Back to Blue

by Dillon Watson

  Renny was seated in the waiting area separated from the dining room by glass doors, scribbling in a small notebook. She had removed her full-length leather coat and pushed up the sleeves of a mint-green sweater with a V-neck. Summer let herself admire the display of cleavage and was taken aback by the desire to nestle her face in it. It wasn’t a bad feeling.

  She cut her gaze to Renny’s face when the notebook closed. “Hey. Have you been waiting long?” Her heartbeat sped up as a smile lit Renny’s face. A smile that said to Summer she was worth waiting for.

  “Will it sound bad if I admit to not knowing?” She tapped her notebook. “I got this great idea for a storyline and had to get it down before it slipped away.”

  “I’m all for great ideas and new books to read.”

  “Then all is good.” Renny slipped her notebook into a small leather backpack. “Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you or should I pretend not to notice?”

  “I…” Summer fought the unexpected urge to bite her nails by admiring their current neatness. Even the pinky, which had been known to resemble a bloody mess. “It was a thing. Just a thing. I’m okay now.” She withstood Renny’s scrutiny, almost sighing in relief when Renny nodded, seemingly willing to let the matter drop.

  Inside the eatery, the scents of cooking meat mingled with the sounds of sizzling woks and conversation. The hostess led them to a table with enough room for two and handed out menus.

  Their server came almost as soon as the hostess left. “Good evening, ladies, I’m Drew. Have either of you eaten here before?” When Summer shook her head, he went through the spiel explaining the process. “What can I get you to drink?”

  “Coke,” Summer replied and closed the menu, which contained the same explanation Drew had just given them.

  “I’ll have a Diet Coke with lemon.”

  “I’ll be right out with your drinks. Feel free to join the line at any time.” Drew gathered up their menus and sped away.

  “He doesn’t have a bad gig,” Renny said, leaning forward. “All he has to worry about are the drinks and an occasional food order. We have to do the power lifting, picking out the vegetables and meat we want cooked.”

  “Somehow it seems more fun for us,” Summer said absently. The V-neck sweater of Renny’s had plenty of power all of its own. “And you only get the vegetables you like. Plus Drew does have to take away dirty dishes if we go back for seconds.”

  “That’s hard. I bet he’s somebody’s boy toy.”

  “What?” Summer looked up, blushing guiltily.

  Renny crinkled her nose. “It’s a game I like to play. A cute young thing like that is destined for boy toy in my little world.”

  “He wouldn’t be working here if he had other means of support,” she argued, giving her mind strict instructions to pay attention to their conversation. No wandering into greener pastures. “I say he’s a college student paying his own way.”

  “Point,” Renny conceded. “But if this were one of my novels his cute little butt would be that of a boy toy.”

  Summer tilted her head, intrigued. “Man or woman?”

  “Man. Older, I think. Pillar of society type with a high-ranking job, wife and two point five kids. The wife has her own boy toy, so she doesn’t care as long as he’s discreet.”

  “Who’s the central character? The pillar or the boy toy?”

  “Hmm. Good question. We can discuss it over food. The stale crackers I had for lunch are a thing of the past.”

  Summer, who had been sure she couldn’t force down a bite, had no trouble clearing her plate as they bantered back and forth over Renny’s hypothetical novel.

  “You have to write it now.” Summer smiled her thanks as Drew replaced her empty glass with a full one. “Maybe give me and boy toy a mention on your acknowledgment page.”

  “What if I put you in the book? You can be the sexy secretary who doesn’t understand why her boss doesn’t chase her around the desk. This despite the indecently short skirts she wears.”

  Summer laughed. “It’s funny, but my mom asked me today if I was going show up in your next book.”

  “Make that the sexy, but slutty secretary,” Renny said with a sly smile. “She not only chases her boss, but any man with pots of money.”

  “She would get a kick out of that. You could call the character Rainy Day. It’s different enough to protect the guilty.” At Renny’s blank look, she shared her full name.

  “Really?”

  “Hippie mom.” She thought that explained it all. “She didn’t start there. My sisters are Tuesday, April Storm, Winter Moon and May Flower. Add Summer Rain to that and my mom has a lot to answer for in her next life.”

  “You got that right.”

  “My dad may have saved her some grief when he finally found his backbone and insisted on naming the last baby Jonah Steven.”

  “And you let the kid live?”

  “Jonah says he’s alive because he was too fast for us girls. My mom says it’s because we loved him from the get-go.”

  “Is it strange to be fed the majority of your memories from someone else?”

  “A little,” she said, thinking of the lost girls and of Rich and Marcia. Things could always be worse. “What about the siblings that made you want to be disagreeable?”

  “Did I mention my mother has her sights on beating Liz Taylor’s record for marriages? At least sometimes it seems that way.” Renny’s tone had a bite. “Number three, or was it number four? Anyway, one of them had a couple of kids. They were a few years older than me and Eve thought it was cute to leave me in their care. They weren’t exactly nice or attentive unless they wanted to pick on me. Let’s say I got picked on frequently. Thank God that marriage only lasted nine months. Nine long, horrible months, mind you.” She drained her Diet Coke “One of the others had kids, but I never saw them. They were always with their mother. It wouldn’t be so bad not to remember that.”

