At Hidden Falls (Angel's Bay Novel) (32 page)

“Nick, this isn’t before.” Isabella’s voice brought him back to the present. “Angel’s Bay isn’t that big. We can find her. Let’s think.” She paused. “You were a teenager in this town. Where did you go when you were looking for trouble?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “There are a couple of beaches south of town where we used to do bonfires, but that was more in the summer. I’ve been to the other places, even the old haunted Ramsay house, where we used to drink in the basement. But they finally boarded that place up so no one can get in.” He paced around the room, then stopped abruptly. “The falls. We used to go to Hidden Falls.”

“So did your grandfather and Leticia,” Isabella said, an odd look in her eyes.

He didn’t like the coincidence. “I don’t think their fifty-year-old love affair has anything to do with Megan.”

“We should still check it out.”

He hesitated. “I don’t know if you should come. She ran away because we were together.”

“I know that, but I want to help. It’s driving me crazy to sit here and do nothing. I never wanted to hurt Megan. I’ll just help you find her, and then I’ll disappear. I promise.”

He didn’t want her to disappear, but he couldn’t think about that right now. Megan was somewhere out there, angry, hurt, and reckless, a dangerous combination.

“I’ll get a flashlight,” Isabella said, moving toward the desk. She grabbed the light and her coat and headed toward the door. “Don’t worry, Nick. We’re going to find her, and you’ll make everything right.”

He wasn’t sure he could make everything right—but he would kill himself trying.

“Did you ever bring a girl up here?” Isabella asked Nick as they parked at the bottom of the trail and got out of the car.

“Too much of a hike for me. I was a lazy partyer.”

They headed swiftly up the trail. “In L.A., we used to park off Mulholland Drive up in the Hollywood Hills,” she said. “There were a couple of turnouts where you could sneak some alcohol and have a great view. Not that we were looking at the view.”

“Sounds like you had a little wildness in your past.”

“The flip side of my parents’ lack of attention was that I had a lot fewer rules than my siblings did. My sister Teresa used to complain that they never let her do half of what I did. She was always keeping score of who got what. It used to drive Joe nuts.”

“I can’t imagine having four sisters. One is enough for me.”

“Yeah, but being the only son, Joe was like the king of the family. When it was time for dinner, all the girls were expected to help cook, set the table, and clean up, but somehow Joe always got out of it.” She stumbled over an exposed root, and Nick grabbed her hand.

“This might be a wasted trip,” he said. “Kids used to come up here, but I’d forgotten how dark it was, and it’s quite a hike.”

“It might be easier to do on a motorcycle. There’s enough room.”

“True,” he said grimly.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Nick. Megan isn’t a pushover.”

“She’s a girl. She’s vulnerable.”

“But she is used to taking care of herself.”

“She grew up rich, Isabella. She had servants and chauffeurs and went to private schools. What does she know of the real world?”

“She knows that people can’t always be trusted.”

“Yeah, she knows that,” he agreed with a heavy sigh.

As they neared the falls, they could hear the sound of music and laughter. Nick began to walk more quickly, and she had to jog to keep up with him. He was a man on a mission, hell bent on getting his daughter back. She just hoped he was prepared for possible fallout. “Wait, Nick,” she said breathlessly, putting a hand on his arm, bringing him to a stop.

“What?” he asked impatiently.

“Most teenage girls don’t want to be dragged away from their friends by their irate fathers. There’s a difference between letting her know you care and embarrassing her. Just think for a minute. Nothing horrible has happened. She’s spending time with her friends. It sounds like they’re having fun,” she added as laughter rang through the woods. “You have to keep things in perspective.”

“Okay, you’re right. But I need to talk to her.”

Nick pushed his way through the thick trees. He wasn’t being quiet, but she doubted that anyone could hear them over the music and the rush of water coming from the falls.

When they reached the clearing, they saw three kids sprawled on a blanket next to two motorcycles. Beer bottles were strewn on the ground, and the smell of weed permeated the damp air. Megan wasn’t there, but her boyfriend was.

