Chaos in California

by Lucy Quinn

  Or perhaps Windy was just used to such activities as running from the law, the way Dora and Evie had become.

  “Thanks for driving the getaway car,” Dora said.

  Windy winked at her. “Anytime. You two sure can run fast.”

  “Yeah,” Evie said. “Surprised us, too.”

  Dora eyed Windy. “Hey, once we’re done here and cleaned up, can we talk to you?”

  “Sure. Come on over to the main house for some coffee and a medicinal snack to take the edge off of what happened today.”

  “Will do,” Evie said with enthusiasm. She sure did appreciate the perks of living on a cannabis farm. Although, she thought as she glanced at the garbage cans full of food waste, she could do without the other trappings of Windy’s place. She let out a sigh and moved to pull a container of slop to the edge of the truck bed and get to work.

  Moments later, Dora was working on creating a new mash as Evie and Sunshine went to feed the pigs what had already been brewing in the big pot. Slop sloshed in a trough as grunting pigs dug into their meal. But one pig, a male, didn’t seem interested in the food. He had moseyed on over to Sunshine and was nuzzling her with his snout.

  Sunshine turned away from him but glanced over her back in what sure looked like a flirting gesture to Evie. “Are you kidding me?” Evie asked. “Talk about animal magnetism, Sushi girl. Seems you’ve got almost every male you come in contact with falling in love with you.”

  Sunshine let out a little yip before she pranced off with the swine trailing behind her. Evie wasn’t sure, but it even seemed the little pup was swishing her hips too, as if to say, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.

  8

  A cloud of steam wafted out of the bathroom before Evie emerged wrapped in a towel and finger-combing her hair. “I tell you, Dor. The one good thing about this haircut is no matter what I do, my hair looks the same.”

  “The pink is fading nicely,” Dora said after taking stock of Evie’s mop of curls. “Won’t be long before you’re back to being a perky blonde.”

  Dora frowned, not wanting to complain about her own hairdo considering the bigger problems they had on their plate, like solving a murder so they could finally get the flash drive they needed so they could go home. But she really wasn’t a fan of her badly cut hair, and it was time to admit she’d been hasty in chopping it off. “Did you notice any scissors in this place?” Dora asked. “Because I’d really appreciate it if you’d use some of your hair stylist skills and neaten up my haircut.”

  “Oh, thank god, Dor,” Evie said with a relieved sigh. Sunshine let out a yip and hopped off the couch to dance in a circle, making it clear she wasn’t a fan of Dora’s hair either. Evie walked over and began to get dressed. “I’ve been dying to fix your hair since you cut it.”

  “You have?”

  Evie quickly said, “It’s not bad. I mean I’ve done way worse trying to cut my own hair, but…” She was dressed now and went to the kitchen area of the cabin and pulled open a drawer. Items rattled as she rummaged through it.

  “It needs help,” Dora chuckled, and a chair scraped across the wood floor as she dragged it away from the table. “It’s okay. I know it looks like a toddler attacked me with a pair of scissors.” She sat down and waved a hand over her head. “Work your magic, please.”

  Evie ducked into the bathroom and emerged with a comb in one hand and the scissors in another. She tugged on Dora’s hair and approached the subject they hadn’t had a chance to discuss since they’d left the bar where they’d gone to question Porsche. “How credible do you think Stan was?”

  “I’m a bit skeptical. I mean, it’s possible he was telling the truth, but he was such an unsavory character. I’m not sure how much to believe.”

  “I feel the same way.” Evie snipped the scissors as she worked on Dora’s hair. “But I don’t think we can discount what he said completely until we have more than our gut feeling about the guy. You can be smelly and gross and still tell the truth.”

  “I suppose. I’m inclined to believe Porsche, though.”

  “Me too, but it’s possible Matt was a good con artist.”

  “Maybe,” Dora said. “Let’s get Windy’s take on Stan and Porsche before we move forward with this.”

  “Sure.” Evie stepped back and smiled. “There. Much better. Go take a look.”

