Finding Abby: A Romantic Suspense set in the Colorado Mountains (Whispering Pines Mysteries)

by Rhonda Blackhurst

  “Not very, I reckon.”

  “For someone with his know-how and connections it would be as simple as pinging my phone. The only thing would be whether he thinks it’s worth coming out here and risk going back to prison for violation of a protection order. And I can’t see that stopping him. He thinks he’s invincible.” She watched Jeremiah’s brow’s furrow and his blue eyes turn gray as they grew cold. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because now you’ll just worry.”

  “Now I’ll know to keep guard.”

  “Every time I let myself believe we’re finally safe here, the old fear creeps back up again,” she admitted, sighing.

  Abby could almost see his thoughts tumbling around in his head as he stared at his cup, absently tilting it to one side until his coffee neared the lip of the cup and then drank the last of it.

  “Your sister know?”

  “Yes.”

  “That why you agreed to a dog? Because of the phone calls?”

  “Naw.” She smiled at him and got up, taking his cup and setting it in the sink. “I agreed to the dog because Cooper and I have both wanted one for a long time but it wasn’t fair to leave it alone all day while we were gone and then not have any place for it to run.”

  “Sounds like a good excuse.”

  “If we get a big dog it will make me feel safer, so it’s serving a dual purpose.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  For the next several days Abby, Cooper, and Jeremiah did nothing but unpack, explore the grounds, and orient themselves with their new business. As luck would have it, Cooper’s new school was on spring break for the week. As soon as the U-Haul was unloaded, the three of them brought it into town to drop it off before swinging by the Verizon store for Abby to get a new phone and number, then to the animal shelter to adopt a dog. It would be a good start for the dog to have Cooper around for a few days before he left each day to go to school.

  “Mom, why’d you get a new phone number? I get why you wanted a new phone. This one’s a whole lot cooler than your old dinosaur one. But why a new number?” Cooper asked on their way to the animal shelter. “You’ve always had that number.”

  “That’s exactly why.”

  “You didn’t like it?”

  “Sure I did. I just thought it would be a good new start. Besides, I wanted a local number for where we live now. Next time we’re in town let’s get you a new phone and number too, okay?”

  “I wanna keep my number.”

  Now’s the time to search for information, Abby. “Cooper, have you been getting any prank calls or text messages you don’t know who they’re from?”

  “What’s a crank call?”

  “Prank, not crank.”

  “Whatever,” he scowled. “What is it?”

  “Weird, unwanted calls.” Cooper didn’t answer. “You know, calls from people who shouldn’t be calling you.” Cooper hesitated far too long and Abby’s blood ran cold. Her skin prickled with fear. She tried to slow her breathing so Cooper wouldn’t see her alarm. “Coop?” she pressed.

  “No.”

  She saw his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. He avoided her eyes, staring at the ground instead, pushing the dirt with the toe of his shoe.

  “Coop, you know you can talk to me, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I mean it. You can talk to me about anything. And I mean anything.”

  “I know. I get it, Mom.”

  He met her eyes with his for a split second, but long enough for Abby to see something uncomfortable there.

  “Let’s get you a new number, okay? Fresh phone, fresh number, a fresh start.”

  He looked at her now, his eyes lingering on hers. What she saw there made her shift her weight in discomfort. It was so slight that if she didn’t know Cooper as well as she did, she would have missed it. But she saw it, no mistake. It was resentment.

  “Tell ya what, buddy. Let’s go get your new phone and number right now.”

  “Why?” The look of resentment turned to somewhat of a panic. “I don’t need a new number right now, Mom. We can come back later. Like tomorrow or next week or somethin’.”

  “It just seems silly not to do it now while we’re in town and before you start school.” She smiled at him hoping he bought the answer. His behavior was frightening her more than she wanted to admit. Any kid she knew would have jumped at the chance for a new phone. Why was he so against getting a new number? And what was he keeping from her? “If we get it now you can avoid confusing new friends with a changed number right away.”

