Front Street, he tried to spot Tyler and Nora. Apparently they were still shopping. After a car passed, he crossed and stood near the curb to wait for Jack.
Up the road a block, a blue-and-white patrol car swung out of the service station. That would be Lucy at the wheel, he thought, with Bix in the tow truck tailing her. As she drew near, she smiled at Abe and raised a hand. He returned her wave. Bix drove by with a finger deep in his mouth. The patrol car and tow truck moved slowly down the road, waited at a traffic light halfway through town, and moved on. They passed the ticket shack in front of Beast House, and soon disappeared where the road curved away into the wooded hills.
Abe turned his gaze to the sidewalk. A block down, a woman pushed a baby stroller into a shop. When they were out of the way, he could see down to the sporting goods store. Still no sign of Tyler or Nora.
The Mustang pulled up beside him. Its passenger seat was piled with towels, his blue swimming trunks on top. He lifted the stack and sat down.
“Took me a while,” Jack said. “I got waylaid by a cop.”
“The disappearing family?”
“You know about that. I’ll tell you something you don’t know.” He checked the side mirror, and eased into the deserted lane. “They aren’t the only ones missing. I was talking to the cop when up comes that Hardy fellow and says his friend, that Blake character, hasn’t turned up all morning. Hardy hasn’t seen him since last night.”
“The plot thickens,” Abe said.
“Yep. The cop was so intrigued by that little development he lost his interest in me, or I’d still be there.”
“Well, I don’t think the ladies are finished shopping yet, anyway.”
Jack parked in front of Will’s Sporting Goods. “We’ll probably have a long wait,” he said. “You get a couple of gals trying to make up their minds on swimwear, it could take all day. So, what did you find out about Jenson?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Turn here,” Nora said.
Tyler, in the backseat, kept her eyes down as Jack swung the car onto Beach Lane. She didn’t want to see the road she’d driven yesterday, but her mind dwelled on it: the windowless brick house across the field to the left, the woods to the right, the row of mailboxes, Dan’s mailbox. She saw herself and Nora walking Seaside’s shadowy ruts, the strange man staring out at them through the screen. She remembered the desolate, abandoned look of Dan’s cabin with its empty porch, and how she’d felt anxious to get away from it. Without knowing, she’d somehow known her search for Dan would end badly. Dead more than a year. God, it was hard to believe. He lives in Beast House? I wouldn’t say that, not exactly. That crazy old man, Captain Frank, had known all along. He’d toyed with her. Even last night, he’d kept it to himself. Maybe he just didn’t have the guts to come out with it. Maybe he’d wanted to, but couldn’t force himself to be the bearer of such news. Probably holds himself responsible, figures it was his father’s Bobo that did it.
She wished he had told her. Nothing could’ve dragged her into that awful place, if she’d known. Dan’s body —no, not his body, just a wax dummy…
And she’d fainted. God, she’d fainted! Right in front of everyone. The memory made her skin go hot with embarrassment, just as it had every time she’d thought of it, even in the shop while trying to pick out a swimsuit.
Fainted. Barfed.
It would’ve been awful enough without all that, and she felt ashamed for letting the humiliation of it stand in the way of the grief she should feel over Dan’s death. She should be mourning him, not blushing over the spectacle she’d made of herself.
But deep inside, where there should have been anguish, was only a hollow feeling that seemed distant from sorrow.
The car stopped.
“All out that’s getting out,” Nora announced.
“You go on without me,” Abe said. “I’ll change in here.”
Tyler followed Nora out the driver’s door.
“Too bad,” Nora said. “I guess we won’t have the beach to ourselves.”
Two other cars and a van were parked nearby, but Tyler saw no people about. They were probably already down at the ocean. “I’ll wait for Abe,” she said.
“No hurry,” Nora told her. “We can all…”
Jack swatted her rump. “Let’s go,” he said.
The two of them started down a path along the low hillside, holding hands, Nora nodding as he spoke to her.
Tyler stepped to the front of the Mustang. She leaned against its hood, staring at the brown weeds and dusty path, very aware of Abe just behind her, probably watching her through the windshield as he changed into his trunks. She wondered why he hadn’t put them on at the motel, as Jack must’ve done. She heard the quiet clink of his belt buckle. The car moved slightly against her rump, probably in response to Abe rising and settling in the seat as he took down his pants. Thinking about that, she felt a quick stir of excitement that made her guilt worse.
I’m not betraying Dan, she told herself. It was decided before I knew. I can’t help how I feel. I can’t. I’m sorry.
Her hands went quickly down the front of her blouse, flicking open its buttons. She slipped the sleeves down her arms, and draped the blouse across the hood. The sun’s heat and the caressing breeze felt wonderful on her skin, and she could almost feel Abe gazing at her. She wondered if his trunks were on yet. Did the sight of her back, bare except for two thin cords, arouse him? She and Nora, after paying for their bikinis, had used the changing rooms to put them on. She almost wished, now, that she had left hers in its bag. She could’ve stripped naked here in the sunshine and the ocean breeze, with Abe watching in astonishment from the car. It seemed outlandish, but at the moment she felt capable of such actions. Giddy, maybe a little desperate. She could reach back, right now, and pluck the cords and let the top fall away and turn to face him.
He would think she’d gone mad.
Maybe I
Troubled by the urge to remove her top, she went ahead and opened her corduroys. She slid them down her legs, stepped out of them, placed them neatly on the hood without turning far enough to see Abe through the windshield. Then she leaned back again.
Abe was taking a very long time.
Maybe enjoying the show.
I ought to give him a
My God, what’s the matter with me?
Staring down at herself, she even wondered what had possessed her in the store. At home, she had a similar string bikini. She never wore it in public, only in the privacy of her enclosed sundeck. So why had she bought one just like it this morning? And why, even though it covered so little, did she have such a strong desire to pull it off and stand naked in front of Abe and…?
I
And it must have something to do with finding Dan that way. Something to do with fear and loneliness. Maybe more to do with the feel of the sun and the sea air and the slick fabric on her nipples and the taut press of it on her groin and knowing she was so very much alive like an insult to death.
The sound of the door opening interrupted her thoughts. She turned around and watched Abe step out of the car. He looked sleek and tanned. His boxer trunks were pale blue. He had a bundle of towels clamped under one arm. “That’s quite an outfit,” he said.
“Thanks. I like yours, too.”
He laughed. “Want to leave your clothes here?” He held out a hand. She gave him the blouse and pants. He put them in the car and locked up. He approached without looking at her. A troubled frown had replaced his smile.
“What is it?” Tyler asked.
He shifted the bundle to his right arm, took hold of her hand, and led her toward the path. “I didn’t go back to
