Escape To Sunset - Sharon Hamilton Page 0,36
her place. With a persistent wind blowing off the gulf, the beach was sparsely populated. The fat tire motorized bicycle brigade had swollen to four, all of them men and all but one silver-haired, riding their bikes in flip-flops and swimming trunks.
Kiley tried the sliding glass door onto the patio and was reassured to find she’d remembered to lock it before she left. She went around and entered through the front door.
Inside the house, she put away her things and unboxed one of the cell phones, turning it on. Then she removed the sim card from her old phone, cutting it with scissors and flushing the pieces down the toilet.
She dialed Carmen.
When the reporter’s voicemail came on, Kiley left a short message.
“Hey there, it’s me. I’ll try you at the office. This is my new phone number.”
She left a brief message for Jason before she called the paper asking for Carmen.
The receptionist didn’t recognize Kiley’s voice, which was a lucky break. She was transferred to the features desk, and again, she heard Carmen’s voicemail. “Okay, quit playing hard to get, Carmen. I’m here. Waiting for your call.”
When she didn’t hear from the beat reporter after an hour, she called her editor.
“Kiley, I’m glad you called…just a minute while I close the door.”
Corbin Newman’s voice was heavily laced with stress. He’d never taken the time to close his door on their prior calls.
“Is everything okay? I was actually calling for Carmen—”
“There’s been a development, I’m afraid,” he interrupted. His breath sounded constricted and the pitch of his voice was a little higher than normal. She heard fumbling as he’d put the phone to his ear while walking from the office doorway. The familiar squeak of his rolling desk chair told her he was now ensconced behind his desk.
“Tell me, Corbin. What’s happened?”
“Carmen’s missing.”
It took a couple of seconds before Kiley could fully comprehend her editor’s words. Something at the back of her brain screamed a denial. Her Aunt Itoldyouso was standing in the distance with her hands on her hips, shaking her head.
“Since when?”
“Since yesterday. I didn’t want to call you to worry you further, after our last conversation, but was just going to call you this morning when we still hadn’t heard from her. I have Fred and Doris headed over to her place now.”
Fred was their head of security. So Newman suspected foul play.
Kiley instinctively scanned the patio and the beach beyond in both directions through the still-locked and closed sliding glass door. Nothing caught her eye. She ran to the front door and double locked the deadbolt and door handle. Her fingers felt clammy, and she sweat poured from her armpits. The familiar thump, thump-thump of her elevated heartbeat made her teeth rattle.
“Talk to me, Corbin.”
“We’re stumped, Kiley.”
“So how do you know she’s missing, then?”
“She was to do an interview with KRVR. The article hit the papers yesterday—”
“I thought it was coming out Friday.”
“We upped it. There was interest, you know, rumors of the article coming out. I can smell a request to cover up news a mile away. KRVR left me a message late yesterday afternoon when she didn’t show up for the taping. It was going to be their lead story on the evening news, and the old lady was furious with me, like it was my fault.”
The public radio station was owned by the ex-wife of a wealthy Oregon state representative. She ran the station like her own private fiefdom. Kiley could only imagine how Rosalie Conden had boxed his ears. He was probably still sore.
“So what did they say then, on the newscast?”
“Oh, they announced they were doing some investigative reporting on your article, didn’t mention anything about Carmen, thank God, and just indicated there would be more coming. Rosalie had her toy-boy do it, the anchor, what’s-his-name.”
“Charley Gleason.”
“That’s the one. It made me nervous to look at him deliver his script. It’s got me spooked, Kiley. Are you sure you’ve not heard from her?”
“Positive.” Kiley had forgotten to check for messages before she destroyed the sim card, and she swore at her aunt, mentally. “What’s the feedback on the article?” She inhaled deep and waited for an answer.
“Oh geez, like a bomb went off. We’ve been doing nothing but fielding phone tips all morning. I had to hire an extra receptionist to handle the volume. And then there’s the mayor. Haven’t returned his call yet. I spoke to the chief, briefly, and promised we’d cooperate fully when I located either you or Carmen.