“It’s not bullshit. I saw him do it. We were having an affair. He wanted your father dead. Brooke just showed up at the wrong time.”
“Eleanor, if all that’s true, then why would you, of all people, go home and wake up your nine-year-old son to help you dispose of the bodies? I mean, you, who didn’t want to break a nail opening up a can of chili to feed her kids, couldn’t talk big, strong Flynn into cleaning up the mess on the beach that night? It’s hard to believe that you’d be the one to pick up a shovel and attempt to dig a hole in the backyard to save Flynn from a murder rap? Not likely. After all, he’d just murdered your husband.”
Cooper saw her flinch as she refused to make eye contact. Instead, she studied the wall on her side of the glass. “Look at me, Eleanor. I’m the person who knows you better than anyone else in the world. I know the real Eleanor and what you’re capable of, not the one you want other people to see but the flawed woman who, for some reason, had three kids she never really wanted. I remember that night like yesterday. I think it’s possible I’ll take those images to my grave, no matter how long I live. I’ll always see my father’s face, gray and ashen, dead. He’d been sickly before that night because you’d spent six months trying to poison him to death. The medical examiner found the arsenic, found the evidence in his hair. So if you want to sit there and try to bullshit someone about how innocent you are, I’m the last person it would work on, the very last. I’ll tell you the one thing I know for absolute certainty. You’re one sorry excuse for a human being.”
“What do you remember about anything?” Eleanor spat out. “You were just a boy, an immature boy who could never do anything right the first time.”
“Yeah, well, not as immature as you might think. Why would the most selfish woman I’ve ever known step up that night to protect Flynn? Why didn’t Flynn stick around to help you dig the grave if he was so enamored with you? I’ll tell you why. It didn’t happen that way.”
Insulted, Eleanor stuck to her cagey ways. “I can’t tell you all that now. Everyone’s listening.”
Cooper rolled his eyes and stood up. “I’m done. Please don’t ever call me again. Don’t call Drea or Caleb. Leave us alone. If we have to we’ll change our phone numbers. I’ll see you put away in solitary confinement before I take one of your phone calls. We’ve been through enough of your twisted manipulation to last a lifetime and it’s over. Since you’re serving life behind bars with no possibility of parole and this is only year-two of that sentence, I figure you can wait for me to come back here when hell freezes over.”
From her chair in the back near the vending machines, Eastlyn saw a lively, angry debate going back and forth. She wasn’t prepared to see Cooper push up, get to his feet, and slam down the phone he’d used to talk to his mother.
When he stormed past Eastlyn into the hallway, she flew after him.
“What happened? What did Eleanor say?”
“She made up this bullshit story about having an affair with Flynn McCready. She claims he’s the one who pulled the trigger that night.”
“My God, do you believe she’s telling the truth?”
“Absolutely not.” He changed direction to head for the exit. “Let’s get the hell out of this place. The sad thing is, we just wasted six plus hours on this ridiculous odyssey that we’ll never be able to get back.”
Once they got back to the car, Eastlyn was able to calm him down somewhat. She spent the trip back coaxing out a plan to at least tell Brent about Eleanor’s claims.
Even though it was almost dinnertime when they got back to town, Cooper placed the call to Brent and suggested they meet at the station.
Without preamble, Cooper laid out the allegation. “Eleanor’s accusing Flynn McCready of murder.”
Eastlyn studied Brent’s reaction. “Cooper’s convinced it isn’t possible. He’s certain Eleanor acted alone that night. What about you? You’ve had a long association with Flynn over the years, most people in town have. What’s your gut tell you about Flynn?”
“That if it’s true the man kept his mouth shut for an awfully long time.”
Cooper ran both hands through his mop of hair. “You aren’t buying this bullshit, are you?” He ticked off the same reasons he’d given Eleanor that it couldn’t be true. “If Flynn had been at the pier that night, then why didn’t Eleanor rely on him to help her with the bodies instead of her little boy?”
