Escape To Sunset - Sharon Hamilton Page 0,12
to give me a forwarding address?”
“Nope. Anything you need to send, you can email to me. My check is on automatic deposit.”
“Well, are you having a good time, at least? On the beach somewhere?”
“Don’t assume anything. And why would you care?”
“Come on, Kiley, why don’t you trust me? Don’t you think someone should know where you are?”
“There are people who know where I am.”
“Really, who?”
“Look, Corbin, we agreed I was going to disappear for a while. That way when anybody asks you where I am, you don’t have to lie.”
She checked the time and realized she’d been on the line too long. Somewhere she’d read that anything over three minutes could be traceable, even with a burner cell.
“I’m going to sign off now. I’ll call you in a couple of days. You can email me the pictures, and I’ll take a look to see if I recognize her, okay? And have Carmen call me if she wants some background information, some of the things I’ve been working on. There’s a new shelter I ran across that I want her to check out”
He gave no objection.
Kiley showered, making the conscious decision not to open her laptop until she was ready to write. She fixed a light breakfast, made coffee, and walked outside on the sugary white sand beach in front of her bungalow.
This place is worth every penny!
She’d paid double the rental amount to be right on the beach. It wasn’t just the view she liked, it was the fact that the constant sound of the water lapping on sand drowned out all the other neighborhood noise and some traffic on Gulf Boulevard. She took the lease for three months and had to pay it up front. It cost nearly what it cost her to live for a whole year in their converted artist’s flat in the trendy warehouse district of Portland. Though she had to share, that space was huge, nearly three times the size of this cottage.
She intended to stay the entire three months, since the agency made it clear there would be no refund.
With her coffee mug, she walked out amongst the early morning crowd. She’d noticed already that the people gathering for sunrise were considerably different from the sunset crowd. Kiley loved both times but was probably partial to sunsets. Nothing in Portland, even before or after a big rainstorm, looked even vaguely similar.
She began scanning for interesting shells and soon came upon the place where she’d sat last night, recognizing the divots her feet had made in the now-warm sand. As if retracing her steps while investigating for clues, she sat in the exact same location, even placing her feet into the craters of sand.
There were several pelicans soaring over the calm waters this morning. After becoming more interested in a particular area, they would fly up twenty or thirty feet and then dive into the water, smashing their foreheads against the water’s surface. Her mother told her they had extra bone in their skulls for this very reason. The awkward snow-white bird floated along the surface for a few seconds, securing and probably eating part of the fish he’d caught. Then he took off toward land, bringing breakfast to his young and his mate.
She studied the beach people, devoid of children at the present time. Groups of colorful joggers drifted past her as she sat and enjoyed the morning. Sipping her coffee, she prepared to go inside and work on her deadline, her spirits brightened. Kiley could almost envision a day when she could finally relax and enjoy the beach community of her childhood.
She thought about the plaque she’d brought with her.
The beach heals everything. The message hit her right in the middle of her chest. She could feel the sheer terror this poor young woman was going through. If she was still alive, and that was a big if, she’d be locked up, confined to a cage somewhere. She’d be defenseless, probably naked, the end of her suffering beginning to be the one thing she’d most desire. The girl was a long way from the home of her childhood and probably convinced no one was even interested in looking for her.
Kiley allowed only a sliver of that fear to slip in, and then she shut off those thoughts. Given the choice of living in a cage or being killed, she wasn’t sure which option she could face.
Maybe I should just stay here forever.
Chapter 5
“Hey, Jason, Kyle told me you were out here. How’s it