A Following Sea

by Michael Lindley

  "Chaz, how'd you get my father's knife?" Alex asked.

  Merton started shaking his head, "What are you talking about?"

  "You had my father's knife and you went back to the Lulu Belle and killed Horton Bayes. You knew it would look like my father did it after their fight down at the bar."

  "No, no!" Merton protested, squirming in his chair and looking back at the door for the guard. He stood up and said, "You got it all wrong..."

  Alex interrupted, "How'd you get the knife, Chaz?"

  Chapter Sixty

  Hanna had returned to the beach house an hour earlier after a long afternoon and early evening of work. She was sitting at the counter in her kitchen, a bottle of red wine half empty beside her glass.

  She had called her father and was pleased to hear the strength returning in his voice.

  "The doc says I'll be out of here in a couple of days."

  "Why don't you and Martha take some time and get away?" Hanna asked. "When's the last time you took a vacation?"

  "Do you have any idea how far behind I am at the office?" he protested.

  Hanna couldn't contain her frustration. "Allen, there is no way you're going back to the office any time soon! Get over it!"

  "Hanna, settle down. I'm feeling much better."

  "You need to have a heart transplant, for Pete's sake!"

  "I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to find me a ticker."

  "Alan, I swear I'll come back to Atlanta to work if that's what it will take to keep you out of the office."

  "No need, daughter dear..."

  "Allen!"

  They had ended the call with a thinly veiled promise from her father he would follow his doctor's orders on when it would be safe to return to work. Her next call had been to her father's wife, Martha, to insist she sit on the man if he tried to leave the house or started having them bring work to him there.

  She took another sip from her wine and considered putting the cork back in the bottle and trying to find something to eat for dinner, but instead, she poured another small splash in the glass. The silence of the house suddenly became very apparent to her. She started thinking back on happier, noisier times in this kitchen with family and friends... and Alex Frank. She had been trying to mask her loneliness for some time. Her work and the chaotic events of the past days had helped to keep her mind occupied, but the quiet house was now closing in on her.

  She reached for her grandmother's journal, still open on the counter from lunch. She flipped through a few more pages, reading familiar passages she had read many times. She looked out the window to the beach and tried to imagine the days, over a century and a half ago, when Amanda had been here in this house, in this kitchen and walking out on that beach. She felt such a close bond with the woman and whenever she looked at the old Civil War-era photo of the family on the wall, she could easily imagine the face of Amanda Paltierre Atwell coming alive and speaking with her.

  Pouring more wine into her glass, she had a sudden urge to get some air. She walked out onto the veranda looking over the beach and then walked down the steps and over to the firepit, nestled in the dunes. She sat in one of the chairs and watched as the day faded and the first stars began to show in a sky tinged orange and pink against the clouds. The wind was blowing offshore, and the ocean was a calm gray, broken only by a few gulls diving here and there searching for a late meal.

  Hanna looked at the empty wooden chair beside her in the sand and thought back to the night the mysterious woman had suddenly been sitting there beside her. In her mind, she had chalked the experience up to the excess of wine that evening and probably, just a drunken dream. Then what about the woman on the dock who had been there and then suddenly gone? She shook her head and took another sip from the wine. You're losing your mind, Hanna Walsh!

  She woke suddenly, feeling an arm on her shoulder. She heard a voice. "Hanna."

  It was dark, and she was still sitting in the old Adirondack chair on the beach and as her head cleared, she turned to see Alex Frank sitting down beside her. He reached for her hand.

  "Sorry to startle you," he said, softly.

  "Ohmigod, you scared me half to death."

  "I'm sorry."

  The silence between them was broken only by the sounds of the gulls.

  Hanna finally said, "What are you doing here?"

  "I have a lot to tell you."

  "About what?" she asked.

  "How about a glass of that wine first."

  Hanna stood. "Let's go up and get another glass."

  Alex picked up the bottle and followed Hanna up the path to the house.

  In the kitchen, he poured a glass of the wine. Hanna held her hand over the top of hers and said, "I need some coffee." She started getting a pot ready. Alex was sitting at the island counter. He saw the old journal and pulled it over. Hanna had shared it with him during past visits to the beach house and he had read some of it.

  "Catching up again on your great-grandmother?" he asked.

  Hanna turned and faced him, then came over and sat beside him. She took the book from him and caressed the old leather cover. "I swear at times she's still here with us."

  Alex smiled back at her but didn't respond.

  "So, you said you had a lot to tell me." she asked.

  "My father has been released."

  "What!"

  He relayed his earlier meetings with Connor Richards and Chaz Merton. When he finished, Hanna asked, "And Merton confessed?"

  Alex nodded. "The more we pressed, the more nervous and agitated he got. When we continued to confront him with all we'd learned from Connor Richards, he actually broke down and finally came out with all of it. When he left Gilly's that night, after the fight between my father and Horton Bayes, he went to Bayes' boat to plead with him again for more work on the man's shrimp boat. Apparently, Horton told him to get lost. They got into an argument and Chaz admitted he just snapped and hit the old man across the face with a piece of the boat's rigging there on the deck. When he realized what he had done, he really flipped out when he saw that Horton wasn't breathing. He panicked and pulled the knife he had from my father's boat the previous day when he'd been filleting some fish they'd caught on the last shrimp run before my father fired him."

  "He thought he could make it look like your father did it?" Hanna asked, incredulous.

  "And then he took the knife back to my father's boat and threw it in the water by the dock."

  Hanna sighed and leaned over and gave him a hug. "Oh, Alex, I'm so happy for you and your father. He must be so relieved."

  "I dropped him off down at Gilly's to celebrate before coming out here," Alex said and laughed.

