Windward Secrets (18 page)

“This has to be enough,” she said, as she dropped one last disk into her handbag. Looking out the window, the manager was no longer with Caroline. “Damn. I have to get out of here fast.” Quickly she closed the drawer and left the office. She just passed the Ladies’ Room when the manager rounded the corner and said, “Good afternoon.”

Jill’s mouth twitched with a nervous smile and she nodded.

Back in the dining room, the table was being re-set, the other diners had returned to their meals and a server was placing fresh glasses of iced tea in front of them. “Please go back to the buffet and start again.”

This time the women took small amounts of food, ate quickly, and left the restaurant with apologies to the hostess.

“Please, don’t worry about it,” the hostess replied. “These things happen.”

Claire turned to Jill. “Now what?”

“Joe said we can play the disks on a computer or disk player. Any recordings made will show with the date and time noted at the bottom of the screen. We don’t have either at the house. Now what do we do?”

Diane pulled into a vacant parking lot and popped the trunk. Diane retrieved her laptop and the backpack from trunk, and handed the backpack to Claire. “Give me the dates, Claire.”

Claire looked at her list and started reading off dates.

“Oh crap,” Diane cried. “It’s not working. There’s something wrong. What do we do now Jill?”

“We’ll have to get the disks to Joe. He can figure out what’s wrong. I suppose I’m going to have to get those disks back into the office eventually, aren’t I?”

“Not necessarily,” Diane said. “Nobody knows who took them and they have no reason to look at these disks. If there had been a problem they would have used the disks at the time, not a few years later.”

“I sure hope you’re right,” Jill answered, playing with her rings nervously. “If I go to jail Claire, you’re coming with me.”

Diane started the car and turned toward the road that led to Route 6. “Let’s see if we can find someplace open that does FedEx or UPS.” Driving south on Route 6 they found a Staples in Barnstable.

“Bingo,” Claire yelled, pointing to the left.

“Won’t go out until tomorrow,” the young woman said, from behind the counter.

“That’s okay,” Diane replied. “We have no choice.”

Back in the car, they returned to the Marina to pick up Caroline.

“Great job, Caroline. How did you keep him out of the restaurant so long?” Claire asked.

Caroline batted her eyelashes. “Just a little southern charm and the promise of a painting,” she giggled.

“Are you sure that’s all?” Jill asked, mischievously. Caroline laughed out loud.

“Would you believe I saw the SOB slip his wedding ring off and put it into his pocket? He had the gall to ask me out…like I couldn’t see the tan line where his ring had been. What a jerk. Men are so stupid. Why do they think they’re so irresistible? Bill probably behaves the same way. I wanted to push the jerk off the dock. Instead, I let him think he had a chance. I told him my name was Bridgett and gave him the number of the dentist’s office.”

Diane laughed so hard she had to pull off the road. “Oh my God, that is so good Caroline.”

“Yeah, well I hope he calls Bridgett.”

Tears were streaming down Jill’s cheeks as she laughed. “Diane, drive. I had iced tea and you know I can’t laugh with a full bladder.”

Diane drove back to the house where all four tumbled out of the car still laughing.

***

The women luxuriated in the quiet afternoon. Claire and Diane read on the back porch. Caroline painted on the roof and Jill took a nap before going out to dinner with Drew.             

When Drew came to pick up Jill, her posse was once again waiting on the front porch. Ike ran to Claire and tried to climb into her lap on the rocker. “Down boy. It’s good to see you too.”

Jill stood and gave Drew a peck on his cheek.

Claire couldn’t resist. “Why don’t you go to the Marina Restaurant? The food’s good and the view of the boats is lovely.”

Jill whirled around and gave Claire a look that would kill.

Oblivious to any hidden meaning in Claire’s suggestion Drew said, “Thanks, but there’s a little restaurant I wanted to try in Chatham. Is that okay, Jill?”

“Of course it is. Let’s go.” With one last disgruntled look at Claire, she took Drew’s arm and they walked toward the car.

Diane giggled, softly. “I swear Claire, you are going to pay big time someday.”

***

After a simple supper of sandwiches Caroline, Diane, and Claire climbed the stairs to the roof.

“We haven’t been up here for a few nights,” Diane said. Claire passed around glasses of wine. “No, we haven’t. This is a nice ending to a good day. Cheers!”

Caroline led the conversation by telling them what she had been painting from the roof and how much she loved the view. “Let me show you.” She disappeared down the stairs to return with the painting she had done the morning she painted the sunrise.

They propped the painting on the easel and stood back to study it. “Caroline, this is really beautiful. The colors and detail are marvelous,” Diane observed.

Claire walked closer to the painting. “Caroline.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you paint Betsy in the picture?”

Caroline looked surprised. “What?”

Claire pointed to the little girl on the beach. “This is Betsy. Did you work from the pictures in the scrapbook?”

“No. I wasn’t even thinking of Betsy when I was painting. Claire, do you know what is really strange?”

“No.”

“I don’t remember painting her at all.”

Diane hummed the theme from The Twilight Zone. “And, Claire thinks this house is normal.”

“No… I think it’s abnormally special. A thin place, remember? Something or someone is guiding us. This is another sign.”

“Claire,” Caroline asked, softly. “If this is a thin place and Betsy is here, does that mean she’s dead?”

Claire looked sadly out to sea. “If I understand the theory of thin places correctly, then the answer is yes.”

No one said anything as the bright, orange sun slowly slid behind the horizon and the moon steadily made its climb to join the stars.

In an effort to lift the mood Caroline got the binoculars and handed them to Claire. “Let’s look at the stars and see how many constellations we can identify.”