“That’s a good point,” Brent said with a nod.
Cooper roamed the room, his fury rising. “Let’s say it’s true Eleanor and Flynn were an item. Let’s say Flynn knew about the murders and kept quiet all these years. There’s one thing Eleanor can never lie about, and she can lie about a lot. She can’t lie about the gun. She had it with her that night. She was holding it in her hand when she woke me up. And later, I saw it out on the kitchen counter where she’d left it.”
Eastlyn sat up straighter. “So the idea that Flynn would’ve handed over the murder weapon to Eleanor is a little too over the top.”
“So, are we done here?” Cooper asked, impatient to get home.
Brent swiveled in his chair. “For now. But I intend to dig deeper into Eleanor’s blame game. When she was arrested during her incarceration and subsequent extradition back to California, she said nothing about anyone else being involved in the murders.”
“I know. That’s what I’m saying. If Eleanor’s lips are moving, she’s lying.”
Brent came around to the corner of his desk. “Look guys, do me a favor. Until we sort through this further, I want you both to keep a lid on your conversation with Eleanor. The Flynn thing doesn’t leave this room.” He eyed Eastlyn. “In the meantime, you and I keep closer tabs on Titus. Before making a move on him, we have to flesh out his other contacts, the people he sells to. We know he has them.”
Eastlyn rocked back on her heels. “Then one way or another, we’ll find out who they are.”
Twenty-Nine
The envelope from the FAA came a week later. Eastlyn was so nervous to open it she left Durke on her couch watching TV and jumped in the car to drive to Cooper’s house so he would be with her no matter what the news turned out to be.
But when she reached his house, he wasn’t home from work yet. Taking a seat in the courtyard to wait for him, she found patience difficult and overrated.
She drummed her fingers on the tabletop itching to open the envelope and get to the news inside. To her, the contents felt heavier than a rejection letter, which meant it could be more paperwork to fill out. So she was likely building up suspense for nothing.
Sitting there, she looked around for something to do to keep her mind off ripping open the paper. So when she noticed Cooper’s bright red zinnias and gerbera daisies needed a drink, she turned on the outside faucet, used the garden hose to give the plants a good soaking.
As she went from blossom to bud, she spotted a folded piece of white paper stuck to the bottom of one of the flowerpots. She bent down, picked it up. Since it wasn’t sealed, she flipped the single sheet open. The handwritten words stared back at her:
A son should listen to his mother.
Despite the warm and sunny afternoon, a chill ran up her spine. By the water stains and dirt on the paper, it looked as though the message had been left to the elements for at least a week. That would’ve been about the same time Cooper had gone to the prison to see Eleanor.
The implications were there, along with the threat. Someone in town had to be working with Eleanor in order to leave the note on Cooper’s front porch. There was no other way, unless the inmate possessed superpowers that allowed her to come and go as she pleased under lock and key.
Eastlyn was about to text Cooper when she heard the muffler on the Mustang pulling into the driveway at the side of his house.
She met him at the gate, the envelope from the FAA in one hand, Eleanor’s note in the other.
Cooper saw her standing in the yard and asked, “What’s this?”
In that split secon
d, Eastlyn realized she’d been thinking about hiding the note from him, keeping him in the dark about Eleanor’s accomplice, whoever it was. But the look on his face made her think twice about any further deception. He needed to know.
“I have a dilemma.” She fanned her face with the envelope. “It came. See, it’s from the FAA. I need you to open it for me. If it’s bad news we’ll hear it together.”
He grabbed it out of her hand, tore open the paper without warning and kept eyeing what was inside without saying a word.
“Well? What does it say?” Eastlyn prompted. “Do I have more paperwork to do? Another application to fill out?”
“It’s not a letter.”
Her shoulders slumped. “It’s not? What is it?”
He grinned. “I’m no expert but it looks like a pilot’s license to me. Your middle name is Elizabeth? I never knew that.”
