“Thank you Jake, how did you know?” Sarah wiped her eyes and looked up at him.

“Really… Sarah?”

“Sorry, no offence intended. Your observation skills are truly unmatched.” She couldn’t help laughing at his indignant expression.

Without ceremony, Hunter said his goodbye’s and shut and locked the door behind them.

Dan took her hand pulling her into him. “I’m sorry I didn’t even think about how this might affect you.”

“Don’t be sorry. Most women, if their lucky, have only one man truly love them in their lifetime. I have you again and I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

The flight back to the coast was quiet and uneventful, each in their private thoughts. Hers were reflective of her life with Greg and the happiness they had shared. Greg had loved her and in a way was still watching over her through the very men he had depended on to watch his back. These men whom had cared for Greg like a brother had accepted her and her relationship with Dan. They made no judgments against either one of them, they just stepped up… for Greg. Tears slid down her cheeks again.

Dan noticed but said nothing. She had a right to her memories, to her loyalty to Greg. He loved her and he knew she loved him but was it enough to withstand this larger than life ghost of a man that she could still depend on through his friends and brothers?

“I loved Greg, I’ll never deny it. Having said that I want to say something about you and me.”

Dan waited, not knowing what to expect.

“You are the reason I came back to Seaside, even though I had no way of knowing if you were married, in love or if you had forgotten about me. You, Dan are the reason I feel again. You are the reason I hope again and you are the only reason I love again.”

 

Dan took her hand and held it to his lips for a moment. “Forget you? That’s not possible. I love you Sarah, I always have.”

Sarah woke to find Dan was not beside her. She found him outside at the telescope. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, I just couldn’t sleep. Why are you awake?”

“I reached for you and you weren’t there.” Sarah had deliberately put on one of Dan’s t-shirts before going out to find him. She walked over to where he was sitting and sat in his lap with her arm around his neck.

Dan had wanted to make love to her when they got home but he didn’t want her to feel obligated to prove she loved him, he wanted her to make the first move.

Sarah nuzzled his neck using her tongue to get his attention. She squirmed lightly in his lap as he kissed her. Dan slid his hand under her t-shirt and she shivered as he stroked her bare skin.

Her breathing was ragged as she stood up pulling him to his feet, unzipping his jeans; she slid her hands over him freeing him. Sarah pushed him back into the chair, pulled his t-shirt over her head, and straddled him.

Hours seemed like minutes and night slipped into day and Dan no longer doubted her commitment to him. Sarah loved him; she was a part of him, one with him. Yet, Dan couldn’t help but feel Sarah was holding something back. A part of her he couldn’t touch, he couldn’t reach. He was willing to wait. She was worth waiting for. Maybe someday she would be ready to share all of who she was with him.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 30

THE SET-UP

Three days later Hunter called. “Meet me at the Dojo, everything’s set up”

“He doesn’t like to waste words, does he?” Sarah mused after Dan told her what he’d said.

“Nope, he sure doesn’t. Come on we have a break-in, to stage.”

Sarah drove them to the small airport while Dan made several calls, using the disposable phones he’d paid cash for.

Fritz and the others at his agency as well as Hunter and his team were not taking chances. Anyone could remotely activate the microphone of a mobile phone whether the phone was in use or not. Eavesdropping into lives and homes are a given with cell phones, which is why their personal cells went without the batteries as well, out of habit.

The cartel was certainly savvy enough to employ the world tracker technique using the cell phone towers and GPS systems to pinpoint anyone, anywhere who has their phone on them if the battery is in the cell.

Everyone was in place and briefed in their assigned role.

Dan flew as he and Sarah ran through the plan pointing out every conceivable backfire and a contingency strategy to rectify it. By the time they reached the Dojo, the parking lot was empty and Hunter was at the door waiting to let them in.

The files were prepared and appeared to be identical to the filing system Doc had used at the Falcons. Discs had been altered and filed in marked sleeves, as were the ones Doc had prepared. The one thing Hunters team had not altered or shown to Morrison were the flash drives from Rader’s condo. The flash drives were nothing but daily life with Rader and his girlfriend. Hell, from what he saw, Rader had no idea what he was taking; he just did whatever Doc told him to do. The poor guy simply trusted Doc like most twenty-three year olds would.

Hunter had made duplicates of the flash drives and would plant them with the phony records for the Mexicans to find. Once the cartel had the records, they would most likely be back in Sonora thinking they had won. Neither they nor Morrison would ever know or care what happened to the two from the black Escalade.

It would take a great deal of time, money and investigating around the world for the cartel to finally unravel the elaborate web they had weaved since they took their two men down. The last three days were spent establishing worldwide connections, a trail of proof to spur them on and keep them tied up indefinitely.

First and foremost, Hunter backed his team and the first two Mexicans were never going to surface.

It didn’t take long for the three Mexicans to take the bait and break-in just as it had been planned. Dan reported the break-in as pre-arranged and filed his reports with the police. The police wanted to know if Dan had a security system installed and he assured them he did. Together they discovered the security override of a highly technical nature as Dan preformed his rehearsed act for the cops.

Dan proposed the possibility that one of his clients wealthy spouses must have broken in to steal incriminating evidence in a divorce settlement. This scenario was then leaked to the press as an added bonus to add to the files and discs the cartel took back to Sonora with them.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 31

THE PRODUCT

The caretaker was running out of product, authorized cremations were far and few between. Duplicity hadn’t arranged another drop since the night the PI and the woman had flown over the ship taking photos. Even though Mr. Jackman had them both checked out to the point of breaking into the PI’s beach house and lifting his files.

Morrison’s agency in Portland was heavily secured and their man had reported unusual activity in and around the agency so they simply watched and waited. The investigation had turned up nothing to lead them to believe the PI was on a case involving any of the pedophiles they had neutralized at the rock or anywhere else.

Still, the caretaker was in need of product and he had thought long and hard about the possibilities available to him. He was in a situation with three possible outcomes and he needed to make a decision soon because his future was at stake.

First he could chose to continue as the caretaker always living his life between the rock and the few times he was able to break away to enjoy his pursuits. Pursuits like travel, theater and fine wines shared time to time with women he would meet along the way.

Being the caretaker had its rewards. He knew he was contributing to make the world a better place for children to grow up in. Every filthy pedophile removed from this earth was a blessing in his mind and he felt privileged to be the hand that put them down.

His work was his own personal therapy helping to ease if not erase the black memories of his own childhood at the hands of a mother that used him like a checkbook to pay all those men for her crack habit.

Second, he could resign as the caretaker, simply walk away from his responsibilities and live out his life in a middle-class way. The money he had established in his offshore accounts could last if he lived modestly, he was still young enough though that his current cash flow would eventually have to be supplemented to survive old age.

Third, he could spend the next few years doing his good works as the caretaker and… as a freelancer, building his retirement and ridding the world of a few other monsters and leeches that suck the life out of society in general.

Travel, fine wines and beautiful women like the photojournalist who visited the rock do not come cheap. They are never part of a modest middle-class lifestyle. He was not meant to live a modest middle-class life. The very life he lived as the caretaker raised his status, his value in this world to his way of thinking.

Really, what choice was there for him to make? He’d known it all along, he had simply needed to weigh his options for his own peace of mind. Deep down, he’d known it the moment he’d read the front page of the Seaside Signal the night before.

An early morning raid by the Seaside Police Department busted a methamphetamine ring the SPD had been investigating for months. Along with four people of interest in the case, three children under the age of five were taken into care by Protective Services.

The article had gone on to discuss the war on drugs and the fine job law enforcement was doing to combat the ever-growing problem within our country and at our borders.

Bull shit! John thought. I’ll bet those kids have been used in ways no one will ever know about or ever bother to find out. John fumed at the way the article dismissed the kids as if they were nothing more than additional paraphernalia confiscated at the meth house.

In fact, he was pretty sure the mother would get them back if she could pass a piss test three months in a row. He knew how the judges were, determined to keep the family intact even if it meant some kids didn’t make it. There was no culpability for a judge that makes a call that destroys a child. Maybe there should be…hell yes, there should be.

John needed to calm down, he hated feeling out of control and the article had him feeling out of control. His role as the caretaker gave him the control he craved. The caretaker controlled life and death…and HE ALWAYS controlled their deaths!

John couldn’t stay on the rock another moment his frustration over the article that had triggered memories of his childhood left him edgy and angry. He would get off the rock for a couple of days. His associates could reach him by phone if they needed to.

John sped around the curves of the coastal highway, he was headed to Lincoln City first then on to Brandon to play one of the top championship courses. Modest middle-class people didn’t play championship golf courses.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 32

RAGE

The next weekend, Sarah dressed for dinner out while Dan was at his beach house. No fingerprints were found in or around the house and the man that had stolen his files vanished in the fog that night.

Fritz had crosschecked the files from the Portland office and none of it made any sense to Dan or Hunters team. The stolen files were across the board alphabetically with no lead to the target file. The cartel probably thought they were being covert and that Dan had no idea they had ordered the hit on Doc and his wife.

Tonight was not the night to sort it out. Tonight was a night to breathe easier and to enjoy an evening without threat.

The Partee Room was wonderful as usual. They sipped their mixed drinks and watched late evening duffers on the course. Men in parrot colored pants and shirts played at dusk while their wives probably scrap-booked or sipped wine with one another.

Their steaks were ordered rare and came perfect to the table. Sarah had Dan’s full attention, no searching the faces of other dinner guests tonight. No holed-up behind her security system, it was great. They had just ordered coffee when Josh and Melinda came to their table.

“Hey you two, we haven’t seen you in quite a while? What’s been going on?”

“Josh.” Dan stuck his hand out to shake Josh’s. “Sit down, have you eaten yet?”

“Yes, we ate earlier; we’re here for a drink before we go home to free the babysitter.” Melinda sat by the window over the first tee, Josh sat across from Dan. “We just saw that new film, the one with all, the old action hero’s. It was great except you could almost smell the Ben-gay and Viagra in the theater.” Josh laughed at his own joke while Melinda rolled her eyes.

“Well?” Melinda looked meaningfully at Sarah.

Sarah smiled innocently. “Well, what?”

“Where have you two been or should I ask what have you two been doing?”

Deep crimson flushed Sarah’s face because she didn’t expect Melinda to be so direct. Plus the memory of her and Dan on the deck a few nights back flashed through her mind.

Dan averted his eyes and smiled around the rim of the coffee cup he drank from, the other two laughed out right. Sarah was mortified and she had a horrifying thought, what if they had a telescope and a view of her deck?

The rest of the evening was spent talking about Sarah’s work project or the tourists that frequented the beach sports shop.

“Why don’t you come to the sand-sail race we’re sponsoring next weekend? I’ll bet you’ll get some great shots for your book.”

“I’ll take the photographs but I don’t have the final pick on which photos are in the book.”

“No problem, come anyway,” Melinda coaxed.

“There’s a lot going on in the area what with the sand-sail races and the sandcastle building in Cannon Beach at the end of the month. I’m going to have enough photos for two or three books.”

The evening ended when Melinda got a call from their sitter. Dan paid the check and they walked out into the cool night with a soft mist falling around them.

“My house or yours, where would you like to stay tonight?” Dan asked as he backed out of the parking spot in front of the golf course.

“Well if we stay at my house we won’t be repeating the deck scene from the other night, I can assure you.”

Dan tried not to laugh but he knew that was why she had turned bright red when Melinda had asked what they had been up to.

“It’s not funny!”

“You’re right, it’s not funny.”

“Stop laughing! I’m so embarrassed.”

“Sarah, how could they know about the other night?”

“How did I know about the break in at your house while it was happening?”

“I see your point but they do live along the beach not up on the cliff like you. I doubt they can see the top deck even with a telescope and if they did, they’re just jealous.”

“You’re not helping.”

Morning found them snuggled deep in the down comforter. Sarah rose first and made fresh coffee. She was going to drink hers on the deck but rain kept her inside so she took a huge mug back to Dan’s bed for him along with a copy of the Signal.

The Bureau of Tourism has reported a decline in complaints regarding panhandling in Seaside recently. The paper went on to report on the apparent decline in homeless people taking advantage of the local shelter as of late and to whether the homeless moved on or became employed. Panhandling was always a problem in a tourist area.

Even vacationing college kids on break would panhandle in Seaside, hoping to drum-up enough change to buy the next beer. Most tourists expected the panhandlers to hound them, others reported them and apparently the cops were cracking down on the practice.

