Blur (5 page)

An hour later, after getting a few secret tours on some of the largest yachts I’d ever seen, we followed Duncan into the main shop to meet his dad, Sonny.

“Hello,” said Sonny, who was an older version of Duncan, minus the hair, “nice to meet the both of you.”

Nathan held out his hand and shook Sonny’s. “Thanks for letting Duncan give us a glimpse of some of these sweet yachts,” he said. “You must be extremely busy with all of those boats out there.”

“Tell me about it,” said Sonny. “I can barely keep up. I’m going to have to hire someone to help around the shop, especially now that fall is just around the corner. Many of these boats need to be winterized, and soon.”

I looked at Nathan, who was already way ahead of me.

“What kind of experience do you need? I’m looking for a job,” said my brother.

Sonny rubbed his bald head. “I can’t imagine you’d know how to repair boat engines at your age, although Duncan does, but that’s because he’s been around them most his life. You know, I could still use someone to take care of the customers, order parts, and do some of the lighter maintenance. That would free up a lot of time for me and my son.”

I could see that Nathan was getting really excited. “Listen,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “I’m your man. I’m a very hard worker and learn quickly.”

Sonny leaned back in his chair. “Okay. We’ll have you fill out an application and I’ll certainly consider you. I do have a couple mechanics who work the graveyard shift, so what I could really use is someone who doesn’t mind doing a little grunt work.”

“Grunt is my middle name,” smiled Nathan.

Sonny smiled. “That’s what I like to hear.”

While Nathan started filling out the application, Duncan asked me if I wanted anything to drink.

“Um, sure... water?”

“Come on, I’ll show you our luxurious break room.”

I followed Duncan to the back of the shop and we entered into a small room with pop and snack machines.

“Here,” he said, handing me a bottle of water from the back of the fridge. “I’ll give you one from my secret stash. If I don’t hide them, they seem to disappear overnight.”

I laughed. “Really? Thanks.”

“So,” he said as he sat down and stretched out his long legs. “How do you like Shore Lake so far?”

“Seriously, it’s kind of a hard question to answer. Last night we found a body near the lake, and today, one of the waitresses at Ruth’s passed me a note that warned us to stay inside after dark and not invite any strangers inside.”

His eyes widened. “Seriously?! Are you kidding me?”

I took a sip of the water. “No, I wish I was.” I set my water down and pulled out the note Amy had given me.

He read it and frowned. “Very strange. So, do the cops know whose body you found?”

“Some girl around my age, Tina Johnson?”

He scratched his head. “Tina Johnson? To tell you the truth, I don’t really know many of the locals. I only stay with my dad during the summer and then for the rest of the year, I live with my mom in Minnesota.”

“Oh, so you’re going back to Minnesota next month when school starts?”

He smiled. “I graduated last spring, so now I can stay wherever I want.”

“What are you going to do now?” I asked.

He sighed. “Probably help my dad out while I take some engineering classes at the local college.”

“What about your mom?”

“She just remarried and is pretty busy with her new husband,” he said. “My dad doesn’t really have anyone else but me, so I’m probably sticking around here.”

I took a sip of water and set it down. “Well, it sounds like your dad really needs you in more ways than one.”

He nodded. “What about your old man?” he asked and then looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have asked. If he’s passed away or something, I apologize for my lack of tactfulness.”

I smiled humorlessly. “Actually, there are times that I wish he
had
passed away. I know that sounds really cold, but he’s an asshole. Thank goodness my mom is no longer with him.”

“Then cheers to that,” he said, tapping my water bottle with his.

“Cheers.”

He re-capped his water. “So, you mentioned the dead girl, do they think she was murdered?”

“No, it sounds like she liked to party a little too much and may have accidently killed herself.”

“What about the waitress at the diner?” he asked, biting his lower lip. “That was a pretty weird.”

“Very.” I sat back in the chair. “So, um, have you heard anything about missing people or other bodies being discovered near the lake?”

He looked thoughtful. “No, not really; although, there have been plenty of people moving recently. That’s why I mentioned the cabins. Either people are selling or just renting out their lake homes.”

“Hey, Nikki,” said Nathan as he stepped into the break room, “are you ready to get going? I want to pick up those steaks for mom before it gets too late.”

I looked at my watch and noticed it was already after seven. “Yeah, we’d better leave.”

“Thanks for stopping by, guys,” said Duncan, standing up. He lowered his voice. “I’ll work on my dad so he’ll hire you.”

Nathan laughed. “Sounds good. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days if I don’t hear from him, to see what’s going on. If anything, we can go cruising.”

“Definitely. And don’t forget about the barbeque this weekend,” said Duncan. “Now that Nikki’s practically begged me to be your date, Nathan.”

Nathan’s eyes widened innocently. “Oh, what ever will I wear?” he asked, standing kind of prissy. “Do you like pink, Duncan?”

Duncan looked at my dress and then winked.  “Actually, I prefer blue.”

It was dark by the time we made it home and mom was on the deck, desperately trying to figure out the grill.

