Chapter 10 Gillian
GILLIAN
I’d parked in the lot at the public beach.
Soon enough, I had Alex in the passenger seat and I was headed toward the coastal highway that would take us north to Cliffside Bay.
It was a smaller town than Willet Cove, but similar, and had always seemed very safe to me.
That said, bad people lived everywhere. Somehow, it was easy to forget this universal truth.
Unless you were the parent of a teenage girl.
Then your imagination was always two steps ahead of your logical brain.
At least mine was. Predators were everywhere.
I really hoped Bella’s biological father was not one of them.
Once we were out of town and headed up the coast, the world opened up around us.
To our left, the Pacific stretched endlessly, waves battering jagged cliffs, the surface shifting between slate and silver beneath a veil of fog.
At times, the road narrowed so much it felt like we were driving along the very edge of the earth.
Then, just as suddenly, we dipped into pockets of shadow where redwoods pressed close, their towering trunks catching the mist. It was beautiful, haunting and mercilessly slow when every minute mattered.
I had to force myself to drive with care.
We did no one any good if we launched over the side of the mountain into the Pacific.
I glanced over at Alex. He was pale under his tan, his eyes like a trapped animal.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.
“She wanted to find her real father,” Alex said. “And like an idiot, I found him for her. I wanted to show her who he really is, and I thought his mugshot in the police blotter would do the trick.”
“But instead she used that information to find him?”
“That’s right. The online information listed Cliffside Bay as his residence.” Alex buried his face in his hands. “This is such a nightmare.”
“I’m sorry.” I placed my fingers briefly on his jean-clad knee. “Was this all because of us?”
“Not all of it, but yeah, seeing me with you triggered something in her. All of a sudden, she’s questioning who she really belongs with. As if I haven’t proved to her how much I love her. I quit working to be here for her. I don’t know how she doesn’t see that.”
“She’s fourteen. And she lost her mother. She feels like she’s going to be replaced.”
“I just don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Again, she’s fourteen,” I said gently. “They don’t always make sense.”
“I’m so out of my depth here,” Alex said.
“How’s she getting there? Do you think she took a bus? Or an Uber?”
“There are no buses that I know of that run from Willet Cove to Cliffside Bay, so I’m guessing an Uber.”
Alex stared down at his phone. “She’s there already.”
“We’re forty minutes away,” I said. “She surely can’t find him that fast, can she?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. And what’s she going to do, just knock on his door?”
“By the time we get there, she’ll probably realize what a mistake she’s made,” I said. “And want to go home.”
He blinked and ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t you have classes today?”
“No, I’m done for today. My two other teachers are on the schedule instead.”
“Oh, good. I’m so freaked out I didn’t even think about that until now.” He looked out the window for a second or two, before turning back to me. “I should call Peter and let him know what’s going on.”
For the next few minutes, I listened as Alex explained to Peter what had happened and where he was headed, ending with, “Yeah, I’m with Gillian. She happened to see me at the beach. Okay, sure. I’ll call as soon as I know more. Love you, bud.”
After he hung up, he stared out the front window in silence. I could practically hear him praying.
Bella was really putting him through it.
I wanted to be sympathetic, but I hated seeing Alex like this.
He was clearly such a good father, so devoted and loving.
He’d given up his passion to move them here for a fresh start.
To be treated this way was unfair. On the other hand, she was just a child. One in mourning.
I thought back to that first year after I lost my sister.
Not only was I taking care of Grace on my own, I was grieving the loss of a sister who had been more of a mother than the one we’d had.
For months and months, I’d not been myself.
Grief has a way of turning a person inside out, making them think and do things unfathomable to the person they’d been before the loss.
As I turned onto the road that would take us into Cliffside Bay, Alex checked his phone for the hundredth time.
“Oh no,” he whispered. “She’s turned off her phone.”
“No!” I tightened my grip on the wheel.
“Yep, she turned it off.” His voice cracked. “I can no longer see where she is.”
“Are you sure?”
“She probably saw my location and knew I’d followed her.”
My stomach clenched. Bella had just made herself invisible in a town neither of us knew.
“Okay,” I said, forcing my voice to stay calm. “Cliffside Bay is small. People will know him. We’ll ask around until someone points us in the right direction.”