  “Mom!” The sharpness in his tone frightened her. She suspected he saw it’s impact on her. He hung his head and kicked at the dirt again. “Sorry. What about the dog? Can we get him first?”

  “We can. He can come with us when we go back to the phone store. He can sit in the back with you. Grandpa can watch him while we’re in the store.” She looked over Cooper’s head at Jeremiah. “Right, Pops?”

  “Right.”

  She grinned at him. “Really wish you’d keep it down over there. You’re talking a mile a minute.”

  “Why change what works?” He gave a short, nervous laugh and put an arm around Cooper.

  He knows something’s wrong, too, Abby thought. How could he not know?

  “He?” Cooper asked.

  Abby looked at him. “He what?”

  “You said he can sit in the back with me.”

  “Yes, he.”

  “You don’t want puppies?” He giggled, sounding more like the old Cooper.

  “Nope, I don’t.” She chuckled in spite of the fear that gripped her and wouldn’t let go. Even though they were so far away, it felt like Hunter was on their trail like a bloodhound. Cooper’s phone rang and he looked at the screen before tucking it in his pocket. He crawled into the back seat of the car.

  “Aren’t you gonna answer that, kid?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?” Abby asked.

  “Mom, usually you’re on my case because I’m on my phone too much. Now I don’t take a call and you’re on my case because I’m not?”

  “Sorry, buddy.”

  He had a point. But given the events of the last half hour, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he was hiding something from her. Anxiety began to rear its ugly head. Again.

  As soon as they got back home, Jeremiah said he was going to check out the tiny cottage that sat back a few yards in a clearing in the woods.

  “I’m going to see what supplies I need to fix it up into a studio for you,” he told Abby. “Would you like that, kiddo?”

  “I’d more than like it.”

  “Come on, Cooper. Give me a hand,” he said.

  “I’ll come and get you guys when Maggie and Simon are ready to start showing us the ropes.”

  She gave each of them a peck on the cheek and watched as Cooper and their new dog, a four-year-old black lab named Gus, trailed behind Jeremiah. It reminded her of a Norman Rockwell painting. When they reached the trail that led through the pines to the cottage, she turned, looked at the remainder of the boxes that stared back at her and sighed. They’re not going to unpack themselves, Abigail Sinclair.

  She got a fire roaring, turned on some music, and began unpacking boxes, as she listened to Carly Simon. She’d always loved Carly Simon, much to the horror of her peers. Piper used to tell her the only reason Abby liked her so much is because she looked just like her.

  “That’s so not true,” she’d argued. “I’ve always loved James Taylor too. Do I look like him? No!”

  She continued working until she heard a knock on the door.

  “Hello?”

  She heard Maggie’s low, scratchy voice call out above the music. The first time they’d spoken Abby could tell Maggie was a smoker.

  “Are you ready to begin?”

  Abby turned the music down and went to meet Maggie at the door in the kitchen. “Give me
fifteen minutes. I’ll go get my dad and Cooper.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Out at the little cottage. He wants to fix it up for me to use as a writing studio.”

  “That old thing?”

  “When is the last time anyone used it? And for what?”

  “Not since Simon and me have been here. Henry told us to go ahead and do what we wanted with it, so we were going to tear it down. Just never got around to it.” She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a box of Virginia Slims.

  Abby hurried and slipped into her Keds and a hoodie, hoping to get Maggie out of the house before she lit up.

  “I’ll be right back and meet you in the store,” Abby said as she walked behind Maggie, ushering her out as politely as she could.

  She headed around back on the trail that led through the woods to the cottage that would hopefully be her studio eventually. If her father could pull it off, she’d finally have a place of her own just for writing. She’d never had enough time for it before. After teaching all day and summer school in the summer months to make the mortgage, then making dinner for her and Coop when she got home, getting him started on his homework after dinner, bedtime routines … well, she was just too tired to think a coherent thought much less type a full sentence. Besides, living in the city didn’t exactly provide her the motivation she needed. She preferred stars to smog and nature to traffic.

