The Shadow Girl

The Shadow Girl - By Jennifer Archer



Prologue


Ty Collier shivered as he paused in front of the Daily Grind coffee shop to wipe his boots on the mat beside the door. Cold weather was nothing new to him; he had grown up freezing his butt off every winter in Baltimore. But this morning something besides the frigid air raised goose bumps on his skin. It was the task ahead of him. And the silence. Noise had always been a constant in his life, so common he didn’t notice it until it was gone. City traffic, a raucous family. Ty felt lost without it.

He glanced over his shoulder at the sleepy Colorado town. Even in May, Silver Lake lay tucked under a thin blanket of snow like a dozing cat. But silence has a sound all of its own—something hummed beneath the town’s stillness that set his nerves on edge.

Not many cars were out at six thirty a.m. on this Monday morning. Only two were parked in front of the Daily Grind—a black El Camino and a blue delivery van with lettering on the side that read WINSTON CARPENTRY. Excitement shuddered through Ty. He recognized the van as the one he’d seen in the photograph. The man was definitely here. After a month and a half of searching, he’d finally found him.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Ty opened the door. A bell jingled to announce his entrance, and warmth rushed forward to welcome him in. “Good morning!” called a woman behind the counter on the far side of the shop.

“Morning,” Ty replied, scanning the room. A girl about his age sat on a sofa against the back wall, her feet tucked under her as she typed on a laptop. At a corner table near the front window, three old men chuckled over their coffee. They glanced up when Ty entered, then quickly returned to their conversation.

Ty studied the men discreetly. Two of them had gray beards, but without openly staring he couldn’t tell which one was Adam.

As he crossed to the counter, Ty recalled that the lady behind it was named Paula. He’d talked to her over a muffin and hot chocolate yesterday, his first day in town. She’d seemed worried when he told her that he was taking a temporary break from college and was traveling the country, working odd jobs to make money.

“You’re too young!” Paula had exclaimed. “What are you? Nineteen?”

“Eighteen,” Ty said. He’d waited awhile before asking in an offhand manner if she knew Adam Winston and if she could give him directions to his shop. Ty was afraid to call the number on the website and ask Adam himself. He didn’t want to take any risks. Who knew if Gail Withers had set off an alarm? He couldn’t be too careful.

Paula told Ty that Adam’s shop was behind his house and gave him directions. She also gave him an unexpected bonus, telling him that Adam came into the Daily Grind on Monday mornings to have coffee with his friends. Which was why Ty woke up before the sun this morning and was out the door of his room two hours before he normally stepped foot into the day. He’d rather talk to Adam without his family around.

Ty slid onto a swiveling stool in front of the counter and ordered a coffee.

“You enjoying your stay in Silver Lake so far?” Paula asked as she filled his mug and handed it to him.

“Yeah, it’s nice. I went hiking yesterday after I left here.”

“Oh yeah? Whereabouts?”

“Some trail at the top of the pass. Still quite a bit of snow up there,” Ty said, sipping his coffee. “I’m thinking of climbing the west peak soon. Make it my first fourteener.” That part wasn’t a lie. Colorado was home to more mountain summits with elevations of at least fourteen thousand feet than any other state, and it was his goal to make it to the top of all of them for his brother, just in case Kyle never got the chance himself. It was something Kyle had always wanted to do.

“Not sure the west peak qualifies as a true fourteener, but it’s close,” Paula said. “Start early in the morning. The weather’s dicey this time of year. We might have snow one day and thunderstorms the next. You don’t want to get caught up there when there’s lightning.”

“I’ll remember that. Thanks.” Ty propped his elbows on the counter and leaned in closer as Paula filled a jug with tea. When she glanced up, he indicated the three men by the window and asked, “Is one of them Mr. Winston?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. The gentleman with his back to us. He can tell you more about hiking the west peak. Adam lives right at its base.” Before Ty could say another word, she called out, “Adam! This young man’s looking for you.”

The man turned, and Ty’s heart skipped across his chest like a pebble skimming a pond. Winston looked exactly like the image in the silver frame on Gail Withers’s desk—the photograph she’d tried to hide from him. Curiosity and intelligence blazed in his eyes. Ty had stared at those same dark eyes in half a dozen other photographs of Adam when he was younger; there was no mistaking them.

Taking his coffee with him, Ty started across the room toward the men. “Good morning,” he said as he paused beside them. Addressing Adam directly, he asked, “Are you Mr. Winston?”

“That’s me.” Adam smiled. “Something I can do for you?”

Ty nodded to a table across the room. “Can we talk?”

Adam shrugged. “Sure.” He followed Ty to the empty table and they sat across from each other. Squinting, Adam scrubbed a hand across his beard and asked, “Have we met?”

Ty placed his coffee on the table and took a breath. “No, but you knew my mom a long time ago. My name is Ty Collier. My mother is Jillian Collier. When you knew her, her last name was Steadman.”

All the color drained from Adam Winston’s face. “What’s this about?”

“I need your help with something. I know about your work.”

“I’m a carpenter—”

“Your former work,” Ty interrupted. Winston looked defensive. Nervous. Afraid. “My mother always wondered what happened to you. She loved your daughter very much. When I was growing up, Mom talked about her all the time.” Smiling, Ty added, “I was always a little jealous.”

“Leave my daughter out of this,” Adam hissed, pushing away from the table so abruptly the chair legs scraped against the hardwood floor. “Why would Jillian want to find me after all these years?”

Ty hadn’t expected such an angry reaction. Determined not to lose Adam now that he’d found him, he said, “My mother doesn’t know I’ve been looking for you. She never talked to me about your work until recently when I read several articles you wrote and mentioned them to her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“My brother needs your help. He’s only thirteen and—” Ty broke off as a wave of emotion swept over him. After taking a moment to compose himself, he said quietly, “I made a promise to my brother, and you’re the only person I know that might be able to help me keep it.” Bracing his forearms on the table, he leaned in, adding, “I had to find you, Mr. Winston.” Adam flinched at the emphasis of his surname, but Ty refused to let him off the hook. “I’ve read everything about you I could get my hands on, and I know what you’re capable of doing.”

“You don’t know anything,” Adam said between clenched teeth.

The man’s stubborn refusal to admit the truth stirred anger in Ty. Struggling to maintain a calm tone, he said, “Let me tell you what I know.”

“I don’t have time for this nonsense,” said Adam.

“Hear me out or convince me I’m wrong. I found Ian Beckett and—”

“You’ve talked to Beckett?” Adam shot up from his chair. Across the room, his friends stopped talking and glanced over. Ty was glad Winston’s back was to them so they couldn’t see his agitated face.

Hoping to appease the men, Ty smiled at Adam and murmured, “Calm down. Listen, I—”

“You and Beckett stay away from my family,” Adam growled, panic simmering in his dark brown eyes. “Do you hear me? Leave us alone.” He turned and walked back to his table of friends. The men exchanged a few words that Ty couldn’t hear, then Winston left the coffee shop.

“Everything okay?” Paula called out from the counter.

“Yeah,” Ty lied. He drained his coffee, then made his way to the door.

“Adam said you’re looking for work,” one of Winston’s friends said as Ty passed their table. “You might try Sal over at the lumberyard north of town.”

“Thanks,” Ty said, then opening the door, he stepped out again into Silver Lake’s startling silence.