  Dora got up to go check herself out in the bathroom mirror. Her pixie cut was now even on both sides and looked like it was intentional. She smeared gel on her palms and began to apply it to her roots and drag it through the strands to give her hair some volume. She still wasn’t thrilled with the short length, but it was only hair. It would grow out.

  She came out of the bathroom with a smile. “I love it. Thanks, Evie.”

  “You’re welcome. Ready to go have coffee with Windy?”

  “Let’s do it,” Dora said, and she led them out the door.

  As they walked down the path, Sunshine trotted beside them, but as they got closer to the barn where the pigs and chickens were kept, a rooster came strutting over and stopped in front of Sunshine to puff up his feathers. He let out a loud crow.

  “Oh, for goodness sake,” Evie said as she bent down to pick up her dog. “What is it with all the male animals in this town? Haven’t they ever seen a bichon puppy before?”

  Dora leaned in to ruffle the fur on top of Sunshine’s head. “She can’t help it if she’s irresistible.”

  Sunshine squirmed in Evie’s arms as if she were wiggling in agreement.

  “The door is open,” Windy called out to them when Dora knocked twice on the screen that led to the kitchen, and the girls stepped into the house.

  The scent of cinnamon was in the air, and Dora’s stomach growled in response. “Something smells delicious.”

  Simon was near the oven and turned toward them. “Snickerdoodles. Want one?”

  “Of course,” Evie said as she walked over to get a cookie. “Protesting made me hungry.”

  The large, muscular man chuckled as he held a spatula with a warm cookie on it out for Dora. “Cannabis free, I’m afraid.”

  “Good. I’ve had enough excitement for today.”

  “Windy does have a way of finding it once in a while,” Simon said. “I heard about your narrow escape.”

  “Yeah. But she drives a mean getaway truck,” Evie joked as she chomped on her treat.

  “What can I say?” Windy asked. “I can’t resist fighting for a good cause. I heard the protestors managed to get at least one councilman to hear their case.”

  “Good for them,” Dora said as she took the latte Simon offered her. “It’s a shame your local lawmakers didn’t consider all the angles before putting the limit in place.”

  Windy nodded in agreement and said. “We’ll keep working them until they cave. This is a fishing town, and the bigwigs need to remember that.”

  They all settled down at the kitchen table with coffees and a plate of cookies.

  Dora took a sip of her latte and then said, “We talked to Connie at the Crab Counter this morning.”

  “How did that go?”

  “She didn’t know anything about Matt’s death beyond what you do, but she did give us a lead to a bartender named Porsche at The Mooring.”

  “I know Porsche. Seems like a nice enough girl,” Windy said. “Simon?”

  He smiled as he turned from washing a pan in the sink. “She’s hot. That what you want to know?”

  Windy rolled her eyes and then looked at Dora. “Go on.”

  “Apparently she had been involved with Matt,” Evie said. “But we didn’t get anything from her that rang any bells.”

  “Dead end then.” Windy lifted her coffee up for a sip.

  “Not exactly,” Dora said. She watched Windy carefully to see her reaction to what she said next. “We also chatted with a guy named Stan. Seems he didn’t think Matt was the good guy everyone else does.”

  “Hmpf.” Windy scoffed. “Of course not. He’s Porsche’s ex and not to
o happy about that.”

  Dora was glad to hear that their assessment of Stan hadn’t been wrong. And she figured Evie would agree they should keep the creepy guy in mind as a possible suspect in Matt’s murder.

  Evie leaned toward Windy. “What can you tell us about Matt’s past? Did he ever share anything about where he came from or what he did before hiking the Coastal Trail?”

  Windy shook her head and set her mug down with a thump. “I don’t ask those kinds of questions. Everyone who comes here gets my acceptance. They tell me what they want to share, and I never pressure them for more.”

  Dora believed it. While Evie and she had spilled the beans about who they were and how they’d ended up at Windy’s, the woman had never pushed them to share more than they were willing to give.

