warned Katie to stay away from that bitch. She’s nothing but bad news.”
“Watch your language, Drew,” Isla said.
“Those rich newcomers suck. Why’d they have to come here and ruin our town like that? Even my dad says we were much better off without them.”
“Go home, Drew.” She refused to let him in. “I said, go home.”
“I’m gonna call some friends and go look for her. Shouldn’t you be doing the same?”
“As you can see, I’m talking to the police right now.”
“Where’s Swisher?”
“Mr. Eaves to you.”
“He tells me to call him Swisher.”
“I can’t get ahold of him. I assume he’s out on business.”
Drew laughed, but it was not a happy laugh. “Right, that seaweed business of his.”
Karl walked over and stared at the kid.
“Where were you yesterday?” he said.
“I was at the game yesterday afternoon, and then I went straight home and didn’t leave the house again. I asked Katie to meet up with me that evening, but she said she was going to a party with some of her teammates. It pissed me off because I had a feeling she’d be hanging out with her.”
“What do you have against Willow Briggs?”
“Katie changed when she became friends with her. I warned Swisher that Katie was gonna get in trouble by hanging out with that girl, but he didn’t listen to me. Now look what’s happened. Katie’s gone, and the cops are involved. I wouldn’t be surprised if that missing rich kid also got tangled up with her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Isla said, secretly fearing the same thing.
“What did you do when you got home after the game?” Karl asked.
“Me, Jeff, and Jason hung out in my garage, drinking beer and working on Jason’s pickup. I was helping Jason put in a new transmission.”
“You guys are too young to be drinking.”
“Whatever.”
“You have their phone numbers?”
“Sure.” He gave them to Karl.
“You can expect a call from me, Drew. I might have some other questions I want to ask you.”
“Whatever. Just hurry up and find Katie,” Drew said before heading back out the front door.
Isla walked over and slammed the door shut, her nerves on edge.
She stared out the window over the kitchen sink and watched as his pickup sped down the hill, kicking up dirt and debris in the process. She grudgingly appreciated his concern for Katie, as belligerent as he could sometimes be. Drew was a simple boy who should have been born in an earlier era. His view of Katie seemed antiquated and she could understand why Katie had started to drift away from him—and this gritty town that had nurtured her.
And yet who was she to talk? She’d married Ray, the poster boy for Shepherd’s Bay masculinity. Then, after dropping out of college and returning home, she’d attended beauty school and learned to cut hair and taken over her grandfather’s barbershop in the downtown area.
She remembered her grandfather and how he had worked as a barber for over fifty years. He had cut the hair of generations of Shepherd’s Bay families and had known more about this town than just about anyone. When he had decided to retire and pass the barbershop on to her at no cost, she hadn’t been able to believe her good fortune. She’d agreed to assume the lease after she finished beauty school. Her grandfather’s only stipulation was that she work with him as an apprentice for a year and learn the art of barbering, which would give her additional skills as well as enable her to carry on the shop’s tradition. The more skills she had, the better to survive in this hardscrabble town. She happily agreed to this, and in that year she grew closer to him than ever.
He taught her how to cut men’s hair and do tight tapers and fades and military flattops, which were the most difficult cuts to master and were prevalent among old-timers and the few Coasties stationed here. He demonstrated how to shave around the ears and along the neck, and how to give full-on shaves using strop, stone, and a straight-edge razor. Beard trims were tricky, with so many styles that she often took notes afterward just to keep track. But what he didn’t overtly teach her, what he modeled instead, was how to deal with customers. She saw an easygoing and laid-back man, more a listener than a talker, and was shocked at what some of his customers discussed with him as he trimmed their hair: infidelity, sex, disease, death, politics, financial crises, among the many