Beaches in Paradise

by Kathi Daley

  “I see you got my message,” Hunter answered.

  “I did. I’m sorry it took so long. My ringer must have been off. So Gina was right: the man she’s been sharing her home with isn’t who he claims to be.”

  “Even when you factor in the half-sibling scenario, there’s no way they’re related. When I spoke to Deputy Baldwin, she seemed pretty excited that I got DNA results so quickly. She’s going to try to find a match.”

  “Can she do that? Can DNA give you the name of the person it was harvested from?”

  “Not necessarily. If a piece of evidence is found that contains DNA, the results from the test Gina asked me to run would prove whether the DNA belonged to the man in question. And there’s a federal database that has samples from some individuals, including those with recent criminal convictions, which can sometimes provide a match. It’s a long shot, but it could provide a piece of the puzzle. All I know at this point is that the odds are extremely low that this man is Gina’s biological brother. So low I wouldn’t even consider it to be a possibility.”

  “He has to be involved in whatever’s going on. Thank you, Hunter. Maybe if we can figure out who he is, we can figure out where Gina is.”

  “I hope it helps. Like I said before, feel free to call if there’s anything else I can do to help make sure Gina gets home safe and sound.”

  “You’re a good guy, Hunter.”

  I hung up and started back to the house. The new lead Kate had called Roy about must have to do with the DNA test. Maybe she already had a match.

  When I arrived in Kyle’s office, he was staring at the computer screen. “Something wrong?” I asked in response to the frown on his face.

  “I got into the file.”

  I smiled. “That’s wonderful. What was in it?”

  “Numbers.”

  “What kind of numbers?”

  “There appear to be eight sets of numbers with four numbers in each set. It must be a code or key of some sort.”

  “A key? What kind of key?”

  Kyle didn’t answer. I walked over to peer over his shoulder. As he had said, the only thing in the file were columns of numbers. “What do we do with this?”

  “I’m not sure. I need some time to study the numbers. Maybe I can find a pattern.”

  “I’ll make us some coffee.”

  I made the coffee and gave a cup to Kyle, then sat down on the sofa in his office. I took a few sips of coffee, then leaned my head back to rest my eyes while I waited for it to do its job.

  Chapter 11

  Saturday, August 12

  I woke the next morning wrapped in Kyle’s arms. His warm breath caressed my cheek as he snored softly. I took a moment to enjoy the perfection of the moment, even though we were both fully dressed and lying on top of the covers in his bed. Talk about irony. I had been dreaming for weeks about waking up in Kyle’s arms for the first time. I’d just figured it would be after we’d finally taken the next step in our relationship.

  Once again, I didn’t remember coming into the bedroom, so Kyle must have carried me in after I’d fallen asleep. If I knew him, he’d probably worked into the wee hours of the morning. The poor guy must be exhausted. I didn’t want to wake him, so I carefully unwound his arms from around my body and tiptoed into the kitchen.

  I put on a pot of coffee before slipping into my tennis shoes and sweatshirt and taking the dogs out for their morning run. It was a beautiful morning. The sky was just beginning to turn light, although the sun had yet to make an appearance over the distant mountain peak. The air was still and the water calm as I walked along the sandy shore. Echo and Trooper were thoroughly enjoying their early morning romp, running side by side carrying the same long stick.

  Roy never had called last night unless it was after I’d fallen asleep. I hated to call him so early, so I was going to have to employ some of the patience I was always telling Ashley and Gracie they needed to have and wait until the rest of the world awakened before getting the answers I was dying for.

  As I walked along the sandy beach, I tried to get my head around the things we’d been able to uncover so far. We knew Striker Bristow had been shot in the back and that he’d eventually ended up strapped into Gina’s car, which had ended up in a field wrapped around a tree. We knew Gina had been working with Bristow on his new proposal, and Bristow wasn’t popular among many of the locals.

  We suspected Gina had been driving the vehicle in which Bristow’s body had been found, and that she had been pursued at the crash site and eventually forced into another car. Additionally, we suspected she was being held by someone associated with Bristow, but we didn’t know who or even why.

  As far as I knew, there hadn’t been any ransom demands. Bristow was dead. What more could anyone want from Gina?

  I was bothered by the fact the man who’d claimed to be her long-lost brother wasn’t, yet he still had been staying in her house all week. Who was he and how did he fit into things?

  And then there was the fact that Bristow’s car had been found at the marina and a phone that might be Gina’s had been found on Rosenberg Island. What on earth could the island have to do with any of this?

  Right now, there were as many possible theories as there were variables. We needed to figure out a way to narrow things down. Gina had been missing for thirty-six hours. Surely if she were still alive, time was running out.

  I called the dogs back and turned back to the house. When I arrived, I went upstairs. The bed was empty, but it sounded like Kyle was in the shower. I was tempted to join him but suddenly felt shy and uncertain, so I headed back downstairs and started breakfast.

  “How long have you been up?” Kyle asked when he walked across the room to deliver a quick kiss on my lips as I spooned scrambled eggs onto a platter.

  “About an hour. I took the dogs for a quick run and then attempted to make breakfast without burning it.”

