by Kathi Daley
Maria hesitated. “I could use the help, but you girls have already done so much.”
“It’s not a problem,” Georgia assured her. “I’ll go home and change into a dress.” She looked at me. “Do you want to help?”
“Sure. I have a little black dress I’ve been waiting to break in.”
By the time Georgia and I had returned to the Peyton house, Nikki and Maria were already setting out the food. Tanner was dressed in black pants and a dark red dress shirt that almost exactly matched the dark red of Georgia’s dress. It almost made me think they’d compared notes, but I knew they hadn’t.
Someone had turned on some soft Christmas jazz, which fit the atmosphere created by the twenty-foot tree in the great room. I wondered how he’d gotten the lights and ornaments on the top. Trays filled with wine and champagne were being circulated by men and women dressed in black. Nikki whispered to me that most of the waitstaff were men and women from the local search-and-rescue team, which had been the recipient of more than one of Tanner’s dogs.
By the time the food had been sampled and an obnoxious amount of alcohol consumed, I was exhausted. I could see Nikki and Maria were exhausted as well, so Nikki and I volunteered to begin cleaning up while Tanner saw to the last of his guests and Maria and Georgia saw to the last of the food.
“That was some party,” I said to Nikki as I filled the sink with sudsy water.
“Tanner knows how to get what he needs. I overheard someone say they’d made a six-figure donation.”
“Wow. That’s awesome. And amazing.”
“It’s pretty expensive to train even one dog. But Tanner only hires the best trainers. He’s a pretty great guy.”
“Yes, he is.” I agreed. “And I hope it works out for you to stay in Holiday Bay. I think you’re pretty great yourself.”
Nikki smiled.
“So, if you went to high school here, did you know the girl who died?” I asked. That question had been on my mind since we’d spoke earlier, but I hadn’t had the chance to ask.
“Yeah, I knew Darcy. She was a year ahead of me.”
“I guess you heard about the time capsule project?”
Nikki spooned leftovers into a bowl. “Sure. It was kind of a big deal at the time. Darcy was the president of the student council that year, so she was credited with the idea, even though it was totally Connie Belmont’s.”
“Connie Belmont?”
“She was in the same class as Darcy.”
“I don’t remember hearing the name.”
Nikki opened the refrigerator and put in the bowl she had just filled, then started on the next one. “She moved here partway through senior year. She was fun and creative, but she never could crack through new-girl status, so she didn’t have a lot of friends. She and I hung out sometimes because I was new too. That’s how I know the time capsule project was hers and stupid Darcy stole it and took all the credit.” Nikki blushed. “Sorry. I guess it’s wrong to call a dead girl stupid.”
“That’s okay. I understand. Does Connie still live in the area?”
“She did until a couple of years ago. She got married and moved away, which was sort of sad, but she never really fit in, so she’s probably a lot happier now.”
“I guess. Do you think she’ll come back when they open the time capsule?”
Nikki laughed. “No. Not after what she did.”
“Did?”
“Connie was in the principal’s office when the senior adviser called and gave him the combination to the lock where the time capsules were kept. He wrote it down and Connie saw what he’d written. She was mad the student council had used her idea but hadn’t given her any credit, so she snuck into the school and stole the boxes of all four student council members. When the capsule’s opened, they’re going to be shocked to find their stuff gone.”
I took in a breath. “All four. I don’t suppose you mean Darcy Jared, Carrie Long, Karen Stinson, and Tracy Edwards?”
“You know them?”
“I don’t know them, but I know about the boxes. I found them in my basement.”
“Really? Connie said she hid them where no one would ever look, but she didn’t say where. Talk about a small world.”
A small world indeed. “You do know that for a while, the boxes were considered to be evidence in Darcy Jared’s murder investigation?”
Nikki looked genuinely surprised. “No. I hadn’t heard. Why?”
“Because of the four girls whose boxes were taken, two are dead and one is missing.”
“Missing? Who’s missing?”
“Carrie Long. She’s been missing since September.”
Nikki gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God. I only just heard Karen had died a couple of days ago when I was in town and a guy I knew from high school mentioned how odd it was that two people from his graduating class had died within months of each other. He didn’t mention Carrie. What happened to her?”
I explained as much as I could. It was obvious Nikki was both horrified and saddened. “She’s been on my mind a lot. I feel like someone should be looking for her, but it doesn’t seem as if anyone is.”
“Carrie was always nice to me,” Nikki said. “Nicer than any of the others on the student council. If you want to find her, I’ll help you look. In fact, I have an idea where to start.”
Chapter 16
Nikki and I got started the first thing the next morning. I’d invited her to come over to the cottage so we could chat without being overheard. Tanner had a training session, and there were people lingering in the house and the kennels. Once I explained the plan to Georgia, she wanted to help as well.
I started off by telling Nikki everything I knew about Carrie’s disappearance. “Carrie was last seen late at night this past September. From what I’ve been told, she called a neighbor to ask her to stay with her baby because a friend had called her in a panic when their car broke down and needed to be picked up. The baby was asleep, and Carrie promised to be gone no more than thirty minutes. She never returned. No one in town has reported seeing her since. Her car, her phone, and her purse have never been found.”
