The sun was still high above the horizon, but had grown huge and orange when they packed up their equipment, stuck the bucket of crabs in the basket of Rory’s bicycle and headed back across the island. They rode directly to the Sea Shanty.
Shelly and Chloe were discussing what they should have for dinner when the crabs arrived, and they immediately got into the spirit, digging the crab steamer out from the dark recesses of the cupboards, filling it with water and putting it on to boil. They got out two sticks of butter, hammers, crackers and picks. Laughter filled the kitchen, along with easy chatter, and Daria had to admit to herself that she and Rory were no more than a couple of good friends, cleaning crabs together on a Saturday night
Dob Myerson handed Rory a bottle of beer and took a seat in the wicker chair. The trees outside Bob’s livingroom window dripped with pale, purply Spanish moss, and Rory’s gaze was drawn to them as he told the retired detective the reason for his visit.
“I think you’re going to be disappointed,” Bob said.
“Maybe,” Rory said.
“But I have to try. You were closer to that case than anyone else. I’ve read the police reports, but I’d like to hear it firsthand from you. What do you really think happened?”
The detective’s house was located deep in the woods of Colington Island. Although the island was only a few miles from Kill Devil Hills, Rory had gotten lost and was running late. He was supposed to meet Grace at Poll-Rory at six, and they were planning to go out to dinner with the Cato family. Even Zack was going, although that had taken some arm-twisting. Rory thought he’d be able to squeeze in this meeting with the detective first, but between getting lost and the man’s enthusiasm for discussing football, time was getting short.
The detective sighed.
“We didn’t uncover much, I’m afraid,” he said.
“There were a bunch of teenage girls in the area at that time, and every one of them, it seemed, pointed her finger at someone else. But we couldn’t subject anyone to a physical examination without more evidence to go on. So, if it was one of those girls, well, she got away with it.” He shrugged his thick shoulders, and Rory imagined the detective had been formidable in his college-football days, of which he’d already heard too much.
“But, to be honest,” Bob continued, “I don’t think it was any of them.” “Who do you think it was, then?”
Bob took a swallow of his beer and rested the bottle on his bare knee. “There were a couple of women who’d been reported missing around that time,” he said.
“One of them was from North Carolina, inland a ways, and the other from Virginia. Neither of them was ever found. My best guess is that one of them was Shelly Cato’s mother. The family of the North Carolina girl thought she might be pregnant, although they didn’t think she was that far along. What I think is that the girl was more pregnant than they figured, and she was despondent and scared. I think she delivered the baby right there on the beach sometime that night or early morning, then walked straight out in the ocean and drowned herself.”
“But wouldn’t her body have washed up, then?” Rory asked.
“Oh, you can’t really predict what the ocean’s going to do with a body.” Bob took another swallow of his beer.
“Where can I get information on the girls who were missing?” Rory asked.
“Their names should be in the police report.”
Rory vaguely remembered something about a missing girl or two. He would have to reread those reports.
Bob raised his now-empty bottle of beer in the air.
“Ready for another one?” he asked.
“No, thanks,” Rory stood up.
“I’d better be going. I’m meeting some people for dinner.”
Bob walked him to the door.
“You’re neighbors of the baby’s family, aren’t you?” he asked.
“The Catos?”
“That’s right. That’s who I’m having dinner with.”
“Well, tell that Supergirl Cato… what’s her name?”
“Daria.”
“Right. Tell her to get back to work. I’ve heard they miss her over at Emergency Services.”
“I’ll tell her,” Rory said, although he doubted he would. There was something Daria was not telling him about why she’d quit her EMT position. He’d sensed that each time she talked about it, and he figured she would not take kindly to anyone pressuring her to return to work.
Rory spotted the Catos on the crowded deck behind the sound side restaurant.
“There they are,” he said to Grace and Zack as they walked onto the deck.
Daria and Shelly sat at a large round table with a man and woman. The woman was Ellen, Rory figured, and the man was probably her husband.
Chloe was missing.
He waved, and Daria saw him and stood to wave back. The sound was behind her, still and slate-blue below the setting sun.
“You found us,” she said. She looked scrubbed clean and pretty, no makeup on her tanned face. She wore a sleeveless white dress, and her thick hair was pulled back in a ponytail. No sawdust in it tonight.
“Hi, everyone,” Rory said.