The smoke from the furnace in Terrible Tilly had dispersed by morning light, a few more hours of cooling, sifting and packaging and the caretaker would have a new shipment of food grade minerals to send to Mexico.

Last night had not been a mistake, the caretaker had done the job he was meant to do. Rape is EXACTLY why their mission exists.

He’d been very selective regarding the homeless, choosing only those he had personally seen as abusive to the others. Volunteering on occasion and helping out at the shelter had given him an insight into the nature of some of the local homeless people. Some simple fell on hard times. Some had given up period but a few were angry at the world and were going to make others pay, and they did.

Last night though had been unexpected. Happening on those two, little bastards on the beach like that was foreordained, it had to be. The girl was down, face down, in the sand and drunk, anyone could tell she was drunk. She’d probably wandered away from her friends and passed out on the beach.

One was still unzipped and trying to tuck his shirt in while the other had just finished having a turn at the girl. Both were laughing and joking about having the best summer break. They didn’t even acknowledge the girl. They viewed her as just another shot of Tequila in their wild escapade at the beach.

He hated them, hated what they were. Those kinds of animals always took and never cared what they left behind, broken and sometimes damaged beyond repair, people. People, whom might have excelled in this world, often become that which took from them, abusers themselves.

John followed the two. They were laughing and staggering down the beach, planning to meet up with their other friends back at the cheap motel they all shared, like cockroaches. He waited until they had exited the beach access and was close to his car. John used the remote to open the trunk of his car, the guys jumped when the trunk popped open beside them.

“What the hell, man.” One said as the other laughed and pointed at him.

“You were scared shitless, you wimp.”

Both were laughing and shoving each other as John stepped to the rear of his car.

“Dude, where’d you come from?” The taller one asked John.

“Hell.” John answered as he tasered one after the other and dumped them in the trunk.

He’d lost it, he knew that he had, the control he thought he had mastered. The two were strapped to the gurneys; eyes bugging out, the adrenaline had burned the alcohol from their system. They gasped air, dragging it in around the rags stuffed in their mouths as they sobbed and railed against the restraints.

The caretaker had not bothered to set up the mirrors he was so fond of. Why should he when they would clearly be able to watch what was happening to the other. He had cranked the head of the gurneys and faced them about ten feet apart as he set the stage in the lighthouse. All of his instruments were laid out on rolling carts and ready for use. The tubes had been attached and led to the drains… he was ready.

“Shhh… shhh…” he quieted them, something he never did. This was different though, this time he had seen what they had done. He had seen first-hand what a waste they were and he was unswerving. “I need you to be very quiet,” he nearly whispered to them.

The tall one railed harder against his restraints, bellowing behind the gag with rage. The caretaker took no offence, he knew how to get his attention and he was going to enjoy it he thought as he took a long scalpel from the tray and walked to the gurney.

“I told you to be quiet.” He spoke calmly never raising his voice. “You don’t listen; you don’t follow the rules now things are going to be more difficult…for you.” The caretaker held the scalpel inches from the face of his subject as he spoke.

Cutting the pants off the tall one as he struggled had left a few bleeding cuts and gouges on his pelvis and legs but that was to be expected, at least he had his full attention now. “Next time I tell you to be still I bet you will won’t you?”

“Please, please.” The words gurgled around the gag of the tall one.

“Please, please. Please don’t, please stop,” John mocked! “How many times have you two heard that, would you estimate? Please, enlighten me because I’ve seen only the one rape, on the beach tonight.”

The shorter one quietly cried while the taller one raised his head to look at the blood running down his legs. They looked at each other. Sheer terror resonated through that look as they both turned to look at the caretaker.

The caretaker turned to the shorter one. “If you’re calm you won’t bleed when I cut your pants off.”

The shorter one whimpered as John walked to him and cut the front of his cut-offs free, exposing his genitals like he had done to the other guy. “See, not a single nick… let’s get started, shall we?”

Seaside was buzzing. A college girl been had raped on the beach with at least two DNA samples present from the rape kit and two college guys were missing. The police were certainly suspicious of the implications. The girl admitted to being drunk. She knew she had gone to the beach but the rest was just bits and pieces she was unsure of.

When she woke on the beach, her clothes were torn away and she was bruised and battered. She had used her cell phone to call one of her friends to come and help her. The friend convinced her to go to the hospital and that’s when the police got involved.

Now two young men from OSU were missing and their parents were in Seaside nailing up posters all over town. Lawyers for the parents of the missing men advised the parents not to submit anything that may contain a DNA sample to the police. Even a DNA sample from the parents could link their sons to the rape of the girl. The parents of course swore their sons would never be party to a rape and that their sons were victims not rapists.

The detectives on the squad spent their time going door to door canvassing the entirety of Seaside because no one remembered seeing the two men after they walked out of one of the pubs off the promenade, just as no one saw the girl or the rape.

Smiling faces of the two clean-cut looking college men stared out at the passersby from nearly every business and light pole. Businesses were afraid to take them down for fear of losing summer trade.

However, everyone was suspicious of the parent’s refusal to submit DNA. The rape victim was long gone. Her parents had come to take her back to her home in Eastern Oregon, where she would endure years of therapy and berate herself for allowing herself to become a victim of rape. Because that’s what so many rape victims did, they unjustly blamed themselves for the despicable actions of others.

Two weeks into the disappearance of the two men, the parents of one of them came into Morrison’s Portland office and asked for him directly. Dan happened to be in the office that week and indeed met with them.

“Please, have a seat, Mr. and Mrs. Richards. I’m very sorry to meet under these circumstances. Have you heard anything new?”

“No, that’s why we’re here, Mr. Morrison. We hoped you would be able to help us. The police seem less than eager to pursue any real investigation and our son is missing, he is the victim here.” Mrs. Richardson spoke while Mr. Richardson stared at his hands.

“Mrs. Richardson, I know your scared and I can’t even imagine being in your shoes with a missing child. Having said that I must ask you why you chose not to clear your son’s name in the rape of that girl?”

Dan watched Mr. Richardson’s reaction to his question. Mr. Richardson was not indignant he was… anguished.

“You mean, why didn’t we give the police DNA samples?”

“Yes, Mrs. Richardson. Why didn’t you just give the samples?”

Mrs. Richardson simply stared at Dan; it was her husband that finally whispered. “Because, we can’t be sure he didn’t rape that girl.” Tears streamed down his face and Mrs. Richardson was slowly shaking her head in defiance of what she knew to be true.

“I need to know where my son is. Can you understand that Mr. Morrison?” Mrs. Richardson raised her chin, as she looked Dan in the eye.

“Yes, I can, but you need to understand something about me. If I investigate this case and it leads me to your son and if I find out that he raped that girl, I will turn him in.”

“I need to know where my son is, if he could, he would have contacted us. I need… we need to know, even if …he’s dead.”

“I’ll investigate for you. I’ll do everything I can to find your son for you.”

The next hour was spent gathering all the information he could from the parents. Dan had lists of Mark Richardson’s friends, his professors, enemies, girlfriends and ex’s. Dan especially wanted information on Allan Wood. Woody, as he was known by his friends.

Mark and Woody drank together, they partied and vacationed together and they may have raped together. One thing was for sure, they disappeared together.

Later, when Dan had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Richardson alone he intended to find out all he could about Mark’s apparently aggressive side toward women. Mrs. Richardson, he feared may be one of those mothers who cover for their son’s regardless of how despicable the son may be.

Dan returned to Seaside and stopped in at the cop shop to talk to Zane or Billy about the Richardson case. Billy was in an interview room with a local small-time pusher. He was interrogating the little creep hoping to find a lead in the disappearance of the two men. Some of the other kids from OSU suggested the two often enjoyed a little recreational use of an assortment of drugs.

“Did he see the guys, Zane?”

“You know I can’t answer that, Dan.” Zane spoke the right words while his head bobbed yes, once.

Dan knew this little low life dealer may at least give him something to work on, a direction to head in, here in Seaside where they went missing.

He wanted to work the case here before he left to interview some of Mark Richardson’s friends and most definitely his ex-girlfriends. Ex’s often dramatized poor behavior in a relationship but Dan wanted to find out if the guy had gotten rough or even raped a date. He’d start with phone calls and if he found anything promising he would meet with them in person.

First though, he’d catch up with the dealer when Billy was done with him.

“What’s the guy’s name?” Dan asked Zane.

“Pete, his name is Pete Houser. He lives on Tenth Street in that little tenant dump.”

Pete didn’t head towards Tenth when he left the Police Station, he headed toward the promenade and the pub he frequented. He needed to make a few bucks and he always made a few bucks at the pub.

Dan had left the station before Billy had finished with Pete so tailing his sorry little ass was no big deal. How did this guy get away with anything? Billy must leave him out of jail so he can get information from time to time on more critical issues.

Dan sat in the back booth and watched. It didn’t take five minutes before some guy approached Pete. They didn’t even go to the men’s room to make the exchange. Dan used his cell phone to video the drug sale.

The bartender was busy cleaning and prepping so he saw nothing, probably by choice anyway. Dan slid out of the booth and made his way to the bar. “I’ll take a Bud on tap please.”

The bartender nodded and got a glass out of the freezer and filled it. Dan handed him a five and waved off the change.

“Buy you a beer?” Dan offered Pete as he turned back toward his booth.

“Sure but that ain’t part of the payment for anything I got.”

“No problem.” Dan turned to the bartender. “Another beer please,” he requested as he set another five on the bar. Dan picked up Pete’s beer and took it to his booth with Pete following along after him. They sat and Pete took a drink.

“What are you looking for? Cause I can get it.”

Dan pulled out his cell and showed the deal he had just videoed to Pete.

“Damn, man, I just left the cops.” Pete was squirming and whined like a five year old caught lifting a candy bar.

“Relax, I don’t want you arrested, I want some answers to my questions.”

“Who are you? I’ve seen you with the cops before but you ain’t one of em?”

Dan ignored his question and put a photo of Mark Richardson on the table in front of Pete. “What did he buy off of you?”

Pete looked at the photo and shoved it back across the table. “Nothing, he bought nothing… it was the other guy. The short one, he bought some weed that’s all, just some weed.”

“Thank you Pete. Now if you answer truthfully on this next question I’ll erase the video right in front of you.” Dan slid the photo of the girl to Pete’s side of the table. “What happened to her?”

“I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me, no! I’m a lot of things but I ain’t no rapist!”

“I believe you Pete. Really, I do, but I also believe you know something about it and you need to tell me, now.”

“Look all I saw was the two guys on the beach with the girl. She was wasted, I mean on the ground out of it. She didn’t even know they were on her like that.”

“You saw the rape?”

Pete nodded his head once and looked up at Dan.

“You watched those guys rape that girl?” Dan wanted to spit in his face and kick his teeth down his throat.

“Yea, I saw.”

Dan was incredulous. This pig didn’t even grasp what a piece of garbage he was. Pete had had the opportunity to stop the rape and did nothing but watch. It took all that Dan had to control his voice, to act friendly. “Then what did they do, Pete?”

“They walked down the beach toward the head.”

“Toward Tillamook Head?”

“Yea, now erase it, you said you would.” Pete looked at Dan like he’d been a model citizen answering all his questions.

“One more question first. Did anyone else see that girl get raped that night?”

“I don’t know if he saw or not but some guy appeared out of nowhere walking the same way those guys left. That’s it, no more questions, erase it now!”

“Listen up you piece of crap, you’ll answer any question I have now or later because erasing this video won’t save you from me smashing your stupid face in, got it!” Dan was off his seat and leaning across the table, hissing into Pete’s punk- assed face.

“Got it, geez, back off, what’s your problem?” Pete knew the guy wanted to hit him, he could feel it.

Before Dan sat back down, he whispered, “you’re going to tell me what the guy looked like and then you’re going to tell me how you’re any different from the two sons-of-bitches that raped that girl.”

In the end, the description Pete gave of the man on the beach was as generic as it gets. Even if Pete’s description had been remotely distinct, the guy was probably a tourist that was long gone. Either way Dan’s options were a long shot but he would try anyway.

A meeting had to be set up with Mr. Richardson. Dan had to tell him the truth whether he’d believe it or not. He knew deep down Mr. Richardson already knew what his son was.

Dan had always wanted a child until something like this happened. He couldn’t imagine what would be worse, having a missing child or fathering a rapist.

Billy and Zane didn’t think Pete would be a very credible witness in a case against the two men in a rape trial but his story gave them probable cause to request a search warrant from the prosecutor in the jurisdiction of OSU’s campus.