  She reached for another cookie, and as she munched on buttery sweetness, she thought about how Evie and she had originally given Windy their fake names of Daisy and Jessica. She asked, “Do you think Matt may have been using an alias?”

  Windy shrugged. “Most people who are running from something do.”

  “So, you think he was running?” Evie asked.

  “I don’t have proof, but yeah,” Windy said. “Over the years I’ve gotten a sixth sense about that sort of thing. If I had to bet money, I’d say Matt Williams was not his real name.”

  “He was well liked around here.” Evie scooped up Sunshine, who was pawing at her leg. “And you yourself said he was a good guy, Windy. In your experience, what would a guy like Matt be running from?”

  “Hard to say. Lots of good people get into trouble.” Windy’s gaze swept over both women. “Look at the three of us.”

  Windy had a point, Dora thought. Evie and she hadn’t asked to be in the situation they were in, and they hadn’t lived a life of crime that would put them there.

  Evie said, “Might be worth searching for him on the internet. Got a picture we could try?”

  “Sure.” Windy pulled her phone out, and her fingernail tapped on the screen as she began to scroll through her camera roll. “Remember though, what you find might not give you accurate information. Think about what people would find searching for you two. Or me.”

  That reminded Dora that she’d wanted to do a search on Windy. Although they didn’t have her real name, and Dora wasn’t about to ask for it. Nor was she going to snap a picture to search for the woman by image. But she could still investigate nuclear power plant explosions and the conspiracy theories around them.

  “It’s a place to start,” Dora said.

  Evie helped Windy send the picture to their phones before Windy said, “Oh. I just thought of something. There’s a treehouse out in the woods past the cabin, not too far from the hiking trail, so if you hit it, you’ll know you’ve gone too far. Look for it near a big rock. It’s kind of a secret hideaway that I told Matt about in case he needed it. Might be worth checking it out on the off chance he hid something there.”

  “Thanks,” Dora said as she stood to go. Evie and she thanked Simon and Windy for the coffee and cookies before they left.

  As they walked back to the cabin, Evie said, “Let’s search for Matt online and then check out the treehouse.” She was holding Sunshine close, likely trying to keep her safe from the rooster that had been sniffing around the dog earlier.

  “Good plan.” Dora leaned in close and whispered, “While we’re at it, I’m curious about Windy, too. Let’s see what we can find out about her as well.”

  “Do you think she might be involved in this?” Evie asked with wide eyes.

  “No. But I am curious about her past after what happened today. That woman sucked us into that protest knowing we’d be chased by the cops at some point. And she’s sure got getaway driving skills.”

  “She’s also got loyalty,” Evie added. “No woman left behind.”

  “Exactly. I have a feeling she used to be a big deal.” They reached the cabin, and the door creaked as Dora tugged it open for Evie to go inside.

  They walked over to the couch and plopped down on the plush cushions to begin their research. But they tried every search engine and site they could find that would do image searches and turned up nothing useful.

  Dora let out a sigh. “Well that was a bust. I’m going to look into nuclear power plant explosions.”

  Evie leaned against her to see what Dora was finding. “Whoa,” she said when they saw a headline that read, Catastrophe on the Coastline. Power Plant Explosion Kills Eight. “I bet that’s it.”

  Dora clicked on the link, and the image that popped up confirmed their suspicions. A woman who looked very much like a younger version of Windy was shown holding up a sign over her head. Her mouth was open as if she was yelling, and it was captioned, Suspected leader, Barbara Norse.

  Dora read the article and spoke when something stuck out. “Wellesley graduate with a degree in agriculture and anthropology. A charismatic woman, one of her professors claimed. The kind of student many girls wanted to follow.” Dora let out a breath of air. “That sure sounds like the Windy we know.”

  “Barbara?” Evie asked, peering at the screen and sounding incredulous. “I just can’t imagine calling Windy Barbara. Not Barb either. Barbie maybe?”

  Dora barked out a laugh. “Nope. None of those work. Windy is better on all counts.”

  “She does have the free-spirit, hippy vibe down pat, doesn’t she?”

