The Cast Net

by Mille West

  Mills went to Cooper’s side.

  “Britton didn’t come to the hunt. I haven’t heard from him since he—” Jeff and his father joined them before Cooper could finish his sentence. “Cooper, where have you been keeping yourself this summer?”

  “Dad, Cooper’s been extremely busy with his harvest. He’s been very successful.”

  “Oh, good, Cooper, I’m so glad to hear that. I know you work very hard. Miss Taylor, I understand you’ve been pulling your weight around here too.”

  “I’ve tried to be helpful, sir.”

  “That’s what I hear. Keep up the good work. Jeff, I’d like a scotch, son. Let’s go to the tent and then find your mother. We’ll see you before we leave, Cooper.”

  As they walked away, Jeff turned and winked at Cooper and Mills.

  The rest of the afternoon, Mills talked with guests and found herself comfortable in the company of Anne Jefferson and her husband. Jeff joined them and began to tell real estate stories. Jeff has an excellent sense of humor—a side I haven’t really seen.

  “I expected to do several real estate transactions with the Andersons, so after the closing, I called my florist and asked him to send them an arrangement. A couple of days later, Randolph Anderson phoned to thank me for the flowers, but he said that the florist had gotten my order confused with someone else’s. He said, ‘Jeff, the flowers that came to us had a note of sympathy for the loss of a loved one.’ Well, I was furious with the florist because I had done so much business with him. When I got him on the telephone he said, ‘You think the Andersons were upset—you should have heard from the folks at the funeral home. The note on the flowers that went to the family of the deceased read, ‘welcome to your new home.’”

  Mills laughed at his story and then went to find Cooper.

  She located him inside the kitchen, retrieving a case of wine for his guests. As he came toward the front of the house, Mills offered to hold the front door open for him. She walked past the study, and James Burton called out to her, “Honey, would you get me bourbon, and see if you can find an ashtray?”

  He was sitting in one of Cooper’s leather chairs smoking a cigar. Cooper heard his request and put down the case of wine and entered the study. “James, I think you’ve had enough to drink, and if you need anything, I’d prefer that you ask me.”

  “Okay, okay, don’t you think you’re being a little testy?”

  “No, James, I’m just tired of your asinine behavior.”

  “I’ll get my own damn drink.” He pushed past Cooper and went out the front door, ignoring Mills.

  “Cooper, I didn’t mean to cause a problem.”

  “You didn’t cause a problem. James Burton’s behavior caused a problem.”

  The party continued past night fall, and when the last of the guests departed, Mills sat on the porch with Cooper. “I thoroughly enjoyed myself today.”

  “I’m glad you did. We have one more task before we turn in for the evening. Come with me, and I’ll show you how to clean the birds.”

  A few days after the dove shoot, Mills was handling farm chores when Cooper’s attorney, Murphy Black, arrived at the property. He said it was urgent that he speak to Cooper. She drove the Land Rover into the fields to get him, and when they returned, Murphy was sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair. Cooper asked Mills to join him, and after he greeted Murphy, he said, “You can say anything you want to in front of her.”

  “All right, Cooper. I had a visit from Lieutenant Barnes, and he brought a subpoena, requiring me to turn over all documents dealing with your real estate purchases. Jeff has received a subpoena as well.”

  “I have no objection to you showing him the documents.”

  “I confess, I’m worried about you. Is there anything you want to tell me?”

  “No, Murphy, there’s nothing I have to tell you. It disappoints me that you ask.”

  “I’m just trying to help you, while I still can.”

  “I’m giving consideration to leaving here for an extended period of time. I still have my passport.”

  “If you leave here now, you’ll be a marked man. Everyone will think you orchestrated Elise’s disappearance and consider you a fugitive from justice.”

  “I have a reason for my decision, and it has nothing to do with Elise.”

  “Do you want to elaborate?”

  “No, but I’ll be asking you to help manage my affairs.”

  “I think you’re making a mistake. Before Lieutenant Barnes left my office, he said that even those who demonstrate grace under pressure have their breaking point.”

  “He must have been a Hemingway fan.”

  “Cooper, don’t joke around.”

  A few days later, Marian put her arm around Mills in the kitchen. “Miss Mills, Cooper has told me about his dreams. I’m sorry he’s having these nightmares, but I do remember a premonition he had that turned out to be a reality. He has told me about his decision to take you away from here. I realized weeks ago that you two had become very close. Honey, I know it’s none of my business, but I don’t want to see either of you hurt. Lord knows he’s been through enough already, and now these omens involve you.” She paused for a moment and said, “All I know to do is pray. He has asked Charles and me to run the farm, and we’ll help in any way we can.”

