"When did you see him?"
"I didn't really wrestle it, like get on the ground and whatever. But they had, like, its mouth taped shut and they let people touch its tail."
"Cory, when did you see Joel Ruskin? Was he in the store?"
"Yeah, he was in the store."
"This store?" Her palms started to sweat. She couldn't believe she might be standing in a spot where Joel had stood. If Moon was right, she could be standing right in the midst of his lingering aura.
"Naw. Beekins." Cory was referring to the family-owned supermarket a few blocks away.
"When?" She wanted to tear the information out of his brain with her bare hands. The suspense was killing her.
"Yesterday."
"Yesterday?" The word came out as a squeak. Joel was in town. He had been on Sunday, surely he still would be. She checked her phone. He hadn't even tweeted about it. In fact, he hadn't posted anything in a week. No wonder she'd missed his arrival. Her heart was pounding. She had to find him. Why wasn't he tweeting? All she needed was a clue.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
Spring Fork, Colorado – Present
"Mountains are stupid."
Elijah repeated the mantra to himself again and again as he drove the narrow roads into a higher altitude. He’d flown from Omaha to Denver and was now on his way to Spring Fork. If Ruskin had bought a second home in Malibu like a normal person, this part of the journey would be much more pleasant.
After too many hours in the rental car, he reached his destination. The town was clean with a main street of old buildings made new again. He got the impression it was a popular final destination for rich retirees.
The Blue Diamond Bed and Breakfast was cozy and inviting. When he checked in he informed the friendly owner, Mrs. Diamant that he was on a business trip only. He wouldn’t have time for sight-seeing or any of the hiking trails that were mentioned in the house’s brochure.
Only a half mile from the Blue Diamond was the First Spring Boarding House. He needed to see where Lucy had lived. There was no better way to make her real to his readers than to seek out the mundane details of her life in this place.
Even though it was April and still well below his temperature of preference, Elijah decided to walk there. No use in putting more mileage on that rental than he needed to.
The lobby of the boarding house was wall to wall dark wood. There was an ornately-carved, long counter across from the front door. On the wall behind it were keys hanging on pegs and at least two dozen open mail slots. They were numbered for each room.
Elijah felt like he had somehow stepped into a time warp. Until the proprietor of the establishment emerged from the back room.
"Hi." He was Elijah’s age; probably in his mid-thirties. His reddish beard rested on his bowtie. The hair on his head was buzzed on the sides, but long on top and expertly set into a solid wave. In his earlobes were black gauges with hollow centers. Was he dressing to match the old house, or had he bought the house to fulfill a hipster quota?
"I’m Elijah Rhee."
"I know." He nodded. Was he a hipster or a psychic? Then it occurred to him that this guy probably didn’t see many new faces. "I’m Baron."
Elijah consulted his notes.
"Dustin Baron, right?"
"That’s right. People call me Baron. Nobody calls me Dustin." He stepped from behind the counter and pointed at a velvet sofa by the window. "Let’s sit down."
Elijah sat on the couch. Baron took a seat on a high-back chair opposite him.
"You own this place?"
"My parents do. I live in Denver now. I’m a wedding photographer. But they’re in the Bahamas this month, so I’m looking after the house."
"I messaged you about Lucy Bonneville. You were here when she lived here?"
"Indeed. I was working here full time back then. That was right before I moved away and started my career."
"You worked at the desk?"
"Yep. Took care of the front-end operations. Clerical. All that stuff. I was at that desk eight hours a day, six days a week."
"Do you remember her?"
"Yes. Sort of. She was quiet. She worked at Moon’s shop."
Baron took out a folded sheet of paper. He spread it out on his lap.
"I was thinking about it over the last few days. I jotted down some notes."
Elijah nodded. He appreciated the planning. Hopefully those notes included personal information about Lucy that he could actually use.
"Did you ever have a conversation with her?"
"No. Just gave her the tour when she moved in. I can give you the tour when we’re done here if you want."
Elijah nodded.
"She never gave me any trouble," Baron continued.
"Was she ever behind on her rent?"
"Never." Baron glanced at his notes. "She had automatic withdrawal from an account with the name Nancy Bonneville. Always went through fine."
"Are residents allowed to have guests in the rooms?"
"Yes. We also have a lounge area here on the main floor and a rec room in the basement." He rose from his seat. "Do you want to see?"
Elijah nodded and followed him down the hallway to a wide staircase. He continued his questioning as they descended.
"Did Lucy ever have guests that you know of?"
"Not that I know of. I don’t remember anyone asking for her."
They exited the stairs into a large room with wood paneled walls, couches, a pool table, and a big-screen TV. It looked cozy. Elijah wondered if Lucy was ever social enough to venture down.
"So you don’t know if she had any friends or if she was in a relationship?"
"I assume she did know other people in the area. Sometimes I wouldn’t see her come in for days."
Finally they were getting somewhere. He wanted to know exactly how many nights she spent away from the dorm. How long had she been going to the yellow house? If only there was some physical record of the nights she didn’t check in.
"Do you keep track of your renters’ whereabouts?"