  “Uh, I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. It was one of many stories I have from life with Eve. Now there’s someone who should be worried about being in my next book. Of course, Eve, being Eve, won’t recognize herself. And didn’t that sound catty? Let’s talk about something more pleasant. You look much better than you did earlier.”

  Summer choked on her drink. “Thanks. I think.” She matched Renny’s grin. “I feel better and maybe you helped with that.”

  Renny arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “‘Maybe’? I deserve more credit than that with my charming self. At least ‘probably.’”

  “Agreed.” Summer trailed a finger through the condensation on the glass. “You probably helped me feel better.”

  “Do you feel like telling me what happened?”

  “I should start by saying it’s weird in a Twilight Zone kind of way. Another of my dad’s favorites.” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “I’ve been getting these what I call ‘mind hopping’ deals. It’s happened four or five times in the past few weeks. One minute I’m having my own thoughts and then without warning I’m in somebody else’s head, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel. And it’s always something bad.”

  “I’ve read something about that. Are you touching the other person when this happens?”

  “Not necessarily. I think both me and the other person have to be mad or scared or upset. Sometime it happens if I touch something and I’m upset. It’s all new, so I don’t know exactly how it works, but I think the person has to have left a strong impression for me to connect.”

  “Like what?” Renny propped her elbows on the table, seemingly interested.

  “A swing. Remember when I asked you about the puppy? Well, I was on the swings, mad as hell, and hopped into a little girl’s mind. A little girl who I’ve since found out has been missing for twenty years.”

  Renny’s eyes widened. “No way! That would totally throw me off. I’d be a total basket case.”

  “I�
�m not that far from being one. The reason I was upset earlier is that I finished my meeting early and stopped by the bookstore to look up info on local history. I was looking through a book and the next thing I know I’m in this this guy’s head, watching as he’s convincing a young girl to let him give her a ride home. He was using a puppy as bait, just like the other time. But now that I’ve had a little distance I can see he knows she’s starved for attention. Gave her a little bit and off she went like he was her new best friend.” She rubbed her arms. “I know it happened a long time ago and the police will sneer at me again if I bring it up, but still…” She shrugged, tried to laugh it off. “Nothing I can do except hope it goes away.” And that it takes this feeling of hopelessness with it, she added for herself.

  “If it was that long ago it sounds like the police might need your help. I’ve worked with a couple of cops, got friendly with them when I was doing research for a book, and I know sometimes the least little bit of info can turn a case around. Make it go from cold to solved.”

  “I talked to a cop earlier tonight. Which was why I was pissed off before I went into the bookstore. Keile and her friend Dani know her. Didn’t matter. She didn’t believe me. You could tell she thought I was making it up. And how can I really get mad since I think that too on some level? Part of me thinks I’m losing my mind. That I’m going crazy.” The relief that came from telling someone was almost overwhelming. “Aren’t you glad you called me now?”

  “Actually, I am. For a going-crazy person you’re a great date. Believe me when I tell you not all crazy people make good dates. Or so I’ve heard,” Renny added with a wink. “But seriously have you thought the little girl is reaching out to you? You’ve seen her twice now. Maybe—”

  “Except it wasn’t the same girl. There are two others. This would make number three.”

  “Three?” She picked up the spoon and twined it through her fingers. “Three girls? And nobody knows anything? Do you think they’re connected?”

  “Maybe. Probably not,” Summer admitted frowning. “There was an almost ten-year gap between two of them. I guess the third one could fit in between. And I didn’t connect with the one that went missing ten years ago, but I get the sense the first one and the last one were taken by the same man. The way he was thinking I could tell he’d used the puppy trick before.”

  Renny took out her notebook and jotted something down. “What about the second one, who’s really probably the third one? How did you find out about her? Any connection to you?”

  “Through Keile. When I told her about the first girl she thought I was talking about the one from ten years ago. Ashley. Her name’s Ashley.”

  “The one who went missing when you were in college?”

  Summer nodded and took a sip of Coke to wet her dry throat. Even talking about this situation with someone who seemed to believe her was nerve-racking.

  “What about the girls? Do they have anything in common? Could they be related somehow?”

  “They’re all blondes with blue eyes. I don’t think anyone’s tried to connect the two girls. From what Dani said it seemed like not many cops knew about Brandy, the first girl. Seneca didn’t have its own police force back then. The County Sheriff would have been responsible for looking into the crime and the file on her seems to be missing.”

  “Which means the information you have is like gold. You have to go back to the police, Summer. Talk to a different person.”

  “And tell them what? I didn’t see what kind of vehicle he was driving this time, and I couldn’t swear it was the same guy. This last one was older, I think. No, I’m sure he was older.”

  “And again, you know more than they do. A good cop could take you through it, help you remember more than you thought you saw.”

  “You don’t understand. Officer Hanson took me through it more times than I want to think about. And afterward she still didn’t buy it. Looked at me like I was worse than crazy. Like, I don’t know, that I was making it up for attention or something. Face it, Renny, those guys are long gone. Maybe dead.”