  “Marian, I love Cooper. He believes that I am going to be injured if I remain here. We’ve discussed moving to Central America, and I’ve agreed to go with him.”

  She put her arm around Mills and hugged her.

  Before Cooper left the farm for work, he invited Mills to ride horses with him that afternoon. Before she met him at the stables, she took a walk to the river, and on her way back, she noticed his Suburban in the driveway. She saw that Cooper was in the rear courtyard, and she started to go to him. In her exuberance, she failed to realize that someone else was with him, a man whose position had been obscured by a camellia bush. She was almost to Cooper when he gently waved to her, and she halted in her tracks. The man with Cooper was Lieutenant Barnes.

  “Well, Miss Taylor, how nice to see you again.”

  “Good afternoon, Lieutenant.”

  “Miss Taylor, forgive us, but I need to speak to Cooper alone.”

  Mills took a seat near the outdoor fireplace and waited for them to finish. After several minutes passed, Lieutenant Barnes called out to her, “Miss Taylor, I want to apologize for interrupting your meeting with Cooper. I hope you’ll forgive me.” He grinned at Cooper and said, “Is it possible that I’ve finally found a chink in your armor?”

  Cooper did not respond to the question and with no change in his expression, he asked, “Lieutenant, if you don’t have any more questions, would you please excuse us?”

  “Yes. Miss Taylor, you look like you’re dressed for riding. I hope you have a nice time.”

  She nodded to him, and they watched the detective depart. “What’s wrong, Cooper?”

  “He asked me questions about the Old Camp place that I just purchased. He wants to search the property again. I’ve told him repeatedly to search all he wants to, but I think he wants to see my reaction.” He hugged her
shoulder and said, “Uncle Ian has accepted what we’re going to do. He told me he couldn’t bear an accident befalling you if it could be prevented. Ian said I’m always welcome back at Heath Brothers. I think I’ve broken his heart. I have many jobs to complete at Heath Brothers before we go, but I think we can leave before the end of September.”

  “Cooper, I feel guilty.”

  “No, no.” He hugged her again and said, “First, we’ll look in Costa Rica.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Death Knocks at the Door

  A strong tropical disturbance formed off the coast of Africa around the ninth of September. In its earliest stages, it was more of a cluster of thunderstorms visible by satellite imagery. The thunderstorms were brought to Cooper’s attention, but no Heath Brothers ships were operating in the proximity of the growing disturbance. By the tenth, the cluster of storms had formed into a tropical depression, and the National Hurricane Center began to track the system. On the eleventh, the depression became a tropical storm, and two days later, the storm was a full hurricane.

  Cooper kept very busy with his work schedule, and he only mentioned the storm once to Mills, but over the Atlantic, it became the eighth named storm of the season and continued to gain strength as an intensifying hurricane named Hugo.

  Early on the morning of the seventeenth, Cooper told Mills that the storm he had mentioned to her had become a powerful hurricane and was nearing the US Virgin Islands.

  “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the islands we visited last month might be hit by a hurricane. Over the last couple of days, it tore through Montserrat and Guadeloupe, devastating those islands. If it takes a northwest path, the US and British Virgin Islands are going to take a beating. We don’t have any ships in the area, but I’m worried about this hurricane. If it continues to travel at the speed and direction it’s currently on, it will strike the eastern seaboard within the next several days.”

  The following morning, there was a front-page story in the newspaper about the hurricane devastation that had occurred on St. Croix. The public water system had been destroyed, leaving the inhabitants without drinking water. Looting was out of control on the island.

  Over breakfast, Cooper said, “We have one ship, the Rosa Parks, at the Columbus Street Terminal. She came in yesterday and we’re in the process of turning her around.” He paused for a moment and said, “I think you should get some clothes together in case we have to evacuate.”

  “Do you think it could hit here?”

  “I think it’s a possibility. It’s still a few days away from the eastern seaboard, but it bears watching. The National Hurricane Center has several different models predicting the path of the storm; no one can be sure at this point.”

  Early Monday morning, Cooper called Mills, waking her. He had stayed in Charleston overnight, maintaining an exhaustive work schedule. “The hurricane is over Puerto Rico today and will then move toward the Bahamas. I’ve called Reverend Smalls to see if anyone in the community can use some help. If the elderly residents of Alston Station wait until the end of the week to start preparing for the storm, it could be too late. I would like for you to go to Camp’s Hardware in West Ashley and pick up items such as batteries, bottled water, and blankets and take them by Reverend Smalls’s church this afternoon. Put the items on my account.”

  When Mills delivered the supplies from Camp’s Hardware to All Saints A.M.E. Church, Reverend Smalls and a number of volunteers were in the fellowship hall, gathering emergency items to distribute to residents.

