by Mya O'Malley
Naomi walked over to comfort him. She reached up to hug Tom as he sobbed quietly. “You are two of the warmest people I have ever met. Don’t you ever question what wonderful parents you were to Maggie. She was a grown woman, you couldn’t possibly have known everything about her life.”
“It just hurts so much.”
“I’m sorry, Tom.” She released him and sat back down in her chair next to Virginia. Maggie’s mother had her head in her hands. Naomi reached over, placing her hands on top of Virginia’s.
Now to tell Maggie’s parents about what she had witnessed the night before. This wouldn’t be easy.
“I wanted to share something with you. I’ll understand if you think I’m crazy, but I saw her last night. Her spirit, that is.”
Virginia sat up straight, clutching her chest. “Are you… sure it was her?”
“Positive.”
Naomi dared a glance at Tom. She wouldn’t be offended if he told her it was time to leave. Instead, his eyes held fresh tears.
She didn’t enjoy this part of the investigation.
It killed her.
But it was necessary.
“I’m sorry.”
“What did she say? Please, tell us,” Virginia pleaded.
“Nothing. But she exposed herself as Maggie and that’s very important. Now we know. For certain.” Explaining about the howling cries would not be part of this conversation. There were some things best left unsaid.
“Nothing? Did she seem happy?”
She wouldn’t lie to them either. “She looked beautiful.” That wasn’t a lie exactly. She had appeared stunning, even if it had been for the briefest of moments before the horrifying transformation had taken place.
“I’ll grab the photo, Naomi. Can you give us some time alone?” Tom stood, walking over to grab the photo from the living room.
“I’m so sorry, Virginia,” Naomi whispered.
Virginia reached over and held on to Naomi’s hand. “Just give us some justice for Maggie, will you? For reasons unknown, she has chosen you to communicate with. You have the best chance of solving this.”
“We’ll do our part, head back to the police station and try to get that ass Frank off the case,” Tom added as he handed Naomi the framed photo. She looked at Maggie’s image once more. Same eyes, same hair. She only wished she could see the same bright smile.
One day, perhaps she would.
Chapter Twenty
Naomi
TALL, DARK, AND handsome? A real catch?
That could be half the male population. Heck, her own boyfriend matched the description.
More determined than ever to seek closure and justice for Maggie, she headed over to the coffee shop. If she was correct, Ryan should already be there.
Yup. His black truck was right there in his usual spot.
With Maggie’s picture in hand, Naomi made her way into the shop. A large cup of coffee was waiting for her at the table.
“Thanks, Ryan. Here, this is our Maggie.” She handed him the framed photograph.
He studied it carefully, bringing it closer to his face. She had expected a comment about how beautiful she was.
Something. Anything.
His mouth pinched into a frown.
“What’s the matter? Did you know her?”
He continued gazing at the photo, a glazed look in his eyes.
“Ryan? Did you know her?”
At last he looked up. “No. I didn’t. She just reminds me of someone, I guess.”
Naomi’s eyes squinted as she looked at Ryan. “Who?”
“Nobody in particular.”
She did have one of those fresh-looking faces, like a cover girl model. Ryan turned his face toward the window.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s sad.”
The fact that he could now place a face to Maggie must be upsetting him. She could understand that. She also wondered how he would react if he had seen Maggie at her worst, like Naomi had the night before.
Now Maggie was real to them both, not just some news article.
“Finish your coffee. We have a lot of work to do today.” She took a large swig of her own coffee and slammed the cup down on the table.
‘Yes, ma’am.” He followed her out the door.
“You driving?” She turned her head to speak to Ryan. “I need to take some notes.”
“Sure. No problem.”
Ryan unlocked his truck with his remote keychain. She hopped into the passenger seat and began scribbling away.
Once or twice Ryan glanced at her, but for the most part, he kept his attention on the road.
“Ryan?” She placed her pen and notepad down on her lap.
“What is it?”
“Nick was parked across the street from my house last night, staring into my window.”
“Wait—what did you just say?”
“He was there. At my house.”
“Last night? Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”
For lots of reasons, lots of distractions, she supposed. “I don’t know, I guess with seeing Maggie and all, it wasn’t forefront on my mind.”
“First of all, we’re not positive it was Maggie.”
There he went again, questioning her, doubting her. “This has got to stop, Ryan. It was Maggie, I’m sure of it. I told you last night, it was the same woman from the photograph.”
“Your mind could have been playing tricks on you. Your head is so filled with Maggie right now.”
Her pulse quickened. Was he serious? “Ryan, I’m going to ask you one more time, are you in or out?’
He sighed and returned his focus to the road.
“Answer me. If you’re in, you have to be all in.”
“Naomi, I’m in, but I feel like you’re heading somewhere you just might not want to be.”
“What the heck does that even mean, Ryan?” Her voice rose as she felt heat rising to her cheeks. “Speak English!”
“It means that you may very well be heading toward danger. What if she was murdered? Have you even stopped to think of the consequences of your behavior?”