The search provided plenty of DNA samples to test against the rape kit samples.

Billy also got a search warrant for Pete’s DNA as well so they could exclude him or bury him if he was guilty of raping that girl after the two missing men had.

Photos of the missing men disappeared from storefronts and telephone poles as soon as the local prosecutor announced DNA testing confirmed the two had indeed raped the college student on the beach the night they went missing.

Frankly, no one cared anymore if they were found let alone found dead, no one except their parents of course. Dan had run newspaper, radio and television ads, billed to Mark’s parents searching for any information leading to the phantom man on the beach that night. Nothing surfaced, not even when both sets of parents offered a reward leading to the whereabouts of their sons.

Dan had interviewed family and friends of Mark Richardson as well as professors and co-workers. The rape of the young woman on the beach was not a once in a lifetime grievous mistake. Mark Richardson had a history of violence against females in general, including his own mother. It seems he sent his mother to the hospital with a broken arm when he was fifteen. The mother swore it had been an accident of falling down the staircase but relatives believed otherwise.

Most of their relatives avoided that branch of the family because their daughters had reported abusive behavior including Mark grabbing at their breasts when he got angry.

One father proudly admitted to punching Mark in the mouth when Mark was seventeen, for grabbing his daughter. That was the last time they had ever seen Mark or his parents.

What made Dan sick was the fact that Mrs. Richardson knew damn well, what her son was and continued to cover for him at the expense of every female he came in contact with. Dan didn’t pretend to know to what lengths a parent would go to protect their child in a case like this. He did know he would not have ignored the psychological damage Mark Richardson had exhibited from an early age on.

•

The caretaker had watched every news story, had read the coverage in the newspapers and listened to the radio, nowhere did any of them even come close to describing him. He was relieved and grateful enough and would be wise enough to never lose control like that again.

The rape and sodomy of the girl on the beach had triggered a rage in him that he thought had been buried long ago. He couldn’t ever let go like that again but strangely enough the rage he had felt burned out the moment those two rapists were ash.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 33

SANDCASTLES

Summer in Seaside resumed for the new batch of tourists and the locals. The sandcastle contest in Cannon Beach was gearing up and tourists poured into the tiny little town.

The guest judges were a collection of artists and celebrity personalities. Most judges were part-time locals with summerhouses at the beach. The most notable judge serving was a seventy-something, most famous for her reoccurring role on a daytime drama.

Previous judges that had served were Adam West, Dallas McKennon and Tab Hunter along with a smattering of lesser-known film and TV stars that had frequently visited the area through the years.

Film crews were back or maybe they had never left since the two rapists had disappeared. Most everyone assumed they had run and gone into hiding, regardless, that story was history and the local businesses were grateful.

Getting into a restaurant was impossible without a long wait. Coffee and pastry at the bakery, forget it, Sarah drank coffee at home. Dan’s bubba keg was not welcome anywhere for refills because his refills took the whole pot.

Walking the beach and promenade was an, at your own risk, venture because the crowds were everywhere and children were wild on their skateboards and rollerblades.

Josh and Melinda were beside themselves with sales and rentals of beach crafts and bicycles. Couples on tandem bicycles rode along the bike trail adjacent to the promenade.

Seaside and Cannon Beach were raking in their year’s worth of money off the summer trade business, before school started the day after Labor Day. The rest of the year would be mostly mediocre sales from the locals and conventions that came to the coast.

Sarah no longer took the tram to the beach during this busy time. The last time she did she came back to find the beach patrol pulling six teenaged boys off the top of the tram. Apparently they thought it was a beach ride and got bored waiting for the operator to return. Later the same six kids were seen base-jumping off the highest point of Tillamook Head. Bets were being taken on whether or not they would make it through the week alive.

Dan had wrapped up a few pending cases and had been in Portland for a while which was good because Sarah was able to write the text on the majority of the book while he was gone.

They planned to drive to Cannon Beach for the sandcastle contest. The judging wasn’t going to happen for a couple of days but the contestants were there in droves setting their stage and cording off protected areas for their artistry to begin.

Sarah suggested they check with Josh and Melinda to see if they could rent scooters or motorcycles because parking in Cannon Beach would be impossible at best with a car. Josh told Dan his stock was rented out with a waiting list as long as his arm but they could borrow his personal motorcycle for the day.

The fifteen-mile ride down the coast would have taken an hour if they had not been able to weave through traffic on the bike. Parking was easy because it could be parked nearly anywhere and they were able to get close to the beach and close to Haystack Rock.

They didn’t even try to go into any of the shops or restaurants even though Dan wanted a coffee. The wait would have been ridiculous. The beach was crowded but that was part of the draw. Watching people interact, watching parents run after kids and watching the artists was highly entertaining.

A commotion was erupting on the beach, north of the corded off area where the first of the sandcastles were being formed. Horses from the rental stables had left the designated trail and their riders were attempting to ride through the sandcastle building area. Sure enough, the riders were the same six teens that had climbed Sarah’s tram. The same six that had base jumped from Tillamook Head and now, the six that were on foot because the beach patrol and the police took the horses and sent them back to the stables with the trail guide. Sarah and Dan could see the police giving the teens what appeared to be a stern warning and the commotion was over.

Venders on the beach did a brisk business selling food and drinks. One vender had a pump-up canister and was selling sunscreen at fifty cents a squirt. Dan waved him off when he approached them. He did buy a couple of diet cokes that they sipped as they admired the beginnings of some awesome sandcastles.

The dragon slayer standing on top of the slain dragon was Sarah’s personal favorite. Though she noticed mermaids seemed to be Dan’s preference. It was amazing how quickly the artists formed the bases of their art and then came back in to build-up the finer points of their designs.

The day went quickly yet the crowd on the beach never seemed to thin out until late afternoon. Around three-thirty Sarah asked Dan if he wanted to try and get a table in a restaurant. Dan flipped his phone open and called the restaurant with a perfect view of Haystack Rock.

“They’ll hold a table for us for ten minutes so we need to hurry.” They walked into the restaurant with a couple of minutes to spare.

The table was front row center of the view of Haystack with the sandcastle competition spread before them. The waitress warned them that service would be slow as they were getting ready for the onslaught of dinner guests to start in about an hour.

“No problem, we need the break.” Dan smiled appreciatively at the woman as she scribbled on her order pad while Dan ordered a draft after Sarah ordered one for herself, along with a plate of calamari, which was always great here. Once their dinner orders were taken they settled back to enjoy the scene on the beach.

The funny thing about Haystack was the rock was so huge around, complete with a cave at its base that when the tide was out people could climb completely around the base to the ocean side. However, when the tide was in and people were on the ocean side of the rock they could be swept off the rock by the pounding surf.

Those who chose to illegally climb Haystack usually do so from the ocean side because they can’t be seen trying to get to the top before being caught by the police or the Coast Guard.

The bird sanctuary on top of the rock was completely covered in seagull waste causing the rock to be extremely slippery and nearly impossible to maintain a hand or foothold.

So naturally, here during the sandcastle contest the Coast Guard had to be called to rescue the same obnoxious six teenage boys as they clung to the side of Haystack two-thirds of the way up.

News crews filmed as rescue plucked them one by one from their perches and deposited them into the hands of waiting police where they were cuffed and placed in the rear of squad cars on the beach.

Sarah and Dan had front row seats for the entire dinner show and weren’t surprised to see what looked like some of the boy’s parents arguing with the police. Apparently, one father annoyed an officer to the point that the cop cuffed him as well and sent him along with his son to lock up. The film crews got that too.

“You know, those kids antics are the perfect infomercial for birth control use,” Dan noted.

“Maybe even abstinence,” Sarah suggested as she sipped her beer. Dan nodded. The crowd on the beach applauded as the police drove away with the teens and a father in the squad cars.

After dinner, they strolled down the length of the sandcastle area admiring the entries and the incredible jaw-dropping sunset. The ride back to Sarah’s house was a little breezy with a mist falling but it was all good.

The day had been exceptional except for the fact that Sarah had deliberately not brought her camera equipment because they were on the bike and she had no way of keeping it safe.

The photos of the helicopter rescue would have been fantastic but the Historical Society wouldn’t have wanted to have photos of tourist being cuffed and hauled off, in their book. Still, she would have liked to have had the photos for herself.

After a shower, Sarah snuggled up to Dan on the sofa and closed her eyes.

“You weren’t really serious about that abstinence thing were you?” Dan’s voice was hopeful.

Sarah opened her eyes and leaned across him. “I think I can chance it. Besides, no child of ours would ever act like that.”

Dan leaned down to kiss her. He didn’t know what to think of her statement. “We should probably spend a great deal of time practicing first though.”

“I thought we had been but if you need more practice I can arrange it.” Sarah got up and pulled him to his feet. “Come on, I’ll give you a full body massage you’ll never forget.”

•

The next morning Dan dropped Sarah as close to the beach as he could before he drove to find a parking spot. She had her equipment with her and it was cumbersome but she was fine as she readjusted the straps over her shoulder.

“Here, let me help.”

Sarah jumped when the man first spoke, as he took some of the equipment from her arm. It took only a second before Sarah remembered his name. “John, thanks, how have you been?”

John smiled he had forgotten how truly lovely she was. “Good, looks like you’re here for more book entries.” John held up the hand-full of straps he had relieved her of.

“Yes but I sure missed an opportunity yesterday.”

“How’s that?” He inquired.

“Six kids tried to climb the rock and had to get rescued. Dan and I were watching from the restaurant but I didn’t have my equipment.”

“Dan, is he here with you today?”

“Yes actually, if he can find parking that isn’t all the way back in Seaside.”

John was disappointed. He would have liked to spend some time with this woman without that damn PI tagging along. He knew the two dated each other but they weren’t married. She should know there were other options even in a small town like Seaside. “Where would you like to start?”

“Really, are you sure?”

John turned on his heel. “Come on Sarah, I’m your caddy today.” He couldn’t look at her without wanting to touch her. Forty-five minutes passed while he admired Sarah as she worked.

It took that long for Dan to make it back from parking the car and he was surprised to see John acting as Sarah’s pack mule; that was his job. “John, how’s it going?” Dan held his hand out for John to shake.

“I can’t complain, you doing ok?” John shook his hand; he was good at small talk.

Sarah was shooting a photo of JAWS coming out of the sand complete with a leg in its mouth and hadn’t even noticed that Dan was back. Dan wasn’t offended Sarah was focused on her work. The men watched her work for a few minutes. She engaged everyone around her because she had a way about her that naturally drew people in and made them feel important.

Dan did notice the way John watched Sarah and he knew what that meant. John would like a shot at her which meant Dan may have to take a shot at him. Actually, Dan was proud of Sarah and the fact that men were jealous of him.

The crowd’s favorite castle turned out to be an actual castle with Excalibur protruding from a sand rock at its base. It was huge and very ornate, Sarah noticed, as she shot it from numerous angles.

When she finished shooting, she saw Dan watching John watch her and it amused her just a bit because honestly, why Dan would be intimidated was beyond her.

John was attractive, slightly younger than Dan and probably younger than her but there was something off-putting about him, that she couldn’t quite figure out. It didn’t make any difference because she had no romantic interest in John, she simply appreciated his help.

“Hi,” she smiled up at Dan, “is the car in the next county?”

“Not quite, I found Mike and Cindy on the way back and I got sidetracked.”

Only an idiot would get sidetracked from a woman like Sarah, John thought. John smiled at Dan as he took the camera back from Sarah and replaced the lens cap. John wished he’d get sidetracked for the rest of the day.

Dan had offered to take over for John but John seemed pretty determined to hang in there throughout the rest of the afternoon. By late afternoon, Sarah could see that Dan was getting restless so she asked him if he wanted to call it a day, she had so many photos anyway. He did and the drive back to Seaside would take an hour or so, on top of the hike to the car.

Sarah thanked John for all his help and she truly meant it as she shook his hand while they said their goodbyes. Conversation on the ride back to Seaside had turned to John. “You can’t be serious. John is harmless I think he’s lonely being trapped at the lighthouse for days at a time.”

“Oh he’s lonely alright. He’s looking for companionship, why do you think he followed you around all day?”

“Dan, he was being nice, that’s all.”

“Was he being nice when he was staring at your butt while you took photos?”

“Your jealous, why are you jealous?”

