Chapter 12 #2
The pieces were like a puzzle flipped over the wrong way. The picture wasn’t coming in clear no matter what I did. Annoyed at myself, I stood and kicked my chair back. It rolled into my bookcase and knocked over one of the various diecast cars I collected over the years.
I picked it up, the idea of the submerged car tickling at something in the back of my mind.
Portal?
Maybe they couldn’t bring the car up in the lake because it hid something. I took the ruby red Mustang GT with me as I left the room. My fingers messing with the doors and tires as I noodled over the idea.
I set it on the kitchen counter while I made a half sandwich.
I ate it as I stood in front of my freezer, looking over my options.
One lone package of frozen chuck roast sat on the middle shelf.
I took it out and tossed it on a plate to defrost. Another storm was coming through and stew sounded good, but that meant I needed to get some supplies from town.
I grabbed bags for the market and my thermal bag in case the butcher case had something interesting.
For a small town, the O’Dwyer’s market was pretty solid. Then again, the next closest supermarket was over thirty minutes away. I didn’t have it in me for big crowds.
I tugged on my hoodie then looked around for my keys. They were on the counter near the miniature car. I wasn’t sure what made me take both the Mustang and the keys, but I tucked them both in my front pocket along with my wallet.
When I opened the front door, Mouse was gnawing on one of his toys on the porch.
“Dude, what are you doing over here?”
He wagged his tail, leaving the toy behind to follow me down the stairs. “You’re not coming with me.”
Shockingly, he didn’t listen.
“Go see your real owner.”
He just sat by my foot and rolled out that dumb tongue with a big smile on his face.
“You can’t go in the stores.”
I went to the driver side of my truck and Mouse muscled me aside to jump inside.
“What did I say?”
He sat in the passenger side, panting happily.
I glanced across the road to see Phoebe’s truck in her drive.
“I can’t just kidnap you.”
He barked and I rolled my eyes, stowing the bags behind my seat as I got in.
“Now I have to go talk to her. You’re a menace.”
I lowered the window down and he stuck his head out. On the slow roll toward her place, my stomach knotted. It shouldn’t matter. The dog free roamed, she probably wouldn’t even notice if I left with him.
I backed up her lane and she came out of her studio with a rag in hand wearing a pair of overalls with a strappy nothing of a tank top under it. Duck-yellow Crocs streaked with paint peeked out from the overlong cuffs of her pant legs.
She leaned into the truck, accepting a kiss from Mouse. “Why do you have my dog? I thought you didn’t like him.”
“He won’t get out.”
Her lips twitched, but she didn’t let the smile bloom. “He is very stubborn.”
“I’m going into town. Just didn’t want you to wonder where he was.”
“That was nice of you.” She ruffled Mouse’s fur. “Have fun.”
“Do you need anything?” I blurted out.
She paused. “Are you offering a neighborly favor, Dutch?”
“Never mind.” I put the truck into drive.
“How about I just come with you?” She opened the door and Mouse instantly wiggled with glee.
“That’s not what I meant. You’re not dressed to go anywhere.”
“It’s warm enough.” She hopped in.
“It’s barely forty degrees.”
“Okay, California boy.”
Annoyed, I pulled off my hoodie and handed it to her.
“I don’t need your hoodie.”
“Just take it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
It was too big on her, but seeing her in my SFSU hoodie settled something in me I did not want to analyze. “Seatbelt.”
She gave me a snappy salute then buckled in. Mouse practically climbed in her lap to keep his big head out the window. Instead of being annoyed, she just looped her arm around him and did the same. “I missed the sun.”
It was the first semi-sunny day we’d had in days. “Is it always overcast around here? You know—lake effect.”
“Not as bad as more central New York. I lived in Rochester for a few months and holy crap, talk about gray.” She tucked her hands into the front pouch and drew out my wallet and keys, putting it on the console between us. “What’s this?” She pulled out the car.
“Oh, I collect diecast cars.”
“And you carry them around?” Her lips tipped up into a charmed smile.
“No.” I huffed out a breath. “Not usually. Just was itching at an idea in my brain.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You don’t care about my process.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” She glanced over at me. “Being an author isn’t like being a banker.”
I sighed. “All right. The car story you told me about the lake got me thinking. Do you have more details?”