  “It looks good.”

  I smiled. “I’m rather proud of myself. Even the toast is golden brown. What time did you come to bed?”

  “Not that long after you fell asleep. I tried to work longer, but I pretty much hit a wall and my mind refused to work. Have you heard from Roy?”

  “Not yet. If he doesn’t call by nine, I’ll call him. I hate to call earlier, I have no idea how late he worked last night. So, no luck figuring out what the number sequences mean?”

  “Not yet. I’ll take another look after we eat. A few hours’ sleep can do wonders for your concentration.”

  I took a bite of my egg. It was actually light and fluffy. Maybe I had finally outgrown the cooking curse I had lived under for most of my life, which pretty much assured that anything I made was overdone, underdone, too salty, or tasteless.

  “Other than trying to figure out what the numbers in the file mean, where are we with our current plan of action?” I asked.

  Kyle took a sip of his coffee, then sat back in his chair. “There are two people on our list we haven’t spoken to yet: Clint Buford, who was suing Bristow for not paying him for the plans he chose not to use; and Rick Tolley, the PE teacher at the high school who was interrupted while telling the gang about a call he received.”

  “What about the emails between Gina and Carter Kline?” I asked. “Maybe we should try to figure out who he is.”

  “I’ll do that once I’m done with the numbers.”

  “Okay. I’ll call Roy while you do that. And I feel like someone should go back to the island in the daylight and take another look around.”

  “I wouldn’t mind making the trip out there after I take another stab at the numbers.”

  “I’ll call Roy and Rick while you work on the number sequences. I don’t know Clint Buford, so it might be best if you spoke to him or we spoke to him together.”

  After breakfast Kyle returned to his computer and I tidied up the kitchen. When
I was done, I logged onto my contact list to see if I had a cell number for Rick. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Rick and I were members of the same department but not really friends outside of work. I figured Greg Remington would have his number, so I called him instead.

  “Hi Greg, it’s Tj,” I said when he answered.

  “Tj, I’m glad you called. Have you heard from Gina?”

  “No, I’m afraid not. I called because Alyson Leery told me that Rick Tolley was telling the group at the bonfire about a phone call he’d received that had something to do with Gina but was interrupted. I thought I’d follow up with him to see if it’s anything relevant, but I don’t have his number. I hoped you did and wouldn’t mind giving it to me.”

  “I have it, but I shouldn’t give out staff numbers. How about I call him, give him your number, and ask him to call you?”

  “That would be fine. Listen, while I have you, I spoke briefly to Sheila about the project Gina worked on last spring. She didn’t have a lot of details, but with Gina missing, I thought it might be important to know what the project entailed.”

  Greg hesitated before answering. “I don’t have all the details myself. I just know she was asked to join the project to help with the mathematics involved. In addition to Gina, an astrophysicist, an engineer, and some others were asked to participate. I think there were six people total in the group.”

  “Do you know who was behind the project? Was it private sector? Military? Government?”

  “I’m not sure. Gina didn’t say. I do know it was referred to as SCABS.”

  The file in Gina’s online storage. The over-the-top security made sense now. “Thanks, Greg. If you hear from Gina, please let me know.”

  “I will. And I’ll ask that you do the same.”

  Next, I called Roy. It wasn’t quite nine o’clock yet, but I was getting impatient. I knew in my gut that today had to be the day we found Gina if we had any chance of finding her alive. Of course, she might not even be injured. She might simply be a well-cared-for captive. Or at least I hoped that was the case.

  Roy answered on the first ring and didn’t sound groggy or irritated in the least.

  “Sorry I didn’t call you last night,” Roy jumped right in. “I was with Kate until almost two a.m. and figured you’d have gone to bed by then. Besides, I was exhausted and needed a few hours of sleep while I could get it.”

  “No problem. What was the big news she wanted to share with you?”

  “Had you heard that Gina had asked Hunter to run her DNA against her brother’s?”

  “Yes, I had. Hunter told me it wasn’t a match. Was that Kate’s big news?”

  “Not exactly.”

  I waited, but Roy didn’t continue. “Okay, so what exactly? Did you find a match for the guy claiming to be Spencer?”

  “Not yet. Kate has a buddy in the FBI who’s agreed to use the federal database to do a search. Kate called me in because she went out to the accident site for a second look. She found a handheld radio in the shrubbery near where it appears a struggle occurred. When Kate first found it, she couldn’t hear a thing on it, so she tossed it in the tray on the dash of her squad car. She was driving around last night out on County Road 47, near the old dam. She heard a strange sound and realized it was static. She traveled a bit further, and picked up voices, but shortly after, the radio went dead.”

  “If she heard voices, could she tell what they were saying?”

  “No. There was too much static.”

  “So why did the radio go dead?”

  “Kate wasn’t sure if someone had realized a connection had been established and the device was turned off, or if whoever was on the other end was on the move and was out of range. Kate and I drove around last night trying to pick up the signal, but we didn’t have any luck. Listen, Kate just pulled up, so I have to go. I’ll call you back when I can.”

  “Wait. Did you find out if Bristow’s car works?”

