Is Anyone Listening?

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Tyler was quiet as he drove away from the marina, and so was I.

While I understood Tyler's motivation to find the person who could prove his brother's innocence and save him from jail, I wasn’t sure whether we were both buying into the idea that Jessica had faked her death because it made sense—or because we needed her to be alive.

"Nathan's story about finding the ring on the beach is pushing us to believe that Jessica got off the boat and disappeared on her own," I said, breaking the silence between us.

"But if Nathan was lying, and he didn't find the ring on the beach, then we really have nothing to prove Jessica got off that boat alive. "

"Why would he lie about finding a diamond ring when the lie could get him into trouble?"

"Because he made it up to impress Tessa, and now he's caught up in it," I suggested. "Maybe it is true, but I don't want us to go down the wrong path because it's the path we desperately want to be on."

"I hear what you're saying, Cassidy, and you're right. Aside from Nathan's story, there is no evidence to suggest she survived the trip, but my gut says she did. That might be misguided, but that's how I feel. Maybe that's because I need to feel hopeful. My brother's life is on the line, too."

"I understand. And I want Jessica to be alive. I want the same thing for Natalie and also for Anna. But maybe Jessica's story is different from theirs. Did she register at the inn under her own name?" I asked.

"She registered under her maiden name, which is Trent. Her married name is Reese."

"Okay, but it seems like she would have used a completely different name if she were truly on the run."

"I'm not sure she was thinking that clearly. There was a lot going on. At any rate, I'm going to keep looking for Jessica. But you can go back to focusing on Natalie and Anna."

"We can focus on all three of them," I said. "I like working together. Two heads are better than one. We can challenge each other. Make sure we're not jumping to conclusions or falling for stories that are meant to take us in a different direction."

"It is nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of instead of going around in circles in my head."

"So, we keep working together."

"Yes. On that note, I did actually have an idea about Natalie," Tyler said.

"What's that?"

"I was thinking about how no one saw her leave the inn. There was no record of a cab picking her up. The inn is too far for her to have walked into town, especially with a suitcase. So, either a friend picked her up, as has been suggested in the police report—"

"A friend that has never been found," I interrupted.

"Or," he continued. "She left the inn another way. She didn't walk out the front door."

"What's the other way?" I asked with interest.

"Older houses built during prohibition sometimes had underground tunnels running to the beach for the purpose of smuggling."

"That's interesting. You think there's a tunnel under the inn?"

"I think we should find out. It probably wouldn't be on an official blueprint, but if I can get any of the plans from the city on the inn, I might be able to tell if there's a discrepancy of some sort, some indication that the cellar or basement has extra space, or what not…

I'm definitely speculating here, but it's something I could check out for you. "

"That would be great."

"You could also look around the inn, see if you can access the basement."

"That wouldn't be easy. Ellen is always roaming around, and she's already suspicious of me."

"Well, don't take any unnecessary risks. Let's see if I can find anything on the plans first."

"I don't want you to take any time away from looking for Jessica, though."

"Natalie is still important. Her family and friends need closure and justice. It was horrific when I lost my parents, but at least I knew what happened. I didn't have to spend every day wondering if by some miracle, they might come back to life. I feel for Natalie's family."

"So do I. And it's not just Natalie I'm thinking about. There's Anna, and also another woman who went missing about six years ago. Who knows how many more there are? The inn seems to be connected to a lot of mystery. Is that just a coincidence? Or is someone at the inn a part of something deadly?"

"Are you talking about Ellen?"

"Well, she's the one who's been there all along, but her handyman, Ray, is much creepier and has a record of assault."

"I looked him up, too," he admitted. "But he doesn't seem to have had any problems since he's been working at the inn."

"Is that because he never did anything, or because Ellen used her relationship with the sheriff to protect her handyman?"

"Impossible to tell. Small town law enforcement sometimes has a lot of layers."

"And Tom Holloway took over as sheriff after his father stepped down. The Holloways have been managing the law enforcement in this town for fifty-plus years, and Ellen has been here the whole time. Their loyalty bubble feels unbreakable."

"Nothing is unbreakable if you pound hard enough. That's what we keep doing," he said as he pulled up in front of the coffee shop.

"Do you want to visit Tessa with me?" I asked as I opened the car door.

"I'm going to let you do that on your own. I want to see if I can get any of the plans for the inn before the building department closes. Why don't you text me on your way back from the hospital and let me know how she's doing?"

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

I'd no sooner gotten into my car when I got a call from Morgan, and I chatted with her on the way to the hospital.

After updating her on what Nathan had told me, we discussed the podcast and the growing interest from sponsors.

She was responding to comments and answering emails, and I was thrilled to have her take over dealing with all that.

I needed to focus on unraveling the mysteries of Stonecross, which were multiplying faster than I could untangle them.

We hung up when I got to the medical center, and when I entered Tessa's room, I found her awake and looking marginally better than she had this morning. Her eyes seemed less foggy but there was still pain in her gaze.

"How are you doing?" I asked, glancing at the television that was on but muted. "Catching up on the Real Housewives?"

She shrugged. "I've mostly been sleeping. It's the best way to escape the pain."