“Did you listen to the podcast?”
“I did.” It was a well done podcast, but it spoke more about the missing kids than the car. “They didn’t really talk about the car much.”
“Well, that’s more of a town story than anything you could track down with facts.”
“That’s the part I want to know.”
“Okay then.” She stuck her hand out the window and followed the air current as her face tipped up to the sunlight. “So, I told you the car was in the middle of the lake, right?”
“You didn’t say exactly where.”
“I think it’s moved a bit with the currents, but it seems to have settled in some rocks and got really wedged in. My brothers actually dared each other to swim out to where it was. Scared the hell out of my mother because they jumped out of our boat to do it.”
“Did anything happen?”
“No. Well, they could never seem to reach it. The lake is huge. It doesn’t look like it from where we live. It’s an irregular shape and gets narrower then widens when you get past the cove.”
“I took a walk over there today. I see what you mean, but I couldn’t get much of a view with all the ice.”
“Yeah, there’s ice until May. Especially this year since we had so many cold days.” She wiggled over a little so Mouse could get closer to the door. “You’re a damn cow.”
He didn’t seem to care, now that he could get his whole head and upper body out the window.
“Have there been any more accidents around the car?”
“Not in ten years. I think most of us locals have learned to leave it be over the years. Sometimes the older teens take their parents’ boat out on the lake, but for the most part they aren’t interested in sticking around Haven these days. The signal sucks for their cell phones.”
“Can’t have that,” I said wryly.
“I noticed you don’t really go on your phone.”
“You don’t either.”
“I do things for my social media, but I’m not much of a scroller other than that. I’d prefer to be painting or drawing.”
“You never answered me the other night with what you do.”
“Little of this, little of that,” she said vaguely. “We got a little distracted.” She flicked open the door on the Mustang and clicked it shut.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah.”
I turned off on Destiny Street. The market was by the bank, well past the eateries and bookstore. Well, if she wasn’t going to share what she did, I could at least get a few more details. “So there haven’t been any disappearances since?”
“Not in a long time.”
“What’s a long time?”
“Since I was a kid.”
“How old are you?”
She arched a brow, the little rose gold hoop winking in the sun. “How old do I look?”
“I don’t know. Twenties?” I freaking hoped she wasn’t too young. It was bad enough that I’d kissed her for fuck’s sake.
“How old are you?”
I tightened my hold on the steering wheel. “Thirty-five,” I muttered.
“Relax, Dutch. I’m twenty-eight. Of sound mind and able to make decisions for myself.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were doing the mental math, admit it.” She reached over and patted my arm. “I’m glad you’re not one of those guys who only dates younger women.”
“I don’t want to date anyone.”
“Good to know. Don’t worry, I won’t corrupt you. I got the message the first time.”
I should have been relieved and yet that statement only pissed me off.
The rest of the ride was in silence. I parked at the edge of the lot in the shade for Mouse. It was a cool day, but the sun warmed the truck.
She handed me the Mustang before hopping out. She closed the door and gave Mouse a good rub down. “You stay here and we’ll bring you back a treat.”
Mouse’s tail wagged as he melted down into the seat, his head resting on the open window.
I got out after her, tucking the car in the pocket of the door before grabbing my bags.
“Hey, Phoebe.” A blond woman with a high ponytail glanced at me then back to her. “Who’s your friend?”
“Molly Sutton, meet...” Phoebe paused, meeting my gaze. “Dutch.”
I nodded politely, grateful she didn’t give her my full name. “Hi.”
“He moved in next door during our last snow storm.”
“Oh, welcome to Haven.” She held her hand out. A flicker of something in her eyes. Shit, did she recognize me? “Rude awakening to our fair town. It’s been a snowier than usual season.”
I shook it. “I’m learning that.”
“Dutch is from California. Rude awakening is an understatement.”
“Oh, I guess it would be. Well, you better get in there. We’re getting another doozy of a storm if Edie’s post is true. And it usually is.” Molly waved at both of us and pushed her cart full of bags toward her car.
“Edie’s what?”
Phoebe laughed. “We have a town Facebook group. Edie is our town librarian and eerily accurate when it comes to sussing out the totals for our snowstorms.” She fished out her phone and zigzagged through the parking lot as she flicked through screens.