  “It does,” Roy confirmed, “so we have no idea why he left it at the marina. I gotta go.”

  I glared at the phone. I hated feeling so helpless while my friend was most likely suffering at the hands of whoever had shot Bristow. Sitting around waiting for the phone to ring didn’t work for me, but I didn’t want to pull Kyle away from the computer. I needed to come up with something I could do on my own. I’d promised Grandpa I’d help at the resort this afternoon. After my dad’s accident, we’d cut back quite a bit on the events Maggie’s Hideaway would sponsor for this year’s Summer Festival, but Grandpa had wanted to do something because the resort had been part of the festival since its very first year. We’d ultimately decided to host the beach volleyball tournament, a bands on the beach, and a hamburger cook-off on Saturday night.

  It was 9:20 now and I didn’t need to be at the resort until three. I desperately needed a shower and I should check in with the staff, so maybe I’d head to the resort, get cleaned up there and check in, and then go into town to see if I could find anyone who might have seen or spoken to Gina in the days before her disappearance.

  I was sitting on the front deck and was about to go inside to discuss my plans with Kyle when my phone rang.

  “Hey, Rick. Did Greg tell you why I wanted to speak to you?”

  “He said you’re still looking for Gina and wanted to know what I was going to share with the group before I was interrupted.”

  “Exactly. Do you remember what you were about to say?”

  “I was telling the group I’d talked to Gina on the phone that afternoon. She’d called me to ask if she could borrow the satellite phone I use when I go backpacking.”

  “Satellite phone?”

  “She wanted to use it to test something, or maybe to confirm something. I’m not exactly sure. You know Gina’s always tinkering with one idea or another.”

  “Am I right in thinking a satellite phone will work just about anywhere?”

  “Pretty much. There are limitations, of course. It won’t work underground or if the satellite signal is blocked by a cliff or some other solid object that’s between the phone and the satellite, but it can be a godsend when you’re in the backcountry away from cell service and you have an accident.”

  “Did you lend it to her?” I asked.

  “I told her I’d be happy to lend it to her, but I was out on the water in the middle of a sailing date. I was about to head back, so I asked if she could come by to pick it up at around five thirty. She said she would, but she never did.”

  “Did she say anything else that might give me a clue as to where she was or where she was going?”

  “I don’t know where she was specifically, but I could hear the loudspeaker in the background announcing the finalists for the bake-off.”

  “Which was held at the community center. Do you remember what time you spoke to her?”

  “I guess it must have been around four. I hope you find her. When the new deputy said she was looking for her, I didn’t think anything of it, but now…”

  “Yeah, I’m worried too. If you hear from her or talk to anyone who has, please let me know.”

  “I will.”

  After I hung up, I was about to go inside to talk to Kyle when my phone rang again.

  “Hey, Grandpa. Did you think of something you needed me to do?”

  “After I spoke to you, Sterling Snow called,” my grandfather said, referring to the owner of Angel Mountain, the third-largest ski area at the lake and the largest on the north shore.

  “What did he want?” I asked.

  “To set up a meeting to talk to your dad about Winter Carnival. I know your dad said to call Rosalie’s phone if we needed anything because he’d be tied up most of the time they were away, but I couldn’t remember her number.”

  “Winter Carnival isn’t for six months. Can’t it wait?”

  “That’s what I wondered,”
Grandpa said. “But Sterling said his father was all up in arms about something and insisting the planning had to begin immediately.”

  Sterling’s father, Bradford, had built the resort from the ground up in the same way my grandfather had built Maggie’s Hideaway. And my dad had taken over when Grandpa retired, just as Sterling had taken over from his father. The senior Mr. Snow had a reputation for being somewhat high-strung, and I imagined he’d been badgering Sterling relentlessly to get moving on what was most likely their largest income producer of the year.

  “I’ll give you Rosalie’s number, but there’s nothing Dad can do until he gets back from Sacramento. I’ll call Sterling to explain the situation if you want.”

  “No, I can do it. I don’t even know why I bothered you. It’s just Sterling tends to go a bit overboard when it comes to making sure his dad is happy.”

  “Yeah, those two have a complicated relationship.”

  “I’ll write down Rosalie’s number in case of emergencies, but I’ll handle it for now. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  “Actually, I’ll be coming by the resort to shower and change soon. We can talk about it some more when I get there.”

  “Okay, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a while.”

  I hung up and once again started back into the house. I still didn’t have my car, but Kyle had several vehicles, so I didn’t think he’d mind if I borrowed his truck. My new plan was to go into town to see who’d been at the bake-off on Thursday afternoon after I stopped at the resort to get cleaned up. If I could fill the holes in my timeline, I might finally be able to make sense of things.

  Chapter 12

  “Did you get Sterling handled?” I asked Grandpa after I’d showered and then tracked him down in the lodge. The resort was busy, as it usually was during the summer, and Grandpa liked to make the rounds and check to make sure everything was running smoothly.

  “I did. I told him that I’d leave a message for Mike to call him when he got back into town, but I wasn’t going to bother him before that.”

  “How did he take the news?” I asked.