“Get real, I’m not jealous. I just think you need to be careful of who you’re nice to. I’ll bet he thinks he’s got a chance with you, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Hey I doubt we’ll run into him for a while anyway but if we do I’ll let you be friendly to him.”

“Why do I have to be friendly to him?”

“There’s no pleasing you, is there?” Sarah was laughing, as she took her shoes off and rubbed her feet.

“I’ll give you a massage when we get home.” Dan offered genially.

John didn’t go to the lighthouse that night. He wondered if they were sleeping together. Of course they were sleeping together unless the PI was gay. It didn’t matter, he’d learned long ago, nothing lasts forever.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 34

THE ROCK

Jackman had spent a great deal of time investigating Morrison and the woman. Nothing pointed to any interest in Duplicity or the lighthouse. Morrison’s files were directly related to sports figures mostly for the Falcons with an occasional look into some other pro-sports stars background.

Divorces were also a sizable part of Morrison’s investigations. The rich trying to screw the rich out of half the assets. In none of the stolen files did he come across a single name of anyone that had been aboard Duplicity or the rock. Mr. Jackman felt it was time to resume business as usual. He put a call in to John.

“I’ll be ready Mr. Jackman.”

A week would give John a bit of a break and he needed it. Mr. Jackman wouldn’t be bringing Duplicity back if he had any idea of his recent…lapse in judgment. John was lucky and he knew it. A week gave him the time he needed to arrange another chance meeting with Sarah. Maybe next time the PI would be busy somewhere else. Maybe he could see to it that the PI was busy somewhere else.

•

The proofs were ready for a preliminary viewing and Sarah had a meeting with the Historical Society at 10:00 AM. The text was nearly complete and there was plenty of time for revisions, though she knew they would be minimal. Sarah was looking forward to getting their feedback. Dan was impressed but she wondered if he’d be impressed even if the work had been amateur, she hoped not.

The jacket cover gave her the most problems, it had to pop, it had to draw the eye amidst a sea of a number of other hardcovers vying for attention on the shelves of Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and other chain stores.

Dan had left for Portland that morning so she had the house to herself and she was dressing for her meeting when the phone rang. “Hello.”

“Hi Sarah,” the voice was friendly.

“Hi.” She didn’t recognize the voice.

“It’s John, how are you?”

“Oh, John, I’m good. How are you?” Sarah was at a loss of what to say.

“Did you get your photos printed out yet?”

“I did, they’re great and thanks again for your help.” What does he want? She thought.

“I was happy to help. I’d like to take you to lunch today.”

“John, I’d like to but I’m about to meet with some people about my book project and I don’t have any idea how long the meeting will run. Could we make it another day?” Dan was right, now what was she supposed to do? Sarah wondered.

“Sure, no worries, I’ll call you soon. You take care of yourself Sarah.”

“Thank you John, you too, bye,” this was not good but she was running late and she’d have to deal with it later, she worried.

John watched from his car as Sarah left her property and the gate closed behind her. He wanted to know if she was a liar and he wanted to know if her meeting would run through a simple lunch.

Dan called Sarah around 1:00. He wanted to know how her meeting had gone.

“Long and boring and frankly they want too many of the expected photos.”

“Expected photos?”

“You know sea shots or rock formations jutting out of the water, the shots that every other coffee table book of coastal living has in it. I wanted this book to be different. What about your work is there anything new there?”

“I have a face to face with Ed tomorrow. Personally, I think he wants me to slide back into the old arrangement with the team. He’ll hand me a new player to run a background check on and he’ll think the whole disaster with Doc is behind us.”

“Will you continue to work with the Falcons?”

“I’ll leave that to Ed. I intend to set the record straight as I see it. The problem is I have no proof of cartel involvement in Doc’s supplement sideline. I have no proof that the cartel killed Doc and his wife. The fact that the police truly believe in the murder/suicide scenario or are using that scenario to hide the fiber evidence found at the scene doesn’t help any. What are your plans for the next few days?”

“I’m going to complete the book layout and text. I want to hand it in to the Society by the end of the week. I’m also completing the layout that I feel would be more appealing and then we’ll see which they choose.”

“That sounds risky, what if they choose the one you don’t?”

“My ego can take it besides it’s their money, their choice. I simply want them to think outside the box, to view the area from a different perspective, that’s all.”

“Well either way, the book is still personalized with your style and your words so it’s a win/win for them and anyone who buys the book.”

“I love your support but I think you may be biased just a bit.”

“I am but that doesn’t change the facts. Listen, I’ve got to go but I’ll see you sometime Saturday afternoon. We’ll go out. Do you want to call Melinda and Josh to see if they can join us?”

“Sure, I’m looking forward to it. I love you, Dan.”

“I love you too, baby.”

John had waited in Brewed Awakenings, the coffee shop across the street from the Signal. Sarah had taken a thin leather document satchel into the meeting. Good, she wasn’t lying, he was pleased. John was pleased that she hadn’t made up some phony meeting just to avoid him.

He had waited for over two hours for her to come out of the building. Approaching her on the street after she had declined his offer seemed needy and that certainly was not his disposition. This woman was different from most of the other women he knew. Even the women he met on his getaways were not women he would spend more time with than, an evening or two.

John got bored easily with the shallow conversations he had to engage in and the constant ego stroking he seemed to have to do just to get mediocre sex in return. John often wondered if a woman existed, that could hold his interest in conversation let alone bed. He wondered if Sarah would be different. He wanted to give her a chance. He wanted to see if she was different. The fact that she didn’t lie to him was promising.

Getting into the bakery was easier than it had been recently though there was still a bit of a wait. This time Sarah chose a new creation, a blueberry cream cheese tart made with fresh pomegranate. Sarah knew she was going to pay for this treat but she didn’t care.

Sarah pulled up to the gate at her house and punched in the code as she waited for Melinda to pick up the phone. “Hi Melinda, its Sarah, what are you up to?”

Melinda was taking a breather for the first time since the sandcastle contest had begun even though the tourists were still lingering through the week.

“Dan and I want you and Josh to go out to dinner with us Saturday night, can you make it?”

“Absolutely, I’ll get a babysitter lined up.” Melinda was delighted with the invitation.

“That’s great. I need a night out after wrapping up the book for the committee. Why don’t you come over here for a drink before dinner, how about 6:00?”

“Wonderful, we need some down time too. I’ve got to go get the kids now but I’m looking forward to an evening out, we’ll see you Saturday, bye.”

Sarah pulled through the gate and watched as it began to close behind her. She was restless and needed some exercise especially after that tart from Sugar Mamma’s. Mamma ought to be slapped for creating all those sugary treats. Maybe I should be slapped for eating them, Sarah thought as she contemplated taking the tram down to the beach.

The beach crowd had thinned out and those six obnoxious kids were gone. The beach it was, Sarah changed and grabbed the key to the tram.

John could see glimpses of the house, beach side, as he climbed the ground adjacent to her house always careful to stay behind the trees. He watched as she walked to the tram and started it on the slow ride down.

A chance meeting on the beach was perfect. Maybe she would ask him to ride back up with her, for a coffee. John took his time making his way back to the car. There was no hurry because she always spent an hour or two on the beach when she went.

Sure enough, an hour and fifteen minutes later John saw Sarah walking back at a fast clip, her shoes were off and she let the cold water lap at her feet. He admired the way the sunlight brought the red and gold highlights out in her hair.

She was stunning and her graceful body was something else he admired about her. John wondered what it would feel like, being with her for the first time. Hopefully he would be in control, take his time, she would probably like that.

“Sarah, hi, how’d that meeting go?”

“John, what are you doing here?”

“The same as you, getting some fresh air and a little exercise. I saw you walking back at a pretty fast pace, looks like exercise to me.” He was smiling trying to be charming but it bothered him that she questioned his presence on the beach. “How was your meeting?”

“It was long and boring just as I knew it would be.” Sarah was wondering where all this was going. She didn’t know if she should continue walking or make small talk. Letting him think he had a chance with her was not a good idea. “It was nice to see you again John but I have a lot of work to do before I wrap up the final layout on the book by Friday.”

“Yet, you took a long walk on the beach. You must need a break to clear your mind; how about a coffee? We could even have it at your house if you like.” John waited trying to read her face. She was contemplating it, he could tell.

Sarah contemplated the appropriate way to politely, let him know she was not interested in him. “John I can’t really, I…”

John held his hand up to silence her excuses, “No problem.” John’s show of attitude was accepting and relaxed. “I probably need to get back to work too. By the way, I forgot to tell you, I found some old photos of the lighthouse and some of the keeper’s also. They were tucked back in a drawer of an old desk in my private quarters.”

“You’re kidding. I’d love to see them sometime.”

“I thought you may even want to incorporate them into your book somewhere.”

Sarah thought about that for a moment; it was a great idea. “John, when are you going to be back in Seaside?”

“Not until this weekend, why?” John knew why, she needed those photos before this weekend. He knew she would come to the lighthouse he was counting on it. He also knew a storm would be rolling in by morning. He was counting on that too.

“Would it be alright if I came to the lighthouse to get them?”

“When?” John waited while she weighed her options.

“I need to hire a boat.”

“Don’t do that, I’ll take you out to Tilly. We’ll get the photos and I’ll have you back before dark.” John smiled benignly.

“I should get my handbag and my camera.”

“You can if you want but you did take a hundred photos while you were out there. As for your handbag, there’s nothing to buy on the rock.”

“My cell is in my bag.”

John held his satellite cell phone up for her to see. “Besides, unless you have a satellite cell, yours won’t work anyway. If you need to make a call you can use mine.”

John didn’t give her a chance to concoct a new excuse to get in the tram.

“Come on, my car is right over there. If we hurry, I can get you back in time to buy you dinner.”

Sarah paused for a moment. “Fine, let’s go.” Dinner might be the best place to explain her commitment with Dan.

John chatted about her book, looking forward to the time he’d have alone with her on the rock. Sarah stepped into the small boat with John holding her hand for support as the boat bobbed beside the dock.

The trip didn’t take as long when the water wasn’t so choppy. Still, Sarah had a queasy unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hoped she wasn’t getting seasick since she hadn’t taken an anti-motion sickness pill. Frankly, she wished she hadn’t agreed to come out here with him. Maybe she could rush him by telling him she was starving. When they docked at the rock, Sarah watched as he secured the boat with a chain and pad lock.

“Why all the security,” Sarah motioned to the lock? John was amused considering all the security she had around her house.

“Sometimes kids think it’s funny to set the boat adrift. I’ve had to replace the boat once because the last one busted apart on the rocks when kids untied it. The surf crashing on Tilly is wild. I’ve had boulders smash through the tower windows before.” John smiled and took her by the elbow walking her to the door as he pocketed the key.

The sound of the pounding surf was bearable inside the building and they no longer had to shout at one another to be heard. “Excuse me Sarah, I’ll get the photos, make yourself at home.”

Sarah couldn’t begin to imagine this place as home. The upset in her stomach continued to make her uneasy but she didn’t dare say anything to John because she needed the excuse of dinner to get off this rock as soon as possible. The inside was stone walls and stayed slightly damp at all times apparently, which seemed creepy. How did he do it, stay here day in and day out and why would he want to?

John placed the keys and cell on the desk in his private room and quickly pulled two bottled waters out of the mini fridge. It didn’t take long to spike one with a syringe filled with the sedative used to quiet the predators Duplicity brought to him.

She was in the tower room when he found her and she didn’t look good. “Sarah, what’s wrong? You look sick.”

“I think I’m seasick, no, I was feeling funny before we got on the boat.” Sarah amended what she said because she really needed to get out of here even if she was seasick. She was fine with vomiting all the way back to shore as long as she got back to shore. “Please John can we go now? I need to get home.”

“Of course we can. Here drink this water it’ll help, then we’ll go.”

John’s voice was calming and it had a lilt to it that she hadn’t heard before. He was trying to reassure her as one would a sick child. John cracked the cap on a water bottle and handed it to her. Sarah drank it; nearly all of it, it tasted so good. He helped her down the stairs of the tower and sat her in a deep chair.

“I’ll get the keys to the boat Sarah, everything will be fine.” Sarah watched through a haze as John left her, to get the keys.

John watched her sleep. He had moved her to his bed when she was completely under. He could do anything he wanted, anything, and all he wanted was to watch her sleep. He would never take advantage of her the way his bitch of a mother had done to him.

Lying in his bed like that made him wonder what it would be like to make love to her whenever he wanted to though. Two days, the storm would last nearly two days, which would give him a chance to get to know her. After two days, she would know he was better for her than the PI was.

