by Joyce Lavene
He leaned closer, gray eyes serious. “Where is she?”
I pointed to the sea oats. “I saw her when I fell. I’m afraid the water will take her if we don’t do something. I don’t want to think what would happen if I tell the others.”
“Show me where.”
We both got down on our knees and I looked around in the sea oats again until I found her wrist. Her arm was sticking out of the sand, but the rest of her was nowhere to be seen. Someone buried her here. There could be no doubt of it. If it hadn’t been for the storm pushing at the sand that made up the dunes, we might never have found her.
I put my head down and prayed for the strength I needed. I looked at Kevin’s face, very near my own. He was focused on the body. He looked calm, not squeamish or ready to panic.
“You’re right,” he acknowledged. “We have to get her out of here. The crime scene is damaged beyond repair anyway. It’ll be better than losing the body.”
Of all the things he might’ve said, that wasn’t what I’d expected to hear. It cemented my position on his law-enforcement training. “We have to put her in something. We can’t take her out of here like this.”
“I don’t know if we have time.” He’d already started using his hands to move the sand away from the rest of Miss Elizabeth’s body. I could see she was wearing her favorite black dress with the little pink embroidered hearts on it.
The reality of it hit me like a rock. First the pink rhinestone heart pin I’d found, half buried in the sand on the other side of the island. Now, this. This is what I saw when I tried to help Miss Mildred find her watch. I’d seen the watch on her sister’s arm with the black dress behind it. I felt lightheaded and nauseated. The very idea that I’d found a watch on a dead woman’s arm was unbearable.
“Are you all right?” Kevin looked intently into my face. He’d stopped moving the sand and put his hand on my arm. “Take a deep breath. You look like you’re going to faint. Put your head down.”
And I’d been worried about him! I put my head down and took a deep breath. There wasn’t time for me to panic. Everything else had to wait until we could move Miss Elizabeth. The water was still rising toward the dunes. “We should call someone. This is too much for us to do alone.”
“Look at the water. There’s no time.” He began throwing the sand away from the body, revealing more of her dress and legs.
I caught a glimpse of one of the Fourth of July banners being blown by the wind. “Let me grab that sign. We can wrap her in it.”
I ran up the path, which by now was mostly underwater. Mary Lou and her friends had their arms full of turtle eggs and were trying to get off the beach. It was just as well they were leaving. I didn’t know if the banner would cover all of Miss Elizabeth or not.
I pushed against the wind and took out my cell phone. But there was no service. Why was it that there was never service when you really needed it? I continued across the parking lot where visitors could find free beach access, chasing the red, white and blue banner. I finally grabbed it with both hands and then fell on it so it couldn’t blow away again. Still struggling against the wind, I scrunched the banner into a ball and hurried back to where I’d left Kevin.
But he was already coming out of the sea oats with Miss Elizabeth in his arms. Her poor, dead face had a look of terror on it that I’d hoped never to see outside a movie theater. There was a large red gash in her forehead. Is that what killed her? Who could do such a terrible thing?
“Put her down,” I screamed at Kevin. “We have to wrap her in this. I don’t want everyone to see her this way.”
“We have to get away from the beach,” he yelled back. “Bring the banner. We’ll do it over here in the parking lot.”
I’d never been hysterical, but I could feel a torrent of wild emotions flooding through me, like the ocean flooding the beach. I wanted to scream and rip at my hair. My hands shook as I fought to maintain my self-control. Hold on for Miss Elizabeth’s sake. I’d have to fall apart later. It couldn’t be right now.
I put the banner down in the parking lot and tried to hold it in place long enough for Kevin to lay Miss Elizabeth on it. It was an almost impossible task as the wind kept threatening to rip it from my hands.
He finally put her wet, sandy body down. The banner would barely cover her face this way. I looked at him, not knowing what to do next. I’d run out of ideas.
