“There were no hard feelings when you split up?”
“Hell, no.” He stared at Caleb suddenly. “You think I could have done something to her?” he asked incredulously.
“No,” Caleb assured him. His gut told him that this kid couldn’t have carried off a white lie, much less an abduction. “I’m just wondering if she would have confided in you. If she would have told you that she was going to run away, for instance. Or if she was meeting someone.”
“She wasn’t running away. And she wasn’t meeting anyone.” He was quiet for a minute, then looked at Caleb as if sizing him up. “She was pretty wasted, though. Just on beer—she didn’t smoke weed. But she had a lot of beer. She was dancing around the fire and pretending it was some kind of an old Maypole or something.”
“Really? Why do you think that was?”
“She liked to read creepy stuff, books about black magic and crap like that. She was kind of Goth for a while even.”
“So did she believe in ghosts and that kind of thing?” Caleb asked.
“Oh, yeah. She wanted to experience all that spooky stuff, you know? See the real thing. She was the kind who would turn out the lights and make noises to scare you, and then laugh. She wasn’t afraid of anything. She used to climb into cemeteries at night and dare us to come after her.”
“Did she know anyone who she felt might help her experience the real thing?” Caleb asked.
“I don’t think so,” Nigel said, his brow furrowed in concentration. Suddenly he brightened. “She did talk to a weird woman on the beach.”
“A weird woman on the beach?” Caleb asked, trying to sound casual. This was something new, and maybe it meant nothing. On the other hand…
“She came over while we started setting up.” He stared at Caleb. “She looked like a hippie. She scared us at first,” he admitted, flushing. “She just walked out of this grove of scrub right when we started building the fire. We thought she lived nearby or something, and that maybe she was going to threaten to call the cops on us. But all she said was hello, and that we should be careful. Hey wait!” he said suddenly.
“What is it?” Caleb asked.
“She said that she was there communicating with the elements, that she was some kind of medium,” Nigel said. “I figured she’d been hiding out back there, smoking weed. But now…I hadn’t even thought of it. There were only three of us there. Mindy Marshall, Winona and me. She told us to be careful, said the moon was at its most powerful peak or some weird shit like that, and it brought out all kinds of spirits. I thought she was a kook. Winona thought she was cool and talked to her for a little while, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I can’t believe I forgot all about her ’til now.”
“What happened then?”
“She walked away.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know. Probably down the trail that led back to the road.”
“Did you see her again?”
“No. She just told us to be careful and left.”
“What did she look like?”
“I told you, a hippie.”
“A tall hippie? Short, dark, light?”
Nigel frowned in concentration. “I don’t know. She was wearing some kind of a kerchief thing on her head, and she had on really big sunglasses.”
“Okay, was she tall or short?”
“Medium,” Nigel decided after a moment.
“Five-five?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Do you remember anything else about her? Anything at all? Was she wearing perfume? Did she walk with a limp? Did you see her hands? Anything.”
Nigel looked away for a moment, then faced Caleb sheepishly. “I’d had two beers, maybe three by then. I was pretty looped by the time I saw her. You really won’t say anything to my parents, right? You’re really not a cop?”
“I’m really not a cop.” Caleb drew a card from his wallet and handed it to the boy. “I want you to do me a favor. If you think of anything else—and I want you to really think about this woman and see if you can remember something more—give me a call. Please.”
Nigel took the card and looked at Caleb again. “Okay. You might want to talk to Mindy. She might remember something.” He looked down, wincing. “Thing is, the three of us…we had a twelve-pack to start and it was pretty much gone by the time the woman showed up. So…I kind of doubt she’ll remember anything, either, know what I mean?”
“Point taken,” Caleb said. “But I’m going to go talk to her anyway. So where exactly was this beach party?” he asked. He had directions; they were in the file Jamison had given him. But he wanted the kid’s directions, as well.
“I’ll draw you a map,” Nigel said, taking a napkin from the counter and a pen from underneath the cash register.