This lonely beach was the perfect spot. If he opened his mind, he was sure he would see the past, the flames leaping, the kids celebrating, and Winona…He would see what had happened to Winona.
And he had to do it, because there was a killer on the loose. The threads were beginning to fit together, and he had to add to the pattern with whatever he could discover in the depths of his mind.
For a moment he just listened to the sounds around him. The surf, moving in gently. The wind, barely a whisper in the trees. In his mind, he saw shadows, the coming of twilight.
The first kids arrived, carrying a big cooler. Nigel had one side of the cooler, Winona the other. They were laughing as they kept dropping one side or the other. Winona accused Nigel of being a weakling; he said even if she was a girl, she had to manage her half of the weight.
Mindy Marshall was right behind them; he recognized her from her picture in the file. She was a tall girl with long dark hair, carrying bags of chips and a box of garbage bags. They knew they had to clean up. If a single beer can was found, they would be busted.
Nigel told the girls to start finding wood for the fire, while he dug in the sand to create a pit.
In his mind’s eye, Caleb imagined the birth of the fire, the way it smoked at first, then took hold. He saw Winona dancing around the rising flames, chanting something she had learned from a book, teasing Nigel and Mindy and the others, perhaps telling them that she was ready to meet with the forces of darkness….
Then the woman walked out of the woods. Large, dark glasses covered not just her eyes but most of her face, hiding her features. She wore a scarf around her neck, and she smiled at Winona, who had stopped and gone silent at the sight of her. She spoke in a pleasant tone, assuring the kids she wasn’t going to report them and asking Winona about the words she’d been chanting.
The woman saw something in Winona, and Winona saw something in her, as well. The stranger stepped closer to Winona, who was separated from the others by the leaping bonfire. The woman said something to Winona in a hushed tone, and the other two were totally unaware of the conversation. Seconds later, the woman left them, laughing, waving, telling them to be careful.
Moments later, more partygoers began to arrive, bringing food, booze and pot. A boom box played in the background, and he could hear the laughter, the teasing, see kids pairing off and heading into the shadows….
He concentrated, and he saw Winona Hart, looking around, then starting along the trail back toward the road. She was seen by dozens of witnesses, yet not seen at all.
He opened his eyes, rose and dusted off his jeans.
The sun was beginning to set. The view was spectacular as the sun crouched low on the horizon, painting the sky with bands of gold and orange, and creeping purple.
It was a beautiful place, giving the impression of being wild and even a little forlorn in its beauty, despite its relative proximity to the road.
Caleb walked down to the water.
And found the corpse.
8
Sarah had expected to hear from Caleb Anderson. After all, she had barged into his room that morning and trashed his belongings.
And he had told her not to do it again unless she was looking for sex.
Despite everything else she’d had to deal with that day, the idea of having sex with Caleb crept in unbidden time after time.
And why not?
She was an adult. The rest of the world had sex all the time. She had just put the very possibility on a mental back burner somewhere after Clay’s death. She wasn’t against the idea of having sex again someday. She didn’t even think that it needed to be with the one and only love of her life, someone with whom she was hoping for a future. Which was a good thing, since she hadn’t met anyone else…she thought she might be able to fall in love with. She hadn’t even met anyone who intrigued her for more than a cup of coffee or dinner out.
But Caleb Anderson…
Frankly, he was just gorgeous, the kind of man any woman would want to have sex with….
When Vicky came into the room—clearing her throat politely and saying that it was time for her to lock up—Sarah was forced to realize that it was long after five, and Caleb had made no effort to contact her.
Then again, why would any man—especially an exceptionally handsome and charismatic one—want to spend any more time with a woman who had not only been convinced that he dressed up in costume to play a practical joke on her, but had also come crashing into his room at the crack of dawn to accuse him? She was anxious to see him, though, because she was dying to explain about the picture—and what she had discovered about his ancestry. Once he had all the facts, her seemingly crazy behavior would make sense.