Dan had tried to call Sarah numerous times, her cell and the landline, she never picked up so he called Melinda.

“Yes, she called around 1:30 Dan. Is everything alright?”

“I don’t know Melinda. She should have her cell on her but who knows, the battery could be dead.”

“Do you want me to go over there, I don’t mind and now I’m worried too?”

“Yes I do, and Melinda, call me back as soon as you can.”

Melinda drove to Sarah’s house in ten minutes. From the gate, she pressed the call button over and over again… nothing. Through the trees and shrubs, she could see the bumper of Sarah’s car so she had to be home or she took the tram down to the beach. Melinda punched Dan’s cell number, he answered on the first ring. “Dan her car is in the drive but she doesn’t answer the call from the gate.”

“What about the tram?”

“Hang on, I’m climbing the hill it will take a minute or two. If the tram is up how do I get in to check on her?”

“If the tram is up call Billy, he’ll know what to do.”

“Dan, I can’t see the tram, it’s not up. Hang on I want to look over the cliff. Dan the tram is down on the beach.”

Relief filled him, he was so relieved but what about her cell and why had she been gone for hours? “Melinda, do you mind checking around to see if she turns up and please call me either way.”

“Absolutely, I’m sure she’s having dinner somewhere in town. Don’t worry you know I’ll track her down.” Melinda tried to act unconcerned but she had a nagging feeling that something was definitely wrong here. When she got off the phone with Dan, she called Josh and got him on the phone calling the businesses around town. Someone would have seen her in town.

Next, she called Billy but Dan had already called him. Sugar Mama’s Bakery reported seeing Sarah around 2:15 or so. From there, Mrs. Grissom, a local beachcomber, saw Sarah walking toward Tillamook Head along the beach. There were still a lot of tourists on the beach but Mrs. Grissom definitely saw Sarah heading toward the tram. Then she was gone and everyone was thinking about the two college kids and the fact that they had simply disappeared as well.

Dan caught a tail wind and flew home in record time. Billy picked him up at the airport and filled him in on the nothing that they had on Sarah’s whereabouts. “What the hell is going on here, Billy? First those rapists go missing, now Sarah!”

Billy let Dan rant for a minute he had a right to. “Dan I need you calm, Sarah needs you calm. We’re going to find her.” Billy put his hand on his friends shoulder. He’d never seen Dan this upset, not even during his divorce.

“Billy, I’ve got my entire agency coming in tomorrow. I’d appreciate it if your guys shared any information they may get and we’ll do the same.”

“You got it buddy. It’s going to be okay.”

Billy had gotten the security company to send a technician to Sarah’s house long before Dan flew in and her house was a command station full of police by the time Billy arrived with Dan. It made Dan sick to see that many police in her house and knowing it was because something terrible may have happened to her.

Zane briefed Dan within minutes of him entering the house. “Sarah’s purse, her phone and car keys are all here. It looks as though she changed clothes after her meeting with the Historical Society and there is no sign of a struggle. The security system was fully operational and in good working order. The house was locked up and there was no sign of any intruder or guest for that matter. She was seen at the bakery and she was seen walking back toward her tram. The tram was on the beach and after we dusted for prints inside the tram, we had security override the system and we had it brought back up. The last call made from her phone was to Melinda and Josh’s shop. The last dozen or so in-coming calls were from you and Melinda.”

“My men have already been canvassing businesses and beach front properties looking for anyone who may have seen her. Your friends and hers have been out looking as well. If she’s in this town we will find her,” Billy added.

“What if she’s not, Billy, what if someone took her out of town? What then?” Billy looked from Dan to Zane and back to Dan, he had no answer.

Dan walked to the deck overlooking the sea and hit a number on his cell. “Hunter, Sarah needs your help and so do I.”

•

Sarah woke groggy and she had one hell of a headache. Where was she, she tried to remember. This wasn’t her bed, not her house. Sarah tried to get up but her head was spinning and she fell back against the pillow.

“Sarah, you’re awake, are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you.”

That’s not Dan’s voice, whose voice? “Where…where am I?”

“Sarah, it’s me, it’s John. You’re here with me. We’re at the lighthouse. Don’t you remember?” John knew she would be disoriented, it was to be expected. The drug did that but it was short lived, she would come around shortly now. “Do you need anything?”

“Why…why am I here, I don’t understand?” Bits and pieces were beginning to come back to her. She was sick and then John was…he was…what?

“You were sick, do you remember?”

“Yes, I was sick and we were going back.”

“We were going back but you fainted and I tried to use the satellite cell but it wouldn’t work. It must have been the storm coming in I had no signal. I was afraid to chance taking you out in the boat because a heavy fog rolled in, so we stayed here.”

“I need to leave. I need to go home now.” Sarah tried to get up again but fell back on the bed. What’s wrong with me, why am I so weak, she worried?

“I would take you home Sarah, honestly I would but there’s a storm today a terrible storm and we’d never make it. I’m so sorry. Can I get you anything?”

“I need to call Dan, can I call?”

“I’m sorry, we have no signal, it’s the storm.”

Sarah could hear the storm outside now, she had thought the noise was in her head that it was part of her sickness. Dan must be out of his mind worrying about me she thought, I never should have come here.

“Coffee, may I have some coffee? Maybe that will help clear my head.”

“Of course Sarah, I have some made. Luckily I have a generator so we have electricity.” John went to the counter in his small quarters and poured a cup.

“Do you take milk or sugar?”

“Milk please.” Sarah could sit now and she put the pillow behind her back. She felt achy like when she had the flu. “Thank you John.” Sarah took the cup and sipped the hot liquid. “It’s good, I needed this.” She sipped the coffee quietly for a few minutes. John was quiet also but he watched her and it bothered her.

“Are you hungry, I’d be happy to make you something?”

Sarah’s stomach lurched, the thought of food made her feel nauseous again. “May I use the bathroom, I’m feeling a little sick.”

“Right through there, do you need help?” John wanted her to need him.

“No I can do it, thank you though.” She was a little wobbly but she was able to make it under her own power.

John was glad she seemed to be coming out of the fog of the drug. He was afraid he might have given her too much but in his defense, it never really mattered if the others had gotten too much of the sedative.

The water was cold, ice-cold coming out of the faucet and it helped to clear her head as she splashed it on her face and neck. She hated that she didn’t have her purse with her at least. Sarah felt better, the nausea had passed and she did remember most of yesterday.

So what happened last night that made it impossible for them to return to shore and how long was this storm going to last? Sarah rinsed her mouth out with the cold water and opened the door. John was waiting patiently just as she had left him.

“Better now? You certainly look like you feel better.”

“Yes, thank you John.”

He liked the way she said his name, too bad it wasn’t his real name though. He would have liked that better.

“How long will the storm last?”

John contemplated how long it would take for the drug to be out of her system. “A day or two I guess.” The drug was like alcohol, a day or two and it wouldn’t show up on a test. John smiled; he had a day or two to show her what he had to offer her.

The storm raged along the coast keeping most people indoors but not Dan and not Hunter. Their teams were out. They were knocking on doors and asking questions. Melinda phoned anyone and everyone in between the cell signal being lost and regained. Dan had not slept and he had not eaten. His bubba keg of coffee kept him moving. Fritz and Gina tried to get him to eat or lay down but he wouldn’t so they left him alone.

How can a person simply vanish with no witness’s and no evidence left behind? The only lead in recent vanishings had been the little drug pusher, Pete. He had seen some guy walking the same direction as the two rapists that’s it, that’s nothing to go on!

It had been twenty hours since Sarah had gone missing. Twenty hours translates into a thousand man hours of searching because there was at least fifty people looking for her.

The storm continued throughout the day, Not always raining but raging winds swept limbs and debris across roads and property, pulling shingles and siding from the buildings. Those out in the storm either struggled to push against the wind or were driven forward often running to stay a foot.

Terrible Tilly was built to withstand these storms but the isolation the rock brought to those inside was mind numbing to Sarah.

John had forced her to eat by harassing her until she did. Actually, the steak and baked potato was quite good and they ate while John spoke of wines he had tried and places he had visited. Sarah feigned interest just to pass the time. She asked the appropriate questions, laughed at his jokes and watched the clock all the while the storm slammed the rock.

Sarah thought back to the party she had given, which seemed like a lifetime ago. She remembered James and Joe Bartlett and the night Joe drowned here, near the rock. What a horrible way to go, being beaten against rock like John’s boat that busted apart or having the ocean pull you under, refusing to release you. Sarah remembered the flicker of light she had seen that night and she instinctively knew not to ask John about it.

“What about you Sarah, have you traveled?”

“I haven’t traveled a great deal. The few places I did travel to, was with my late husband. We did love wine country in Napa Valley and Martha’s Vineyard of course.”

John was pensive as he watched her talk about her travels with her late husband.

“Have you ever been married, John?”

John said nothing for a long moment and Sarah worried she may have over stepped her bounds. “No, no ex-wives and no children left behind.”

What a funny way of putting it Sarah thought though she would never voice it. There were many things she wouldn’t feel comfortable voicing to John.

Afternoon flowed into evening and Sarah grew tired of the questions that never seemed to end. John seemed eager to find out everything he could about her from birth to present and frankly, it was exhausting. Sarah felt it best to humor John as she would a five year old with a penchant for talking, although she could turn the tables on him. Most people liked talking about themselves. “Were you born in Seaside John?” Sarah watched as John thought before he spoke. Why would he have to think about that question she wondered?

“No, I wasn’t.”

Sarah waited for him to tell her where he had been born. He didn’t. “Do you have family here?”

“My family is all gone, my parents both died when I was very young and I had no siblings.” John fed her the canned monologue knowing she would assume the subject was upsetting to him and stop asking questions about his childhood.

Sarah pretended to accept John’s little attempt to squelch her questions about his life so she moved on to trivial conversation about his travels. He seemed quite happy to regale her with what he thought were amusing anecdotes he had experienced regarding language and cultural differences.

“Excuse me Sarah.”

John left the room and was gone for a long time, which was odd. Sarah grew restless and wandered back up to the tower. The table under the window was where she had stood the day she and Dan had come to photograph the lighthouse. Sarah climbed on the table again and stood on her toes, she wanted to see how bad the storm still was.

Sarah hadn’t heard John come up behind her as he violently jerked her from the table, one hand twisted in her shirt the other breaking her fall.

•

Hunter had Dan holed up in the room, where he had sparred with Sarah. The same room Sarah had kicked both their asses in. “You know as well as I do, the cartel kidnap, it’s their specialty second to murder.”

Dan felt sick to his stomach as he thought of what Doc and his wife’s final moments must have been like for them to endure. He raked his hands through his hair erasing the thought from his mind. Sarah needed his full attention. “So you think the cartel took her on the beach?” Dan swallowed hard as he looked Hunter in the eye.

“No, I don’t. We’ve checked our sources, everything available to us which are considerable and there is nothing to support that theory. I don’t think they killed her either because her body would have surfaced by now. They would want you to know that they killed her, as a warning to back off.”

“Who then, and why would someone kidnap her? If it was for her money they would have contacted someone, probably me by now, wouldn’t they? What about Ben, he knows her finances as well as she does, wouldn’t she have had her kidnappers contact Ben by now?” Dan knew he was ranting, rambling on about every conceivable possibility.

“Ben has not been contacted but he’s calling in some favors right now. He’s got the FBI running a check on any known predators in the area.” Hunter let that sink in for a second.

“Predators?”

“Serial rapists, serial murderers. Those college kids may not have run, if they had there would have been a trail, they weren’t rocket scientists.” Dan thought about what Hunter had just said.

“Bull shit, Sarah kicked your ass and mine. She would have stomped some guy into the ground right there on the beach if he’d tried to force her to leave with him!” Dan was angry, not with Hunter, just angry. “She would have fought, you know she would have fought back!”

“Maybe she couldn’t fight back; it would take only a few seconds to stick her with a syringe filled with a sedative. Even the right hold when caught off guard can incapacitate long enough to maneuver someone off the beach.”

“I got it, ok, I got it.” Dan knew Hunter was right, even the most wary of people can be caught off guard. “Where do we go from here?”

“We continue to search and when we get the profiles from the FBI we track the sons-of-bitches down and get information any way we can.”

“How can we track them down if the FBI hasn’t been able to?”

“We don’t play by the same rules as law enforcement, brother, you better understand that.”

