Someone's Watching (3 page)

Robbie reached the end of the boulders. A gigantic cruise ship was gliding out through the blue-green waters of Government Cut. Passengers stood at the ship’s railings, waving.

Waving goodbye.

Her father was back. Why couldn’t he have just left things the way they’d been?

She turned carefully, watching the shoreline until she spotted him. Jeremy, tall and lean, was running down the beach and onto the ledge of boulders. He was wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt that said Personal Trainer, so he must have come straight from a session with a client. He reached the end of the path and sprang from rock to rock with the grace of a deer.

His brown hair was long again, like when she’d first seen him at his parents’ funeral, and a short beard covered his prominent cleft chin and hollow cheeks. He slowed when he saw her. He was breathing hard and sweat glistened on his arms and forehead.

Jeremy Stroeb. Why couldn’t it have been forever?

“Hey.” He stepped onto a boulder next to hers and leaned toward her as though uncertain what to do.

She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, wanting more. Knowing it wasn’t possible.

Sweat was dripping down his broad forehead into his dark brown eyes. He wiped it off. His nose was flat and slightly off center. He’d once joked about using it to catch a hardball when he was a kid.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I guess.” She sat down on the flat rock surface and folded her arms around her knees, ignoring the spray from the crashing waves. Jeremy sank down beside her and stretched out his legs. They were tan and muscular and covered with golden hair.

“So what happened?” he asked.

The cruise ship was now on the horizon. In the distance, it looked like a toy boat.

“My father came to see me.”

“Your father? I thought he was out of your life.”

“So did I.”

“What did he want?” Jeremy asked.

“To ask me to help him find my sister.”

“Shit! You have a sister?”

She nodded.

Jeremy reached out—she thought to touch her—but he took something out of her hair. A turquoise feather had come loose from one of her earrings. He twirled it between his fingers.

“Maybe you’d better start at the beginning,” he said.

“Which beginning? When he left or when he came back?”

“I remember you told me he divorced your mom to marry someone else when you were a kid. That’s when you moved to Boston.”

“That’s right.”

“I thought you never saw him or heard from him again.”

“I didn’t.”

“How did he know where you were?”

“He said he’s been following my life.”

“Following your life? You mean stalking you?”

“No. I don’t think it was like that.”

An old man with weathered brown skin and a ratty straw hat wedged a bucket of flopping fish into the nearby rocks.

“So why didn’t he ever try to talk to you before today?”

“He didn’t say. He just acted like the last eighteen years never happened.”

“That’s screwed up.”

“Tell me about it.” Robbie turned her emerald ring around her finger, then stopped. It was the same nervous mannerism her father had.

“Do you know where he’s been all these years?”

“I guess he stayed in central Florida—in Deland. That’s the address on the contact info he gave me. It looks like he still has his medical practice.”

“He’s a doctor?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t tell me—the woman he married when he left your mom was his nurse?”

“You know the funny thing about stereotypes is they don’t feel like stereotypes when they’re happening to you.”

“Sorry.”

The old man baited his fishing hook and cast into the churning waves.

“He left me some information about my sister,” Robbie said. “From her date of birth, he would have known that he had another kid on the way when he ditched my mother.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. My poor mom. I guess I sensed how hurt she was because I never asked about my dad, about what happened. And it was probably better that way. If I’d known he’d chosen his new kid over me, it would have been even tougher.”

The old man hooked something. Several people gathered on the nearby rocks to watch him pull the gyrating fish out of the water, remove the hook, then drop the fish in his bucket.

“I haven’t thought about my dad in years,” Robbie said. “At the beginning, I cried myself to sleep every night. But eventually, he started fading away and I could hardly remember what he looked like. Then, when I was older and thought about how he treated my mom, I told myself I’d spit in his face if he ever came back.”

“And did you?”

Robbie looked at the water creeping in between the rocks and shook her head.

“Come here.” Jeremy slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. She buried her face in the familiar scent of his sweat.

A seagull perched on the railing of the abandoned fishing pier. It was just like it used to be—the two of them, no words necessary. She wanted to ask how he was doing, to make sure he was okay without her.