“My behavior? Where do you get off telling me about my behavior? I’m the only one besides Maggie’s parents that even gives a crap about what happened to her!”
“Calm down, Naomi,” Ryan exclaimed as he pulled the car over to the side of the street. “Lower your voice. If you need me to be all in or all out, I think I’m going to choose out.”
“What?”
“You put ultimatums on me, Naomi. You can’t do that to people. It’s always your way or no way. It’s just not fair.”
“It is not always my way. I don’t do that.” But maybe she did, just a bit, when it came to her relationship with Ryan. She didn’t like the way he focused on her house, on the property surrounding her house. She didn’t like the way he ate, the way he was preoccupied with the history of the area. All of it had been fine in the beginning, but he was so intense. So freaking intense about everything.
Except her.
It hit her, hard, that Ryan was backing away. Not just from the investigation, but from her. From what they once had. Even if it was only for a short period of time, it still stung. There was nothing left here in the romance department. She was kidding herself.
She unbuckled her seatbelt, tears stinging her eyes. Placing her notepad and pen in her tote bag, she hugged the bag close to her chest.
“So this is it for us I guess.”
He reached over and placed his hand over her arm. “Naomi, what are you saying? Just because I don’t want to go hunting down a possible murderer doesn’t mean I want to stop seeing you.”
A bitter laugh escaped. “You don’t even really like me as a girlfriend, Ryan. Just admit it to yourself. You and I are better off as friends. You know it and I know it.”
“Friends? What are you talking about? I want you as my girlfriend. I…” He stopped mid-sentence and removed his hand from her. Staring at his lap, he sighe
d.
“You what? You aren’t in love with me and you never will be.”
He nodded his head as he bit down on his lip.
“Can you honestly say that you love me or may possibly love me in the near future?”
He met her gaze with strained eyes. “Can you?”
Interesting question. “No, Ryan. I can’t.”
There was nothing left to say here. She was going to lose a good friend and that was what hurt the most right now.
“Good-bye, Ryan.” Naomi’s hand was on the door.
“Where are you going? You can’t just get out in the middle of town. How will you get home?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call Amy for a ride when I’m finished here.”
“About that. I have a bad feeling, a real bad feeling. Would you please reconsider this crusade you’re on?”
She couldn’t believe he was still harping on the Maggie thing. “Good-bye, Ryan.” Naomi stepped out of his truck, slamming the door tight.
He didn’t try to stop her again. Walking ahead, her tears flowed freely down her cheeks. At one point, she dared a glance back at him and noticed he was still sitting there, just watching her leave.
Chapter Twenty-One
Naomi
“YEAH, I’VE SEEN her. She used to come in from time to time and have dinner,” the waiter stated. He stared intently at the photograph of Maggie. “She sure was pretty.”
“Yes, she was.”
It was the third place she had been to and so far she had heard almost the exact same thing. They recognized her, they stated she was pretty and what a shame it was that she was gone.
Let’s see if this guy says the same thing about her guy friend. “Was she ever with anyone?”
The waiter nodded. “Yes, she was. First time I noticed her, she was here with an average looking guy.”
“Average, you say?” This was a new one. “What color hair? How tall?”
“I don’t know, maybe the guy was five eleven, six feet?”
“And his hair?” She scribbled down the description under the heading of “average guy.”
“What are you, a reporter or something?”
“Or something. What color hair?”
“Brown, I think. Say, I was kind of waiting for the police to come by and ask around, you know?”
“And? They didn’t?”
“No, not here at least. But the funny thing is, my buddy works over at one of her old regular places, and they never went there, either. Kind of odd, if you ask me.”
“I guess, but they figured it was an accidental drowning and how would the cops know which places she visited?”
“I would think friends and family would offer that information up. I mean, come on. She went to Johnny’s on Main at least two or three times a month for dinner. And this whole case stinks, just for the record.”
Jotting down the name of the restaurant, she felt her pulse quicken. “Johnny’s, you say? What’s the name of your friend who works there?”
“Ted. His name is Ted.”
“Thank you, you’ve been a big help.” Naomi rushed to the door, her tote bag swinging from her shoulder.
“Wait! Don’t you want to hear about the other guy?” he called out to her. “Funny thing about him was that I haven’t seen him since.”
“Tall, dark, and handsome?” she cried out.
He nodded in agreement as she turned to leave. It was the same story all over town with the other man: same description, and he had never been seen again.
What did it all mean? The average looking guy must have been too average looking to leave a strong impression, because it seemed that no one recalled if he had returned to any of the establishments. But Maggie and her friend had both left quite the impression.
Naomi picked up her pace as she made her way to Johnny’s on Main Street. She was there once, years ago. It was an Italian place that attracted lots of local townspeople.
The aroma of sauce and garlic filled the air as she opened the door. Just being in this place made her instantly hungry. Ryan would freak if he ever set foot in the door, she figured. Ugh, Ryan. She was starting to miss his companionship already.
“Well, if it isn’t my lovely neighbor.”
Spinning her head to the side, Naomi threw her hand to her chest. “Oh.”