  “That she does.” Dora stared at the picture of the woman on the screen. Even though she was yelling and had a defiant expression on her face, there was a young innocence about her that had definitely faded away. Windy was tough as nails, and Dora prayed that if she and Evie failed and they ended up on the run for the rest of their lives, that they’d be half as good as Windy at making a decent future for themselves.

  “Come on,” Evie said. “Let’s go find that treehouse.”

  Dora closed the browser on the phone and ran a hand through her short hair. She wasn’t exactly optimistic about finding anything helpful, but at least the search would keep them busy. If she sat in their little cabin too much longer, her mind was going to start making plans for a life on the run. And she wasn’t nearly ready to start contemplating not being able to go home.

  9

  Evie led the way out into the redwoods with Sunshine trotting just ahead of her. She hadn’t actually wanted to do any more exploring that day. She’d had enough after feeding pigs and chickens and then running from the law back in the village of Clamshell Cove. If it hadn’t been for Dora’s troubled expression, she might have suggested giving each other pedicures and relaxing a bit for the rest of the afternoon. It didn’t matter that Dora more often than not made a mess of the polish while painting Evie’s toes. The act of doing something normal was what Evie craved.

  “You know, I wish I would’ve thought to bring some hiking shoes on this adventure,” Evie said, eyeing the Converse on Dora’s feet.

  Dora followed Evie’s gaze and pursed her lips as she nodded. “Yeah. Probably would’ve come in handy. Too bad you don’t actually own any.”

  “Right.” Evie forced a chuckle and then winced when she stepped on an exposed root. “Maybe I should’ve packed my tennis shoes.”

  Dora just grunted her agreement and kept her focus on the forest floor.

  Evie took a page out of her friend’s playbook and kept her gaze glued to the forest floor as she cautiously moved along the old, overgrown trail. The last thing she needed was to sprain an ankle while looking for the hidden treehouse.

  When they came to something that looked like a fork in the rapidly fading path, Evie paused. “Which way?”

  Sunshine shot to the left, trotting as if she was full of confidence.

  “Follow the bichon,” Dora said with a small chuckle. “I swear that dog of yours has some sort of sixth sense.”

  Evie chuckled to herself. That was true. Sunshine had been the one who sniffed out the Buddha package when they needed it while they were being chased in the mail truck. “To
the left we go.”

  With Evie in the lead and Dora right behind her, the trail faded away to indistinguishable, and the foliage grew denser the further they moved into the redwoods. Normally Evie would’ve been apprehensive, but Sunshine was still trotting out in front with her head held high. At one point she glanced back at them, as if to check to make sure Evie and Dora were still following. Evie smiled and said, “Lead on, little one.”

  Sunshine gave a pleased shake of her bottom and bounded off again, darting into the woods.

  “Ugh. She could slow down a bit, don’t you think?” Evie said, rolling her eyes.

  “If we get lost because Sunshine—”

  A loud snort sounded behind them, cutting Dora off. Both women turned just in time to see a large pink pig coming straight for them at an alarming pace.

  “Run!” Evie cried and took off after Sunshine. She shot past one of the large redwoods, pain radiating through her feet as she pounded against the uneven forest floor.

  “Evie, wait!” Dora called from behind her.

  “We have to get Sunshine before that wild boar gets her,” Evie called back over her shoulder.

  “I don’t think—oomph!” A loud thud echoed through the forest, and Evie came to an abrupt stop. The pig snorted loudly, ran past a sprawled-out Dora, and nearly knocked Evie on her butt as it hightailed it after Sunshine.

  Evie’s heart raced, and panic set in her chest. “Dora? Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” She gasped and then coughed, making Evie doubt that her friend was fine. But then Dora said, “Got the wind knocked out of me. I swear that root came out of nowhere.” Dora’s head poked up from behind a large fern. Red dirt covered half her face, but other than that she didn’t look any worse for the wear.

  “Can you walk?” Evie asked.

  “Yeah, I just need a second.”

  “I have to go after Sunshine.” There was panic in Evie’s voice now. “The wild boar is going to eat her alive.”