Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
After leaving Tyler, I picked up my car at the inn and drove into town, arriving at Kelly's Pub around one.
When Finn saw me, he said he wanted to talk to me, but he needed a few minutes to finish up the lunch rush.
Seeing him moving rapidly between the bar and the kitchen, I grabbed a small table for two by the window and ordered clam chowder in a bread bowl from another server.
The soup came fairly quickly, and while I was eating, I watched everyone and everything going on around me.
There was a mix of tourists and locals in the pub.
Cole and his uncle, Jeff Holloway, came in and settled in at the bar to order lunch.
There was no sign of Sophie, but she was probably still working at the inn.
Cole and Jeff seemed to get along well enough. I couldn't see any tension between them, lots of what looked like joking and laughter as they ate lunch. But their easy mood disappeared when the sheriff entered the pub.
He didn't say anything particularly dramatic that I could tell, but just his arrival changed the mood between the other two men. In fact, Cole got up and left, muttering something about meeting Sophie, despite the fact that there was a half-finished sandwich still on his plate.
Tom Holloway slid into Cole's empty chair. "What are you two doing here? I thought you had an all-day charter."
Jeff shrugged and said, "It got shortened. What do you want from me? I gave your kid a job. Sometimes, charters fall through. You need to loosen up, Tom, or you're going to lose Cole."
"What are you talking about?"
I couldn't help but eavesdrop as their voices rose high enough for me to hear them.
"Cole wants to leave with Sophie," Jeff replied. "He wants to go to New York."
"That's ridiculous. What's he going to do there?"
"I assume he'll figure it out."
"No, he won't. You need to talk him out of it."
"If you don't want him to go, you talk to him."
"He doesn't listen to me."
"Because all you do is order him around.
And that's not fun. Trust me, I know," Jeff added dryly.
"Cole wants to have a life, a bigger life than he can have here.
Frankly, I think he's on the right track.
I should have left a long time ago. But it's too late for me.
Not for him. And he should go before he gets himself into more trouble than he can get out of. "
"What does that mean?"
"It means he figured out the best way to get your attention, and I'm worried about how far he'll go to get it. Why don't you go see if you can find him now? He probably just went home because he told me he wasn't seeing Sophie until tonight."
"I can't chase him down now. I need to go to the inn. I have to speak to Ellen."
"About what?" Jeff asked.
"It doesn't concern you. Talk Cole out of New York. It's the least you can do for me after everything I've done for you."
As Tom got up, I looked down at my soup, not wanting to call attention to myself, but I needn't have bothered; he was already out the door.
My phone vibrated on the table, and I saw an incoming text from Morgan, who wanted an update.
I texted back that I was working on a few things, but nothing to report yet.
We texted back and forth for a few more minutes, mostly chatting about Tessa's condition and Morgan's guilt about not being in Stonecross with me.
When Finn slid into the chair across from me, I put down the phone.
"Thanks for waiting," he said. "How was your soup?"
"Excellent."
"Good. How's Tessa?"
"She's in pain. Her leg was badly broken. She'll be in the hospital for a few more days, and she won't be walking for a long while."
"Is she up for a visitor?"
"You want to visit her? Why?"
"Because I'm concerned about her. And I'm sorry she got hurt."
I used to think I was good at reading people, but since I'd gotten to Stonecross, that belief had definitely been tested. I didn't know what to make of Finn or of Tyler, or of anyone, really. They all seemed suspicious.
"Tell me what happened yesterday, Finn. Tessa said you went to lunch and then you ran into a friend, a guy named Nathan. He offered to take you both out on his boat, and you encouraged her to say yes."
"I didn't push it. She jumped at the idea after Nathan told her he was the one who'd found Jessica Trent's boat. I didn't realize you and Tessa were also interested in her disappearance."
"Both women stayed at the inn and disappeared within several months of each other."
"Under completely different circumstances."
"Maybe not so different, considering their last known days were at the inn. But I want to know what happened when you were on the boat."