“Step aside before you blow us all up,” ordered Nathan, handing her the package of steaks.

“No arguments here,” she answered. “I prefer cooking on the stove myself, but the steaks taste so much better on the grill. Thanks for picking them up, by the way.”

“No problem. Just don’t give the sheriff mine, it’s the thirty-ouncer,” he replied.

“Of course not, you bottomless pit,” she said. “But we’re also having potatoes, pasta salad, and corn on the cob. So pace yourself tonight, if you can.”

He snorted. “That’s it? No dessert?”

“Cheesecake,” she said. “But let’s make sure our guest gets a piece before you get your mitts on it.”

“You should have made two, and then you wouldn’t have to worry about it,” he joked.

She raised her finger. “I’m not going to worry about it because you’re going to wait until everyone else has had a piece before you devour the rest.”

“Okay, I can live with that.”

“You look nice,” I told her. She was wearing a lilac colored blouse and a new white skirt I’d never seen before.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “So, how was your trip into town?”

“It started out a little strange but got better,” I answered.

“What do you mean?”

Nathan interrupted. “Oh, she applied for a job at the local diner and some waitress slipped her a note with an ominous warning.”

“What?”

I showed her the piece of paper and she shrugged. “That
is
pretty odd. Maybe she knew the deceased girl? Who knows, she may think there was foul play involved.”

“Maybe there was,” I said.

She frowned. “The sheriff didn’t seem to think so. We’ll ask him about it again when he gets here.”

“Okay,” I said, putting the note away. I didn’t think he’d tell us much, however. Having a father for a cop taught me that they weren’t keen on divulging information like that.

“So, did you guys make it to Duncan’s boat shop?”

“Yeah,” said Nathan. “And his dad is hiring for shop help, so I filled out an application.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow, that means both of you might have jobs before the end of the summer? That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, I know. I need money and a car, badly,” I said.

“If you get a job, I’ll help you find a car and you can pay me back in installments. But, don’t expect anything fancy,” she said.

“Seriously? Thanks, mom,” I replied, throwing my arms around her. I’d never owned my own car before, although I had my license. I started thinking about all of the possibilities and became giddy.

“You bet. I know it’s tough not having a car; especially, now that you’ll be a senior.”

As I pulled away, my eyes caught a movement in the woods. At first, I thought it was a deer or some other wild animal, but then in a blur, it shot up into the trees. I wasn’t sure, but I could have sworn its eyes were glowing, too. Just like the so-called “Peeping Tom.”

“Something’s in the woods,” I whispered hoarsely. 

“What?” asked my mother.

Nathan stepped off the deck and began walking slowly towards the trees.

“What the hell are you doing?” barked mom.

He raised his hand. “Calm down. It’s probably just a deer or something.”

I pointed up towards the top of the trees. “It flew up there, and I doubt it was a reindeer.”

My mom released a heavy sigh. “Then it was just a bird. Don’t scare me like that.”

I shook my head, vehemently. “No, it wasn’t a bird.”

Nathan walked back onto the deck. “Of course it was a bird. Or maybe a flying squirrel.”

I put my hands on my waist. “It wasn’t a small animal, okay? It was big! Bigger than you,” I told him.

“The shadow probably looked a lot larger than the animal. When it’s dark like this, your eyes can play tricks on you. Think about it, nothing my size would be able to fly up into a tree,” he said. “It’s not possible.”

“I know what I saw,” I snapped, glaring at him, “and it was big. I’m going into the cabin. This place is really starting to give me the creeps.”

“It’s been a long day,” said my mom, as I opened the patio door. “Caleb should be here in another hour. If you’re hungry, Nikki, eat some of that pasta salad I made. It’s in the refrigerator. Oh, and put these steaks in there too, will you?”

She handed them to me and my stomach started rumbling as I went into the kitchen.  Although I was still freaked out about the flying shadow, I was also
starving, as I hadn’t eaten anything since my salad at the diner earlier.

I opened up the refrigerator and took out the large bowl of pasta, setting it on the counter. As I began scooping out some of the salad, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. I raised my eyes to the window facing me and let out a bloodcurdling scream. A pale face was staring at me through the glass. It disappeared quickly and I leaped away from the window in terror.

“What’s wrong?” hollered my brother, rushing into the kitchen.

“Someone was watching me,” I choked, pointing towards the window. “Through there!”

He stared at my frightened face then grabbed a butcher knife from the block.

“What are you planning on doing with that?” cried mom, entering the kitchen.

“Nikki thinks there’s someone out there.” He raised the knife. “If there
is
someone, I’m not going unarmed.”

Just then the doorbell rang, startling us all.

“I’ll get it,” said mom. “Hopefully it’s the sheriff and he can take a look around outside.”

We followed her to the front door and she swung it open.

“Hello,” smiled Caleb, holding out two bottles of wine, a red and a white. “I wasn’t sure if you were a wine drinker or not. I brought red and white, just in case.”

