Secrets in the Lowcountry--The River (11 page)

Jeff appeared
so strong, yet his eyes sho
w
ed his concern
. He’d changed his shirt
and the
le
mony
yello
w
cotton emphasis his
dark hair and almost black eyes
.
W
hat
w
as
w
rong
w
ith her?
Thinkin
g about clothes
w
hen her
mother
lay
dead and
w
ith
Rod
missing.
She turn
ed a
w
a
y from him and shook her head.
“I can’t go in there.”

He
put his arm around her and led her
to the library,
the first room to t
he right of the front
door.
Aft
e
r she came in, he
closed the door
,
took her in his arms and held her
, tenderly
. She sobbed against his soft fishing shir
t, trying to muffle the sound. T
aylor
w
asn’t sure for
w
hom she cried;
her mother, Rod, the teenager, or herself.

“The hospital called
,
professional court
esy
they said
,
to tell us about your mom.
Mary’s been up since before da
w
n getting the house
in order and feeding the mob.
I
left late last night, returned abou
t an hour ago.
D
ad
had to kno
w
before he heard the TV ne
w
s
.”

She didn’t remove her face from his chest, but she nodded her head in understan
ding. The tears had stopped
still
she made no move to slip a
w
ay
.
Jeff enjoyed the torture of holding her as if she
w
ere his.

“Keep talking. Say
about anything
,
the color of the sky, the
w
at
er,
don’t let me think beyond this moment.”

Ho
w
long they stood there, she had no idea.
W
hat Jeff talked about,
she couldn’t have repeated for s
he’d only
listened to
the tone of his voice,
d
eep and strong and constant.
Finally, she heard her
name being called. S
he stepped back from Jeff.
“Thanks for being my friend.”
She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

“No problem, Tiny,” he said, his voice slightly husky.

“Coming, Sara.” She
w
alked a
w
ay from him.

She al
w
ays did that he thought. Just
w
hen he
w
as sure he had her, she turned and
w
alked a
w
ay
.
W
ould
he never learn that she belonged
to someone else? Accept that he
w
as only her friend?

At eight a.m.
, the doorbell rang. Everyone heard the sound a
nd cro
w
ded into the hall
w
ay, suspect
ing that the DNR had arrived.
Taylor
hoped
she could handle the situation.
She searched
for Jeff
,
grateful fo
r his six feet plus height. C
a
tching
her glance
, he
move
d
in her direction.

Jeff maneuvered
through the group to her side.
Once there, he
placed an arm around her
w
a
ist and gave a gentle squeeze. She raised her face to him.
He lightly kiss
ed
the top of her head.
His gent
le
affection strengthened her
will
po
w
er.

Larry Murphy, the DNR person, headed directly to
w
ard Taylor and Jeff. They’d both kno
w
n him for most of their lives and he treated them as his children. He hugged Taylor then shook Jeff’s hand.
“Taylor, I n
eed you to come outside and check out
the cooler
w
e picked up yesterday.”

She nodded.

“Martin, you might
w
ant to come, too.
Everyone else
, please stay here.
”

“Jeff, please come. You’re family
.
”
She placed her hand in his
,
her face a pale resemblance of itself.

Larry seemed to
expect this for he didn’t disagree
.

Dr.
Harris
said, “
W
hy don’t the rest of y’all
w
ait for us in the living room?
W
e’ll be there shortly.”

Taylor gripped Jeff’s hand tightly. The four of them
w
alked outside and
around
to the back of Larry’s pick-
up truck.
Although all of them could see the coole
r clearly, Larry lifted the blue and
w
hite cooler from the truck-bed, placing
it on the ground.

“Taylor, I kno
w
this is hard. Do you think this is Rod’s?”
He used the tone of a father speaking to a dear, loved child.

She stared at the cooler
, before moving
a
w
ay from
Jeff and crouching do
w
n. Taylor
tilted
the box
and looked at the bottom.
She
sensed
all their eyes
on her.

A large
,
gouge
d mark crossed the entire bottom
of the box.

S
he dropped the cooler. The box
rocked back and forth before coming to a stop
.
As she st
ood up, she said, “It
s Rod’s.
Last time,
w
e
w
ere out, he
accidently
scrapped the bottom
w
ith a knife.
He almost thre
w
the c
ooler a
w
ay
w
hen
w
e returned.
I told
him no one
w
ould ever see it.
He h
ated anything that
w
as fla
w
ed. You kno
w
that Jeff.”
She
peeked
at him, glanced a
w
ay and
focused on
the
cooler.

“Strange, if he had bought a ne
w
one, I might not h
ave been able to ident
ify it.” She spoke in a distant
, almost unrecognizable
voice.
Her father
w
ent to her side
. He
p
ut one arm around her then
cradled her head against his chest
w
ith
the
other.

L
arry cleared his throat. “Taylor, I’m sorry.” He shifted his attention.
“
Martin,
w
e need
to discuss our search.”

“I understand.”
He
look
ed
over
at Jeff,
w
ho stepped closer.
“
W
ould you keep her outside for a fe
w
minutes
w
hile
w
e go over the schedule?”

“No, Dad, I ne
ed to hear
w
hat the plans are. Go in. Get started.
I’ll be in directly.”

“Jeff. Please stay
w
ith her.” Martin
relinquished his position and
w
ent inside
w
ith Larry.

Holding her loosely, Jeff nevertheless placed his chin on her head.

“Give me a minute.
”

“Take all the time you
w
ant.” He continued to hold her in a light embrace.

Her entire
body shook, but she didn’t cry.
He tightened his hold,
will
ing his strength to fill her and comfort her.

Taylor stepped a
w
ay
, after
w
hat seemed
, to him,
too short a time. Glimpsing
up,
she
gave
him
a
w
an smile. “Thank you.” She took a deep breath. “
W
e must go in.”

W
hen he and
Taylor entered the living room,
no
w
doubling as a ‘situation room’
,
they heard Larry
speaking and gesturing at a map being
held by t
w
o of Rod’s friends.
“The Coast Guard helicopte
r
will
take the northern sector
,
w
hile the
W
ater and Rescue
‘
copter
will
take the southern quadrant
.
Opps, for the civilians, that
’s
w
hat th
e Coast Guard calls this area.
The
Harmony
Fire Department
will
use their jet-boat to check the marshes in the area ar
ound Brays Creek.
The DNR
boats
will
check the
W
hale Branch
east and
w
est of that creek. Since Taylor ID’d the
cooler
, the search area is narro
w
er.
W
e
w
on’t need as many volunteers.
Ho
w
ever, the po
w
er of th
e tides is s
trong.
W
e
must
check the river coming off Br
ays Creek and the smaller creeks both north and south of this point.
Is everyone clear?”
Larry
w
aited for questions.

Sara asked, “
W
hat can
w
e do?
W
e don’t kno
w
the
w
ater
w
ays, but
w
e
w
ant to help.”

“U
nless someone needs you as a spotter in their boat, very little,” Larry replied.

“Ho
w
do
w
e get on
board as a spotter?”
someone
asked
.

“Martin, I
’ll
let you
coordinate that, if you
will
.
You probably kno
w
w
ho’s going out and from
w
hat locations.”

“I have a list from yesterday and
according to Mary
our friends have b
een calling in all morning
w
aiting to
be told
w
here to go and
w
hen.
After you finish, I
’ll
start placing people in boats.”