“Tell me about your sister,” he said.

“Her name’s Kaitlin. She’s eighteen and she’s a senior in high school.”

“Just like Elise.”

“That’s right. It seems we both have kid sisters. Anyway, my father said she came to South Beach with some friends, but Kaitlin and another girl have been missing since Friday.”

“Two days. Not so long.” Jeremy ran his finger across the smooth surface of the rock he was sitting on. “Maybe they wanted to disappear.”

“Maybe. I told my father I couldn’t help him and to go to the
police. And I really didn’t want to help him. I was so mad at him. And also at this daughter of his who took him from me. Who had him her whole life. And I’m thinking, this girl’s nothing to me. I feel no connection or responsibility for her.”

Jeremy frowned.

“Then, I looked at her photo. And Jeremy, it was so strange. Instead of her being some random person, it was like looking at myself at her age. And I thought, dear God, I have a sister that I don’t even know. I have to find her.”

“Then you should.”

She watched the waves break against the pier pilings. “I know this sounds stupid, but I’m afraid.”

“Of?”

“What if she doesn’t want to know me? She’s eighteen. She’s grown up without me. She’s had a father and a mother and her own life. Maybe she’s not interested in complicating it with a half sister.”

He touched her chin with the tip of his finger and turned her face toward his. “You know, Robbie, you can’t keep avoiding relationships because you’re afraid the people you care about will push you away.”

There was something in his eyes that made her wonder who he was talking about.

He shifted toward her, so close she could see the short brown and gold hairs of his moustache touching the edge of his lips.

So close. So close. The sound of crashing waves and screeching seagulls surrounded them. At first, she didn’t realize her phone was ringing inside her satchel.

Jeremy pulled away. “Answer it.”

“No, that’s okay.”

“Go ahead.”

The moment was lost. She reached inside her bag and pulled out the cell. Brett’s name flashed on the screen.

“Take your call,” Jeremy said.

Before she could object, Jeremy strode across the boulders and stood a few feet away. Robbie flipped open her phone. “Hi.”

“Hey baby. It’s been a bitch of a day.” Brett sounded cheerful. “Can’t believe I had to work on a Sunday, but in the PR world, there’s no rest for the weary.”

She studied Jeremy in profile against the backdrop of waves spilling against the coastline, towering condos and hotels fading into purple.

“Robbie?” Brett was saying. “Are you there?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“How about meeting me at Segafredo? We can get a drink. Maybe have some dinner.”

“Dinner?” Hadn’t she been thinking about calling him for dinner?

“Sure. I’ve got all night.”

“Actually, something’s come up,” she said, watching Jeremy massage his hand.

“And maybe we can see a movie later.”

It was as though Brett hadn’t heard her. “I’m sorry,” she said, “But—”

“Hang on a sec, would you?”

She could hear someone talking to Brett in the background.

“Shit, Robbie. Mike needs me. Turns out tonight’s not going to work after all. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Robbie said.

“Later,” he said.

She turned her phone to vibrate, put it back in her satchel, then stood up on the rocks and crossed over to Jeremy.

He was balanced on a boulder, the wind whipping his hair around his face, arms crossed in front of him. The scar on the back
of his hand was a year old, but still looked raw. Fortunately, the bullet hadn’t caused any permanent damage. “Brett Chandler?” he said.

“Yeah.”

“I’d heard you were dating him.”

“He’s a nice guy,” Robbie said, feeling the schism widening.

A couple of large-breasted teenage girls in bikinis were hopping from rock to rock, giggling. “Hey, Jeremy,” one of them called out. “What’s good tonight?”

“Townhouse.”

“Cool,” she said. “See you there.”

“Still partying?” Robbie said.

“Sure. Why not?” Jeremy glanced at his watch. “Sorry to cut out on you, but I’ve got a client in twenty minutes.”

“Oh. No problem. You should go.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “You could talk to Judy Lieber, you know. Maybe she can find out something about your sister.”

“Right,” Robbie said. “That’s a good idea.”