“Lemme see.” She snatched it away and studied the blue-green background, the image of the jet, the hologram in the right corner, the FAA seal, the signature of the acting director. She eyed her name and date of birth. It looked like the genuine article to her.
She jumped. She high-fived. She turned in a circle. “Woohoo! Oh my God, that’s my name on there. It says Eastlyn Elizabeth Parker has been found to be properly qualified for transport pilot.”
“Why transport pilot?”
“Because that’s what I was before. It’s also what I need for search and rescue. It looks like the FAA simply reinstated my license. It must’ve been all those recommendation letters that did the trick.”
“Let’s celebrate.”
Hearing that, Eastlyn came back down to earth. She held out Eleanor’s note to him, watched as he read the words. “I found it when I was watering the plants. Someone in town has to be doing this for her.”
Cooper rubbed his temple, felt a tension headache building. “Why would anyone want to do Eleanor’s bidding after all this time? Why would someone do this kind of thing for her now? She never had a lot of friends back then so how could she possibly talk a sane person into helping her stalk her own kids?”
Eastlyn chewed her bottom lip. “At least no friends you knew anything about. Let me ask you something that’s bothered me since I first heard the story that Eleanor took her kids out on the boat that night and left you guys there. Where did Eleanor go when she jumped into the water? What was her immediate destination? I mean, did she swim back through the bay to get to Pelican Pointe? I don’t think so. She was leaving town, so that hardly seems like the thing she’d do. How far did she have to swim that night? Was she a good swimmer?”
Cooper’s eyes grew wide. “You think someone was out there waiting for her that night?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s the only thing that makes sense. I think they were sitting in another boat not far from where you kids were. They saw the whole thing play out because, they probably helped her get away.”
“Another lover she’s covering for?”
“Maybe. We’ll have to…”
Cooper pulled Eastlyn close. “Right now, we need to set this aside. Eleanor doesn’t get to ruin this for either one of us. You’ve waited too long to get your license back to have the news take a backseat. I say we should celebrate, the sooner, the better.”
“Good idea. I’ll call Durke, Thane and Isabella. Oh, my God, I need to let Kaeden know that I’m a pilot again. I need a computer. We need to throw a party, a big one. Now all I need is something to fly.”
“Good thing we’re working on that,” Cooper said as he scooped her off her feet and whirled her in a circle.
Thanks to Drea and Caleb, Shelby and Landon and a slew of others, they got the word out. Less than twenty-four hours later Thane and Isabella had pulled off the impossible by setting up a huge Sunday barbeque at the lighthouse to mark the occasion.
Drea organized the potluck portion. Folding tables with brightly colored tablecloths held an assortment of covered dishes, desserts, and bags of chips.
Thane, Nick, Logan, and Troy manned the four grills set up brimming with hamburger patties, hot dogs and sausage links.
Even Zach tried to enjoy himself by taking turns throwing a Frisbee back and forth to Bree.
Hayden and Ethan set up a net for volleyball while Keegan and Cord introduced several of the kids to a litter of puppies and bunny rabbits.
Jordan and River dealt with fussy toddlers who needed naps.
Durke looked out over the carnival-like atmosphere and said, “I’m beginning to think you guys will use any excuse to throw a party.”
“Hey, this is a big deal for me. Well, not just for me, but the whole town. Today they know the search and rescue idea is one step closer to becoming a reality.” Eastlyn was in the middle of that explanation when she gazed over and caught sight of Scott standing near the scenic overhang, knee-high in lavender. He had his hands stuffed down in the pockets of his shorts, his shoulders tense and stiff.
She followed the track of Scott’s eyes and realized he was watching Jordan tend to the children. The forlorn look on his face said it all.
Because she’d never seen Scott so sad, she wandered over. When she got within two feet, she reached down and snapped off a fragrant purple bud. “This is your legacy.”
“What is? A bunch of flowers?”