Dan thought about that for a minute and he knew there were things Sarah wouldn’t condone, things she wouldn’t want him or Hunter to do on her behalf.

“I don’t care about your methods just hunt the bastards down. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back.”

•

John had Sarah on the floor before she knew what hit her. He was very strong and she was still weak from the sedative he had spiked her water with.

“ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Sarah shouted! She was more angry than scared. Weak or not she was pissed off right now.

John immediately released her and moved back, his arms outstretched as a sign of surrender. He watched her as one would a wounded animal waiting for it to strike back.

“Sarah, calm down.” His voice had that lilt again. “I’m sorry I scared you but you scared me too. Do you remember I told you the storms can ram boulders through the glass in this tower. I’ve seen it! You could have been killed!”

Sarah sat up and glared at John, incredulous that he should expect her to thank him for yanking her off the table and slamming her to the floor. Slowly she got to her feet, never taking her eyes off him. She heard Greg’s voice, in her head, telling her to be ready.

“Are you okay, Sarah?”

She had had enough of his mock sincerity. “John, why didn’t you just tell me to get down from the table?”

“I’m sorry, I overreacted. I hope you’re not angry with me?”

John smiled. Only this time Sarah didn’t think him so benign. This time she looked at him and clearly understood her circumstances.

She was in an inaccessible lighthouse off the coast of Oregon with a man who thought he was in complete control and to a degree, he was. He had the only phone and the only way off this rock, that’s if the boat wasn’t a pile of kindling smashed on the rocks outside. No one knew where she was or whom she was with and she had no idea what he was capable of.

Having summed up her situation she was compelled to keep her skills of survival to herself for the moment. She would make no mistake; she would assume the worst and act accordingly just as Greg had trained her to do. She could play his bullshit game and beat him at it if that’s what it took to get out of this miserable place.

“John, I’m not angry. You did scare me but I’m ok now. Just go down the stairs please.” Sarah motioned for John to go ahead of her down the stairs.

John didn’t move for a moment, he seemed to be evaluating her mood. Then he complied, a slight smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth. Sarah really wanted to kick that smirk down his throat. For the time being she would feign the weakness that was leaving her system fast. Let him think he had the upper hand, this storm couldn’t last forever.

“Can I get you water or anything?” John was trying to resume his gracious host role.

“Actually John, I’d like to try using the satellite phone now please.” Sarah waited for him to give her an excuse as to why she couldn’t try the phone.

“I’ll get it for you but surely you know, even if it works, it’s not safe for any boat in this storm.”

Damn him, he was right and she knew Dan would kill himself and anyone else to get to her. “John your right and I won’t risk anyone in this storm but I also won’t leave people I care about to wonder if I’m dead. May I have the phone please?”

Sarah watched John weigh his options, while she weighed hers. Then he shrugged and went to retrieve the phone. Sarah wondered if he’d try to disable it, she knew a thing or two about phones as well. John brought the phone and handed it to Sarah.

“Thank you John.” Sarah punched in the number…nothing. Sarah swore she saw a smile threaten his lips. Sarah looked him in the eye and pulled the phone apart. She took out the battery shook it and then replaced it just as she did with the sim card. John said nothing as she snapped things back in place and made the call again.

“Ben, this is Sarah. I’m fine. No, I’m fine. Ben please listen, the phone may go dead any minute. I’m invoking my lawyer/client privilege… Right now you are to say nothing but what I ask you to say to Dan, understood. Good, I’m ok but I’m stranded at Tillamook Rock lighthouse and I’m with John. You are not to tell Dan that, there is a severe storm and he will die trying to get to me. When the storm is over you can tell him where I am. Right now you tell him I’m fine, you tell him I’m trying to get to him and Ben…” Sarah stared straight into John’s eyes.

“You tell him I love him.”

Sarah did not hand the phone back to John and he did not ask for it. She also didn’t tell him that the phone went dead right after she invoked client privilege.

•

Dan and Hunter forced Ben to repeat his short conversation with Sarah a hundred times. She was fine and invoked lawyer/client privilege but privilege for what? Sarah had said nothing that fell under privilege before the phone went dead. Ben had told them he could barely hear her, she didn’t sound afraid she sounded angry. He said background noise was loud with lots of static.

“If it’s a kidnapping they will call again. My team is in the process of tracking the phone call but that may take a while.”

Hunter summed up while Dan tried to analyze Sarah’s call to Ben; to Ben not to him, it had to mean something. The fact that she was alive gave him strength.

•

Sarah excused herself and took the phone with her to the bathroom. The phone was dead and she could hear the storm beating against the stone building outside. The phone would stay with her until she got off the stinking pile of rocks. Ben knew she was ok and he would call Dan or Hunter at least that much was for sure. John thought she had told Ben where and who she was with so that lie should keep him well behaved.

Sarah was feeling stronger and better in control of the situation now. The storm was all that remained between her and the mainland. John may be a snake and he apparently liked having the upper hand but he had no idea who he was dealing with. Greg’s hard work at training her to defend herself was her little ace in the hole and if push came to shove with John, he would be leaving this rock on a stretcher.

John was well aware of the change in Sarah’s demeanor. The fact that she told someone named Ben of her whereabouts and his name changed things considerably. His plans to woo her over a couple of days of waiting out a storm were compromised. Not to mention the adamant profession of her undying love for the PI put a crimp in things as well. Maybe she wasn’t as intelligent and interesting as he had hoped.

When Sarah came back into the room with John, he had assumed a polite but aloof attitude that suited Sarah just fine. Both would simply have to endure the others company until the storm let up enough to allow them to boat back to Seaside or at least call for help.

John thought about asking Sarah for his phone back but the glint in her eye gave him pause and he thought better of it. Let her keep her security blanket, the sooner she got out of here the better anyway.

John offered Sarah his bed for the night though he really didn’t want to. Sarah was not interested in his bed, him or his condescending tone. “Actually John, I’m not tired.”

Let her sit up all night, John thought as he took his leave and went to bed.

Morning light brought with it a calmer yet still raining forecast. Sarah opened the door of the lighthouse and stepped out to check on the boat. A light drizzle couldn’t keep her trapped in the old stone building another minute.

The boat was pretty banged up the motor was bent slightly to the left and may have damaged the fiberglass where it attached to the boat. The last thing she needed was to be cast adrift in a small boat with John. One of them would not make it to shore. Sarah said a little prayer and made the call to Dan.

“Morrison!”

The urgency in Dan’s voice made her voice break when she spoke.

“Dan…I…It’s me.”

“Sarah, thank God! Where are you?”

“I’m at the lighthouse!” She wasn’t taking any chances with the phone this time. Dan would know where she was and he would come and get her.

“I’m on my way. Stay on the phone with me, please don’t hang up.”

“I won’t. I need to hear your voice too.”

Dan could hear the tension in her voice and he had a million questions to ask her but was unsure of where to begin. Are you ok? Why are you out there? What’s going on? What the hell were you thinking? These were just a few of the questions he wanted some answers to but for now all he needed to know was, was she ok. “Sarah, are you ok? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m ok now that you know where I am. I’ve been trying to reach you but the phone kept losing the signal and… and it doesn’t matter. We can’t get to shore because the boat is messed up and we’re stranded.”

“By we, you mean John too?”

“Yes, John too, though I think he will be glad to be rid of me too and the sooner the better for both of us.”

“What did he do?” Dan could feel his pent-up emotion threatening to blow and taking it out on John sounded pretty good right about now.

“He didn’t do anything and yet I would like to kick him in the head. I just need to get back to you, to home. Dan be careful, but please… hurry!”

“Hunter has been listening in and he’s already made arrangements for a boat. We’re on our way, it won’t be long now. Sarah… I… everyone has been so worried about you.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about the storm coming in or I never would have agreed to come out here.”

“Why did you go out there?”

“John said he found some old photographs of the lighthouse and of the keepers and I wanted them for my book.”

“But your phone and your cameras, you left them all behind. It made no sense to anyone. We thought you were taken… you just disappeared.”

“Oh Dan, I’m so sorry. Cells don’t work out here, John has a satellite cell and sometimes it doesn’t work either. I didn’t need any more shots of the lighthouse. I just wanted the old photos John found.”

“Honey, why didn’t you call or leave a note before you went?”

“I was on the beach when John found me and I had nothing with me at the time. I thought I could get out to the rock and back in an hour or so. I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t think about the possibilities. I can’t apologize enough, to everyone. Poor Hunter, I’ve wasted everyone’s time.”

“Sarah, Hunter wants to say something to you.”

“Ahh, ohh.”

“Sarah, Hunter here. I’d threaten to kick your ass but at the moment I’m just too glad you’re ok. Plus I’d have to kick Dan’s first just to get to yours and, well, I’m still sore from the last match with you.”

“Hunter, I’d stand there and let you kick mine if it meant I’d get back home sooner.”

“We’re on our way. We’ll be there in thirty minutes. Here’s Dan.”

“Hey baby, you said John found you on the beach?”

“Yea, I was getting some exercise and I was headed back to the tram when I ran into John. He had asked me out to lunch earlier and I had said no. Then, there he was…”

“There he was? He asked you out, you said no…and then, there he was!”

“I thought about that Dan, but he said he was getting some exercise and it seemed plausible at the time. Plus I really wanted the photos.”

“Do you have the photos?”

“No, we never actually got around to getting them yet. I got sick.”

“This keeps getting worse Sarah. You’re sick?”

“No, I was sick. I got seasick coming out here and then we were going to come back but I fainted and John decided we needed to stay put but then the storm hit and…”

“Please don’t tell me anymore until I can actually see you. I don’t know if I should thank John for taking care of you or smash his face in for taking you out there in the first place. I’m leaning heavily toward smashing his face in though.”

“Dan, please don’t do that. Can’t we just get back home?”

“Fine, Hunter can do it after we leave.” Dan changed the subject to please Sarah and kept her on the phone for the entire length of time it took for the boat to reach the lighthouse.

John had stood in the doorway watching her while she kept watch toward the coastline. Weak, she was weak, John thought with disgust. Staying on the rock had proved more than she could bear.

Plus, she was so easily manipulated. The promise of a few photos brought her straight into his hands and under his will. He could have done anything to her while sedated. He chose what happened and what didn’t. Sarah would never know how lucky she was that he wasn’t like those he interrogated.

John felt superior to her just as he felt superior to those he interrogated. He had no patience for women who through their own negligence find themselves victim to the men who abuse them.

Young women and children, he held to a different standard. They were not equipped to evaluate or analyze situations or motives of adults that are intent on harming them. Just as John had had no voice or choice as a child and was subjected to the will of vile adults that used and abused him with the consent of his own mother.

Somewhere deep inside, John was aware of the fact that he was highly critical of women. Women, who were near the same age his mother, had been when she had hurt him so badly. He knew it and he couldn’t change it, even if he had wanted to.

John watched as the boat closed in on the mooring station that still held his small boat secure. He wondered what she had told her PI.

Hunter steered the boat close to the rock while Dan leaped to the rock and quickly secured the rope to the pilings. Sarah closed the distance between them and Dan gathered her to him, burying his face in her hair. Neither one said a word they just both were so grateful to be together.

Hunter’s eyes traveled up the walkway to the door of the lighthouse to the man in the doorway. He watched as the man watched Sarah and Dan and then focused on Hunter. The man raised his hand in a friendly acknowledgement that didn’t feel all that friendly.

Hunter was out of the boat and beside Sarah and once again, Sarah had the overpowering urge to hug him. He tolerated it a little better this time. “Let’s get your things and get out of here, what do you say?”

Sarah couldn’t say much of anything as she wiped the tears off her cheek with the back of her hand and bobbed her head a couple of times. Together the three headed to the entry door and to John.

John quickly made a mental checklist of all his prepared answers and of his private quarters, he had sanitized while Sarah had spent the last thirty minutes or so outside. “Dan, welcome, we’re sure glad to see you aren’t we Sarah?” John smiled as he opened the door wide inviting them in.

“John.” Dan acknowledged John without offering to shake his hand and John didn’t extend his either.

Sarah was the one to quickly introduce Hunter to John. Hunter leaned into the space between he and John with his arm extended. John stepped forward and shook Hunters hand. It all seemed normal yet nothing about John rang true, Sarah noticed. Even simple gestures appeared ill at ease when done by John.

“John,” Hunter acknowledged. Hunter had a way of commanding a room that wasn’t really threatening yet effectively influenced good behavior. Sarah thought it a good thing at this moment. Dan seemed intent on remaining polite yet distant with John while John pretended not to notice.

