Rock Harbor Series - 04 - Abomination

  “Sorry, Sis.” He made no excuses.

  “Any new info?”

  He fished a black olive out of the jar and avoided looking in her direction. Once Oliver finished painting the actual bust, he’d let someone else make sure he wasn’t putting Eve’s features onto it.

  Layna pressed on with the questions. “You don’t have to be so driven about it. You’re divorced.”

  “Sure, bring that up.” He made a face. “It doesn’t change a thing.”

  “You need to move on with your life, Nick. Once you find them, I mean. Don’t make the mistake I did of clinging to the past.”

  “You’re still holding on to it,” he pointed out. “It’s still all you talk about. Have you dated anyone in the last five years?”

  “Men are pigs,” she said. Her gaze met his, and she shrugged. “Present company excluded.”

  “Tom had an affair. I didn’t.”

  “Oh, but you did,” his mother said from behind him. “An affair with your job.” She moved past Nick and went to lift the mousalia out of the oven. The scent of lamb and tahinial sauce enveloped the kitchen.

  His mom had made insinuations like this before, and he’d ignored them. But not this time. “What is it with women that you don’t get how important a job is? It’s how you eat and buy pretty clothes and purses. And shoes. Don’t forget the shoes. Eve had enough shoes to fill three closets. How did she think she got to buy those tiny bits of leather? They didn’t just fall into her lap.”

  He knew he was being too harsh when he saw tears flood his mother’s eyes. Hurting her didn’t bring Eve back. He buried the apology on his tongue with another olive.

  “Eve wanted you, not the shoes, Nicky. They were just something to fill a void.” She shook her finger at him. “And don’t talk about her in the past tense. You’ll find her.”

  The truth waited to be spoken, but he swallowed it. He’d failed his wife all around. Now it was probably too late. “I’m going to go play with the boys.”

  His mother’s face softened. “I’m sorry I’m so hard on you, Son. I just want you to be happy. When you find Eve, you make it up to her.”

  Nick heard his father’s booming voice from the entry, then his dad’s bulk filled the doorway. One look at Cyril’s face and Nick knew.

  His father had seen the bust. He knew it was Eve too.

  6

  BREE FED THE LAST DOG AND TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS AT THE animal shelter. Her muscles ached but not unpleasantly. Today’s training session in the woods had gone well. Samson continued to show that his ability surpassed that of most other dogs.

  She snapped her fingers, and her dog ran after her. His nails clicked on the concrete floor, and he was at her side by the time she opened the door. “Let’s go home, boy.”

  He woofed deep in his throat and ran to the Jeep, which sat under a poplar tree. Birds had deposited a few gifts on the windshield, and Bree made a face. She’d have to wash it this weekend.

  Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it from her belt. “Kitchigami Search-and-Rescue.”

  “Bree, it . . . it’s Ruby.” The aide’s voice was tentative. It also held a note of fear that kicked Bree’s adrenaline into high gear.

  Bree clenched the phone in her hand. “Is something wrong, Ruby?”

  “I . . . I’m afraid so. Your father isn’t in his room. I checked everywhere. I think he’s gotten out.”

  For Rock Harbor Nursing Home to admit he was gone meant they’d truly looked everywhere. Bree tried not to panic. “I’ll be right there.” She had Samson. He would find her father.

  She flung open the back door of the SUV. The dog jumped in and lay down on the seat. Bree ran around to the driver’s side and slid under the wheel. The back wheels fishtailed when she stomped on the accelerator, but she maintained control of the Jeep and wheeled it around toward town.

  The North Woods was no place for a frail old man with Alzheimer’s to wander. Black bears roamed the woods. And while the DNR denied it, she’d seen a cougar with her own eyes last summer. She glanced at her watch. She could call her sister, who was on temporary assignment in England, but there was no need to worry her. Not yet.

  After parking the Jeep, she hopped out and opened the door for Samson. She reached in and grabbed her ready-kit. Samson’s ears perked when he saw her lift out the backpack that held his vest. His tail began to wag.