He started across the rocks back toward the beach. When he got to the path, his pace quickened to a jog, to a run. She watched him. Watched as he crossed onto the sand and raced along the surf, getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

It was back. That feeling in the pit of her stomach like a clump of dried mud. When she was a kid, Robbie sometimes imagined it would sprout weeds that would grow out of her mouth and ears. Then everyone would know her secret. About how lonely and empty she was—with nothing inside her but hardened sludge. She remembered once standing alone in the brick courtyard in front of her apartment building throwing a rubber ball against the wall—ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine.

Robbie left the pier and returned to her apartment feeling sorry for herself. Matilda was lying across Robbie’s laptop computer on the kitchen table, the photo of Kaitlin beneath her soft white fur. Robbie eased the picture out.

Yes—Kaitlin looked a lot like Robbie had, but there were also differences in Kaitlin—a wider nose, longer chin. There was an openness in the blue eyes, a playfulness. One side of Kaitlin’s mouth was turned down ever so slightly and she looked like she was getting ready to wink at the photographer. Had she been flirting with him?

The malaise evaporated. What the heck was Robbie doing? She wasn’t the needy type. She’d always taken care of herself, just like her mother had taught her to do. So why was she acting like a drama queen?

This girl was her sister. Robbie needed to try to find her and make sure she was okay. It no longer matter what her father had and
had not done, or whether Jeremy, or Brett, or anyone was going to help her.

She lifted Matilda off the table. “Down you go, little girl.”

The cat meowed as she landed on the floor.

Robbie blew off the cat hair from her laptop, opened it, then logged onto Facebook. She searched for Kaitlin Brooks, but found no one who matched a high school senior living in Deland, Florida. The closest she came was a girl named Kate Brooks. Unfortunately, Kate didn’t allow people who weren’t her friends to view her profile and in lieu of a photo of herself had posted what looked like a tattoo of an arrowhead. Maybe it was Kaitlin, maybe not. Robbie thought about what message she should send her that wouldn’t be too alarming, but might still get a response.

Are you Kaitlin Brooks from Deland? I think we have
some friends in common. Please get back to me
.

Then she looked again at the photo of the smiling girl. “I’m going to find you, little sister. And when I do, I’m not letting you go.”

When Robbie woke up the next morning, the first thing she did was check for a reply from Kate Brooks. Nothing. She got dressed, skipped coffee, and biked over to the police station on Washington Avenue. It was a modern, white building with a wide plaza out front, just down the street from the old City Hall. Robbie locked her bike to the stand, using just the bar, figuring with all the cops walking around, it wasn’t likely that someone would steal her bike.

The morning light poured into the open lobby area of the station through large windows. Two teenage girls in very short dresses appeared to be sleeping, one sprawled out on a concrete bench, the other on the floor, her head resting on a backpack, bare feet blacksoled. Platform heels lay in a pile beside her. Robbie doubled back. The girl on the bench had long black hair.

Robbie got closer, examining the sleeping girl’s features for something familiar. How young she looked, even under smudged makeup. The girl’s eyes opened—brown and red-rimmed. She sat up and gave Robbie a tentative smile.

“I’m sorry,” Robbie said. “I thought you were someone else.”

The girl put her head back down on the bench and closed her eyes.

Robbie went to the check-in window, glancing back at the two girls, wondering what kind of mess they’d gotten themselves into. Thinking about Kaitlin.

“Can I help you?” asked a heavyset police officer. He looked down at Robbie over a counter covered with paperwork.

“I’d like to see Detective Judy Lieber. My name’s Robbie Ivy.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“No, but she knows me.” Robbie wondered what the detective would make of her reappearance. It had been a year since they’d seen each other. A year since the double murder of a couple of ordinary people on a quiet residential island in Miami Beach. One of the victims had been Robbie’s mentor. The mentor who had been Jeremy’s mother. But Jeremy had also lost his father that night.

Robbie often wondered, would the killer have been caught as quickly if Jeremy hadn’t pursued his parents’ murderer? She didn’t think so. And much like Jeremy, it wasn’t in Robbie’s nature to leave things to other people.