"I'm so sorry." I sent her a sympathetic look. "I wish I could do something to make you feel better."

"I'll be okay…eventually. The nurse said today is probably the worst day. Fingers crossed."

Tessa was such a cheerful, confident, and outgoing person; it actually hurt to see her like this. "I should have talked you out of going to lunch with Finn."

"Oh, please, you couldn't have done that," she said with a spark of her usual fire. "And it wasn't Finn that hurt me."

"I know. It was Nathan. I went to see him today. He said you made him nervous when you talked about the podcast, and he realized you'd probably want to share the part about him finding Jessica's ring."

Confusion clouded her gaze. "There was a ring?"

"You don't remember?"

She shook her head. "It's all fuzzy. I thought my memory would be back by now."

"Nathan found Jessica's diamond ring in the sand near where he'd found her boat.

But he didn't report it. He kept it so he could sell it.

Finn seemed to think he was trying to impress you in some way by telling you a story that might or might not have been true.

But when you mentioned the podcast, he panicked. "

"I told them about the podcast. How could I do that? I don't remember that at all."

"Nathan put a sleeping pill into your drink to make you forget.”

Her eyes widened. "He really did that? And he admitted it? I mean, I've been thinking that might have happened, but I also couldn't quite believe it. Where was Finn when that happened?"

"He said he went downstairs to make a call on the satellite phone, which also seems a little convenient."

"That's crazy."

"Nathan suggested that the ring on the beach proved that Jessica got off the boat and made it to safety and faked her own death."

"Or Nathan could have killed her and made up the whole story."

"There's that, too," I admitted. "Although, I hadn't considered that he'd killed her until just this second."

"If he didn't find the ring on the beach, maybe he took it off her hand."

"That's another scenario to consider."

"We need to put all of this on the podcast," Tessa said.

"I'm not sure I can say all that without proof."

"You can be a little vague and leave specific names out of it, but we have to keep feeding our listeners' hunger for more details." She paused. "I wish I could do it with you, but since I can't, why don't we film a super short teaser right here?”

"Here? You want to film from your hospital bed?"

"It's reality, and that sells. Let's do it now before I lose what little energy I have."

"Okay." I pulled out my phone. "How do you want to do it?"

"You start. Tell everyone you're visiting me in the hospital after I allegedly fell down the stairs, but that might not be what happened.

I was sent to emergency surgery, and I'm now recovering.

Then turn the camera to me. I'll give a wave, and then you put the camera back on yourself and say you'll be posting tonight with more details. "

I nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Sure. I look awful, but that's the point. We want raw and real."

I patted my hair down, thinking I didn't have as good a reason as Tessa did for little makeup and windswept hair, but this was what I actually looked like.

I started the camera and filmed the video as she'd instructed.

We both reviewed it and then decided to post it immediately, as there was no point in waiting.

After I'd done that, I filled her in on what Morgan was doing about the sponsorships and then got to my feet as the nurse said they needed to draw some blood.

"You don't have to stay," Tessa said.

"Are you sure you don't want company? Or can I bring you food or something?"

"I don't feel like eating at all. And I'm probably going to sleep after this. I feel bad that I can't help you more."

"You just concentrate on healing. That's all that matters. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Okay. But…wait."

"What?"

"When you film tonight's podcast, you should say that you may have to move to another, safer location while we continue investigating. And tomorrow morning, you should do just that. I don't know if it's safe for you to stay at the inn."

"I don't know, either, but I'm not sure anywhere in town is safe. Like I said last night, Ellen can't afford to have another incident at the inn after what happened to you, so I think I still have a small window of time where that will protect me."

"I hope you're right."

"Me too."

Despite my resolve to keep going, just walking to the car made my nerves prickle, especially since it was six o'clock now and getting darker by the minute. But I didn't run into any problems, and I turned on some music to keep me company on the drive.

I was about ten minutes away from the Stonecross exit when I came across a detour. Several big branches were blocking the road, with a truck and two men working to clear the tree. I wasn't thrilled to leave the highway, but I had no choice.

The detour took me down a winding road that eventually led to the same coastal road that the inn was located on, but about six miles south. I hadn't driven this stretch before and became a little stressed out as I saw the jagged turns and steep drops along the ocean side of the road.

And then headlights came up behind me, blinding me even more.

The car was right on my tail, getting closer by the minute.

There was nowhere to pull over, and anxiety tightened my muscles as I pressed down on the gas.

I told myself it was just a local, someone who knew this road well, who was just in a hurry to get home. But was that really all it was?

Fumbling for my phone, I called Tyler.

"Cassidy? Are you back?"

"I'm about six miles away on the coastal road south of the inn." I paused, hearing a crackle over the phone. "Where are you?"

"Driving home from town. Want to meet?"

"I think so." I glanced in the rearview mirror again. The car was getting closer. "There was a detour on the highway, Tyler. I'm now on a road that's clinging to the coastline, and someone is following me very closely. I don't have a good feeling—"

My words were cut off as the car behind me hit my bumper, and I bounced forward. Wrestling for control, the phone skidded out of my hand and landed on the passenger seat. I heard Tyler yelling, but I couldn’t answer him because someone was trying to run me off the road.