“In a way. This entire town is your legacy and the people in it. If not for you, Nick would be back in LA miserable instead of helping Jordan run the B & B. Jordan would be living life back in San Francisco with so much sorrow packed inside her heart she’d still be trying to get past your death. If not for you, Cord wouldn’t even be alive. If not for you, River wouldn’t have her son back.”
“What do you know about it anyway? That was all before you got here. Don’t make it sound like you have a crystal ball where you know how it all would’ve ended up.”
She smiled at his bristly attitude. “Surly today, aren’t we? Well, I suppose a ghost is entitled to get pissed off now and again.”
“Aren’t you afraid people will see you out here and see that you’re talking to yourself?”
She stuck her hands in the pockets of her shorts, mimicked his stance, content to watch him squirm for a change. “Haven’t you heard? These days I don’t much care what people think of me.”
She glanced over at Cooper helping Jonah and Tommy get their kites in the air. Her heart lurched at the sight. Some places just felt more at home than others. “There’s one more thing I know for certain. If not for you, I wouldn’t have this second chance at doing what I love. I’d probably still be back in Bakersfield with a chip on my shoulder and a pill habit I didn’t want to shake.”
She cut her eyes again toward Cooper. “Thanks for giving me that once-in a-lifetime chance at being with someone who cares about me—ugly scars and all.”
“I just brought you to town, the rest was up to you.”
Eastlyn looked out over the crowd again, spread her arms out wide. “No, this is your doing, all of it. This is all on you. You’ll just have to learn to live with the knowledge that all these people are gathered ’round in community spirit because you made it so.”
Thirty
When a logical man like Cooper Richmond couldn’t find the key to a problem, he had to consider the alternative. But thinking outside the box for answers didn’t seem to be working. After spending days trying to run down leads on who in town could be helping Eleanor, he’d followed dead end after dead end.
He’d circled back several times to all the people who he thought might remember any tidbit about Eleanor’s life only to hit a brick wall. That is, until he realized that one man knew her even better than he did.
It took Cooper several days before he built up his courage enough to seek out his uncle.
When he did it was almost sunset. That perfect moment in time when the sky holds onto its dazzling shades of deep pink and golden reds like a revered overhead cathedral.
Cooper made his way past Landon’s garden and into the greenhouse where he fou
nd Landon crouched on his knees fiddling with one of his hybrid tulips, an orange-tipped variety.
“What do you remember about the night Eleanor left?”
Landon stood up, as if weary of dealing with any further questions about Eleanor. “Why can’t you ever just let it go, Cooper? Why can’t you be more like Drea and Caleb and completely leave that night in the past?”
“I’m sorry I’m not who you want me to be. Apparently I never have been. I’m not Drea or Caleb. They didn’t help bury their own father that night. For them, it’s just a vague memory. While for me, it altered who I was and how I thought. But regardless of that insignificant event for you, I deserve to know if it was you waiting on the water that night to whisk Eleanor somewhere else?”
“Is that what you think? Is that what you’re doing here?” He slapped his garden gloves on his thigh, went over and cleared off two crates. He set them upright, plopped his butt down. “Have a seat.”
“I’d rather stand.”
Landon took out a handkerchief from his back pocket, dabbed at his forehead. “Suit yourself. I did not help Eleanor leave her children on the water that night. But I have my suspicions about who did. It’s been a long time. How blunt do you want me to be?”
Cooper studied his uncle. “As long as it’s the truth. Brutal.”
“All right, have it your way. Back when Eleanor was a teen she pretty much screwed anyone in pants. This behavior didn’t change when she got married. Mostly her affairs occurred behind Layne’s back, discreet hookups, he never even suspected. But there were a few she flaunted. One was with Kent Springer, the other one was with Flynn McCready.”
Cooper decided he felt like sitting after all. He parked himself on the wooden box and let his forearms rest on his thighs. “Which one helped her leave her kids?”
“I have no way of knowing for certain. But my guess has always been one of those two. My money’s on Springer.” He lifted his arm around Cooper’s shoulders. “How could you possibly think I could’ve helped Eleanor leave her kids out in the water like that?”
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