The expression in his eyes went wild again and he shifted in his seat as if his skin were crawling with bugs. “Do people talk about one of their own?”
I realized I’d been clutching the steering wheel so hard my shoulders were starting to ache.
“Yes. If he’s as troublesome as you think, we’ll find someone who’ll talk.
Guys like that are infamous in towns like these.
We need to go to a place in town where everyone goes.
I seem to remember a bar on the main strip.
The Oar, I think. I went there with my friends a few years back. Let’s start there.”
“There’s something you don’t know,” Alex said. “I never legally adopted her or Peter. We couldn’t find Darren to get him to sign papers saying he gave up parental rights.”
My stomach plummeted. Alex was a billionaire. A guy like Darren would see a great opportunity to make some quick cash. How would Alex ever get rid of him?
“I know,” Alex said. “It’s bad.”
“It’s not ideal, no.” I glanced over at him, briefly placing my hand on his knee. “But it’s all going to be all right. We’ll fix this.” Somehow.
We drove past a large resort and then into Cliffside Bay’s city center, where quaint, shingled buildings lined each side of the street.
To our left, I spotted The Oar. The building had a beachy, wood-and-stone warmth, with French café lights strung across the beams, and baskets of flowers spilling color by the entrance.
“This is it,” I said.
Alex leaned forward, grasping the dashboard. “It’s packed. That’s good, right?”
“For sure.’
There was no street parking, but I remembered there was a lot in the back.
Thankfully, I found a spot. I’d barely turned off the engine before Alex was out of the car and storming up the steps of the back patio.
It was nearing lunch hour, with people dining under charming red umbrellas.
We headed through the back door but, once inside, Alex hesitated. “What do we do?”
I scanned the place. It was as cute as I remembered. Scents of grilled fish, garlic butter, freshly baked bread, and hops would normally have tempted me, but I was too worried to enjoy the atmosphere.
“Let’s talk to the bartender,” I said. “They always know everything.”
“Yeah, okay.”
We wove through tables until we reached the bar at the far end. Behind it stood a tall blonde woman with a radiant smile and a softly rounded belly beneath her apron. She looked up from pouring a pint, her eyes friendly. Her name tag read “Sophie.”
“Hey, guys, you here for lunch?” Sophie asked.
“No, actually, we’re looking for someone,” I said. “And thought you could help.”
“Depends on why you’re looking for them.” Sophie raised a brow.
“My fourteen-year-old daughter came here looking for … someone from her past,” Alex said. “A man. Who could hurt her.”
“Fourteen? Oh dear. Hang on. Let me deliver this beer and I’ll be back.”
Sophie took the pint down to a customer at the end of the counter and returned as promised. “Tell me what you know about this man.”
“His name’s Darren Slater,” Alex said. “No, not Slater. Kincaid. Darren Kincaid. Does that ring a bell?”
Sophie’s face fell. She absently rubbed her pregnant tummy. “Yes, I know him. He ran up a tab not long ago and then ran out without paying the bill. I haven’t allowed him back since then.”
“Do you know where he lives?” I asked.
Sophie nodded slowly. “He lives in a trailer about ten miles out of town. From what I’ve heard, he inherited it from a relative a few years back.
He’s been nothing but a menace ever since he moved here.
” She lowered her voice, leaning closer.
“He’s a drunk and a drug dealer. Nothing big time.
He’s too lazy for that. But no one you’d want your teenage daughter around.
” She reached under the bar for a pad and pen.
“Let me draw you a quick map. A lot of the roads around here aren’t on GPS, but I can get you there. ”
A few minutes later, she pushed it across the counter toward Alex, explaining the directions as she did so.
“Thank you. This is very helpful,” Alex said.
“You’ll find him,” Sophie said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to make a quick call to our sheriff. Let him know to be on the lookout for your daughter should she show up anywhere. I can have him send a patrol car out to Darren’s place too.”
“I don’t want him provoked,” Alex said. “So it’s best if I just handle it myself.”
Sophie handed him a business card. “Call me if you change your mind. The sheriff’s good friends with my husband. I can have him out there in a flash.”
We thanked her again and headed to the car. My stomach roiled, thinking of what we might be dealing with, but I remained composed for Alex’s sake. One of us needed to keep a clear head.