“The boat has some damage John. You may need to come with us. I wouldn’t want you to be trapped out here without a boat.” Sarah’s matter-of-fact tone put John in the position of having to answer directly to her.

“I see, maybe your right.”

“John, before we go, I’d like those photos I came here for.”

“Of course, I’ll get them for you.” John didn’t particularly care for Sarah’s slight tone but what choice did he have at the moment. Funny how polite she had been when she first woke during the storm. When she needed him and the shelter, he provided. “Do you have everything else Sarah,” John inquired as he turned to get the photos?

“I didn’t bring anything John. By the way, here’s your phone.” Sarah held the cell out and John smiled as he took it from her.

“Thank you, I’m just glad it finally worked.”

The exchange between Sarah and John instantly triggered a question Dan had been meaning to ask Sarah about. “Sarah that reminds me, why did you invoke lawyer/client privilege when you called Ben yesterday?”

John stopped and turned wanting to hear what Sarah would say to Dan.

“John reminded me that the storm was dangerous to any boat on the water. I knew you would come anyway so I called Ben instead. I invoked privilege to keep Ben from telling you where I was until the storm was over.” Sarah reached for Dan’s hand hoping that would be the end of his questions until they were away from John. It wasn’t.

“We couldn’t figure out why you would invoke privilege and neither could…”

“We need to go, brother, before the storm kicks back up.” Hunter had put his hand on Dan’s shoulder and Dan instantly knew to change the subject.

“Hunter’s right, we need to go. John if you’ll get the photos we’ll be on our way.”

John nodded and turned to his private quarters. Something was definitely up but short of demanding an explanation, he had no other option but to go along.

There were six photos in all. Two were virtually the same shot of the lighthouse and the other four were of various keepers in the early 1900’s. Now that Sarah had them in her possession, it made her sick to think that she had caused everyone so much trouble over six such inconsequential photographs.

The boat ride back to the shore was tense with the waves at least seven foot high causing the boat to rise and slap back down on the surface of the water over and over as they made their way.

Sarah stayed close to Dan and Hunter manned the boat while John sat patiently in the rear playing with the cell phone. It didn’t occur to Sarah that John might be checking the number of minutes the phone maintained a connection during her short conversation with Ben last night.

John knew that the phone had connected but for how long? The odd behavior over the PI’s question had him curious and he had nothing better to do at the moment. Eight seconds, the conversation lasted for eight seconds. The cells memory clearly showed him that Sarah lost contact shortly after making her call. Eight seconds was probably just enough time for her to have invoked privilege and nothing else. All that, “I’m stranded at Tillamook Rock lighthouse with John,” was a con and it had worked.

Well, well, Sarah wasn’t quite the weak little victim he had thought her to be after all. John cut his eyes over to Sarah and she was staring back. Yes, there was definitely more to Sarah Knight than met the eye. John smiled and nodded to her.

Sarah hated John’s little smiles. One day she may have to wipe one right off his face for him. The best part was she knew he had absolutely no idea that she could.

The short drive to town was quiet and over before, they knew it. “Thank you John for all your hospitality.” Sarah said the right words for everyone’s benefit though her eyes bore coldly into John’s as he got out of the car.

“You’re welcome Sarah. I’m sorry it was under such unpleasant circumstances. Thanks for the ride.” With that John was, at last, away from her.

Dan and Hunter wanted to grill her about their time together on the rock but both felt it better to give her a break. Besides if John did anything wrong, they knew where to find him. Sarah leaned into Dan and nearly fell asleep after her sleepless night keeping watch on John’s damn bedroom door.

Billy and Zane had clued everyone in on Sarah’s whereabouts long ago and the search and worry had ended shortly after her call to Dan earlier today. Both Dan’s agents and Hunter’s men had packed up and left as soon as the boat had docked in Seaside. Hunter was all that was left of the search party.

“Hunter, please stay the night at least. We’ll take you out for dinner or order in, whatever you want.” Sarah was feeling embarrassed by all the worry and intense searching done on her behalf.

“Sarah, listen to me. This wasn’t your fault. I’m going back to Portland and you should get some sleep by the looks of you. Did you sleep at all?” Hunter seemed genuinely concerned.

“Not for a while, I couldn’t. I now know why the keeper’s went mad out there. I don’t know how John can stay out there. Maybe John is mad. He certainly is strange, isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah, he’s strange alright,” Hunter confirmed the obvious.

Sarah let Dan pull her out of the car and wrap his arm around her waist as they said their goodbyes to Hunter before he drove off. “Let’s get you in the house before you fall down Sarah.”

While Sarah showered and brushed her teeth, Dan ordered in and waited for the delivery of the food. Sarah walked out onto her deck overlooking the sea. Purposefully she looked toward the lighthouse, yep; the attraction was gone for good. No more snooping with the telescope, the lighthouse was the last place she had any desire to check out.

The scent of delicious food drew her to the kitchen where she found Dan plating freshly caught and prepared seafood and crisp salads. Chardonnay was already poured into stemware and she took several slow sips while Dan worked over the table. “Scallops, they’re my favorite.” The gesture made her want to tear up but she fought it and pretended to look for something in the cabinet while she got it under control.

Dan was behind her his hands on her shoulders, his thumbs kneading her stiff muscles. A deep sigh escaped her as she melted into him, she had no idea she had been this tense and his touch was so comforting after two days of John. “Let’s eat while the food is still hot and then I’ll give you a serious massage before bed.”

“A massage?”

“Only a massage tonight, you’ll be asleep anyway before I’m through working out those kinks in your back. You need to sleep and I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Dan never asked her any questions about the lighthouse or John. He let her tell him what she chose to tell and he told her of all the people that stepped up in the search to find her. He reassured her that it wasn’t her fault and he did not tell her that John would most certainly have known of the impending storm. Anyone living in a lighthouse off shore would be aware of those types of eminent weather patterns developing. Granted, Sarah got sick, but that didn’t relieve John of responsibility here.

The deep muscle, back and neck massage along with a couple of glasses of chardonnay put Sarah under for nearly twelve hours of deep sleep. Sleep she needed in her bed and under the safety of Dan’s watch.

The phones had been turned off except for Dan’s cell and he kept it on vibrate so she wouldn’t hear it ring and ring and ring. People all over town wanted to call and express relief that she had been found and was all right.

Dan was very tired of explaining her disappearance and found himself saying, her work on the book had trapped her at the lighthouse during the storm. Everyone knew she was dedicated to the book and accepted the facts without hesitation. Plus, Dan knew public speculation regarding her and John would upset Sarah greatly. One minute with the two of them together more than confirmed her distain for him.

Eventually Sarah would tell Dan everything that happened on the rock.

He knew John had not attempted to get physical with her. He knew this because John wasn’t hurt. John was more the salesman type. Dan figured John had tried to sell Sarah on what he considered to be his outstanding qualities but Sarah wasn’t buying any of it.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 35

COMMITMENTS

By noon, Sarah was in the shower and she felt good. Thursday, she couldn’t believe it was Thursday and she hadn’t completed the two separate book layouts for the committee to approve their final choice.

Today was going to be spent inside pouring over the layouts and her final text. Either choice they made had Dan’s photo of the bridge and their photo of the lush waterfall scene. So, she would be satisfied regardless of their choice.

The storm had passed but left many with minor and not so minor damage to repair on their homes and businesses. Dan left Sarah midafternoon to check on his beach house.

She was sprawled out on the living room floor with text and photos spread around her. Sarah made last minute changes of minor details she would fret about until the books were handed in tomorrow afternoon. The changes kept her occupied and gave her pleasure as well. Sarah had not liked feeling as if she was controlled and she had felt controlled by John and the storm.

Dan was fairly lucky, the beach house had lost a few shingles and a small tree from a neighboring yard had fallen across his driveway. The neighbor was an elderly man yet was trying his best to use a small chainsaw to cut the tree up.

“Mr. Monroe, please, let me cut that up for you.”

“I can do it Dan. Your dad and I used to cut Christmas trees together every year for both houses.”

“I remember, Mr. Monroe. They are some of my best memories too. Do you remember the time we went into the mountains looking for the perfect tree and dad told me to be careful not to fall into a hole?”

“Yes son I do. There was snow in the mountains and it covered everything. Your dad knew the snow would hide fallen logs and crevices and such.”

“Dad had barely gotten the warning out of his mouth when suddenly he all but disappeared into a hole. Just his head was sticking out.” The men were laughing and enjoying a shared memory, so much so that Mr. Monroe relinquished the saw to Dan and allowed him to cut the tree up for him.

When it was done, Dan didn’t discourage the elderly man from helping him stack the small logs alongside his neighbor’s house. The man needed to feel useful and who was Dan to stop him?

Before leaving, Dan inspected both houses and made a list of things to get at the hardware store. “I’ll be back to help you. We’re both lucky, the damage is minimal.”

Sarah’s house also sustained minor damage but she wasn’t about to let Dan make the repairs. She knew he would put her house before his and that was unacceptable to her. The handyman the Realtor had recommended was busy but he said he would make time for her repairs and that would give Dan the time needed for Mr. Monroe and his own house.

Friday afternoon came and her presentation was anti-climactic to say the least. The committee wanted her to leave both layouts for their consideration and their decision would be made in a couple of weeks.

Oh well, she thought, it was out of her hands now. Sarah felt good about her work and a little disappointed that it was over.

Now what was she supposed to do with herself? She couldn’t go back to doing nothing, having a goal with deadlines and achievements had kept her motivated and excited. Sarah was not the type of woman that could sit around or shop and do lunch. Something would have to be done.

The coast was overrun with small art galleries, boutiques and eateries, none of those types of businesses held any interest for her. The Signal would give her a by-line but what would she write about week in and week out? This would take serious consideration and some input from Dan would be helpful as well.

Dan was back at Sarah’s by 7:00 pm and Sarah had prepared a simple dinner for them.

“Melinda called while you were gone. She wanted to know if dinner tomorrow night was still on or if we needed to cancel.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her we were still on. If you would rather cancel I can call her back.”

“No, we’ll go as long as you’re up to it.”

“Dan, I’m fine. Nothing happened except John is weird and I was trapped by the storm. My biggest concern was for you and the worry I put you through. I want to go because I need some advice from all of you.”

“What kind of advice?”

“Now that the book is all but complete I find myself out of a job with nothing to do and I have to do something worthwhile. I need some input because I’ve been wracking my brain and haven’t come up with a single viable idea.”

Dan thought about what she had said and knew she was right, she would need to have an outlet, something motivating. “You’re right; everyone needs stimulating work to do. Some people have hobbies but that isn’t you You’re far too complicated and sensitive to not have your goals and ambitions realized. What moves you, Sarah? What gets your blood boiling?”

Sarah hadn’t thought of it in those terms and when Dan phrased it that way it got her to thinking about the last days before Greg died.

The neo-natal unit was two floors down from ICU at the hospital in Boston. One day Sarah was lost in thought and worry and mistakenly got off the elevator at the Neo-Natal unit. She couldn’t take her eyes off the newborn babies in their clear bassinets behind the bank of glass windows. Children had not yet been part of her and Greg’s lives, one day they planned to have a child but the accident took that dream along with Greg.

Sarah found herself going to that bank of windows each day and a pediatric nurse spoke to her of the miracles a good Neo-Natal unit could perform. The right equipment and the right staff could drastically reduce infant mortality rates.

That nurse taught her that life’s work can bring about miracles in peoples’ lives. There had been no miracles for Greg at that hospital but for so many others, life was given when hope was nearly lost.

“I know that look. What are you thinking about?” Dan knew he had sparked an idea and he wanted to know what it was.

“How good is the Neo-Natal unit here?” That question came so far out of left field that Dan had no answer for her.

“What do you mean?”

Sarah became completely animated as she explained her experience in Boston and the nurse that had dedicated her life to saving newborn infants. Dan listened and saw the excitement well up in her as she talked about making a difference in peoples’ lives, in children’s lives. “I have so many resources Dan. I’m not just talking about the money I have, I’m talking about the contacts and the ability to bring people to the table that can make things happen. Ben alone is invaluable in so many ways.”

“Tell me about it, between Ben and Hunter no one and nothing stands a chance against those two.”

“See what I’m saying? The right mix of people and planning can change anything.” They talked into the night, bouncing ideas off one another until Sarah had the beginning of a solid plan to work on.