He stripped off his poncho and tenderly laid it over Miss Elizabeth’s face. If I hadn’t already been sobbing at the time, I would have broken down at that gesture of human understanding. I wanted to say thank you, but there wasn’t time. The water was coming up fast toward the parking lot. My gratitude would have to wait, along with all of my questions.
He stooped down and lifted Miss Elizabeth again. The rain was coming down so hard we could barely see as we crossed the street. Water was ankle deep on the blacktop and was punctuated by floating debris that was washing away with the storm.
I kept glancing at Miss Elizabeth’s arm sticking out from under the poncho and the banner. It was her watch arm, a dread reminder of what I’d seen from her sister. I couldn’t think about what that meant right now. Instead, I focused on pushing myself forward as Kevin and I slogged through the water. Finally, we reached Duck Road. We crossed the empty street and walked up the ramp to town hall. Every shop, every home, was shuttered against the storm. At least no one would see her this way.
I kicked open the door when we reached the office. Despite the overhang that protected the shops, rain propelled us inside, out of the storm. Nancy got up from her desk, took one look at Kevin and sat back down. She didn’t say anything, just stared at the terrible burden he held.
He dropped to his knees and put Miss Elizabeth on the green and white tile floor we’d had installed last year. I could see he was exhausted. In normal conditions, it was a short walk from the ocean-side beach to the sound. These conditions had been anything but normal or easy.
“There’s no phone service—at least I don’t have any,” I told him. “I tried to call Chief Michaels from my cell. We need to get the medical examiner out here. Maybe the State Bureau of Investigation too. I can’t even remember the last time someone was killed here.”
“I have the radio,” Nancy said. “I could call the chief.”
Kevin and I both looked at her. She hadn’t moved from her place at the computer. “It would be good for you to call the chief,” he replied.
“All right.” She blinked a few times before pressing the button on the radio. “What should I tell him?”
“Tell him to come back to town hall,” I said. “Tell everyone else to go home. We don’t need the whole town here for this. Try to call the medical examiner and the sheriff too.”
“She hasn’t been dead long.” Kevin wiped sand and saltwater from his face. “She was wearing this dress when I saw her leave Tuesday morning.”
“You have some experience with this kind of thing, don’t you?”
The pain I’d seen earlier in his eyes intensified. “Yeah. Too much experience.”
He didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything else about it. I didn’t want to push him. “Thanks for your help. I’m glad you were there with me.” I didn’t even try to stop the tears from coursing down my cheeks. I was a wreck, covered with sand and salt, my hair plastered to my head and eyes red from crying. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
His eyes narrowed on my face. “You knew it was her.”
“I did. I was looking for the watch.” I nodded toward her arm. “It really belongs to her sister. I was helping her find it.”
I couldn’t explain it any better at the moment. I didn’t have time, as it turned out. Chief Michaels and his officers swept through the door. He was followed by the Dare County sheriff and an EMS team. I didn’t want to be there to see anything they might do to Miss Elizabeth, but I couldn’t quite follow Nancy’s lead and run out of the office.
“I think I noticed the coffee shop was s
till open when we walked past,” Kevin said. “I don’t know about you, but I could use something hot to drink.”
It was a lifeline and I took it. I felt guilty doing so, as though as the mayor, maybe I should stay where I was, with the chief and the EMTs, but I convinced myself that I would only be in the way. I’d done as much as I could to help Miss Elizabeth. At least for now.
By the time Kevin and I left town hall, the storm had abated somewhat, as storms always do. They come up fast and change everything, then the sun shines and people try to figure out what to do next.
I soon found myself sitting across from a man I barely knew, drinking a hot mocha with shaking hands while I dripped all over the floor. I waved at Phil, the owner of the Coffee House and Bookstore. I couldn’t summon a return smile even though that’s what the mayor is supposed to do.
“You’ve never found a dead body before,” Kevin guessed.
He knows about me. Gramps must have told him. “No. I find lost things, not people. I’m sure it was the watch. It led me to her.”
