Chapter 11
Ivy peered at the computer screen in the library at the inn, scrolling through historical sites about World War II bunkers in Southern California.
Others, also hidden for years, had been discovered in nearby Solana Beach and Huntington Beach, the latter known as the Bolsa Chica bunkers.
Most were built by the Army Corps of Engineers to scan the horizon for enemy ships, but civilians also built bunkers and shelters.
She suspected that’s what the Ericksons had done.
This discovery would be a historian’s delight, but there was more to it than that.
Ivy needed to decide today, if she could. Shelly hadn’t spoken to Mitch yet, but she’d promised she would.
Ivy remembered the photos she had on her phone. She pulled them up, but the lighting was poor, so she transferred them to her computer to view on a larger screen.
She scanned them, noticing details she hadn’t seen before. On the last one of the sleeping bag and backpack, she zoomed in, hoping to see a name tag or some other identifying mark. Instead, she noticed something else.
A paper bag. She zoomed in again to see the printing.
Java Beach.
Ivy passed her hands over her face, then picked up her phone to text Shelly, who was outside planting seasonal flowers in the garden.
Shelly, come inside. I saw something in one of the photos you need to see.
A few minutes later, Shelly appeared in the doorway.
“What’s up?”
Ivy motioned to the screen. “Look at that.”
Shelly sucked in a breath. “Do you think Mitch knows?”
“I think you need to have a serious talk with him.”
Shelly sighed. “We need to track down Vanz. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to him.”
“I tried to find him on the beach this morning,” Ivy said. “I’m going back out in a little while to search again. And I should talk to Bennett today.”
Shelly drew in her lower lip. “Should we do that together?”
“I need to talk to him first. I haven’t been completely truthful about what we were doing. If you want us there when you ask Mitch about Vanz, we can be, but we need to find him.”
“I think Mitch would want Bennett there for support. If he doesn’t know, it’s going to be a real shock. And if he does…” Shelly gestured toward the paper bag in the image. “Then we might need a referee. He should have told me.”
Ivy nodded at her sister’s assessment. “Wait until you hear what he has to say.”
The farmers market wasn’t open until tomorrow morning, but she would be there as soon as it opened to talk to Vanz. Unless they found him today. She wondered if they should check the bunker tonight.
Just then, Ivy saw Bennett pull his SUV into the car court behind the inn.
“There he is,” Shelly said.
Ivy got up to follow Bennett upstairs to their apartment unit above the garage.
“Hi, honey,” she called out as she walked inside. “You’re home early.”
He came in from the bedroom looking distracted, rolling up his shirtsleeves as he walked to the kitchen. “My meeting was canceled. Still, I need to work on something without distraction.”
A note in his voice made Ivy pause. “Is everything okay?”
“I have a few things on my mind.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I don’t want to trouble you. It doesn’t concern you.”
Ivy studied her husband. They’d been married long enough that she could read his moods, and right now he was holding something back. But pushing wouldn’t help. Bennett would talk when he was ready.
The problem was, she needed to level with him.
“How about I make a pot of coffee? I picked up the season’s new pumpkin spice flavor at the farmers market.”
“I could sure use a cup.”
“I’ll bring it outside to you. It’s still sunny, and I think the breeze will feel good.”
“I’ll change first.” Bennett went into the bedroom while Ivy made her way to the kitchen.
Grinding beans and setting up the French press gave her time to organize her thoughts. How would she tell Bennett that she’d gone against his advice, against Forrest’s recommendation, and excavated the library lot anyway?
After the coffee brewed, Ivy poured two mugs, put them on a tray with a few cookies, and made her way to their small balcony. They called this their treehouse because the surrounding palm trees created a canopy around the space.
She placed the tray on the table by the sofa and sat down. Moments later, Bennett joined her, having changed into sweatpants and a thick hoodie.
“That smells good,” Bennett said, sitting beside her.
The ocean stretched before them, with afternoon sun glinting off the waves like diamonds. Below, the beach was dotted with late-season tourists and locals enjoying the mild weather. Gulls wheeled overhead, their calls rising above the steady rhythm of the tides.
Thinking about how she should start, Ivy cradled her mug. Bennett took the other one, stretching his legs out with a sigh.
“This is nice,” he said. “We should do this more often.”
“We should.” Ivy sipped her coffee, gathering courage. “Darling, I need to tell you something. It’s important.”
He turned to look at her, and she saw wariness flicker across his face. “Go on.”
“Yesterday, Shelly, Poppy, and I went to the library lot.” She paused, breathing slowly to calm herself. “We dug up what I’d hit with my shovel during the groundbreaking.”
Bennett’s expression shifted from surprise to dismay. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. You told me to wait for Forrest and his crew. Technically, you were right. But I wanted to investigate before heavy equipment destroyed it.”
Her words tumbled out now. “I called Clark first and told him we were researching the soil for a potential community garden. Which we’re considering, so it wasn’t entirely a cover story.”
“Why did you call Clark and not me?” His face was lined with hurt and frustration.
“You were at work. And I knew you’d tell me to wait. That wasn’t the first time we’d been on the property,” she admitted. “Clark caught us there one night.”
He furrowed his brow. “What night? Did you sneak out? I don’t understand.”
“The night we went to the book club meeting. We went there first to investigate, and Clark caught us.” Quickly, she told him the entire story. “I’m sorry. I should have told you before we went.”