The girl in the group jumped to her feet as they approached. The two boys got up more slowly, especially Will.

“Where’s Megan?” Nick demanded.

“She left,” Will said sullenly.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked. “Where did she go?”

“She didn’t like the party, so she took off.”

“You let her walk away from here by herself? Are you out of your fucking mind?” Nick shouted.

“Dude, she ran away into the woods,” Will said, taking a step back. “We looked for her, but we couldn’t find her. She’ll come back when she’s tired of being mad.”

“Which way did she go?” Isabella interrupted, sensing a fight about to erupt that wouldn’t bring them closer to finding Megan. She turned to the girl, who seemed very nervous. “Did you see where she went?”

“She went over there through the trees.” The girl pointed across the clearing. “She said she was going home.”

“That’s not the way home,” Nick bit out.

“I tried to tell her that,” Will said. “She wouldn’t listen. She was pissed off before we even got here.”

Isabella saw Nick’s fists clench, and she jumped between him and the kid. “We need to find Megan. You can deal with him later.”

“I
will
deal with you later,” he promised.

As they headed into the woods, Isabella heard the motorcycles take off. It grew quieter as they got farther away from the falls. It was also darker; the thick woods didn’t allow much moonlight to squeeze through. Thankfully, the flashlight gave them some illumination.

“Megan!” They took turns shouting.

There was no answer. The woods were thick and dark, and Isabella couldn’t imagine how scared Megan must be. Where was she? Had she found her way back to the trail and gone home? She was a smart girl. It seemed unlikely that she’d keep wandering aimlessly in the woods, even if she was upset.

“Where
is
she?” Nick echoed, dragging a hand through his hair as he stopped to get their bearings, then took out his cell phone. “Dammit, I can’t get any reception. What if she’s not here in the woods? What if she found the trail and made it into town? She would still be several miles from home.”

“She could have found a ride in town. A lot of people know her from the theater. Anyone could have helped her out.” Isabella fell silent for a moment, the faint sound of rushing water breaking the quiet. “I think we should go back to the falls. Megan will try to find her way back there. Whatever happened with those kids, they’re her friends.”

“Then why did she run away from them? Do you think that punk tried something with her?”

Isabella could see how crazy Nick was making himself. “I don’t believe he hurt her. Come on, let’s go back.” She put out her hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, Nick took it. When they returned to the clearing, the area was empty.

“I’m going to see if I can get hold of Joe,” she said, taking out her own phone. “We might get better reception here.” She got Joe’s voice-mail and quickly explained the situation. “I’m with Nick, and we’re looking for Megan. She got upset and ran off into the woods. We’re up by Hidden Falls. I’ll call you later, but don’t worry about me.”

When she got off her phone, she saw Nick on his. He ended the call a moment later. “Colleen said Megan hasn’t come back, but she’ll stay at my place tonight until we get back,” he said tersely. “What now? I can’t go home knowing she’s out here somewhere.”

“Then let’s wait here for a while. Maybe Colleen will call you soon and tell you that Megan is home.”

Isabella sat down on the blanket the teenagers had left behind while Nick walked around in circles until he tired himself out enough to sit.

“I hate this,” he said.

“I know.”

For a few moments, they sat in silence, the only sound coming from the water splashing down the rocks. While it had been her idea to wait, now she was beginning to rethink that. It was going to get colder and darker, and memories of the past were teasing at her brain. The longer she stayed in Angel’s Bay, the more she realized that she wasn’t connected just to Nick but to the town.

“I should take you home,” Nick said half-heartedly.

She shook her head. “Not a chance. We’re in this together.”

“You and me together is what started all this.” He stretched out on his side. “You know that Kendra sent Megan to me because she was getting married again. A few days ago, Megan asked me how long she’d be my first priority. What would happen when I met someone? Wouldn’t I just toss her aside like her mother did? When she saw us together tonight, she must have seen it happening all over again.”

“And instead of waiting for you to dump her, she dumped you.” Isabella understood perfectly, and she couldn’t blame Megan for reacting so strongly after what she’d gone through. “You’ll get another chance, Nick. I’m sure of it. She’ll calm down. It was just a kiss. You have to keep things in perspective.” She lay down on her side, facing him. “Did you ever run away from home?”