  When she reached the cottage, she felt her pulse quicken with anticipation of what it would look like when her dad was done with it. She inspected it closer and could see what Maggie was talking about, wondering if anything could be done with it after all. The shingles were all but gone, the white paint nearly peeled away, leaving the boards exposed to the elements, some of them rotting away. The window in the back of the one-room structure was shattered and looked like it had been boarded up for years, the boards weather-beaten and warped. This was going to be a huge project even for someone as skilled as her dad.

  “Hey, guys,” she said, “Maggie and Simon are ready for us.”

  “Shame no one took better care of this building,” Jeremiah said as he stepped down from the small step in front of the door, then back up, bouncing up and down slightly, testing the strength of the old worn wood.

  “I know, huh?” She and Cooper had happened upon it during their first exploration of the grounds, but they hadn’t gone inside or looked too closely. Cooper wanted it to be a hideout, but Abby squashed that suggestion before it was fully out of his mouth.

  “Not a chance,” she said. She didn’t think he would anyway. Country living was going to take some getting used to for him. “Dad, what do you suppose this place was?” She stepped into the room. There was barely enough space for the three of them to move around comfortably.

  “Don’t have any idea. S’pose it could have been used for one of the help with the bathroom on the backside and all.”

  Abby walked around back to check it out. She inspected the small stall-like structure that ran the length of the backside of the cottage. A half wall with white slatted boards lifted about two feet off the ground and ended about two feet from the height of the cottage roof. The wall surrounded two sides of the room, if one could call it a room.

  She pushed open the swinging door that made the third wall, the top of the door falling off the rusted hinge as she did, leaving the door hanging on one remaining hinge that looked as if it would give way at any moment.

  “Oops,” She said, trying to fix it as best she could.

  There was a toilet and a sink that looked like they hadn’t been used in years. She doubted they were even functional anymore. She looked around wondering where the water came from all the way out here. She saw a mirror hanging at an angle above the sink, cracked from top to bottom. The crack webbed out to each edge. She turned the handle on the faucet but nothing came out.

  “Water’s not hooked up,” she called.

  “Nope, don’t reckon it would be,” Jeremiah answered, his voice coming from inside of the dilapidated little beauty.

  For such a neglected run-down shack, she could see so much promise for what it had the potential to be. And she had no doubt her dad could do it justice.

  He appeared around the corner to look at the facilities with her. The light fixture dangling from the roof was no doubt functional at one time, but not anymore. She dared not pull the string to check, fearing an electrical short. This would definitely be roughing it. But she was ready for it.

  “I got a feeling you’re going to get along out here just fine, Abs.”

  She looked at Jeremiah who stood with his hands tucked in the front pockets of his jeans. “How do you know?”

  “I’m not blind, that’s how I know.” His eyes twinkled as he watched her. “And I know you.”

  He looked away from her but not before she saw the veil of sadness fall. The light in his eyes just a moment before dimmed and then went out.

  “Do you think Mom would have like it here, Pops?”

  “Got no doubt.” His voice cracked.

  “Come on.” She put her hand on his back, letting it rest there. “Let’s go learn how to run this joint, huh?”

  They walked around the front. Cooper threw a stick for Gus who happily galloped off to retrieve it. Gus ran back and dropped it at Cooper’s feet, looking up at him with expectant big brown eyes. She smiled at them. They were going to be just fine. They all were.

  10

  By the time spring break was over and Cooper started school, they had a good handle on the tricks of the trade—the ins, the outs, and everything in between. Cooper was even beginning to enjoy himself, which was perhaps the biggest win for Abby. She wanted so badly for their change to be a happy one for him. Hunter would still be the victor if Cooper were miserable. If nothing else, his happiness helped justify her decision to yank him from his comfortable world in Oakland and into something he hadn’t wanted.