Bennett set down his coffee mug with studied deliberation. “This isn’t only about whether you told me first or not. You could have been hurt out there. You should have told me what you were doing.”
“I felt outnumbered between you and Forrest, and I was a little hurt that you minimized my concerns. I think we both have a right to be upset, but there’s more.” She took another breath. “We found something incredible.”
He shook his head, but she saw curiosity edging out the frustration, so she faced him and went on.
“Today, we found a hatch in the ground and opened it. We climbed down a chute and discovered a World War II-era bunker. There’s a room down there with bunk beds, supplies, and magazines from the 1940s.
We also found a lot of equipment, probably for watching the horizon for enemy ships or aircraft.
The Ericksons must have had it built as a lookout post or shelter. ”
Bennett stared at her. “You went down into it?”
“Poppy and I did. Shelly eventually followed, though she wasn’t happy about it.
” Ivy sensed the excitement creeping into her voice, but she couldn’t restrain it.
“It’s like a time capsule. Everything is preserved.
I’ve been researching online and found other bunkers have been discovered in Solana Beach and Huntington Beach.
The Army Corps of Engineers built some, while civilians created others for personal use. This fits the Erickson pattern.”
Bennett ran a hand through his hair and pitched forward. “Okay, that is fascinating. A genuine World War II bunker on the library property? This changes everything.”
“Exactly.” Relief surged through her at his change in attitude.
“I was thinking we could incorporate it into the library and museum somehow. Preserve it and make it accessible for educational purposes. Imagine school groups being able to see actual wartime infrastructure and read the logs from whoever manned that station.”
“There are logs?”
“Notebooks filled with observations. Times, dates, what they saw. It’s all there, along with notes I can’t make out.” She paused, her enthusiasm dimming. “But there’s something else we found.”
His expression shifted back to concern. “What?”
“We saw a modern sleeping bag on one of the bunks. Someone has been living down there.”
Bennett sat forward abruptly. “Living in the bunker?”
“We think so. Everything else was from the 1940s, frozen in time. But we saw new things.” She pulled out her phone, showing him the photos she’d taken. “I zoomed in on this one. Look at what’s next to the sleeping bag.”
Bennett took the phone, squinting at the screen. Then his eyes widened. “Is that a Java Beach bag?”
Ivy’s voice dropped. “Shelly thinks that it might be a teenager we saw at the farmers market. Cookie gave some cleanup work to a young teenage boy. He also matches the description from Jen and George’s security camera the night Java Beach was vandalized, but I really don’t think he did it.”
As the palm fronds rustled above them, Bennett laced his hands behind his neck and tipped his head back.
Ivy hesitated but went on. “Shelly has a theory based on what Mitch once told her. She thinks Vanz might be Mitch’s son. You haven’t seen him, but he looks a lot like Mitch. We’re not sure if he knew anything about the boy.”
Bennett sat up in shock. “What?”
“She hasn’t told Mitch yet, but she’s going to. We think Vanz is here looking for his father.” Ivy set down her mug, leaning forward. “That would explain why the boy is here.”
Bennett stood and crossed to the balcony railing. He gripped it, staring out at the ocean. “I have a confession, too.”
Ivy knew something had been bothering him. She sipped her coffee and waited.
“Mitch and I talked to a kid at the marina. He’s the same one you met. Mitch invited him to Java Beach because the kid looked hungry. He gave him some food in a bag, so that’s probably what you saw in the photo.”
“Then you met him, too.” Ivy tried not to sound like she was accusing him of withholding information, but she wondered how long he’d known about the boy. “I wish you’d told me about him.”
A guilty expression crossed his face. “Maybe I should have.”
Ivy let that go. They were talking now, and this was enough. “We think he got in through the tunnel, not the upper hatch. Do you know of any old tunnels nearby?”
“Not offhand, but I can find out.”
Ivy stood and joined Bennett at the railing. “We need to find Vanz before he disappears. We suspect he’s in trouble.”
“I would agree with that.”
“Then we’ll look together.” Bennett turned to face her. “I’m not really upset about you digging up the lot. Exasperated, yes. Worried about you climbing into an old wartime bunker by yourself? Absolutely. But angry? No.”
She hadn’t expected this from him. “You’re not?”
“I admire your tenacity, even when it drives me crazy.” He touched her cheek. “You see something that needs investigating, and you do it. You find people who need help, and you help them. That’s who you are. I married you knowing that, and I wouldn’t change it.”
A warm feeling spread through her chest. “Even when I go against your advice?”
“Even then. Though next time, maybe give me a heads up before you descend into underground bunkers?” He managed a slight smile. “Just so I know where to send the search party if you don’t come back.”
“Deal.” She leaned against him, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “So what now?”
“We need to find Vanz,” Bennett replied, checking his watch.
“We still have a couple of hours of daylight. Then we need to talk to Mitch and figure out how to help a kid who might be his son. If so, Mitch has a responsibility to him. The kid shouldn’t live in a bunker because he has nowhere else to go. ”
Ivy thought about that. “Mitch and Shelly’s beach bungalow is small. If needed, we could give him a room here, at least temporarily during the off-season.” She didn’t mind helping, because soon, Mitch would learn that his life was about to change. He would need the support of family.
Ivy just hoped they found Vanz before he vanished. Or worse.