“I ran away from a road trip and came home. Does that count?”

“What happened?”

“We were in San Francisco. It was the end of summer; I was fourteen. My best friend was going to have a kick-ass party at the beach, and I wanted to go. My parents said we weren’t going to leave for another week, so I hopped on a bus and came back on my own. They were pissed. But by the time they caught up with me, I’d already been to the party, so I didn’t really care. Their punishments never lasted; they’d ground me for a month and forget after two days. Follow-through wasn’t their thing.”

She nodded. “So you got away with a lot.”

“Too much, probably. I started to think I could do anything without consequences. Turned out I couldn’t.”

“Tell me about the years in between, when you had finished school and gotten your life together but didn’t have Megan yet. Were you involved with anyone?”

“Nothing serious. I went to school in L.A., got a job there afterward, and rented an apartment in Santa Monica. I made some friends who weren’t musicians or theater people, and I had a life. Most of it involved working.”

“Do you miss your L.A. life?”

“I thought I would. I came back because I had a house here and Megan would have extended family around. I thought it would be a better environment than L.A., and it is starting to feel like home again,” he said. “I’d lost touch with all of my friends. But seeing Shane the other night, Kara, Charlotte, Lauren, Jason . . . even though most of us left, we all came back. Fortunately, my firm in L.A. is happy to let me telecommute, so I’m able to keep some business going with them, as well as operating my own small firm here.” He gave her a curious look. “What about you? What’s your work like?”

“I freelance, working solo or in collaboration with other designers on film projects mostly. I grew up in the backyard of the major studios, and my grandmother had some connections in the business that got me get started.”

“Were you always in costumes, versus contemporary fashion?”

“I’ve done both, but I do love creating clothes that are part of a story. The period pieces are really fun, because some of the gowns are layers and layers of material with beading and embroidery. No one makes clothes like that anymore. But I also like designing for contemporary films, where the subtle clothing choices emphasize part of the plot or the character’s background.” She paused, seeing the smile on his face. “What’s so funny?”

“You light up when you talk about your work.”

“So do you. We both like to leave our mark on the world in a tangible way.”

“I never thought about it like that.”

“Didn’t you? Come on. You’re too competitive not to imagine people talking about your buildings.”

“All right. Guilty,” he admitted. “What about you? There must be someone in L.A. waiting for you to come back.”

“I was seeing someone for a few months, but that ended a while ago.”

“Why did it end?”

She drew little circles on the blanket with her finger. “Because I didn’t want to tell him who I really was. And he made it easy, because he didn’t ask.”

“Why did you tell me?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “You’re different.”

“How?”

“For one thing, the dreams I’ve been having are about you, so I thought you would need to know.”

“And the other thing?”

“I knew I could trust you,” she said, gazing into his eyes. “Maybe because you saved my life, because we met in a moment that was honest and real.”

Nick stared back at her. “When you dreamed about me being in trouble, did you see any of this?” He waved his hand toward the falls.

“I’m not sure. I’ve had visions of this place that didn’t involve you. When I touched some of Leticia’s things, I had a flash of her and your grandfather meeting behind the falls. Your grandfather later told me it was their trysting place. They were here the night the theater burned down. They saw the flames from the hillside when they went back down the trail. By the time they got to the theater, your grandfather’s sister, Caitlyn, was dead.”

“My grandfather told you all that?” Nick asked in surprise.

“The other day at the theater. Leticia felt guilty. She’d had visions that Caitlyn was in trouble, that she was keeping company with some boy who wasn’t good for her. But that night your grandfather didn’t want to talk about Caitlyn, or Leticia’s imagination, as he called it. He wanted to give her the necklace for her birthday and spend one more night with her before he had to marry your grandmother. After Caitlyn died, he felt guilty for putting his selfish affair first. Leticia left town. She ran her car into the ocean off the road just north of Big Sur. No one knows if she did it on purpose or if another car was involved.”