“Thank God you’re here,” she said, grabbing a bottle of wine and pulling him through the door. “Nikki thinks someone is lurking around outside.”

“Think?” I snapped. “I know there is. Someone was in the woods watching all of us, and then a face stared at me through the window.”

Caleb was dressed in civilian clothing, jeans and a white polo shirt, but he reached down by his ankle and pulled out a gun. “Okay, I’ll go take a look. You guys stay inside and lock your doors.”

“Mom, I’m seriously really scared,” I said, as she locked the door. “What the hell is going on around here?”

She walked over and hugged me. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

“What if it’s dad?” said Nathan, his face pale. “What if he’s found us and is trying to scare the shit out of us?”

“Oh, hell, I never even considered that,” said mom, looking quite troubled, herself. “I hope not.”

“Would he do that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. The law is after him now. He might do anything. I can’t imagine how he found out where we were staying, though. The only person who knew was Ernie.”

“I think you should call Ernie and make sure he’s okay,” said Nathan.

She moved towards the phone, her face white. “I’ll call him right now.”

There was a loud knock at the door. “It’s me. Let me in. Everything’s okay,” called Caleb.

Mom put down the phone and rushed to the door. “Did you find anything?” she asked, when he stepped inside.

He smiled. “Actually, I found a couple of raccoons outside that were looking pretty mischievous. I didn’t find anything else out of the ordinary, though.”

“Um, did you see footprints by any of the kitchen windows, or any prints?” asked Nathan.

He bit back a smile. “I didn’t see much, I’m sorry. But I really don’t think there’s anyone out there.”

“I know what I saw, and it was a human face, staring at me through the kitchen window,” I said. “It freaked the crap out of me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Okay, what did this person look like?”

I sighed. “It was hard to tell, it happened so fast.”

“If you couldn’t really tell, then it’s quite possible that you saw an animal,” said Caleb, walking towards the window. He lifted one of the blinds and peered outside. “There are a lot of those in these woods.”

“It moved so quickly, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman, but it definitely wasn’t an animal. I’m sure of that,” I said

He released the blind and walked back over to us. “I can look around again, if it makes you feel better.”

“Thank you, Caleb,” interrupted my mom. “This family has been through so much that it would really be comforting if you could do that for us.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay, I understand. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” I said, as he walked back towards the door.

“No problem. If it’s going to calm everyone down, I’ll be happy to do it.”

“I told you he was a nice man,” said mom after he left the cabin again.

Even I had to admit, it was almost comforting having him around. Almost.

Caleb took much longer this time, but when he returned, he still hadn’t discovered anything unusual.

“Thank you for doing that, Caleb,” said my mother, handing him a glass of red wine. “You could probably use a little of this right now.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he answered with a lopsided grin. “Although I’d better not overindulge; I hear the cops in this area are pretty wicked.”

She giggled and then turned to Nathan. “Honey, can you fire up the grill? I’m sure everyone is starving by now.”

“Yeah, I’m fading away,” said Nathan, raising his hands in front of his face. “I can barely see my hands.”

Mom smiled and shook her head. Then she turned to me. “Nikki? Honey, why don’t you go upstairs and rest for a little while. I’ll fix you a plate of food and bring it up later, if you don’t feel like coming back down.”

I glanced at Caleb, who was staring at my mother like she was a filet mignon. I knew right then that it was time to make an exit.

“Okay, I need to change anyway,” I said, getting off the couch. As I left, I could hear them talking and wanted to puke at the way she was flirting with the sheriff. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Caleb; I just didn’t think she was ready to start anything after what just happened.

I raced upstairs to my bedroom, still feeling tense. The gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach was driving me crazy and I just wanted to go back to my old home in San Diego.  

Feeling helpless, I kept the lights off and changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, keeping my attention on the balcony window. When I finished, I grabbed my bat and slowly walked over to the glass and worked up the nerve to look down below. I half expected to see some kind of ghoul lurking around in the darkness. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, however, which still wasn’t enough to calm my nerves.

“What are you doing?” whispered Nathan next to my ear.

“Holy crap! Don’t you ever freak me out like that again!” I snapped. “You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!”

“Wow, I’m sorry. Just settle down, will you?”

I rubbed the beads of sweat from my forehead and then looked at him. “I don’t care what the sheriff says, I saw someone out there watching me in the kitchen.”

He sighed. “I’m not sure what you saw, either, but what I do know is that ever since we found that girl’s body, you’ve been going crazy. I mean, isn’t it possible that you saw a raccoon staring at you in the window? You said so yourself, you couldn’t even see the face very well.”

“I can tell the difference between a raccoon’s face and a person’s, Nathan. I’m not a complete moron,” I said, glancing through the window again.

We both stared outside in silence for a while.

“Maybe it really is dad, then,” he said softly. “He might be trying to frighten her or all of us.”

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. Dad had major anger issues, but he doesn’t seem the type of person who’d waste his time doing this kind of thing. In fact, he’s probably hiding on the other side of the world by now with the help of some of his cop friends.”