  He followed her up the walk. Ruby rushed to her and apologized, but Bree brushed the apology aside and walked straight to her father’s room. Samson wouldn’t need a special article. She’d take him to the room and let him sniff the bed. Her dog bounded ahead of her. They’d been here many times, and he knew the way.

  When she entered the room, Samson was nosing around the floor. Opening her kit, she pulled out his vest and slipped it on him. He immediately went alert. She snapped his leash onto his collar and led him to the bed. He sniffed the sheets.

  “Search, Samson. Find Grandpa.”

  He leaped for the door and led her down the hall. Residents called to them as they roamed through the sitting area, but she just waved and didn’t stop. Samson raced toward the sliding glass door that led into the fenced backyard. If her father had gone out there, he should still be around. There was no exit except by coming back through this area.

  His nose in the air, Samson crisscrossed the open area, searching for an air scent.

  A man ran toward her with his arms out. “Stop, wait, what are you doing?”

  A newbie evidently. Bree motioned for him to follow as she trailed after the dog. “Samson is a search dog.”

  “He doesn’t have his nose to the ground.”

  “He tracks by air scent. Every human scent is different. The skin gives off about forty thousand dead skin cells called rafts every minute. The rafts carry bacteria that release a vapor that makes up the unique scent we all carry. He has my dad’s scent, and he’ll find him. You can count on it.”

  The man stopped and stared, but Bree rushed on. Samson raced back toward the door, back through the sitting area, and out the front door. Her father had walked right past the receptionist? Bree had wondered about their security, and this was proof it wasn’t very good.

  Once back outside, Samson made a beeline for the trees across the street. Bree unclipped his leash. Samson plunged into the wooded area, and Bree darted after him. The cool, dim forest blotted out the sun. She had to find her dad before sundown. The temp would lower, and he wouldn’t be dressed for it. And the mosquitoes would eat him alive.

  Samson’s ears were pointed, and his tail swished like windshield wipers on high, sure signs that he had a hot trail. Maybe Dad was just a little distance ahead. The dog put on an extra spurt of speed, leaping over a brook and bounding across a fallen tree. He disappeared over the hillside. Moments later, she heard him begin to bark.

  Samson had found him. She kicked up her own speed, but in her haste she slipped on a mossy rock and landed in the swiftly flowing water. It wasn’t deep, but she was soaked to the waist by the time she regained her feet and hurried in the direction of Samson’s barking.

  She reached the top of the hill and looked down. A small pond lay at the bottom. So did her dog and her father. The old man sat on a log and stared out over the water. He seemed not to notice the dog licking at him. Two swans glided along the lake’s surface. She noted their bright orange bills. Mutes. Kade would want to know. He needed to prevent their population from threatening the rarer trumpeters.

  She approached slowly so she wouldn’t startle her father. “Dad?” she said softly when she reached him. Even when her hand touched his shoulder, he didn’t move. He was lost inside his mind today.

  She blinked against the moisture in her eyes. All she could do was call off the search and take him back. Nothing was going to change here.

  NICK SUSPECTED THAT GIDEON BELONGED TO A GEOCACHING community. But which one? He’d attended several local meetings where the groups talked about which GPS unit was best and explained how to plan th
e best adventures. Their passion for the hunt hummed in the air.

  The geocaching community was vast, global. Nick’s poking into it was about as ineffectual as a puppy nipping at the heels of a giant. If he stumbled onto Gideon like this, it would be a fluke. Still, the puzzle drove him day and night. He hoped that concentrating on figuring it out would help him get through what he had to do today. Searching through Eve’s things for clues to her disappearance would bring back more memories than he wanted to deal with.

  The sun glinted through the windows of his SUV. He sat looking at the house where he used to live. The grass was beginning to green up, and he could see soft shoots emerging. His own life felt as dormant as the rosebushes.

  The job wouldn’t get done by sitting here.

  With a supreme effort he pushed open his door and got out. When he reached the house, he heard the engine of a car and turned around. His mother waved to him and got out of her Lumina.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked when she reached him.

  “You don’t think I’d let you do this alone, do you, Nicky?” Her dark eyes held empathy.

  “I can do it, Mom.”

  “We’re hurting, too, your Dad and me. Let me help you.” She looked past him to his key still in the deadbolt. “Are you going to open it, or do I have to?”

  His grin felt genuine for the first time in two months. “Thanks, Mom.” The pain of stepping inside and seeing Keri’s little patent-leather shoes in the entryway wasn’t quite as bad with his mom along. He could do this.

  He let his mother take Keri’s room while he went to the master bedroom. No way could he stomach looking at those little-girl clothes. Eve’s presence still occupied the master bedroom. Her fragrance clung to the bedding; her laughter echoed from the bathroom. He expected to see her come dancing into the room on her toes, doing one of those pirouette things.

  Gritting his teeth, he opened the closet door and began to lift out the racks of Eve’s clothes so he could go through the pockets for clues. Don’t think about it—just do it. His gaze snagged on her pink nightgown. The garment was soft as gossamer, and he remembered the last time he’d seen her in it. The anger in her eyes had overshadowed the tearstains on her face.

  He’d been the cause of both emotions.

  He lifted the garment in his hands and buried his face in it. The gown still bore her scent, sweet and seductive. Thrusting it away, he dropped it to the floor. Those memories were unbearable.

  “I’m glad you hired someone to clean the bloodstains,” his mother said from the doorway. Her gaze swept the pile of Eve’s clothing he had laid on the bed.

  At least she hadn’t seen him with his nose buried in the nightgown. “Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t want to look at them again either.”

  “How are you handling this, Nick?” Rhea took a tentative step into the room.

  “How do you think, Mom? Some sicko has murdered my wife and daughter—” His voice broke, and the weakness spurred his anger. “I’m going to find him, and he will pay,” he muttered past clenched teeth.

  “You don’t know that for sure. The bust looks like her, but we still don’t have the DNA back or anything.”

  “I have to face facts, Mom. So do you. I’m going to find who did this.” He clenched his fists.

  “Revenge? You know better than that.”

  “Justice—I have to have justice.” He expected platitudes about how God would bring Gideon to justice, but she said nothing, just turned away. The sadness in her face defused his anger. He lifted a hand toward her, then dropped it back to his side. “I’m sorry.”

  “So am I, Nicky. So am I.” She walked away.

  Man, he was a jerk, taking his pain out on his mother when she only wanted to help. He started to go after her, but the phone rang on the bedside table. Eve had been gone over two months. No one should be calling this number.

  The phone vibrated against his palm like a rattler when he lifted it. He punched the talk button. “Nick Andreakos,” he said.

  He heard only silence at first. Then a high-pitched laugh hit his ear, the Daffy Duck inflection from his nightmares.

  “It’s a fine joke, don’t you think, Nick?” The caricature of a voice chortled. “Did you like the way she looked in her pink nightgown? She wouldn’t look that lovely now. Not at all. But you already know that.”

  Nick leaped to the window. As he peered through the glass, he saw a van pull away. The signage read “Mount Sinai.”

  “Hello? Hello?” he said into the phone. But there was only silence.

  7

  SAMSON LAY SPRAWLED ON THE RUG. GRACIE, HER BACK arched, prowled around on top of him, pausing occasionally to knead him. He opened one eye to see what she was doing, then flopped his head back down and went back to sleep.

  “Leave him alone.” Elena scooped up the kitten and sat down on the sofa with her. Terri sat on the floor, building a house with LEGOs. It was almost five. Bree and Kade would be home anytime.

  She heard the front door open, then Bree’s voice called her name. “I’m in here,” Elena said. Bree’s face was white and strained when she entered the living room, and a worried frown replaced her customary smile. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”

  “My dad wasn’t well today. He didn’t know who I was.” Bree settled on the sofa beside Elena.