  “Miss Taylor, how nice to see you . . . thank you for bringing us these supplies. Tell Cooper I said thank you.”

  “I will, Reverend. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “As a matter of fact, there is. Several of us are going to start helping elderly residents in our community to prepare for the storm. We’re going to board up windows. When you get old, you move slowly. I know firsthand.”

  All afternoon, Mills went with the other volunteers to the homes of the elderly, and Reverend Smalls explained why they were there. A few people weren’t even aware of the hurricane. When they arrived at one lady’s home, she stopped them before they could start. “Joseph, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Miss Pearl, there’s a possibility that a hurricane that’s in the Caribbean right now is going to move in our direction.”

  “I’ve been through a number of these storms and I think I’ve pretty much seen it all.”

  “Miss Pearl, no disrespect intended, but this is a powerful storm, and where it’s been, there’s death and destruction. Please allow us to board up your windows today, and if the storm tracks away from here, we’ll make you one of the first we visit to remove the plywood. You should think of where you are going to go if it comes here.”

  “I’ve never left Edisto during a storm, and I’m not going to start now. I’m eighty-five years old, and hurricanes don’t bother me.”

  “Ma’am, I think this is a storm to worry about.”

  “Suit yourself, Joseph.”

  She sat down in a rocking chair on her porch and began to rock back and forth singing, “Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home.”

  Mills helped hold the plywood on the side of the house while another volunteer nailed the boards into the window frame.

  The next morning, Cooper phoned her to let her know that the hurricane had passed the Bahamas, and unless it made a significant turn to the east, it was heading for the US mainland. “We have yet to get the Rosa Parks under way—the US Navy will be deploying their fleet no later than tomorrow, and the Air Force is relocating the C-141s from the Charleston Air Force Base. I hired a charter pilot to fly my Baron to Atlanta.”

  “This is making me nervous.”

  “Take deep breaths when you feel nervous. That will help you calm down. And this: I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  When she went outside to get in her Beetle, Charles was putting away the outdoor furniture and he told her that he would be closing the hurricane shutters on her cottage. Wiping sweat from his brow, he said, “If I finish securing the buildings on the farm, I’ll join the volunteers in the community.”

  Mills was at the church by eight in the morning, and the group soon began calling on residents. One of the first residents they went to see was Miss India Lefaye Tate, the lady who drove a Model T. When she answered her door, she asked, “Joseph, what brings you to my home this morning?”

  “Miss Tate, we’re boarding up houses; there’s a possibility that the hurricane in the Caribbean could make landfall along the South Carolina coast.”

  “I’m having guests this afternoon, but I would appreciate your securing my garage.”

  “Do you have a place to go if the storm heads in this direction?”

  “Yes, our family has a retreat near Flat Rock. If it becomes necessary to leave, my niece from Charleston will pick me up.”

  “Yes, ma’am, we’ll see to your garage.”

  The group secured the windows and garage doors, protecting Miss Tate’s like-new Model T, before moving on to the next home. Her lackadaisical attitude abo
ut this hurricane is amazing.

  Charles joined the group in the afternoon, and they continued their door-to-door campaign to help the neighbors. Some of the dwellings were in poor condition and might not withstand high winds to begin with. By late afternoon, Mills was exhausted and sat down on a bench at the church. Reverend Smalls thanked her for her efforts and then Charles joined her. “Cooper called and asked for us to take the horses to Aiken. He said that James Burton had offered to stable them, and we have all been offered accommodations on the Burton farm. Cooper said he’d join us as soon as he could.”

  “I’ll let you know if I’m going to ride up with you.”

  “I’ll be leaving around six tomorrow morning, but I’ll be back to help in the community.”

  “I’d like to wait for Cooper.”

  When she returned home, the hurricane shutters had been closed on the dwellings, and the buildings had been secured. She walked to the barn and called for Cleo, the mother cat, but she did not appear. When she returned to her cottage, the closed shutters made the rooms dark, and she sat down to rest. She was about to doze off when the phone rang.

  “I’d like for you to leave in the morning with Charles,” Cooper said.

  “I want to wait for you. I’m glad that you heard from James Burton.”

  “Yes, he called and apologized for his behavior at the dove shoot. Mills, there’s much work to be done before I can leave. The Rosa Parks has a mechanical issue and isn’t budging from the wharf. I’ve got to get that ship under way. I’ll call you later.”

  That evening, Mills sat on her porch in the silence of the evening; she missed the familiar sound of the wind chimes and Cooper’s piano playing. To take her thoughts off the hurricane, she read through Ellen Camp’s journal. The book had been on the shelf since she and Cooper had become lovers, and she opened the journal at her bookmark. The entry concerned the return of her husband’s body to Charleston, several years after his death in Virginia: