Domestic Affairs (Tiara Investigations Mystery) (7 page)

“How are John and Laurie?” Tara asked.
 

“A lot of work for their parents. I’d love to see them more but I don’t think Aidan will ever move away from Chicago.
 
We video chat a few times a week.”

“I wish we could video chat our testimony for the Bennett case,” I said.
 

They both m-m’d in agreement, and we went back to watching the house.
 
From our vantage point, there was no change in which lights were on and which were off.
  

I surveyed the house with my opera glasses, side to side, and top to bottom. “Let’s talk about something else. How was the movie you two saw with Julio?
 
What’s he like when he’s not working?”

Victoria moaned and ran a hand through her hair.
 
“It was all going fine until Tara made one of her philosophical remarks.”

“What’d she say?”
 

“Just that anyone who has to stop walking to sneeze is old enough to get a senior discount. That’s all. Poor Julio.”

 
“But you can’t argue with my logic, can you?”
 
Tara explained.

I scanned the front of the house, the side yards and the garage. “Let’s talk about Mr. Bennett. He’s playing hardball with the divorce settlement. The court date is this Wednesday and the case will go before a jury.”
 

 
“Is he still denying he was fooling around?” Tara wrapped her sweater coat tighter.
 

“Hell, yeah.” I moaned because I didn’t believe him and because of how I felt physically. “Can I move my seat back a little, Tara?
 
I ate so much tonight I scared myself.”
 

Tara
grunted in agreement. “Sure. I’m stuffed, too. Investigating on a full stomach is a bitch.”

“We go out on stake-outs after eating at Cracker Barrel,” Victoria reminded us.
  

I shifted in my seat, still trying to get comfortable.
 
“Remember the good old days when we could see afternoon movies and eat popcorn until our jeans were so tight they straightened out like planks. We’d be practically lying in our seats. Eating is the only thing I can think of that you can forget you’re doing while you are doing it. We know better now. Those old days weren’t so good.”

Tara yawned. “The pageant days were good. Leigh, I know you didn’t enjoy all that, but I loved every minute. Remember when the first handheld hair dryers came out?”

“I remember when the first thousand-watt dryers came out. I was drunk on power,” I said.

“Remember when the 1250-watt dryers came out?
 
We didn’t know if they were for drying hair or taking hostages.” Victoria was laughing at her own joke as she said this. “Leigh, what do you think about Paige saying her father was concerned about drinking water safety at Lake Lanier?”

“At first I thought it was the piece of the puzzle that fit with what was written on that napkin, but Buford Dam isn’t a water purification facility. Hey, you’re our cyber expert, what do you think about his fears?”

Vic did a couple of shoulder rolls to relieve the tension accumulated there. “Several independent studies have concluded a cyber attack is over-hyped and unlikely.
We have so much experience fixing day-to-day problems on any system you can think of, that the engineers who maintain them could quickly undo damage caused by even the most complex cyber attack.”

Tara’s phone was singing, what passes for ringing these days. Do any phones really ring these days?
  
‘Hey, good lookin…’ She screamed and threw it in the air. It hit the dashboard and bounced back on us in the front seat.

Victoria subdued the instrument and pinned it down.
 
“It’s alive!” Then she returned it to Tara. “It’s Kelly.”
 
She had seen the screen.

Tara’s hands were shaking against her cheek, so she used the speaker phone. “Hello?”

“Mom called!”

“Thank the Lord!” Tara yelled.
 

I motioned for Victoria to keep her eye on the Ford’s house.
 
“Is she on her way home?”

“She doesn’t know where she is. I’ve never heard her so disoriented.” Kelly sobbed and we gave her a moment to catch her breath.

“Did you hear any background noise?” I asked.

“I heard a whirring and I think I heard water.”

Vic leaned over closer to the phone. “What exactly did she say?”

“She kept saying, ‘Kelly, I thought you would be here.’ It was scary hearing Mom talk out of her head like that.”

I started the car. “Kelly, I have an idea about where she might be. We’ll call you back when we get there.
 
Call her back and keep her talking.”

“I tried but the call won’t go through. I’ll keep trying.
 
I’ll leave the home phone line open for you.”

I put the car in drive.
 
“She’s at Buford Dam.”

“That’s great. We know where to find her.” Tara gave my shoulder a squeeze.

“No, it’s not. That whirring Kelly heard means water is about to be released.” I turned the radio on to Channel 1610 AM. The recorded message was still spooling, giving the four hour window of time for the release and warning of the treacherous conditions.
 
“They release different amounts of water every day, depending on the power production needs and flood control.”

“Who can we call to tell them to stop the release?”
 
Victoria had her smart phone out ready to look for a number on the internet.
 

“Try the Army Corp of Engineers.” I racked my brain to think of anyone else who could help. And, of course, I was driving like a bat out of hell.
 
“Tara, why don’t you call Detective Kent?”

Victoria was trying one unattended telephone number after another. Tara reached Kent. “What’s the matter with you?” Then to us, “He’s sick in bed.”

“Get out of bed, you sorry piece of sh….”
 
I yelled.

“Leigh!”
  

“Leigh!”

“Leigh, I’ll call a buddy on the Forsyth County force.”
 
Kent’s voice was weak. Maybe I’d been a little harsh. “And I’ll send Asher over there.”