  While Cooper was in school, Abby had time to acclimate and become more comfortable with the day-to-day operations of running the resort. She had the ordering process down to a science for the little convenience store that was connected to the side of the main house. A solid oak door with a deadbolt lock separated the house and the store, which carried everything from gum to hotdogs, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for s’mores, and everything in between, including toiletries and bait. Along the back wall was a mini coffee bar. Abby learned how to make lattes and iced coffee drinks as well as any Starbucks barista. That, in particular, was a huge hit with Cooper.

  “It’s kind of like a one-stop shop out here, huh Maggie?” Abby said.

  “Yup. Henry wanted people to have the comforts of home without the stress from home. And if someone forgot toothpaste or shampoo, he didn’t want them having to run into town to get it. The stores in these little mountain towns can be crazy with people.”

  “Did he come up here much?”

  Maggie looked at her with raised eyebrows. Abby felt her cheeks get warm, refilling the creamer as a distraction from Maggie’s stare.

  “You don’t even know how often he came up here and he left the place to you?”

  Not only were her cheeks pink, but now the tops of her ears burned as well. “We never talked about it. I just helped him around the house and he was like a grandpa to Cooper.”

  “Cooper has a grandfather. Jeremiah.”

  “True. But my father lived close to my sister in Washington, near Seattle, so Cooper didn’t get to see him very much.”

  “Oh.”

  Abby felt the uncomfortable and unmistakable arrow of resentment from Maggie. It downright bordered on hostility. Maybe she was reading more into it than there was. Perhaps Maggie and Simon were simply eager to get on with their new life in Florida and impatient for her to let them know she was good and it was okay for them to leave.

  She looked out the window at Simon explaining something to her father. She prayed it was going better for him than for her, or he’d be drinking tonig
ht.

  At the end of each day, she compared notes with Jeremiah on how the day went. Today was no different.

  “I think Maggie is really impatient to get out of here.”

  She was feeling a little defeated tonight, the last couple of weeks catching up to her. All the work that they’d done, all that was left to do, and what was once her familiar world long gone.

  “Can’t blame them much. They’re no spring chickens.”

  “Not like you, right?” Abby forced a smile, trying to work her way out of her mental funk. “I mean, you are a spring chicken if ever there was one.”

  “You’re here to do the hard work. I’m just here for looks.”

  Abby laughed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, boy, are we in trouble!”

  “Be nice or I’ll go back to living by your sister.”

  “No, you won’t.” She smiled and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. “I’m hitting the hay, spring chicken. I’m exhausted.”

  “Coop in bed?”

  “Yup. For about an hour now.” She started walking up the stairs and turned to see him still sitting in the same place. “You going to bed, Pops?”

  “In a while I imagine.”

  “You okay?” she asked softly.

  “Yup.”

  She watched as he stared into the darkness out of the kitchen window, absently touching the handle of his mug, now empty of the hot chocolate she’d made for the two of them. Her heart ached for her mom. She would have loved it here. But life had other plans. And they didn’t include her mother. Tears stung her eyes as she turned and walked upstairs, leaving Jeremiah to his thoughts.

  During the next several days, whenever Abby wasn’t following Maggie around like a puppy on her master’s heels, she put the finishing touches on making their house a home. She wanted it to be a place Cooper couldn’t wait to come to when the school day was over. Most days when he got home from school and before he started his homework, he and Abby went for a hike on the trails, taking Gus with them, while Jeremiah held down the fort.

  It was on one of their trips to town for groceries that Abby dared broach the subject again about Cooper’s phone. They were in the car when Cooper’s phone rang. He looked at the display before silencing the ringtone and put in his pocket. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. Within five minutes, it rang again, followed by Cooper looking at the display, this time turning off the phone, and tucking it back into his pocket. He shifted in his seat, pulled the seatbelt strap a little looser, and worked hard at staring out the window.