"Not really. But I’m always at the desk in the morning when everyone is up and moving around and leaving for work. And we serve lunch, so people come for that, too. I see the same faces like clockwork. There were periods of time when I wouldn’t see her at all. I started checking her room when it got dark to see if she was still living here."
"You went into her room?"
"Of course not." Baron approached a couch and fluffed one of its cushions, then returned it to its place. "I’d look at the bottom of the door to see if the lights were on. There seemed to be a lot of nights when they weren’t. I mean, that’s her business, but I wanted to know if I should be worried about her."
"Do you have security cameras in the building?" He looked around at the ornate molding that lined the basement ceiling. No electronic devices were visible.
"No. Not at all. Spring Fork is a pretty safe town, Mr. Lee."
"It’s Rhee."
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Spring Fork - 2016
Two days of wandering around Spring Fork turned up nothing. She had taken long lunches, hoping to run into him on the main street. After work she had driven around town looking for the least local-looking vehicle. Nothing. She couldn't find him.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, Lucy's phone chimed her salvation. Joel had posted a photo. He was wearing overalls. His hair was covered in dust, and he had a sledgehammer in his hand. Behind him was a pile of wood and huge marks on the wall where cabinets had once been. The caption simply said, Before.
Minutes later, her phone chimed again. Another photo. This one said, After. Joel was standing in the middle of his newly remodeled kitchen in Spring Fork, Colorado. She stared at it, committing it to memory. The kitchen was all white with glass doors on the cabinets. It had a country feel, but modern as well. Her frustration boiled. She was close to him, staring into his kitchen, but she couldn't reach him because she didn't know where he was.
Over the
next month, Joel posted updates on the progress of his new home. She saved every photo to her phone's memory. In some photos, she could see the adjoining room. In others she could see through the windows and noticed if the room faced the road or the thick trees in the back. From these pictures she could put together a rough blueprint of the house. She was pretty sure she could find her way around easily. He hadn't posted a single picture from the outside. She still had no clues to tell her where his house was. She was starting to get angry with him for being inconsiderate.
Weeks passed and still she had no better clues. One day, while Lucy was dusting the shelves of Native American statues and jewelry, she received a notification from her phone. A loud sigh issued from her chest. Joel hadn't posted anything interesting in days. He'd gone back to New York a week ago, and now most of his posts were about work.
It took a few minutes to finish the shelf. Each figure needed to be facing the door, not straight ahead, but looking a little bit to stage left. She adjusted each one almost undetectably until they were perfect.
Then she checked Joel's post. There were two. One she must have missed when she was in the bathroom earlier. Back at it. There was a picture of Joel and a friend in overalls apparently standing in the living room of his Spring Fork house. The room was otherwise empty and the wood floors were bare.
The next post was just words. Taking a break for lunch at Boney Mahoney's. Great food. She dropped her duster. Boney Mahoney's was two doors down. She went there for lunch all the time. She threw a glance at Cory and then rushed out the door. Why hadn't she checked her phone right when he tweeted?
The lunch rush was dwindling. She tried not to break through the door of the small diner. Still, everyone turned to look when she went in. Her face flushed, and her hair was most likely in a wild state. She looked around, but Joel was nowhere in sight. How could he be gone so quickly? Maybe his post had been delayed. Maybe he was hip to her following him and had tweeted after he left. Whatever the reason, she made up her mind she was going to have to stake out the place every day until she caught up to him.
Now she stood in the middle of the half-empty diner with a disappointed look and several locals staring at her. She went to the counter and ordered a milkshake to go. Her stomach had sunk, leaving her no appetite.
Milkshake in hand, she wandered back onto the sidewalk. She'd left the store quickly and without a coat. The sun was shining, but the temperature was only in the twenties. The cold cup seemed to freeze to her hand. She was about to walk briskly back to work when two men across the street caught her eye. They were both wearing stocking hats and thick scarves that covered part of their faces, but she recognized Joel immediately. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders were shrugged up to his ears. He and his friend were walking quickly down the block. There was a shiny black car parked on the corner, right in their path.
Immediately, she ran to the shop. She set her cup on the counter and went for her coat, but then stopped. A heavy feeling nagged at her. The cup. The permanent coffee ring on the reclaimed wood counter. She went back and lined them up. Damn it, she didn’t have time for this.
Cory was sitting at the register eating a cup of noodles. He watched her silently.
"I'll be back later," she told him. She was out of breathe. The outside air was still stinging her lungs when she spoke. She busted out the back door into the ally and ran for her car. When she pulled around the corner to the main street, she was in time to see the black car pull away from the curb. There wasn't any other traffic, so she let them get half a block in front of her.
Snowflakes began to fall onto the windshield. She kept following as the snow began to fall harder. They drove for ten minutes until they were out of town. Then the car turned onto a blacktop road. She slowed down to give the other car more distance. It was one thing to follow him on the main road, but he'd know something was up if he noticed her here.
