med Center to get my scraped knees attended to and then bought me a cup of coffee."

  "And the rest is history," Jonathan said with a satisfied smile on his face.

  Hanna lifted her wine glass to the others and said, "Well, welcome to Pawleys Island."

  "Thank you, Hanna."

  "What do the two of you have planned for the weekend?" Hanna asked.

  "Just take it easy, Jonathan said. "Maybe take the kayaks back in the marshes."

  "Sounds great," Hanna said. She suddenly remembered the last time she had been sitting here at the fire and the memory of the strange woman who had suddenly been beside her as she awoke from a nap or too many glasses of wine. She told Jonathan and Elizabeth about the unusual visit.

  Jonathan said, "Sounds to me like one of Pawleys Island's ghosts, Mom."

  Hanna chuckled. "Yeah, sure."

  "You know all the old stories," Jonathan continued. "The Gray Man who appears on the beach every time there's a major storm coming."

  Hanna was well aware of all the old ghost stories. They were a part of the lore of the island and much had been written and reported about the many ghosts on Pawleys Island. She hadn't honestly thought about it after that night on the beach and the weird appearance by the woman beside her at the fire. She had written it off to a strange dream after too much wine.

  Elizabeth said, "So, there really are ghosts around here?"

  "We have a book on them in the house," Jonathan answered. "I'll show it to you when we go up."

  Hanna was trying to recall the few moments of memories she had of this ghost or spirit's visit that night at the fire. What had she said? Listen to your heart.

  Chapter Forty-three

  The alarm on Alex's phone began chiming at eight o'clock the next morning. He reached for it on the night stand and turned off the alert. He lay back in bed for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He had a meeting with the sheriff at nine to catch up on the latest with his father's murder case. He wanted to pay a visit to both Meryl Bayes and Connor Richards and his girlfriend, though he was still unsure what those discussions might reveal.

  He showered and dressed quickly and left the house while Adrienne and Scotty were still sleeping. He had insisted again the night before on separate bedrooms for Adrienne. She had seemed to understand his continued reluctance to dive back in to something that had been lost so many years earlier. Scotty had slept in his parent's bedroom.

  He got into his car to drive to the sheriff's office and thought again about trying to reach Hanna. He decided he had nothing to lose at this point and wanted her to understand what was really going on. He heard the phone ringing and was surprised when she answered on the third ring. He heard her say, "Good morning."

  Alex responded, "Good morning. How is your father doing?"

  "Better, thank you," her answer curt and guarded.

  "I'm glad to hear that."

  There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments, then Alex said, "Hanna, I've been trying to reach you. We need to talk."

  Again, silence on the other end of the call.

  "Hanna?"

  Finally, she said, "Alex, I understand you need to be with your ex-wife and son. Adrienne called to..."

  Alex jumped in, his heart beating faster, "Adrienne called you?"

  "She let me know you were back together... as a family."

  "Hanna..."

  She cut him off. "Alex, you don't need to explain."

  "I need to see you, Hanna."

  He felt an emptiness grow inside as he heard her say, "I'm sorry this didn't work out," and then the line went dead.

  It was all Alex could do to not run back into the house and throw Adrienne out on the street. What in the world was she thinking calling Hanna and then not telling him about it? But, then again, of course she would call her to make sure that threat was put aside for good. Hanna's final words replayed in his head, "I'm sorry..."

  His phone rang, and he saw the sheriff's number on the screen. "Morning, Sheriff."

  "Alex, good morning. Had a little excitement last night thought you should know about."

  "What's that?"

  Stokes said, "Can you meet me down at the Bayes' shrimp trawler?"

  "I'm just down the road."

  "Meet me on the dock."

  Alex saw Sheriff Stokes standing on the dock next to the LuLu Belle with one of his deputies. He was surprised to also see two men and a woman with DEA for the Drug Enforcement Agency, stenciled prominently on the backs of their shirts. They were onboard the boat, apparently supervising a crime scene investigation crew.

  "What's going on, Pepper?" Alex asked as he came up.

  "Coast Guard came across your old pal Chaz Merton with his crew onboard the boat here last night. They were just outside the bay taking on a big load of pot."

  "What?" Alex said in total surprise.

  "The Bayes kid was with them, too."

  "Horton's son?" Alex asked.

  "Yessir."

  "How much are we talking about?" Alex asked.

  "The Feds tell me it's damn near a half million."

  Alex was stunned. "And Chaz and young Horton were in the middle of all this?"

  "Seems your friend Chaz has been very cooperative already with the Federal boys," the sheriff said. "Wants a plea deal for spilling all he knows about this drug ring that's apparently been operating around here for several years. We've been trying to chase down random reports of big drug shipments but had no idea."

  Alex looked across th
e deck of the old shrimp boat and the Federal investigators scurrying about. "And you think Horton was tied up in all this before he died?" he asked.

  "Don't know for sure," Stokes said. "Even one of my dispatchers was in on it, monitoring police and Coast Guard radio traffic to alert the boats out on the water. Guess he didn't do a very good job last night."

  "Where's Meryl?" Alex asked.

  "Up at the house with a couple more Feds," Stokes said. "She's sayin' she had no idea her old man and her son were mixed up in any of this."

  "Of course she is," Alex responded. Random threads of circumstances were coming together in his head. "Sheriff, what do you think the odds are that Horton was getting skittish about the drug business and maybe thinking about getting out? Then suddenly, he turns up dead."

  Alex was waiting for a call back from his father's lawyer when he walked up to his house. The news about the drug ring and Horton Bayes' involvement, suddenly created several new scenarios in his murder that needed to be quickly tracked down.

  As he reached the front door, his thoughts returned to Adrienne and her call to Hanna. He tried to keep his anger in check as he heard her talking to Scotty in the kitchen. They were both at the small table eating breakfast when he walked in. She was wearing a short robe and her bare legs were crossed as she helped her son to more cereal. She looked up when he came into the room.

  "Morning, Babe," she said, a big smile on her face.

  "We need to talk," Alex said sternly. "Get some clothes on. We're going for a walk."

  Alex led Adrienne out to the end of their dock on the river and then turned to face her. His face was flushed with anger and he tried to calm himself before saying, "What in hell were you thinking, calling Hanna?"

  Adrienne didn't seem surprised at his accusation. "I just wanted her to know I was sorry about everything, about coming between the two of you."

  "I'm sorry, but that's bullshit, Adrienne!"