  “Doesn’t stop the parents from wondering what happened to their little girls.”

  “You think I don’t feel for them? Don’t long for justice for those poor girls? I do. Sit through a sneering session and then come talk to me.”

  “Been there, done that,” Renny said, picking at the scraps on her plate and then looking up at Summer apologetically. “Sorry. That sounded trite and I’m not trying to be. I was out partying, which meant I was drunk and high, when this guy grabs me. He’s pulling on my clothes and I’m screaming, not so fucked up that I didn’t know he was going to rape me. I was lucky some guy was sober enough to answer my cry. Full of righteous indignation, I go and fill out a report. Due to my reputation the cop didn’t believe me. Thought I was asking for it.”

  “That’s not fair. Even if you were drunk or high, he had no right to violate you.”

  “You know that and I know that, but the cop didn’t think of it that way. At first I slunk home, telling myself maybe I did deserve it. Well, I got over that and went back and found someone who was willing to give me the benefit of a doubt. I gave them a description and they talked to some people at the party and were able to catch him. Turned out his DNA matched samples from a couple of open cases. He preyed on women who were drunk or otherwise incapacitated.”

  “Okay, so you do know what I’m talking about. Maybe I could pass the information on to Dani. She did follow up and find the first girl even when she didn’t believe me.”

  “Which means she’ll believe you when you tell her about the latest girl. I don’t know Dani very well, but I bet she could find a cop who’ll listen to her.” Renny put a hand to her forehead. “I’m so slow. Officer Hanson. Carla Hanson?”

  “You know her?”

  “Let’s say she went out of her way to let her interest be known last time I was at Eddie’s. I wasn’t impressed. Too pushy for my liking.”

  Somehow that made Summer feel better. “I can see that. What’s Eddie’s?”

  “It’s like a restaurant and club with a big room for live music. Keile and Haydn hooked me up with the lesbian band that plays there about once a month. I’ll take you next time they come. Fair warning. Their shows are addicting.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” Summer sipped her Coke, happy that Renny was talking about a next time.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A scream, her own, interrupted Summer’s sleep. She clutched at her pounding heart and blinked rapidly, wanting desperately to clear her head of the three little girls crying out for help, for justice. Justice she didn’t think she could give them.

  “Shit!” Summer threw back the covers and shivered as the morning chill brushed her sweaty skin. A hard workout was what she needed. A fast run would blow her head clear. Maybe then she could buy one rational thought. Could figure out why the girls were haunting her. Because if she didn’t, she was very much afraid they would never go away. Never give her any peace. Afraid that she would always see three pairs of blue eyes looking at her beseechingly.

  An hour and a half later, a good stretch and a hot shower decreased the level of complaints from the well-used muscles in her calves and thighs. Cream of Wheat and two bananas took care of the rumblings in her stomach.

  Her mind clearer, she booted up her laptop and wrote up all she remembered from the head hop the evening before. If the guy thought he looked like a grandfather, he had to be older than the guy in the park. There had to be two abductors, she decided. But no. What if the crimes occurred at different time periods? Then it could be the same guy, only older.

  “No. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Tapping her thumb on her laptop, she tried to come up with reasons for the time lag between abductions. The first thought that sprang to her mind chilled her blood. He was keeping the girls until they outlived their usefulness. When they got too old, he got rid of them, then went hunting for a replacement. A younger replacement.

>   Summer swallowed hard and forced herself to continue the thread. If he did keep them for years, he would need someplace private. A place where the houses were farther apart so a neighbor wouldn’t be able to hear a child’s screams or cries for help. But wouldn’t it be smarter to live outside of town altogether? A country place like her parents’ home—where the house next door was five acres away?

  Figuring that out was all very good, but she didn’t know the first thing about researching something like this. She couldn’t exactly hop on her bike and ride around looking for a pervert’s hideout, and the police weren’t going to be any help. They didn’t believe her story about the missing girl. Why should they listen to her theory about the abductor?

  “Dani!” Dani was a private investigator. She worked for money and Summer had plenty of that. It would be the perfect solution to her problems to hire Dani to investigate the abductions. Dani could try to find a link between the girls, try to find a place where they could have been kept. But the first task would be to identify who the third girl was and figure out when she’d gone missing.

  A glance at the clock on the screen convinced her it was too early to call Dani. But it wasn’t too early to go into the office. Get in early, leave early and drop by the bookstore and see if she could get more info to pass along. Maybe go by the parking lot at the park and see if there were any vibes left. Brandy had been afraid there. Terrified the moment she realized the man wasn’t who he seemed.

  Summer shook her head. She needed to be focused. The more information she gathered, the quicker the case would be solved. Then she could go back to trying to reclaim “normal.” A normal that did not include dropping in on other people’s thoughts.

  She pushed her bike out of the condo, locked the door and wheeled down the carpeted hallway. It wasn’t yet seven, so she had the place to herself. In the silence she wondered about the girls, how they were picked. There had to be something more than just their blonde hair and blue eyes. Did he hang around places where little girls would be, looking for the daring ones? The ones who might go off on their own? And if he did, why didn’t anyone notice him? Twenty years ago Seneca had been a small town. Strange men would have stood out.