  The coffee pot alarm beeped, and Hanna walked over to pour a cup. She returned and lifted her cup in a toast. "To the release of Skipper Frank!"

  "Thank you!" Alex said, then took a long drink from the wine. "There's something else I need to speak with you about."

  Hanna just looked back without responding.

  Alex cleared his throat, obviously trying to figure out how to begin.

  "What is it?" Hanna asked.

  "Adrienne is gone, Hanna."

  "She's gone?"

  "She's gone back to Florida with Scotty, back with her husband."

  Hanna felt some sense of relief but was confused about Alex's tone and nervousness. "That's good... I suppose," she said, "but what about your son?"

  Alex looked intently at her. "He's not mine, Hanna. Adrienne has been lying. She was desperate when the man abandoned her, but Scotty is his son. He's taking them back."

  "She would lie to you about that?" Hanna couldn't believe what she was hearing.

  "You've met Adrienne. There's not much I wouldn't put past her."

  "And she's already gone?"

  Alex nodded.

  Hanna's thoughts were swirling and all she could think to say is, "I'm sorry about Scotty. I know you were embracing al
l that and ready to take him in."

  He shook his head, taking another sip from the wine. "I really don't know what to think, but I'm damn glad Adrienne is a thousand miles away!" He smiled back at Hanna.

  She lifted her mug to his glass again.

  There was an awkward silence between them. Hanna went to get more coffee and then stood with her back to the counter, facing Alex.

  He finally said, "I know this has all been hard for you. I'm sorry for what I've put you through."

  "It wasn't you, Alex."

  "I know, but I should have kept Adrienne and this whole mess away from you."

  "Alex..."

  "I just wanted to come and apologize."

  "Thank you, but..."

  Alex interrupted. "I don't expect you to just forget about all that's happened...," he paused to gather himself. "I'm hoping you and I can take another run at this."

  "Another run?"

  "I love you, Hanna."

  She heard the words but couldn't respond. Her mind raced with sudden mixed feelings of relief and then her old concerns about committing to another man after past failures and the hurt it led to. Alex was obviously waiting for her to respond. She looked back at the man and felt the familiar attraction and deep feelings.

  "Hanna?"

  Her face glazed over as she thought back to the loss and betrayal of her husband and then Sam Collins who she had been madly in love with, who abandoned her after college. She finally looked back at Alex. His face was full of concern and expectation. She walked across the space between them and he stood as she approached. She watched as he opened his arms and she fell into him and felt him pull her close.

  Hanna heard him say again, "I love you, Hanna. Please, let's give this another try."

  She pulled back and looked up at him, pushing all doubt aside, "I love you, too."

  A complete sense of relief and joy came over her and she pulled him close again. "I do love you, Alex Frank."

  The sunlight through the thin curtains on the windows from the beach side of the house caused Hanna to wake with a start. She lifted her head from the pillow and looked around to clear her head. Alex was turned away, his bare back to her, still sleeping soundly. She pulled the covers up to cover herself and lay back on the pillow. She suddenly remembered a dream, or was it a dream? She recalled making love with Alex as a soft breeze blew through the second-floor windows, blowing the curtains back in a lazy rhythm. Later, when he was sleeping, she had gone out on the veranda to see the moon and stars with a comforter wrapped around her against the cool of the night.

  In her mind, she was sure Amanda Paltierre had suddenly been there beside her, smiling back and pushing her long red hair away from her face in the gentle wind. As Hanna thought back on it now, in the gauzy haze of shaking off the night's sleep, she was certain Amanda had been there. It was too real to be a dream. What had she whispered? Follow your heart.

  THE END

  A NOTE FROM MICHAEL LINDLEY

  Thank you for reading my latest novel, A FOLLOWING SEA.

  If you enjoyed the story of attorney, Hanna Walsh and Detective Alex Frank, their burgeoning love affair and new run-ins with the dark forces of the Low Country of South Carolina continue in Books #4 and #6 in the “Troubled Waters” suspense thriller series, LIES WE NEVER SEE and DEATH ON THE NEW MOON.

  Get special pricing now on both books on Amazon. ML

  About the Author

  Michael Lindley is a #1 Amazon author for Historical Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense with his debut novel THE EMMALEE AFFAIRS as well as #1 for Psychological Thrillers, LIES WE NEVER SEE. His subsequent novels follow this same genre with his most recent, DEATH ON THE NEW MOON, focused mostly on the present-day storyline of Hanna Frank and Alex Clark in the Low Country of South Carolina.

  The settings for his novels include a remote resort town in Northern Michigan in the 1940's and 50's, Atlanta and Grayton Beach Florida in the turbulent 1920's, and most recently, 1860's and present-day Charleston and Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

  Michael writes full time now following a career in Marketing and Advertising and divides his time between Northern Michigan, Colorado and Florida. He and his wife, Karen, are also on an annual quest to visit the country's spectacular national parks.

  "You will often find that writers are compelled to write what they love to read.

  I've always been drawn to stories that are built around an idyllic time and place as much as the characters who grace these locations. As the heroes and villains come to life in my favorite stories, facing life's challenges of love and betrayal and great danger, I also enjoy coming to deeply understand the setting for the story and how it shapes the characters and the conflicts they face.

  I've also been drawn to books built around a mix of past and present, allowing me to know a place and the people who live there in both a compelling historical context, as well as in present-day.

  Writers like Pat Conroy and Sue Monk Kidd grace my bookshelves along with Ian McEwen, Dennis Lehane, Amor Towles, Anita Shreve, Kristin Hannah, Lisa Wingate, William Kent Krueger and on and on. I need a lot of bookshelves!" ML

  Copyright © 2019 Michael Lindley All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events as depicted are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or other real incidents, is purely coincidental.

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