Her wipers were going full blast. The snow was coming much faster now, making it hard for her to see. She'd let Joel's car get too far, and now she'd lost him. To the left of the road was a ranch with a white fence. On the right side were trees. Finally, she came to a clearing in the woods where a driveway veered off to the right of the road. The snow had settled softly, but there were tire tracks on the driveway. Her heart pounded. This was his home.
She pulled over a few feet beyond the driveway. She took her new binoculars from the glove compartment and lowered the passenger window. The road was lined with a thin barrier of trees. She peered through them. There was a large yard beyond the trees, and she could see a yellow house at the end of the driveway. The black car was parked in front of the enclosed porch.
It was an old farmhouse with weathered, yellow siding and white trim on the windows. There was a matching detached garage at the end of the driveway. It was hard to tell how much land was behind the house, but it was bordered by trees. She was stunned by the rustic surroundings. It was a far removed from the Manhattan high-rise.
The snow was beginning to let up. It had left a dusting on the lawn. She imagined Joel in the car with her. He was driving and had pulled off the road onto the gravel driveway.
"This is it," he said.
"It's..." She paused to find the least offensive word. Joel was beaming with pride. He'd found this grand hideaway before he'd asked her to be his wife. Now he was sure they could make a happy life here. So what if she couldn't picture herself settling into the quiet small town life? It would only be part of the year anyway. She could probably get used to it. "It's cute."
"It is." He sighed. "And if we decide to have a family..." He trailed off and gazed at her with anticipation. She shifted in her seat. During their month-long engagement, they hadn't talked about having kids. In fact, there were a lot of important things they hadn't discussed before tying the knot. Certainly he didn't expect an answer to his implied question right here in the yard of their new country home. She forced a smile.
Lucy got out of the car and hurried down the slight incline to the trees. Her canvas sneakers were highly unsuited for traipsing through snow, but that was her fault for not anticipating the normal mountain weather.
She surveyed the acreage, wondering if it was possible to continue without being seen. There was a decrepit shed nearly hidden in the trees about twelve feet to her left. She pranced toward it, knees flying high, trying to keep her cold feet dry.
From beside the shed she could see a long row of windows. She raised the binoculars and peered into the newly remodeled kitchen. Joel and his friend were standing talking to each other. The friend was making large gestures with his arms, and Joel was laughing, his shoulders shaking. She loved his laugh. She could almost hear it in her head. He should be laughing with her.
"You don't like it?" He was clearly disappointed in her lack of genuine enthusiasm.
"It's great," she fibbed in a whisper. Not that either of the men would have heard her way out there. "I've never lived in the country before."
"We're not that far from town. Besides, I figured you're from Nebraska..."
Lucy dropped the binoculars to her chest. She turned her head to glare at the emptiness beside her where Joel’s image stood with a hopeful expression. Sure, they hadn’t been together long, but did he know nothing about her?
"I'm not from that part of Nebraska, Joel. I grew up in the city. The most time I've spent in a small town is when my dad would stop for gas on road trips when I was a kid."
"I'm from the city, too." He put his hand on hers. "We'll probably be a little out of place here, but at least we'll be out of place together." He leaned in and before he kissed her he said, "I want a taste of the simple life."
When she looked back at the house, the two men left the room. She inched forward. She was tempted to creep up to survey more of the house, but was beginning to feel the cold all the way to her bones.
Perhaps she should knock on the door and claim her car had broken down on the road. It seemed legit considering that's whe
re she'd left it. But how stupid would they think she was when they found it to be in working order? Besides, she looked like a mess. There was no way she wanted Joel seeing her like this. She trudged back along the trees to the road, leaving shallow tracks all the way. She would find another perfect time to visit.
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Joel and his friend didn't visit Boney Mahoney's again that week. Lucy watched out the window every day for the black car. She ate Boney Mahoney's egg salad sandwich for four days straight, hoping Joel would saunter in and sit down right next to her. But it didn't happen.
Meanwhile, Joel kept posting photos of his progress. He'd painted the front hallway and polished the large, wooden staircase. The living room was full of new furniture and featured salvaged antique light fixtures he'd ordered from a picker online.
Then came the worst news she had read in a long time. Through a series of tweets that spanned a half hour or more, she learned that Joel had accepted a small roll in a movie starring and directed by a close friend of his. Sunny California for two months, baby! Goodbye snow. Hello sunshine.
She was devastated. Joel was still in town for now, but he would be leaving Spring Fork until April. She would have to survive the rest of the winter without him. What was the point of living in this miserable mountain town if he wasn't there? And maybe he wouldn't come back in the spring. Maybe he would go back to New York and never finish the work he'd started on the farmhouse. She was suddenly angry with him for being fickle.
"Just go ahead and abandon this little pet project you started," she exclaimed out loud. Then she looked up from her phone and around the shop. An old woman was browsing near the front. If she'd heard her, she didn't let on.
While the other young tenants in the boarding house took to partying at night, Lucy used her spare time for reading. The local library had a few wealthy donors, so the selection of books didn't disappoint. Her current choice was a novel in which a woman had murdered three of her husbands without ever arousing suspicion. She was engrossed in the current chapter which had the wife poisoning Mr. Number Two by grinding up glass and putting it into his food.
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