Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
I got back to the inn around eleven in the morning and headed upstairs. Tessa had given me her key so that I could pack up her room and bring her some things when I went back in the evening.
As I entered her room, I saw the usual amount of messiness.
Tessa had a tendency to try on a few outfits every day before she decided what to wear, and, clearly, she'd made a few changes before she'd gone out with Finn yesterday.
I didn't see any clean towels neatly folded on her bed, as there had been on mine the night before, but maybe that was because housekeeping had been told she'd gone to the hospital.
With a sigh, I grabbed her suitcase and started repacking her clothes, then her toiletries, finishing off with her laptop computer and chargers, as well as the podcast equipment.
I had just taken the suitcase into the hall when Sophie came down the corridor, pushing a cleaning cart filled with towels and other supplies.
She stopped abruptly. "Cassidy. I just heard about Tessa. How is she?"
"She has a broken leg and a concussion, but she's going to be okay."
"Thank goodness. I couldn't believe she fell down the stairs."
"Neither could I."
"I guess you're moving her things? Ellen sent me up to clean her room."
"I have everything packed up. I just need to move it all across the hall."
"I can help."
"Thanks." I pushed the suitcase into my room and then went back to Tessa's room to grab the case with our recording equipment while Sophie picked up Tessa's tote bag and followed me into my room.
"I'm really sorry for Tessa," Sophie said as she put the bag down on the bed. "Will you be staying here on your own?"
"For a few days. There weren't any hotel rooms near the hospital, so I'll just go back and forth until she's ready to leave."
"Will she come back here, or will you both be going to New York?"
"I don't know the plan yet." As she hesitated, I said, "Is there a reason you're asking?"
"Just wondering if there's something going on here I should know about. Finn has wanted me to quit for a while, but this morning he told me about Tessa, and he said I should quit immediately. But Tessa just had an accidental fall, right?"
"I don't know, Sophie. The other night, a note was slipped under my door telling Tessa and me to leave. And now she's gone."
Her eyebrows shot up at my comment. "Are you serious? Who would do that?"
"Ellen said it was just teenagers pulling a prank. She wasn't concerned at all."
"I suppose that makes sense. There were some teenagers staying here the other day," Sophie said.
Despite her words, there was uncertainty in her eyes. "Does it really make sense?" I challenged. "After two other women have disappeared in the past year, both with connections to this inn."
"I don't know. I want to quit, but I only need two more paychecks to have enough money to get out of here. It seems stupid to leave now." She paused. "And if you're that concerned, why are you staying?"
"It's just easier to stay here for another day," I said, realizing that sounded like a poor excuse after I'd just challenged her.
"It's easier for me to finish out the month than quit now," Sophie said. "Besides, Cole isn't ready to go yet, either, so it makes sense for me to just keep working here."
"Are you and Cole a couple?"
"Sort of. Not exactly." She gave a helpless shrug.
"We've known each other since we were babies.
We dated in high school, hooked up a few times in the last couple of years, but it's mostly because we're both bored.
And we've each had a lot of family shit to deal with.
My dad had a stroke two years ago, but he's finally better, and I want to go before something else happens to make me stay. "
"I'm sorry about your dad. I'm glad he's doing better now." I paused. "What kind of family shit has Cole had to deal with?"
"His parents separated two years ago. His mom took off, leaving him with his dad, and Sheriff Holloway is not an easy man to deal with even on a good day.
He hasn't had many good days since his wife decided she didn't want to be married anymore.
I can't say I blame her. The sheriff is a hard person to live with. "
"Why didn't Cole leave with his mother?"
"She didn't give him the option to go with her; she just left, and he's pretty bitter about that.
He really needs a break. His dad rides him so hard.
And he wants him to go into law enforcement, follow in his footsteps, like he did for his dad.
There's always been a Sheriff Holloway in Stonecross for like the last hundred years, and he wants the next one to be Cole. "
"And Cole isn't interested?"
"God, no. He hates rules, and he doesn't want to be anything like his father. Sometimes, I think he gets into trouble just to make his dad see he is never going to be sheriff material."
I could relate to Cole since my father had always wanted me to go into finance, and my decision not to had widened the gap between us.
"Anyway, Cole has decided he's never going to be able to change his father's mind, so he's going to leave. And it will be easier for both of us to go to New York together."
"That's probably true."
"I should get back to work before Ellen makes good on her never-ending promise to fire me if I don't shape up," she said dryly. "Then it won't be my decision to stay or go."
"Before you leave," I said quickly. "What do you know about Ray?"
"What do I know?" she echoed. "Uh, he's our handyman and also provides bell service and sometimes drives people into town. He does whatever Ellen wants."
"Has he worked here a long time?"
"A couple of years. He used to be at the Boatworks, but he had some trouble and went to jail for a while."
"That didn't bother Ellen when he came asking for a job?"
"I think she's known him a long time. I guess she trusts he's changed his ways. I've never had any problems with him. Why are you asking about him? Do you think he had something to do with the missing women?"
"Just wondered what his story was."
"I don't know much about him. Someone else in town probably knows more. I'll see you later."
As Sophie left, I got a text from Tyler.
Heard about Tessa. Is she all right? Can we meet?
I typed back: She's going to be okay, but recovery will be long. I can meet you now. Where are you?