“Wow. I had no idea. Poor Carrie.”
“There’s more. Before her disappearance, Carrie withdrew almost all the money in her savings account from the bank. The bank manager asked about it at the time, and Carrie said she was helping a friend.”
“Sounds like this friend might have taken the money, then killed her,” Nikki said.
“Perhaps. The more I think about it, the less sense the timeline makes. On one hand, calling the neighbor in the middle of the night makes it seem as if whatever happened wasn’t prearranged. I mean, if you have a baby and you know ahead of time you’re going to meet someone, wouldn’t you set it up to meet during the day, when you can get a sitter? On the other, Carrie took the money out of the bank a couple of days before she went missing, which makes it look as if her meet up with the friend was premeditated. But why in the middle of the night? And why did she tell the neighbor she’d received a call when there was no record of her getting one?”
Nikki nibbled the corner of her thumbnail. I could see by the state of the nail this was a nervous habit of long standing. “What if Carrie’s friend did contact her that night, but not by phone?”
I looked at Nikki. “What do you mean?”
“What if the friend came by Carrie’s house demanding the money that had been promised him or her? What if Carrie said she didn’t have it on her? Maybe she’d left it at work or hidden it in her gym locker or left it with someone else? Maybe the person threatened either Carrie or her baby if she didn’t hand over the money right then and there, so Carrie called the neighbor to sit with the baby, then went with them to get it?”
“That makes sense,” I said.
“It does if this person Carrie withdrew the money for wasn’t really a friend,” Georgia countered.
“It could be she was being blackmailed or threatened,” I said.
&nbs
p; “How do we find out what happened after Carrie left her house?” Georgia asked.
No one seemed to have a suggestion.
Finally, Georgia said, “The person Carrie withdrew the money for must have been part of her life. We know she worked at the market and the day care center and was dating Grayson Porter. Maybe we should start there. She might have said something to someone.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “Lacy said Carrie was under a lot of stress in the days before she disappeared. She had a full-time job at the market and helped out at the day care almost full time to pay for childcare for her daughter. Lacy thought she was at the end of her rope. But what if the stress others were picking up on was due to something other than normal, day-to-day stressors? What if there was something more going on? Maybe she mentioned it to someone.”
“Where should we start?” Nikki asked.
“With Grayson Porter,” I said. “If Carrie was dating him, she might very well have opened up to him about what was going on in her life.”
“Unless what was bothering her was embarrassing or illegal,” Nikki pointed out.
“Well, yes, I guess there’s always that.”
None of us knew Grayson and I had no expectation he would speak to us, but Lacy knew him, so I called her to ask if she’d set up a meeting. She agreed to call him to see how receptive he was. I thanked her and waited for a callback. In the meantime, we took a stab at approaching things from another angle.
“Carrie withdrew a lot of cash—at least a lot for her—from her savings account days before she disappeared, saying it was for a friend. We know she was struggling financially and had a baby to support, so it doesn’t seem logical she would just give her savings to a friend, even if the person was desperate,” I began.
“Unless she was being blackmailed or threatened,” Georgia added.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Carrie seemed like an upstanding citizen from what others have said, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a past. Maybe her past caught up with her.” I looked at Nikki.
She shrugged. “Carrie was nicer than most of the girls in high school, but she was still one of the popular girls. She was a cheerleader and on the student council, and she was gorgeous, with half the guys in the school after her. She was a good student and liked by almost everyone. She did hang out with Darcy, who was less kind, so for me, that’s a mark against her. Still, I have a feeling if she got into trouble, it was probably after high school.”
“Do we know anything about the baby’s father?” Georgia asked.
“Not a thing,” I said. “I don’t remember anyone even mentioning his name.”
“Maybe we should go talk to Velma,” Georgia suggested. “She has total faith Carrie didn’t just take off and really wanted to help her. I bet she knows a lot more than she’s already told us.”
Georgia took Ramos out and then the three of us headed into town. As it had been all month long, the streets and sidewalks were crowded with holiday shoppers, but we arrived at Velma’s just as she was closing, so we could talk to her without worrying about a diner full of tourists listening in on our conversation.
We explained our reason for being there, and we all settled in with cups of coffee to try to sort things out.
“I don’t know what Carrie was so stressed about in the days before she went missing,” Velma said. “She didn’t confide in me.”
“She took money out of her savings. Money she couldn’t afford to just give away, yet it seemed that’s what she did. Why?” I asked.
“I’ve thought about that,” Velma said. “I can’t claim to know why she did it, but in my mind, the only reason she’d give away money she desperately needed to support her baby would be to protect that baby.”
“Protect the baby from what? Or who?” Georgia asked.
“What about the father?” Nikki suggested. She looked at Velma. “You said the baby’s father wanted nothing to do with it when Carrie told him she was expecting, so she was raising the baby on her own. What if he changed his mind? What if he came to her and said he wanted visitation or shared custody or something?”
Velma frowned. “I don’t know. Would he even have a claim?”