I course corrected her by grabbing her hood.
“Thanks,” she said absently. “Oh, guess I’m glad I came out with you. We’re supposed to get eighteen inches.”
“Eighteen? Isn’t that about what we got last time?”
“Yeah. Winter isn’t officially over around here until well into March.” She stuffed her phone into her pocket and grabbed a cart. She waved and nodded to people as we walked around the front of the store, heading for the produce department.
She seemed to know every-damn-one. I gave up on learning names, just nodded awkwardly at them. Elementary school teacher, mechanic, a cashier at something called the Sip and Dip. My head was pounding by the time we got to the tomatoes.
“Do you know everyone?”
She laughed. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“The town isn’t that small.”
“It really is. There’s only about four thousand residents.”
“Do you know them all?”
“No, of course not. But I have worked with a lot of them.”
“You still haven’t said what you did.”
She lifted two tomatoes and smelled them, then tucked them into bags in the top part of the cart.
“Well, I’ve had a dozen different jobs since I was sixteen, but now I mostly do murals for businesses.
” She pointed to a bloom of sunflowers painted on the wall behind a rack of seeds announcing spring was coming soon. “I did that last year.”
My eyebrows shot up. The petals of the flower were as big as her arm. The sunny flowers were a bit cartoony, but full of intricate details in the dark centers to show off the seeds in dozens of colors when you looked closer.
She was like a blur going from fruits to vegetables and making a stack in the cart. I gathered my own mental list of things for the stew and a few other meals since I’d be snowed in again.
The cart filled up quickly and I tried to ignore the way heads turned as we walked together.
“Am I going to end up on that Facebook group?”
“Oh, definitely. The only reason you haven’t already is probably because you don’t speak to people.”
“Do you get tourists?”
“Sometimes, but have you seen you?”
I swiped my hand over my beard. “What?”
“You’re not exactly the type who blends in.”
My eyebrow arched.
“You know you’re attractive, Dutch. Don’t play stupid.”
“What’s that got to do with anything? There’re plenty of attractive people in the world.”
“Yes, but you’re new and attractive. Remember, I said small town.” She waved to a woman who was openly staring at us.
The woman looked down at her basket with a blush. “Who’s your friend, Phoebe?”
“Dutch just moved to Haven.”
“Oh, he’s not your boyfriend?” She perked up.
Phoebe gave me a wide smile. “Nope. He’s a free agent.”
“Phoebe,” I growled.
“Oh.” The woman smoothed out the apron she was wearing. “I’m Lainey. I work at the diner. Feel free to come on in. Coffee’s on me.”
“Thanks,” I said tightly. “Appreciate it.”
Phoebe pushed the cart forward. “Talk to you later, Lainey. Don’t forget about book club next week.”
“What?” Lainey couldn’t drag her eyes away from me.
“Spice Rack night, remember?”
“Oh, right.” She waved. “See ya then.”
“Aren’t you exhausted by all the people who want to talk to you?”
Phoebe snickered. “You get used to it. Wait until they find out who you are.” Her voice went sing-song. “You’re in trouble. Everyone will have questions.”
“Do you have grocery delivery around here?”
She laughed and hustled toward the butcher. “You wish.”
I sighed and followed, trying not to notice how her overalls hugged her ass. Overalls for Christ’s sake. Or the large swipe of hot pink paint that arched across her heart-shaped ass.
I looked up and my gaze crashed into a tall guy with narrowed eyes. He had his hands tucked into a blue ski jacket. A ball cap obscured part of his face.
“Phee, what’s up?”
“Oh, hey!” She left the cart and rushed over to the guy, throwing her arms around him. “When did you get back?”
“Yesterday.” He smiled down at her, but then that blank face was back for me.
“I thought you were gone until May.”
“Nah. I can do the rest of the job remote. There’s not a damn thing to do in Sarasota anyway.”
Phoebe linked her arm through his and dragged him over to me. “Come meet someone.”
I stuffed my hands into my pockets. Why the hell should I care if she touched some guy? And not my business if the guy looked like he was ready to drag me out to the parking lot.
“Lance Valentine, meet Dutch.” She grinned up at me. “Dutch meet my brother.”
Well, that did change things.