“That could be a valuable service to anyone in law enforcement.” He sipped his double-shot latte. “Have you ever done that kind of work?”
“No! I do what I can for friends and neighbors when they lose their car keys or their rings. I don’t hire out, if that’s what you mean.”
He nodded. “Sorry. I was wondering. Your grandfather mentioned it when I met him. I’m missing a key for a room upstairs at the inn. He said you might be able to find it.”
“That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Why you were looking at me so funny when we met. Why you waited for me to look for Miss Elizabeth.”
“I suppose so. You seemed like the most likely person to find her since you find lost things. I’m sorry it happened that way.”
“At least we found her.” I dared a glance at him. “What do you think happened to her?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I guess it’s my turn. Chief Michaels spoke very highly of you, but you aren’t from Duck. You didn’t freak out when we found Miss Elizabeth. Were you a police officer in D.C.?”
“FBI. For twelve years. I think someone hit her in the head with an edged weapon, maybe a shovel. Then they buried her. It might’ve been a perfect crime except that someone asked you to find that watch.”
I took a deep breath, fighting back a sudden wave of nausea. “I’m glad this doesn’t usually happen to me. I like finding things for people, but I’d have to give it up if the things I found came attached to dead people all the time. Is that why you gave up the FBI? Too much death?”
I could tell I’d crossed an invisible line. His face became shuttered, and he sat back in his chair, engrossed in drinking his coffee. It was one of those too-early-in-the-friendship kind of things. He obviously wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.
“Anyway,” I continued when he didn’t respond, “I’d be glad to help you find the key you’re looking for. I only have a couple of rules I work with.”
“Such as?”
“What I’m looking for has to belong to the person who asks me to look for it. You wouldn’t believe how many people have asked me to look for things that don’t belong to them.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” He smiled a little and put his coffee cup on the table again. “And the other rule?”
“It’s not illegal. In high school, a friend of mine asked me to find his lost marijuana stash. I made up that rule for him.”
“Another wise rule.” Kevin defrosted a little more. “How does it work? Is it like a séance or something?”
“Nothing like that. It’s really very simple.” I was about to explain that we could do it sitting right there in the coffee shop when Chief Michaels came in and told me he needed my help.
The chief nodded to Kevin and then spoke to me. “I’d like you to come with me when I talk to Millie. You seem to get along real well with her. I think she’d like to have you there representing the town and all.”
“Of course.”
“Maybe we can look for the key when you’re not so busy.” Kevin got up from his chair and handed me a business card. “Just give me a call. Let me know if there’s anything I can do, Chief.”
I wanted to be with Miss Mildred when Chief Michaels told her about her sister. I really did. But I almost chickened out when I went home to change out of my dirty, wet clothes. It would be so easy to stay here. I took a look at myself in the mirror, though, and knew I couldn’t back out. My pink T-shirt had the Duck emblem on it, a big yellow duck holding a sailboat. I had to go for the town and the sisters.
The chief and I drove in silence over the drenched, sand-covered road to Miss Mildred’s home. Her house was every bit as large and interesting as her sister’s home, but there were dozens of tinkling fountains here. Both women had done all right for themselves, mostly through marriage. I didn’t want to speculate on how Wild Johnny Simpson had made his money. No one did. Now, despite their wealth and standing in the community, one of them was alone.
The chief nodded to me (I think sort of asking if I was ready), then knocked on the door. Miss Mildred greeted us with a sweet smile. “I hope you’ve come to tell me the power will be back on soon. You know, Dae, this doesn’t look very good for you as mayor. That wasn’t even much of a storm and already my lights have been out for hours.”
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ll try to light a fire under the power company.”
“I think we should sit down, Millie.” Chief Michaels took her arm and helped her to a chair with a crochet-covered back.
“Why?” She stared at him as though she knew, her lower lip already trembling.
“The mayor found your sister a little while ago,” he explained.
“Oh good! May I have Mama’s watch back now?”
