Chapter 19

 

As I walked along the beach with the breeze in my hair, my cell phone rang. I moved toward the sidewalk area so that I could answer. There was no way that I would hear the person with the waves crashing in my ears. I didn’t recognize the number. When I reached the sidewalk I picked up the call.

“Maggie, P.I.?” the male voice asked.

I looked around as if the person might be hiding behind one of the nearby palm trees. “This is Maggie.”

“I need you to meet me at the pier,” he said.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“That doesn’t matter. I just need you to meet me.”

“Well, I think it matters a lot. I’m not in the habit of meeting strangers,” I said.

“I have some information about a case that you’re working on,” the man said.

“What case?” I asked.

“Meet me and I’ll tell you.”

“I can’t understand why you can’t just tell me over the phone,” I said.

He paused for a moment and then he said, “There’s something that I want to show you.”

“Tell me or show me?” Was this guy just making up stuff as he went?

“I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes,” he said.

“I haven’t agreed to meet you.”

There was no noise on the other end of the line.

“Hello?” I said.

Still there was no answer. I looked at my phone screen. The call had ended. Now I had to know what this was all about. I hoped it wasn’t some kind of setup. After all, I had almost been hit by a car. I supposed meeting at the pier would be okay though.

It wasn’t a long walk so I headed out toward the pier. He’d said he had info about the case and something he wanted to show me. What could it be? I walked down the sidewalk, looking at the faces to see if anyone was watching me. No one was paying attention. I continued my walk toward the water. My anxiety increased the closer I got. There was nothing to worry about, I told myself. Everything was fine. It was probably someone who wanted to remain nameless. He would probably show me photos or something. I hoped that whatever it was that it was truly relevant to the case. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was back there.

I didn’t notice anyone watching me or attempting to walk up behind me. I looked ahead and there was no one paying attention to me that way either. I walked up to the pier and stopped. I looked at the time on my phone. It had already been twenty minutes. Was I too late? I had just arrived—there was no way that I’d missed this person. I dialed the number but it went to a voicemail box that said it hadn’t been set up yet. This was just another odd thing about this situation. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would wait. I decided to walk out on the pier while I waited. Surely the person would see me out there if he arrived. After all, he had told me to meet him at the pier.

The whitecaps moved across the water. The warm breeze blew across my skin. If nothing else this was a beautiful evening walk. If this person didn’t show up though I would always wonder about what he’d wanted to tell me. As I walked down the pier I glanced back to see if anyone was coming. I was still alone. It was odd to be here alone, but this was an isolated part of the beach.

I stood at the end of the pier and stared down at the water. I almost forgot that I was supposed to meet someone here. I closed my eyes and let the wind drift across my skin. The setting sun warmed my skin. It was easy to get lost in the moment.

The sound of footsteps traveled across the wind. Then I felt a presence behind me. Before I got a chance to look over my shoulder and see who was there I was pushed from behind.

I screamed as I fell toward the water. Then I hit the ocean. I went underneath. It was as if the wind had been knocked out of me. For a moment I couldn’t believe what had happened. Then I realized this wasn’t a dream and I had to do something to get out of there before I drowned or, even worse, a shark ate me. That was when the panic set in. And I knew what would happen if I panicked.

The water lapped against me. It was getting choppier by the second. Or maybe that was just my imagination. At least I could still see the shore. It could have been worse, I supposed. Just thinking about my surroundings made my heart beat faster. I had to remain calm or this would mean lights out for me. No matter how much I told myself that, it wasn’t quite working out that way though. What would I do? I wasn’t the best swimmer. I supposed I had no choice but to swim. No one was coming to save me this time. Jake wouldn’t magically appear. Would he? No, he hadn’t followed me this time. I supposed he had felt I was frustrated with him and stopped. Now was the time when I needed to be saved the most. It was do or die time.

I could float here in the ocean and drown or I could swim to shore. Why hadn’t anyone noticed me being pushed? This was it. I was going to drown out here. I’d moved to Miami and then drowned in the Atlantic. That sounded like my luck.

I started moving my arms and kicking my legs. The doggy paddle wouldn’t cut it in this situation. I’d gotten myself in quite a pickle this time. I had plenty of time to think about what I’d done wrong. I should have never blindly agreed to meet the person at a secluded location. It seemed as if someone wanted me dead. This had been an easy way for them to get rid of me. They must have assumed that I wasn’t a good swimmer. Or maybe someone they knew had figured out I wasn’t a good swimmer. How would anyone know?

That was when it hit me. I’d told two different people recently that I couldn’t swim well. One was my client Cora, who was currently apparently missing. Then the other person—Abby. I’d told Abby during a brief conversation we’d had while standing at the beach a few weeks ago. She’d shown up while Jake and I had been relaxing in the sun. Apparently there had been an urgent matter that made her drag him away. Sometimes I thought she made up stuff just for that purpose.

Cora wasn’t missing at all. Would she do something as terrible as that? Had she had someone call me to meet there on purpose? Or had it been a coincidence and she had followed me to the pier? She could have seen the opportunity and used it. Though the person who’d called me had never shown up, at least not that I knew. Maybe they hadn’t seen me in the water and had left.

Just when I thought I couldn’t swim any longer I made it back to the shore. It had been touch and go there for a while. I’d thought for sure that I saw fins. I stumbled to the shore and tossed the seaweed from around my neck. I collapsed onto the sand. I had to catch my breath. I was completely exhausted. There was a couple in the distance. They didn’t look over and see me, though even if they did they’d probably just think I was lounging on the beach.

I pulled the cell phone from my pocket. How it hadn’t fallen out I had no idea. Of course it no longer worked. Now I couldn’t even call for help if I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell Jake about this. Then he really would think I couldn’t take care of myself. At the moment I was beginning to wonder if I could or not too.

I had to get back to my car. I didn’t want to be out here alone. Dorothy and Jake were probably both wondering what had happened to me.

I crawled a few inches and then managed to get to my feet. My legs wobbled a little. I headed across the sand back toward where I had parked the car. When I looked ahead I spotted a woman. It was hard to make out for sure, but I thought it looked like Cora from behind, with the long blonde hair. Then again it kind of looked like Abby too. Maybe I was so tired that I was imagining things. The woman disappeared around the corner and out of view. Now I would never know. Unless she was waiting for me. Maybe she would attack again.

I also didn’t see a man looking for me either. Yes, I thought for sure that I had been tricked. I made it to my car and locked the doors once I was in. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for my apartment. I would have to get a new phone tomorrow. I’d have to use the phone somewhere else to call Jake. I supposed I should stop by Dorothy’s and let her know that I was okay. She would be worried if I didn’t answer my phone. And I was sure she had tried to text already. She loved to text.