CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CORA’S CHOICE
‘Did you see that?’ Abilene asked.
‘What?’
‘That pick-up truck.’
‘You’re seeing things, Hickok.’
‘I saw it, all right. It was parked back there by the road.’
‘Anybody inside?’ Cora asked.
‘I don’t know. I couldn’t even see into its bed. It was kind of a wreck, though. It might’ve been abandoned.’
‘Oh, well,’ Cora said. ‘Big deal.’
‘I don’t know,’ Vivian said. ‘If someone else is down here…’
‘If you think we’re leaving, you’re nuts.’
The road ahead of them widened out. It seemed to cease being a road at all as it joined a broad, flat area.
‘What’ve we got here?’ Cora asked, driving forward.
‘A parking lot?’ Abilene suggested.
‘Looks like… Yep,’ Cora said when a pale log loomed out of the fog, barring their way. She stopped at it, shut off the headlights and killed the engine. ‘Well, gang, here we are.’
‘Wherever that might be,’ Vivian said.
‘I hope it’s not private property,’ Helen muttered.
‘I just hope the natives are friendly,’ Finley said.
‘Why don’t we climb out and scout around?’ Cora suggested.
Abilene opened her door and jumped to the ground. A layer of sand carpeted the solid earth. Though she couldn’t see more than a few yards in any direction, she heard seagulls squawking. She also heard the distant, muffled sounds of the surf tumbling, washing up the shore and withdrawing.
‘We made it to the water all right,’ she said as the others joined her.
‘We’re probably under that bridge,’ Cora said.
If so, the bridge was out of sight.
Finley stepped onto the log barrier and walked along it, arms out for balance. At its end, she leaped to another. A few more strides and she was gone.
‘Don’t go wandering off,’ Abilene called.
The fog seemed to deaden her voice.
‘Just exploring, Hickok.’
‘We oughta get back in the camper,’ Vivian said, ‘and explore a botde of tequila. It’s cold out here.’
‘And creepy,’ Helen added.
‘I thought you liked creepy,’ Cora said.
‘It’s nice and cozy inside.’
A dark smudge in the fog became Finley. ‘It is a parking area,’ she called from her log. She kept moving. ‘So far, it looks like nobody’s here but us.’ She vanished again, this time hidden by the camper, not fog.
‘Let’s stick with her,’ Abilene suggested.
‘Yeah.’ Raising her voice, Cora said, ‘God forbid we should lose Finley.'
‘Ha ha,’ came a disembodied reply.
Helen curled her upper lip.
‘What is it?’ Abilene asked.
She shook her head. ‘Nothing. I was just thinking. What if we did lose her? You know? What if she just went roaming off into the fog and we never found her again?’
‘No such luck,’ Cora said.
‘Her tapes might fall into the hands of strangers,’ Vivian pointed out.
Cora’s mouth fell open with mock alarm. ‘My God, I hadn’t thought of that. Fin!’ she shouted. ‘Hold up!’
They went after her. Cora in the lead, they stepped over the log and followed it past the front of the camper. No sign of Finley.
What if she is gone? Abilene thought. Ridiculous. But Helen had given voice to her own fears and made them seem less farfetched.
Anything, anyone, might be lurking in the fog.
‘Finley, say something!’ she called.
‘Guys?’
Her voice sounded eager, as if she’d made some kind of odd discovery. It had come from somewhere not far ahead, but slightly off to the right - in the direction of the ocean.
They quickened their pace.
Abilene spotted a blurry, indistinct figure through the shrouding fog. Two figures.
Her stomach seemed to drop like an express elevator.
Finley. Finley and someone else. Someone big.
‘Oh my Christ,’ Helen gasped.
Finley, clear now, looked over her shoulder at her approaching friends. ‘Gang, this is Rick.’
‘Hi.’ Rick raised a hand. He smiled. He appeared to be seventeen, maybe eighteen, years old. His crew cut was matted down, his face dripping. His face was tanned so dark that his teeth and the whites of his eyes almost seemed iridescent. He was well over six feet tall, powerfully built. He wore a black wetsuit with pale blue piping on its sleeves and legs. A surfboard lay in the sand near his bare feet.
Studying him, Abilene felt her fears slip away.
He’s just a big kid, she thought. A very big kid. And a hunk.
‘A friendly native,’ Finley explained. Reaching out, she patted his chest. ‘You must be freezing, Rick. Why don’t you come on along with us? You can warm up in our recreational vehicle.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t wanta barge in,’ he said, frowning down at the sand in front of his feet. ‘I’d better get going.’
‘Do you have a pressing engagement?’
‘Well, no, but…’
‘He says he wants to leave,’ Cora said, giving Finley a quick look.
‘Lighten up. This is an actual California surfer. He could give you pointers. Besides, where can he go in all this fog?’
‘Do you live nearby?’ Vivian asked.
‘Palm Springs.’
‘Jeez,’ Abilene said. ‘You’re a long way from home.’
‘We don’t have much of a coastline in Palm Springs.’
‘Are you by yourself?’ Vivian asked.
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Ma’am?’ Finley chuckled.
‘It’s Vivian. Just Vivian.’
He glanced at her, gave her a nervous smile, then looked down again.
‘Is that your pick-up truck?’ Abilene asked. ‘We passed one coming in.’
‘That’s her, I suppose. Just on my way back when I ran into Finley.’