It was too hard. I’d known these women all my life. Tears were sliding down my cheeks. I hiccupped on a sob, and she stared at me. “You haven’t lost the watch, have you, Dae?”
I was about to blurt out the whole thing when the chief put his hand on Miss Mildred’s shoulder. “Your sister is dead, Millie. We think she might be the victim of foul play. Let’s call someone from the church to come over.”
She glanced back and forth between us, a slow frown puckering her forehead. “What are you saying, Ronnie? Did you find Mama’s watch or not?”
I tried to keep my voice from cracking, but it didn’t work. “It was where I saw it. Miss Elizabeth had it on her arm. I don’t know if the water damaged it or not.”
She nodded, smiling again. “Maybe you could have Barney over at the jewelry store take a look at it before you bring it back. I knew I could count on you, Dae. You’ve always had the gift.”
The chief and I glanced at each other again. Neither one of us seemed to know what else to say. He told Miss Mildred to have a nice day and awkwardly patted her shoulder. She smiled at us, and we left her rocking in her chair. Using her kitchen phone, I called the deacon at her church and explained what had happened. He arrived at the house less than ten minutes later.
“I didn’t like the way she sounded,” the chief said as we walked out to his car.
“It’ll sink in on her,” I assured him.
“I hope so. She scared me. I don’t mind admitting it. I’d hate to see her taken out of her home. She might not be able to live alone anymore after this. I’ve seen it happen with folks her age.”
We climbed into the car and headed back to my house, weaving around fallen tree branches and patio furniture that had been swept into the street by the storm. I looked out the side window at the ocean. There were still some whitecaps, but the surf was mostly calm and the tide level was back where it belonged. “She knows what we were saying. She’s not crazy or senile. She couldn’t take it all in, but she’ll be fine.”
“In the meantime, we’ve had a murder.” He shook his head. “Those SBI boys are gonna come down here and tear up our community.”
The storm had caused substantial damage up and down the Outer Banks. Duck was hard hit, but we’d seen worse. As soon as it passed, everyone was out cleaning up the mess and putting the town back together. It was a way of life for us. This coast wasn’t called the Cape of Storms for nothing.
I was lucky there was no real damage to Missing Pieces. Rain had come in through a broken window in the back storage room, but the water hadn’t reached anything of value. Gramps and I used a wet-dry vac and a mop to clean it up. The power came on shortly after we’d left Miss Mildred’s house. I was glad she had that much anyway.
Everyone was devastated by the news of Miss Elizabeth’s death. After the weekend, I sat in the town hall listening to people talk about it as they waited for the town meeting to begin. It had been the topic of conversation on everyone’s lips for the past two days. No one could believe anyone in Duck would hurt Miss Elizabeth. But there were always outsiders here. The same tourists who provided so much of our livelihood came from across the world. There was no way of knowing anything about them.
“I heard she was robbed and raped,” Althea from the library in Manteo whispered loudly to Trudy. “She didn’t have her purse on her. No one’s found it either.”
I didn’t tell her that Chief Michaels said it didn’t look like robbery at all. Whoever attacked Miss Elizabeth had left her mother’s expensive watch on her arm when he or she had buried her. That wasn’t like a robbery. It was true they hadn’t found her purse. But the ocean could’ve taken that away before we got there.
“Did you hear anything about Miss Elizabeth being raped?” Trudy asked me after Althea had moved on to have the same conversation with Mary Lou on the other side of the town meeting room.
“No. I haven’t heard anything other than what Chief Michaels announced two days ago. I think he’s waiting for the medical examiner’s report before he releases any more information. Althea’s only speculating—she doesn’t know anything for sure.” As I spoke, I kept one eye on the rapidly growing group entering town hall for our monthly meeting. This large of a crowd was unusual. Normally only a handful of residents showed up. No doubt it was a sign of how worried everyone was about what had happened to Miss Elizabeth. With no real answers, the whole town was on edge.