“Did he give up his rights legally?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Velma repeated.
“Was he a local boy?” I asked.
Velma shook her head. “No. Carrie met him at some camp or retreat she attended the summer before last. She considered moving up there, but then she found out she was pregnant and moved home. I never met him, but I know his name was Derek. Derek Strong.”
“Do you know where he is now?” I asked.
Velma shook her head. “Carrie never said.”
“Do you know the name of the camp where Carrie met him?” I asked.
Velma tapped her fingertips on the table. “I know it was just this side of the border. It seems like it was a one-word name. Like Serenity, but that isn’t it. I do think it started with an S. Solitude, Surrender? No.” Velma continued to drum her fingers. “Salvation. That’s it. The camp was called Salvation.”
We thanked Velma, then went back to the cottage. I logged onto my computer and did a search for a camp called Salvation in northern Maine. “Oh, this can’t be good,” I said.
“What is it?” Nikki asked.
“Salvation is the name of a compound.”
“A compound?” Georgia asked.
“It’s an underground sort of thing. End-of-the-world stuff, by the look of things. If Carrie was wrapped up in something like that, I’m surprised they let her leave. From what I know of end-time cults, which isn’t a lot, once you’re in, you’re in.”
“Maybe that was what the money was for,” Georgia said. “Maybe she’s been paying this cult off for her freedom.”
“Seems like as good an explanation as any. I’m going to call Chief Wilder. Investigating an end-times cult sounds like something someone with a gun should be doing.”
I called him and explained what we’d learned, and he agreed to look in to it. I’d just hung up when Lacy called to let me know Grayson was willing to speak to us and was at the church that afternoon. The three of us decided to go there immediately to see what he knew.
******
Grayson Porter was a serious-looking young man with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes. From his outward appearance, it seemed obvious he’d been under a great deal of stress. I assumed it had to do with having his girlfriend disappear in the middle of the night. Either that, or he had something to do with it. Until I spoke to him, that was a toss-up in my mind.
I took care of the introductions, and then Grayson began to speak. “Lacy said you had some questions about Carrie. I think it’s odd that folks who didn’t know her are looking into her disappearance, but in the end, I just want her found, so it seems we have the same goal. How can I help?”
“We’re trying to understand what happened,” I began. “We know she was under a lot of stress in the days before she went missing. More than usual, according to those we’ve spoken to. Do you know why?”
“Not specifically. She mentioned hearing from someone from her past that she’d rather not have. I don’t know if that was what was behind her somewhat odd behavior, but it seems worth telling you.”
“Odd behavior?” I asked.
“In the week before she went missing, Carrie seemed paranoid. She kept looking over her shoulder, and she’d jump at every little noise. I tried to talk to her about it. I asked her repeatedly what she was afraid of. All she would say was that she was jittery, and not to mind her. She said she had some things on her mind she needed to sort out but that I shouldn’t worry about it.”
“Did she tell you she planned to withdraw money from her savings?” I asked.
Grayson shook his head. “I didn’t know a thing about it until after she went missing and the cops came to talk to me.”
“Did she ever talk about her baby’s father?” I asked.
Grayson looked out
a window. He seemed so lost. “Not really,” he answered after a bit. “I know she met him at some camp. She said she never loved him, and when he didn’t want anything to do with the baby, she was just as happy. As far as I know, she didn’t maintain a relationship with him. At least other than the first time, when she explained things to me, she never brought him up.” Grayson looked at me. “Do you think he’s involved in this?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It wouldn’t be unheard of for the father of a baby to come out of the woodwork later on. Chief Wilder is following up on things; if he’s involved, we’ll know soon enough.”
Grayson ran his hands through his hair. “I guess if the baby’s father is involved, that would explain Carrie’s comment about someone from her past coming back into her life.”
Yes, it would.
Chapter 17
Another week passed and we were no closer to figuring out what had happened to Carrie. Chief Wilder had managed to track down Derek Strong, who hadn’t left the compound in months. I supposed other end-time radicals weren’t the best alibis, but the group did seem to keep a tight leash on their members, and the video cameras they had set up all around the compound proved he couldn’t have been the one to meet Carrie on the night she disappeared. There was the off chance Carrie had gone to them and was inside the compound again, but the man Wilder had spoken to said he hadn’t seen her in over a year, and the chief had no basis for requesting a warrant to prove otherwise.
Georgia and I talked about our frustration over Carrie’s disappearance, but we’d done everything we could think of. We both needed this holiday to help mend our hearts and souls and vowed to immerse ourselves in the Christmas spirit to the best of our abilities. The thing was, Carrie wasn’t a captive waiting to be rescued. As far as we could tell, she’d either run away and didn’t want to be found or she was dead.
“Do you want to go to the play tonight?” Georgia asked.
I looked up from my laptop. Georgia was in the kitchen baking, as she did quite a lot. I was pretty sure she was single-handedly stocking the bake sale booth the community was running as a fund-raiser, but I didn’t mind. It was excellent publicity for the inn. “Did I hear they were doing A Christmas Carol?”