Claire scanned the sky and then the sea, and, finally, up and down the beach. Standing up from her green and white lawn chair she walked to the edge of the roof that faced Wendell’s. “There’s a light moving over there!”

Diane and Caroline joined her at the railing and she handed the binoculars to Diane. “I see it. It appears to be going back and forth from the house to the driveway.” She handed the binoculars to Caroline.

“It looks like a flashlight, doesn’t it?”

Suddenly, Claire turned for the stairs. “Get your things. He’s moving the evidence.”

Running through the house they grabbed jackets, handbags, and phones.”

“Caroline, you drive. Drop us at the end of Wendell’s drive and then wait up the road for us to call you.”

“Oh crap, here we go again,” Diane mumbled.

Hunkering down, Claire and Diane stealthily moved through the tall grass and bushes toward Wendell’s house. When they were close enough to see the house, they crawled under the shelter of low, hanging branches of a pine tree. Wendell came out of the house carrying a box and loaded it into the back of his truck. Before he finished, the door to the house opened and another man came out carrying a computer monitor.

Claire and Diane looked at each other and shook their heads. It was too dark to see who the other man was. The men each made two more trips from the house to the truck and then got into the truck and slowly drove out of the driveway.

Claire hit speed dial. “Caroline, come get us. Quickly. They’re leaving.” She and Diane left the hiding place and ran toward the road. Just as they reached the road Caroline pulled up and they got into the car.

“Did you see which way they went?” Diane asked.

“Yes,” Caroline replied. “They’re headed for town.”

“Turn off the headlights, Caroline. We don’t want them to know they’re being followed,” Claire directed.

Caroline did as she was told and slowly followed the pickup. They could just barely see the tail lights in front of them.

“This is dangerous. I can hardly see the edge of the road,” Caroline said, with a quiver in her voice.

“It’s okay. They’re not going fast. Take your time,” Diane encouraged.

They passed Windward Cottage and were half way to town when Caroline exclaimed, “Oh hell! There’s a cop behind us with his light blinking.”

“Oh damn!” Claire swore. “Pull over, Caroline.”

Caroline carefully maneuvered the car to the side of the road and rolled down her window waiting to see who would exit the patrol car behind them.

“Good evening ladies,” Deputy O’Reilly said.

Caroline turned on her southern charm. “Hi, Kevin. How are you?”

“Ma’am, do you realize you were driving without your lights?”

“Really?” Caroline looked in front of the car and then at the dashboard. “Gosh, you know what? I didn’t. The moonlight’s so bright I forgot to turn them on.”

The deputy aimed his flashlight into the car at Claire and then at Diane in the back seat. He moved the light over the back seat. Diane’s handbag containing her gun was in full view on the seat beside her. Beads of sweat began to form on her upper lip and it took all she had not to reach for the purse.

“Where exactly are you headed?”

There was an uncomfortable pause until Claire leaned toward Caroline’s window. “We thought we’d check out Blackbeard’s for a little nightlife.”

“Ladies. It’s Sunday night, off season; there’s no nightlife anywhere in Haworth.”

“Oh,” Caroline said, innocently. “Can you suggest somewhere else?”

O’Reilly lowered his flashlight. “No, I can’t. If you turn around and go home, we’ll call this a warning and there won’t be a citation.”

“Yes, of course. We’ll go right home officer. Thank you,” Caroline said, appropriately humble.

“Go a little farther and there’s an area where you can turn around. Turn on your lights and be careful! I’ll follow you back to the house,” the deputy said, before returning to his car.

“Geez, I feel like I’ve been scolded by one of my sons,” Caroline said, looking over her glasses for the headlight control.

“What the heck is he doing out here?” Diane asked. “You’d think there would be more to do in town than out in the middle of nowhere.”

Claire was provoked. “I think it’s one, strange coincidence that he was out here the night Wendell was cleaning out his secret room. Do you think he was standing watch for them?”

“If he was, do you think he would have let us off so easily?” Diane asked.

Claire thought for a moment. “No, you’re right, if he had seen us coming out of Wendell’s drive, I don’t think he would have let us go.” Then turning to Caroline, “did you notice exactly when he started to follow us?”

“I didn’t see his light until we were past Windward Cottage and I didn’t see him while I was waiting for you. He must have come along the shore road after I picked you up. Hopefully, he just thinks I’m a dumb, woman driver.”

Caroline pulled the car into the drive at Windward Cottage. Deputy O’Reilly pulled in behind her, backed out, and turned toward Haworth.

“I wonder who the man was with Wendell and where they were taking the stuff.” Claire thought out loud, walking toward the house,

Opening the front door, they were greeted by Ike and a warm fire.

“Drew’s back and we have a fire again. How interesting,” Claire said.

“Really Claire? How can he be with Jill, and here starting a fire at the same time?” Diane responded.

Caroline sunk down into the sofa and looked thoughtfully at the fire. “It’s the house.”

Claire and Diane looked at her curiously.

“There’s nothing menacing about the fire. Whoever, or whatever, could burn the house down around us if it wanted. It’s trying to comfort us.”

Diane sat down beside Caroline. “I think you’re right. All of the unusual things like the beds that weren’t supposed to be made, the coffee was started and the table set for breakfast, and the locked room becoming unlocked. These aren’t things that could harm us. Caroline’s right, they’re signs of hospitality.”

Claire opened the door for Ike to come in and then turned back to her friends. “I’m glad you’re finally seeing the light. Now do you believe me about the house?”

Ike followed Claire as she slowly walked around the room. Stopping in front of the fireplace, she touched the smooth wood of the mantle and the rough surface of the stone. Next, she fingered the stair balusters like a harp and ran her hand down the banister.

Claire turned toward her friends. “All of these strange things are a woman’s touch. Right?”