  Her father had escaped the nursing home just last week, Elena knew. She wished she could confide to Bree that she didn’t even remember if her father was alive or dead, but she didn’t dare. Not only would it be insensitive; it would also tip off Bree that Elena remembered less than she pretended to. If she kept up the facade long enough, maybe she could slip into this new life and the old would be gone forever. Rock Harbor had cast a healing net over her, and she didn’t want to slip from under it.

  Her past was bound to catch up to her though.

  “I’m sorry,” Elena said finally. “It has to be hard.”

  “It’s not going to get any better.” Bree dug into a bowl of pistachios on the coffee table and offered some to Elena, who shook her head and made a face. “Um, your clothes don’t match.”

  “They don’t?” Elena glanced down. “I guess I was thinking about something else when I got dressed.”

  “Any new memories today?”

  Elena’s smile faded. “No.”

  It was a familiar question. For a while the dance memories had come fast, but they led to no real insight. Bree wanted to contact some dance studios, but Elena didn’t want to run the risk that her attacker might be connected to her profession. Every discreet path they’d followed had led nowhere.

  “Let’s make some more calls tonight,” Bree said.

  Elena nodded. The women had been methodically calling every Cox in the Detroit area and asking if they knew Elena. So far, out of fifty-two calls, no one had heard of her.

  Through the glass, they watched Kade park his truck. The passenger door flew open. Davy tumbled out. Moments later the sound of his small feet thundered across the entry floor, followed by the heavy tread of Kade’s boots.

  Davy burst into the living room. “Hey, Mom, I got to help Dad feed the peregrine falcons. One falcon ate three mice!”

  “Ew,” his mother said. “You’re a ghoul.”

  “Birds have to eat too,” Kade said, dropping a kiss on her red curls when he reached her. “What’s for dinner?”

  “Whatever you want to cook tonight. I’m beat.”

  “I’ll cook,” Elena said quickly. “I picked up stuff for spaghetti.” She put Gracie on the floor, and the kitten immediately went back to pester Samson.

  “I knew we kept you around for a good reason.” Kade sat on the sofa on the other side of his wife. “Nice house, Terri.”

  The toddler frowned and knocked over the house. “Daddy help.” She looked at her mother. “Where Daddy?”

  Elena struggled for some excuse, but nothing came to mind. “Oh, look, Terri. Samson is cuddling Gracie.” The kitten nestled between Samson’s fron
t paws. They were both asleep.

  The distraction worked. Terri crawled over to the dog and laid her head on his flank. “Terri sleep.”

  Elena knew the questions weren’t going to stop. And she had no answers. Every time she thought about the man who had fathered Terri, she ran up against a blank wall and stark terror.

  Kade yawned. “I found a place to relocate the mute swans,” he told the women.

  “That’s wonderful news,” Bree said. “I really thought they’d make you shoot them.”

  “I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I’m going to move them in a couple of days. I’ll have to sedate them or they’ll peck my eyes out. And then I’ll have to destroy the eggs in the nests. I can put oil on them so they won’t hatch.”

  The phone rang, and Bree answered it. Listening for a moment, she handed it to Elena. “It’s Anu for you.”

  Her boss had never called her before. Elena told herself it was nothing, that maybe Anu wanted her to work some extra hours. Anu normally let her off at four. She took the phone Bree held out. “Hi, Anu.”

  “Elena, I must have written down your Social Security number wrong. I got a letter today saying it was incorrect. Could you give it to me again?”

  Elena’s fingers tightened on the phone. She’d known this day would come sooner or later. “I thought I had it memorized, but I must have slipped up. Let me get ahold of the Social Security department and double-check it. Of course I don’t have my card any longer.”

  “That would be fine, kulta. I must respond to this letter within thirty days though, so you must handle this as soon as possible.”

  “I will.” She closed the phone and handed it back to Bree, who gave her a curious glance. “Everything okay?” Bree asked.

  “Fine. My Social Security number is wrong. I need to get it straightened out.”

  “You made it up, didn’t you?”

  Elena nodded. “I couldn’t remember it at the time.”

  “Do you now?”

  She shook her head. “But if I go to the Social Security department and give them my name, they can look it up, can’t they?”