Cocktails with Josh and Melinda turned out to be a replay of Sarah’s experience on the rock with John. Both Dan and Sarah down played the creepy caretakers role and blamed the whole ordeal on the storm and the book layout.

Dinner was enjoyed at Lil Bayou, a very relaxed atmosphere and laid back eatery with New Orleans flair. The restaurant seemed odd on the North West coast. Regardless, the French Quarter pastries and coffee with chicory was ridiculously good and Sarah knew a hundred laps in the pool wouldn’t make it right. Still, she ate her share and damned the consequences.

The conversation turned to the idea Sarah had on improving the Neo-Natal unit in Seaside’s hospital. Improvements would make it unnecessary for infants to be airlifted to Portland or some other pediatric hospital. In addition, parents wouldn’t be forced to incur additional bills for lodging and food away from home as they would if their baby was hospitalized in another city or state.

Melinda was almost as animated about the project as Sarah was and the two presented a powerful alliance. Dan enjoyed seeing Sarah come alive with anticipation and resigned himself to the fact that life was going to get hectic real soon.

The following week kept Dan in his office in Portland and Sarah in conference calls with top fundraiser specialists that Ben had introduced her to. Melinda and Sarah had planned to meet with the Hospital Administrator along with the Neo-Natal physicians and OB-GYN’s on staff. A number of fundraiser ideas had been tossed around and several seemed quite ambitious but profitable.

One in particular seemed intense and would take a year or more to pull off. All businesses would be invited to become involved in the building of a dream house.

Local designers and architects as well as landscapers would come together to design and build the house. Tickets to win the house in a drawing would be sold for one hundred dollars per ticket over the course of a year and the profits would go to the hospital. People from all over the country would want a coastal vacation home especially if it helped children.

Somewhere in the back of Dan’s mind, he wondered if Sarah’s interest in an improved Neo-Natal unit had anything to do with Greg and the lost vision of having a child with him. Somewhere in the back of Dan’s mind he wondered if Sarah had ever envisioned having a child with him.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 36

MARCUS’ PRISON

Jackman sat in his stateroom and looked at the wedding photo he always carried with him. Emily was every man’s dream. She had been his and no other woman since had ever been given a fair opportunity with Marcus. Emily was always with him, she was the fire he pursued predators with and she was always just out of reach as he pursued her through the mist of his dreams.

Duplicity was his hope and his prison. The yacht provided him the perfect backdrop for hunting the traffickers maybe even the very animals that had taken Emily and in a way his life from him.

Marcus knew the small flicker of hope he had left in finding Emily alive was all but extinguished. He also knew he was bound by the vessel and the opportunity it provided him to find the ones who destroyed their lives together. That hope and opportunity was all that kept Marcus alive and motivated in tracking the elite predators.

The yacht had been prepared and was ready for his new guests to board. Marcus needed the moments he took for himself, alone in his stateroom, to gather the strength he needed to become the charming host to the scum that would be boarding Duplicity.

John had rented a small outboard while his boat was being repaired. The weekend had been spent in preparing Tilly for the new subjects that would soon be coming under his interrogation.

Jackman had seemed more distant than usual though he doubted the overseer of Duplicity knew of his most recent guest. Even if Jackman were aware, it was he who had agreed, the journalist must have access to the rock.

Once again, all the tools of the trade were on display and his mirrors were again placed for maximum visual affect. Frankly, John was looking forward to resuming his interrogations. The disappointment he had with Sarah had left him feeling agitated. The control that John needed in order to feel centered came with each successful interrogation. Successful interrogations came when information was gleaned from a subject that offered up another predator to the team.

John knew what Jackman was waiting for. It’s what Jackman had been waiting for, for many years now. While John didn’t fully understand the devastation Jackman felt over having lost his wife after all this time, he did understand the rage of having something taken from you by force. That rage alone kept John on task when he interrogated the bastards on Jackman’s behalf.

By the time the subjects were before John and his staged set, so to speak, they were ready to spill anything they knew including any knowledge they may have of Jackman’s Emily. John hoped one day he would have the information Jackman was waiting for. Not because he cared about Jackman’s obsession but because Jackman would owe him and he never knew when he might need to call in a favor.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 37

INTENSE

Melinda had come by Sarah’s house for a planning session and before they knew it, several hours had passed. Melinda stretched and yawned as she rose from her chair.

“Sorry Sarah but I’ve got to get the kids off the bus. If they’re home alone for ten minutes the house won’t be left standing.”

“Please, I’ve met your kids, they’re great but I understand. We’ve covered a lot of details and I like the outline we’ve put together. If you come up with any changes or new ideas jot them down and I’ll do the same.”

“When is Dan coming back to the coast?”

“Probably this weekend, why?”

“Josh wanted to play a round of golf with him if he’s up for it. What about you, do you play?”

“Melinda, you’re brilliant!”

“What? I mean of course I’m brilliant but what am I brilliant about this time?”

“We could sponsor a golf tournament. A tournament would bring in funds for the hospital and the people coming in for the tournament would be great for the area businesses as well. Plus we could get plenty of free press to promote our Dream House give away.”

“I know the owner of the golf course, he’s great. I’ll bet he’ll have some insight into staging a successful tournament. Do you want me to talk to him?” Melinda offered as she gathered her notes and stuffed them into the leather binder she brought.

“Absolutely, oh and I’ll have Dan call Josh about golfing this weekend.”

“Okay, I’ve got to go but I’ll call you tomorrow. See you soon.”

“Bye.” Sarah pushed the buttons opening the front gate for Melinda to drive through. She watched until her car got out on the road before she closed the gate again.

Sarah’s call went straight to Dan’s voice mail. “Hey Dan it’s me, I just wanted to talk for a minute. Josh needs a golf partner this weekend and I need a partner too but not for golf. Call when you get a minute, bye.”

•

Dan’s meeting with Wayne at the ME’s office had been less than fruitful.

Wayne had been emphatic that there was no evidence to support anything but a murder/suicide at the hands of Dr. Bennett and if the police had any evidence, to the contrary they weren’t disclosing it to anyone.

The police had no intention of sharing information with Dan unless he had something of interest for them first and as of right now, he didn’t. Ed at the Falcon’s had made it clear when he’d said, “I want this over!”

Dan had pushed as far as he could with the Bennett case without digging up new evidence to support what he knew to be a double murder. The cartel had proved to be a threat to anyone including Sarah. Given the lethal stance, they took with Doc and his wife, Dan would choose very carefully his next steps.

Hunter may be the key here, Dan thought as he evaluated his options. Hunter had proved invaluable as an ally when Sarah went missing, he had no illusions. Hunter would be equally adept as an opponent.

Sarah would be caught in the middle, she would side with Dan in the end but at what cost to their relationship? Dan didn’t want any of this conflict but could he live with the knowledge that he walked away from a double murder. Worst of all, could he ever allow Americans to be murdered by low-life drug-running cartel members, especially on American soil. Even when Americans were involved as he knew Doc had been.

Dan checked his messages when he left the ME’s office and called Sarah back. “Hey, what did you have in mind besides golf?”

“I have some ideas but I’m open to suggestions.”

“Let me think about it, I don’t want to short change myself here.”

“Dan, there’s nothing short changed about you.”

“I’m glad you noticed.” Their usual banter lifted his spirits and he was looking forward to the weekend with Sarah. “Tell Josh I’ll play 18 holes on Saturday unless you prefer Sunday instead.”

“No, Saturday is good. Melinda and I can work on the fundraiser if she’s available.”

“Why can’t we all golf? I know you golf and I’ve seen Melinda on the course before.”

“She did ask me if I golfed but we never got around to talking about it because we got caught up in fundraising ideas.”

“Personally, I would like to spend the day with you but if you need to work I’ll understand.”

“Get serious, I need to be with you too.”

“Which brings us back to partnering up, doesn’t it?”

Sarah thought about all the times they had made love and the times the raw physical sex couldn’t be called making love. The need was hunger and lust for the act itself and for each other that seemed to carry over from when they were teenagers and denied themselves the physical passion they had felt. “Dan?”

“What?”

“I still have a key to your apartment.”

“How soon can you get here?” That afternoon Dan let himself into his apartment and found Sarah wrapped in a towel her hair wet from the shower. Neither said a word as she watched him take his clothes off and walk to her, hard and ready.

He didn’t smile. He didn’t have to and the look in his eyes was dark and intense, the sexy kind of dangerous that Sarah had always loved about him. The dangerous side of Dan was what women were willing to do for and to him.

With one hand, he reached out and took the towel from her body. Sarah took a step toward Dan but without a word, he put his palm against her stomach, stopping her. He could feel her tremble beneath his hand which made him harder if that was possible as he circled behind her lifting a single strand of her wet fragrant hair, breathing in the scent of it, of her.

Dan slowly slid his other hand down the front of her thigh and gently moved it back up cupping her while she leaned back against him, waiting. He moved his mouth up her neck to her ear and whispered. “Sarah.”

“Yes.” She breathed.

“I don’t want to make love to you.”

“I don’t want you to.” She moaned under her breath, his touch.

He could feel her still wet body quivering against him. When he wanted sex like this, his voice became deep and husky and his voice made her physically weak.

The sex was guttural and hard, neither whispered anything sweet, they just took and gave as good as they got, the only sounds made were the sounds their bodies made as they thrust into one other and the rasping breath their lungs made as they came.

Later, before she left for the coast Dan had his hands braced against the sides of the shower, Sarah pressed between his arms, the warm water washing over their skin, “I can’t get enough of you.” He breathed against her mouth, kissing her, tasting her, telling her all the things he hadn’t earlier.

•

Tuesday meetings ran all day for Sarah and Melinda. “I called you last night, did you get my message?” Melinda asked as she reapplied her lipstick in the visor mirror of Sarah’s car.

“Actually, I got in so late I just went to bed and this morning I had forgotten about it until now. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be silly. I thought Dan was in Portland?”

“He is, I went to Portland yesterday after you left.”

“Wow, I remember when Josh and I couldn’t be apart for longer than a day. Damn, I miss those days.”

Sarah smiled, remembering how he had looked at her, how he had wanted her and the feel of Dan’s…everything.

“Hey, I offered to babysit anytime. You can bring the kids over to my house so you and Josh can go wild in your own home.”

“You do know your house isn’t kid proof don’t you?”

“I can put the cleaners up and my gun is in a locked safe.”

“I mean your house isn’t safe from them.”

“Oh!” Sarah laughed. “Anyway, I’m serious; you and Josh need a romantic evening.”

“Josh’s idea of a romantic evening is me rubbing his feet while he watches the Dallas Cowboys on TV.”

“Not if the only thing you’re wearing is his football jersey and those kitten heels you have.”

“Oh please, I’d have to wear chaps and spurs.” They both cracked up.

“Umm Melinda, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Ok, shoot.”

“Can you see my swimming pool on the upper deck from your house?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a no why do you ask?”

“Just wondering,” Sarah was so relieved.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 38

THE BROTHEL

Duplicity dropped anchor in a quiet cove south of Terrible Tilly. The evening served two South American businessmen. Men whom had been relieved of vast amounts of money in expectation of a shipment of young beautiful girls whom they believed were bought for their Brazilian brothels.

The girls they expected in the morning were to have come from places like Venice Beach and Malibu. Tall, tan, thin and blond was the order. Six in all and the men greatly anticipated initiating the girls into the life themselves aboard the ship on the voyage back.

Marcus had regaled them with make believe exploits of the capture of the Gold Coast beauties. The South Americans could barely contain their enthusiasm as they looked forward to morning light, when the girls would be brought on board for their pleasure.

Marcus shared a final story with the men, of a young bride snatch from her groom as they honeymooned in the Caribbean. The photograph he passed to the men of the young woman failed to spark recognition in either of the men and as they remarked on her beauty new drinks were offered and accepted and soon both were deeply asleep, dreaming their twisted dreams aboard Duplicity.

Late that night John met the outboard as usual and the Brazilians were rolled into Tilly under darkness and the fog that had crept in. One was strapped to a gurney and left in an adjacent room to wait his turn though he didn’t know it while in his drug induced sleep. The other was strapped to a gurney in full view of the autopsy room and tools of the trade.

Morning would find John in his assumed position, standing perfectly still and solemnly quiet as the first to be interrogated woke to find him trapped and terrorized into giving up anything John asked of him. The furnace was ignited and would be more than ready to receive the two soulless bastards.