"Tessa started asking Nathan questions, and Nathan enjoyed her attention. He likes to boast about how he was the one who found the boat of the missing woman, as if that made him some kind of hero. And he took us out to the spot where he'd found the boat."
"I understand it was in a cove, with a beach nearby, that one theory is that Jessica got off the boat, climbed up the rocks, and disappeared from there."
Finn nodded. "Nathan mentioned that." He hesitated. "Look, Nathan talks a lot of shit. I'm not always sure how much of it is true."
"You don't think he found the boat?"
"No, I believe he found the boat, but I'm not as certain about what else he told Tessa."
"Which was what?"
After a momentary hesitation, Finn said, "Nathan told us that he found Jessica's diamond ring on the boat, but he didn't tell the police about it, because he wanted to sell it."
I looked at him in surprise. "I can't believe he would keep evidence like that. Did you see the ring?"
"He said he didn't have it on the boat. I'm also not sure he didn't make up the drama to add to his story." He paused. "But then he had second thoughts about what he'd said when Tessa mentioned the real reason you two were in town."
My stomach tightened. "What did she say?"
"That you have a podcast. That you're investigating Natalie Warren's disappearance, while pretending to be writing a book about inns."
His tone was flat, and I couldn't tell what he thought about our lie. So, I turned the focus back to Nathan. "You said Nathan regretted talking about the ring?"
"He was worried she'd talk about it on the podcast."
"So, what did he do?"
"He started backtracking, saying it wasn't really that expensive of a ring; he didn't even think it was a real diamond."
"Was he nervous because he'd stolen the ring, or because the fact that he had it might make him look like someone who might have had a hand in her disappearance? Maybe he didn't find the boat by accident. Maybe he knew exactly where it was. Or maybe he was responsible for Jessica's disappearance."
"That's a lot of maybes," Finn muttered. "I don't believe Nathan hurt Jessica. I think it's more likely he found a ring and kept it for himself."
"You should tell Sheriff Holloway about the ring. It could be an important clue to a woman's disappearance. I'm surprised you haven't done that already. Unless you're protecting your friend. Or maybe you're a part of it?"
"I'm not a part of anything. And I called Tom this morning."
His words took me by surprise. "What did he say?"
"That Nathan is a big talker, and he didn't believe a word of it."
"Because he doesn't want to believe anything that would make people look for Jessica."
"The sheriff does seem determined to downplay the circumstances surrounding both women," he admitted. "I told him to talk to Nathan, but I don't know if that will happen."
I leaned forward, fixing him with my most determined look. "What happened to Tessa on that boat, Finn? Why can't she remember the day?"
His lips tightened. "I've been wondering about that, too.
I went downstairs for a few minutes. I had to make a call, but I didn't have reception on my cell, so I used the satellite phone.
I was only gone about ten minutes, but when I got back it felt like Tessa was starting to slur her words.
She laughed about it and said she must have had too much to drink.
And then she curled up on a bench and napped as we sailed back to the harbor. "
"She was dozing on the boat and then in your car, and you didn't think that was strange?"
"I did think it was off, but she woke up and we walked to my car, and she just seemed really relaxed."
"Do you think Nathan drugged her?"
"I really don't want to think that."
"Well, we're going to find out, because they took a toxicology screen at the hospital, and the results will probably be back later today. If you're trying to protect Nathan or yourself—"
"I already told you I spoke to Tom. Does that sound like I'm protecting myself?"
"I have no idea which side Tom is on. It certainly doesn't seem like he's trying to find anyone. And no one in this town wants to challenge him."
"It's complicated."
"Is it complicated?" I challenged. "I understand that tourism drives the local economy, but we're talking about the lives of several women."
He gave me a long look, then got to his feet. "I can't say you're wrong about the lack of investigation, Cassidy, but your podcast won't change that."
"Maybe it will. With enough public pressure, the sheriff will be forced to reopen these cases, and you should be part of that pressure. If Natalie and Jessica are safe, great. If they're not, then whoever hurt them needs to be brought to justice. The truth is not the enemy."
"Sometimes it is," he said heavily. "Sometimes it comes with a double-edged sword. The truth is never as simple as you want it to be."