The property I'm looking at developing. Half a mile north of the inn on Coastal Road. I'll send you the address.
A moment later, the address came through. I plugged it into my maps app. It was a ten-minute walk, maybe fifteen. I gave his text a thumbs-up, grabbed my bag and headed out the door.
I didn’t see Ellen or Ray on my way out of the inn, which was a bit of relief since I didn't feel like talking to either one of them at the moment. The day was cloudy and cold, with wind coming off the ocean and the promise of rain by midnight.
Despite the blustery weather, it felt good to walk along the coastal road, with the wild and restless ocean on my left, the thick, towering trees on my right.
A half mile beyond the inn, I saw a few smaller houses on large lots, and the last one matched the address that Tyler had given me.
A gray sedan was parked in the overgrown driveway.
I walked up to the front door and knocked.
Tyler opened it immediately, as if he'd been watching for me. He wore dark jeans and a gray sweater, his thick, wavy brown hair windblown. "Come in."
The house was dusty and filled with old furniture covered in sheets.
But there was a sleeping bag on the couch, a laptop computer on the coffee table, and blueprints spread across the dining room table.
I moved over to check out the building plans.
"Are you actually creating plans for this house?
" I asked in surprise. "I thought that was just a cover story. "
"Since I'm here, I might as well work on the plans as well as the search for Jessica." He moved to stand beside me, pointing at one of the drawings. "If I were to buy this place, I'd leave some of the original structure, but I'd expand the floor plan and build a second story with ocean views."
His drawings were beautiful—detailed and thoughtful, showing a real understanding of how to honor old architecture while making it livable. "You're good at this."
"You sound surprised."
I shrugged. "I guess I am."
"How's Tessa?"
"She's hanging in there, but she won't be walking for weeks."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. Tessa had a lot to drink yesterday. She might have slipped or maybe someone pushed her. She doesn't know."
"That's disturbing. Didn't you tell me yesterday that she was out with Finn Kelly?"
"Yes. They went to lunch and then out on a boat owned by Finn's friend, Nathan, who apparently was the one who found Jessica's boat. At least, that's what Tessa remembers, but her memory is very fractured and hazy."
"Nathan Carmichael is the one who discovered Jessica's boat," Tyler confirmed. "He's a fisherman and charter boat operator out of Cork Harbor. That's in the police report. I went there to talk to him a few days ago, but he was on an overnight fishing trip, so I couldn't connect with him."
"Well, apparently, Nathan took Finn and Tessa to the spot where he found her boat."
"And…"
I shrugged. "That's all I know. I think it was by a cove, a small beach. You probably know more."
"That's the way it was described in the report," he confirmed. "Since there was no body found, there's speculation that she either drowned at sea or found her way up to the road from the cove. But if she did that, she would have walked to the closest place and asked for help. That didn't happen."
"Maybe she made it to the road, and someone picked her up."
"But she didn't resurface anywhere. She didn't take out any money from her bank account, didn't use her charge cards, nothing."
His flat voice didn't give me a lot of clues to his emotions. "What do you think happened?"
"I want to think she got off that boat, made it to land, and is safe somewhere."
"That seems overly optimistic based on what you just said."
"I have to hold on to hope as long as I can."
"Does that hope spring from the idea that maybe she wanted to disappear?
Because that's what people suggest about Natalie, too, that she wanted to start over in her life.
Maybe Jessica wanted to do the same thing.
You said she'd had a bad breakup with her husband. Natalie also had an ex in her life."
"But people don't just disappear after bad breakups," he said.
"Only if they're desperate. Do you believe Jessica was desperate?"
"It's a possibility," he conceded.
"How long are you going to pursue this? She's been gone for three months. Don't you eventually have to go back to work?"
"Eventually, but I'm not ready to leave yet. I'm actually more hopeful now that you're here asking questions, shaking things up. Maybe that will get someone to talk who has previously been silent."
His phone buzzed, and he immediately pulled it out.
"Do you have to take that?" I asked.
"No." He put the phone away.
"Really? Every time we're together you get a call and you rush to answer it."
"It's fine. Just work."
"Do you still talk to the investigator you sent down here?"
"Sometimes. That wasn't him. That was…a family thing."
Maybe his brother, I thought.
"I've been thinking," he continued. "About the woman who left yesterday—Anna. Maybe we need to find out more about her. She's a fresh lead, a new angle."
"I thought about that, too, but I don't even know her last name."
"It would probably be on the computer at the inn."
I saw the look in his eyes. "Seriously? You think Ellen is going to let me on her computer?"
"It's not always attended, is it?"
"There are times when no one is at the desk, but Ellen is never far away. It would be risky."
"You're right. I'm going to meet Becca shortly. Maybe she can get me information on Anna."
"If you ask Becca about Anna after talking to her about Jessica, won't she start to think you're not just a nosy architect?"
"She already knows that Jessica was a…friend. She promised she wouldn't say anything. And I'll say my interest in Anna's quick departure is connected to Jessica."
I found it a little odd the way Tyler stumbled over the word friend, as if it wasn't the complete truth. But why would he be looking for Jessica if she wasn't a friend? Why would he care?
"I should get going," he continued, checking his watch. "Let's touch base later, compare notes."
"Okay." As I left the house, I couldn't help thinking that maybe one of the people I should be investigating further was him.