told you,” Cindy said.
“Well, wait a minute. Maybe not exactly ‘nothing.’ I did find out that everyone saw Sheila arguing with Dane, but no one knows where she is now. Except, of course, I’m sure someone is lying. Want to come in and have something to drink?”
Cindy gave her a quizzical look for a moment. “Kind of early for you, isn’t it? You’re the kid who never had anything to drink during the day. And I thought you just came from the Sea Shanty?”
“It’s after five. Isn’t that cocktail hour?”
“Yeah, I guess. Sorry. I didn’t realize how late it was. Daylight Saving Time, you know. Seems it stays light so late. But hey, I told you to try one of those Wind-Runners over there. That should have knocked you for a loop. Didn’t you get one?”
“I ordered one. But I didn’t drink it.”
“Why not? They’re delicious.”
“It spilled,” Kelsey said. “Are you coming in?”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I just made quiche. Thought you might like some.”
“Good, you supply the food, I’ve got the beer.”
They walked on into the kitchen together. “I went down to the sheriff’s department. Sergeant Hansen let me fill out a missing persons report, though he wasn’t real thrilled about it. He didn’t seem to think there was anything odd about Sheila being gone for a week. Usually all you need is forty-eight hours. Here, your remains could be mummified and everyone still thinks you’ll show up when you feel like it.”
“Kelsey, that’s not true. It’s just that…”
“That what?”
“Sheila was living…a certain lifestyle,” Cindy said.
“Still, a missing persons report is important,” Kelsey told Cindy. She looked pointedly at her friend. “And it’s something no one else thought to do.”
“Kelsey,” Cindy said, taking a seat on one of the three bar stools at the kitchen counter, “I’m not sure what to say to make you feel better. You’ve got to realize, Sheila is always going off and not telling anyone.”
“I’m worried because she was supposed to meet me. Here. We made plans. I took my vacation time.”
Cindy shrugged, accepting a bottle of Michelob. “Kelsey, you haven’t seen a lot of Sheila in the last few years.”
“I haven’t seen her at all for at least two years,” Kelsey said.
Cindy spoke slowly. “So you just have to realize—you don’t really know her anymore.”
Kelsey shrugged, feeling the guilt that had plagued her lately over that very fact.
They’d all been friends, growing up. Slightly different in age, but friends because they were islanders, and the area had been pretty darn small back when they’d been kids. She was the youngest, Cindy was one year her senior, Sheila and Nate were the same age, two years older than Cindy. Of their little group, her brother, Joe, had been the oldest—with Dane Whitelaw just one month younger. Then there was Larry, who had been about the same age as Dane and Joe, but he had been a weekender, so he hadn’t really been in the same tight-knit group. Sometimes there had been other kids in the group, as well, guys like Jorge Marti, and even Izzy Garcia.
They’d all grown so far apart over the years.
Well, except for the fact that she worked with Larry, who had been instrumental in getting her into Sherman and Cutty, the advertising and promotions firm where she worked in the conceptual design department. Then, of course, Cindy and Nate were still close friends. And maybe she hadn’t really been that far away, because she had kept up with Cindy. And Nate. Despite the fact that she and Nate had been married and divorced in the blink of an eye. Oddly enough, though totally unsuited to be husband and wife, she and Nate had made it as friends. When she thought back, she was angry with herself for what she had done, marrying him. Of course, she had felt empty then, hurt and very alone. The void in her life had seemed like a bottomless pit. There had been nothing she wanted more then than to get away. And Nate…Nate had never been going anywhere. He’d loved Key Largo and known he was going to stay from the time he’d been a boy. Maybe she had thought of marriage as a means to run away. Whatever her thinking, it had been wrong, and she had done nothing but hurt Nate. Still, it seemed he had forgiven her. And he was happy. He loved his Sea Shanty. Loved fishing, diving, boating and just being in the sun. He had never talked about anything other than living his life right here.
Just as Sheila and Dane had talked about nothing but moving on.
She understood why with Sheila. And with Dane…maybe she understood him, too.
But they’d both come back.
And now she was back here, as well, especially to see Sheila. Except that Sheila had invited her down, sent her the key to the duplex and never appeared herself.
“Have you been out to see Sheila’s stepfather yet?” Cindy asked cautiously.
Kelsey experienced a slight and involuntary shudder. “No,” she said, her admission rueful.
“Well, neither have I,” Cindy murmured. “And he’s actually the man we should be asking about her.”
“I’m surprised she keeps in any kind of contact with him.”
“She has to. They’re connected by her mother’s trust fund.”
“You know what?” Kelsey said, suddenly decisive. “I’m going out there right now.”
“Wait a minute! Why?” Cindy asked. “We’re going to have beer and quiche. Kelsey, you have to eat, you know. You can go out and see Andy Latham anytime. Go tomorrow in the daylight.”
“It’s still daylight now,” Kelsey said. She was already at the door, slipping her sandals back on. “I suppose I really should have gone out there to see him first.”
“Why? Sheila hated him, you know that. If she had plans, she’d never have shared them with him. Not that she really made too many long-term plans. I lived in the other half of the same building, and I never knew what she was doing.”
“You just said she had to keep in contact with him because of her mom’s trust fund. He still might know something,” Kelsey said.
Cindy sighed. “Kelsey, her car is gone, so she obviously drove somewhere. Maybe you should start by looking for the car instead of with her stepdad. Though I still think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“Cindy, she knew I could only take so much time off. And she really wanted to see me. She was worried about something.”
Cindy was silent, which made Kelsey aggravated—with herself and with everyone else. Maybe they were right. She hadn’t seen Sheila in forever. A sense of guilt had brought her here, but the fact that she was feeling guilty didn’t mean that Sheila had suddenly become responsible, or that she wouldn’t forget her plans with Kelsey the same way she forgot plans with anyone else. Sheila might have talked to her, sounding desperate, then forgotten the plans they’d made