“Hey, there,” Bryce commented.
Sitting beside him was an attractive blonde. Why did the woman’s presence annoy her?
“Hi, Bryce.” She walked over to greet him properly. Both Bryce and the blonde stood up.
“I’m Gail. It’s nice to meet you.”
Gail’s cool gaze fell upon her. “Same here. I’m Naomi.”
Bryce’s hands went into his jean pockets. “I, um… we were just having lunch.” His face flushed a light pink.
“Oh. Well, tell Holly I said hello.”
“I will, and she’ll be sorry she missed seeing you,” Bryce offered.
“Who’s Holly?” the blonde questioned.
“She’s my daughter, I was just telling you about her.”
Blondie shrugged and took a seat at the table. Bryce stood for a moment longer and gazed at Naomi before returning to his own seat.
“I’ll see you.”
It bothered her to see him sitting with the blonde woman. There. She admitted it. So they were having lunch; what was the big deal? She stole a glance behind her and noted that Bryce’s eyes had followed her across the room.
“Can I help you?” A middle-aged man approached her from behind the counter.
“Yes. I hope so. Is Ted here today?” She watched as a man in his twenties hustled by, carrying two plates of pasta.
He called out,“I’m Ted. What can I do for you?”
Naomi held her finger up in the air and stood as he whizzed by. Well, then she would follow him. Ted made his way to Bryce’s table. Wonderful.
Following in Ted’s footsteps, Naomi avoided eye contact with Blondie and Bryce.
“What can I do for you?” Ted dropped the plates of pasta on the table as Naomi took a step back.
“Is everything okay?” Bryce stood up, glancing at Naomi.
“Yes, it’s fine, Bryce. Thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
Blondie huffed from her seat. “She said everything is fine.”
Bryce ignored his date’s comment but sat back down, watching Naomi carefully.
“I have a photo I’d like you to take a look at, please.“ Naomi grabbed the framed photo from her bag and held it up for Ted to see.
“I know her, that’s Maggie.”
“Yes, your friend back at Jelly’s Café said you did. Please, tell me anything you can.”
“Hold on a sec. Can I get you anything else?” Ted asked Bryce and Blondie. Blondie’s arms crossed over her chest, her icy glare focused on Naomi.
“No, we’re good, thanks,” Bryce answered.
“Come over here for a sec. Let’s talk.” Ted steered Naomi over to a table for two in the back of the room. “Are you a cop or something?”
Taking a seat across from Ted, Naomi took out her notepad and pen. “No, I’m an author. Let’s just say I’ve developed a fascination with Maggie’s story.”
The sound of a text going off interrupted her train of thought. Reaching down to see who it was, she smiled at the words in the message. It was Ryan, stating that he wanted to speak. She wanted to talk to him, too. They had unfinished business.
“Sorry about that. Tell me what you know about her. Anything and everything, please.”
“I thought that finally the police would come to ask some questions, you know? This was one of her favorite restaurants. How could they have missed coming here? I mean, what kind of detectives do they have around here, anyway?”
Tell me about it, she wanted to exclaim. “It’s because they think it was an accident.” She wrote a reminder to ask Maggie’s parents if they had ever shared the name of the restaurant with Officer Frank.
“B
ut obviously you don’t.” It wasn’t a question.
“No, Ted, I don’t.” She frowned.
“I’m so happy to hear someone say that. I thought everyone had given up on her. I even went to the police when she disappeared. That damn officer assigned to the case wouldn’t even hear me out.”
“Officer Frank.”
“That’s the one.”
This Officer Frank was proving to be a royal pain. But there was more to his resistance, she was sure of it.
“So tell me, who did she come here with?”
“Well, she had some friends she would come here with. I can’t remember their names or anything, but then there was the boyfriend.”
“The boyfriend?”
“At least I thought it was. He didn’t last long.”
“Ted, what did he look like?”
“Brown hair, kind of…”
“Average?” Naomi finished his sentence, sure of his response.
“Yeah, I would say he was average looking.”
“Anyone else?” She waited for the next predictable answer to come.
“Yes, this one I’m not sure about. I think he started as a friend but then became more to her.”
Interesting. “Ted, if you don’t mind me saying, you seem to remember a lot about Maggie.”
He blushed. “I… Maggie was a beautiful woman.”
Ah, so Ted here had a crush on Maggie. She supposed many men probably had felt the same.
“Yes, yes, she was. What did this man look like?”
“If I were to say the first one was average, this guy was quite the opposite. Maggie and her friend made a striking couple. He was tall, dark and…”
“Handsome,” Naomi mumbled.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What makes you say they were more than friends?”
Ted fidgeted in his seat and blushed deeply once more. Leaning over, he whispered. “If you had seen the way he kissed her that night, you’d know what I mean.”
She placed her pen down and looked Ted squarely in the eye. “When was this?”
“Oh, I’d say not too long before she was killed. They came in a few times after that, but didn’t show any major public displays of affection. You could tell, though, that they were still a couple.”