“Feel better,” Tara said.
 

Victoria motioned for her to hang up the phone.

“Bye-bye.”

I passed the entrance to our newest schools, White Oak Elementary and Lanier Middle School, which sit side by side, then turned left onto Buford Dam Road.
  
We were getting closer to where the road goes over the dam. The front side of the dam and Lake Lanier were on our right, down a rocky embankment. The back side of the dam and the Chattahoochee River were on our left, at the bottom of a grassy slope. “Try Bea’s cell phone now,” I said to anybody listening. The release side was to our left, and that’s where we had to go.
 
During a water release, flooding wouldn’t occur, but if she was thrown into the water or fell, she could drown, or be swept away.
 

“It’s just ringing.” Tara was fighting back tears.
 
“There’s her car!”
 

On the side of the road, Bea’s Volvo was surrounded by uniformed officers. The trunk stood open, but they were nonchalant enough to relieve me of my worst fear.

I couldn’t hear anything else either of them said because all of a sudden we heard the whir of a helicopter and the lake was lit up like mid-day. I saw a couple of police cars parked on a side street leading to Powerhouse Park. Victoria touched my arm to get my attention. “Why not pull in behind them?
 
We can ask if they know anything.”

“Okay, and this road is closest to the water release point,” I yelled.
 

All three Forsyth County police officers shook their heads when we asked if they had found Beatrice.
 

 
“We want to look down there for ourselves.”
 

The oldest of the trio said, “Be our guest.”

I turned back to Tara and Victoria and pointed to the river. They read my mind and the three of us ran down the hill. We yelled Bea’s name into the night but nothing came back. We walked over the bridge and still didn’t see her.
 

Tara touched my arm. “If she’s not here, where could she be?”

Just then the helicopter banked and flew south down the river, lowering the noise level. Victoria’s cell phone rang and we might have screamed. Alright, all three us squealed. “It’s Kelly. She wants to know what’s happening.”

“Tell her we’re still looking, but we haven’t seen or heard her,” I said, then turned back to the business at hand. “We’re not hearing
anything
. The water release didn’t happen!”

“Just took a phone call, sweetheart.” It was either Asher Charles or Charles Asher who we had to thank.
 
He was on the trail leading down to where we were.
 
Tara rolled her eyes instead of showing appreciation.
 

Victoria met him half way up the hill and held out her hand to him. “Thank you.”
 

“Be nice,” I whispered to Tara.

“He says that I’m the one.”

 
“Why does he think that? Have you seen him since that day at Tex Mex Rex?”

“No! Remember when we bumped heads when we stood up?
 
His lips slid over mine and a little of my lip plumping gloss got on him. He thinks he was struck by lightning or something, because of how it stung.”

Men find Tara irresistible, but this was ridiculous. “Once we find Beatrice I’m going to laugh my ass off over that.” We walked up the embankment to meet Asher, Vic, and the three police officers. A park ranger had joined them and was silhouetted by moonlight, street lights and car head lights.
 

“Leigh? Leigh Reed?” I think I should be excused for not being able to place her since more than twelve years have come and gone since I left the park service. “It’s Bryn Marie Leandro. What are you doing here?”

“The missing woman is a friend of ours.” I introduced her to Victoria and Tara.
 
She waited for an introduction to Asher, but I didn’t trust myself to remember his name correctly so she didn’t get it. He gave Tara a wave and drifted off.
 

“I’m the Natural Resources Manager here. Since we’re short staffed––what else is new?––I got the call out.”
 

I turned to one of the Forsyth County police officers standing nearby.
 
“I have another idea about where she might be. Has the helicopter covered West Bank Park?
 
We were there with her once.” That was me on the outside. Me on the inside, “It was when her daughter pretended like she was going to kill herself and when we let Detective Kent’s wife go scot-free after she shot him.” Those gentlemen didn’t have time for all those details anyway.
 
I’m sure you understand.
 

“I’ll radio the pilot.” With this, one of Forsyth’s finest turned away. We peeled off to the lower parking lot to Paul’s car and the others went back to Buford Dam Road.
 

The helicopter returned and banked to the left, over West Bank Park. I drove us back to the road and an officer flagged me down. “The pilot sees movement over there.
 
If he gets any closer he might scare her.”
 

“We’ll go.” I made a left onto Buford Dam road and stopped in front of Bryn Marie. “Hop in.” We drove the few hundred yards to West Bank Park, which is on the lake side of the road. Vic and Tara were out before I could come to a good stop.
 

Bryn Marie handed me a small radio. “Remember how to use this?”

“Yeah.”
 

“Radio up what support you need.”

We half-ran and half-slid along the pine straw path.
 
Bryn Marie waited for us at the top of the hill.
 

“Kelly? Is that you?” Bea’s voice was weak and we ran in that direction.

She was standing in a clearing. I grabbed Victoria and Tara’s arms to stop them. The only sounds I heard were the slap of the water against the bank, occasional police radio squawks, and the far off whir of the helicopter blades.
 
A quick scan of the area told me she was alone, so I let go of their arms.
 

“It’s us,” Tara called out. “Leigh, Tara and Victoria!” She looked in our direction, but it took a beat before she recognized us. She seemed disoriented. The only light we had was the full moon reflecting off Lake Lanier but from what I could see, she’d be able to walk out on her own steam.