Lavender Beach (37 page)

After getting the
trip to the aviation doctor behind them, Cooper had just finished tapping together a frame for the latest photographs he called his “Lighthouse Series” when the shop door opened and in walked Caleb.

“I’m taking Abby Anderson out Saturday night.”

An amused Cooper cracked a grin. “Aren’t you supposed to be, I don’t know, working or something, making deliveries right about now? You couldn’t have just texted me with that update on your love life?”

Caleb sat down at the train table, started working the controls of the HO scale Santa Fe Flyer. “At least I keep you updated. Do I need to recite the rules of bros one more time so you’ll understand the importance of full disclosure? You don’t seem to get it.”

Cooper detected a need in his younger brother for kinship. And then something else occurred to him. “You don’t have a lot of friends in town, do you?”

Caleb visibly bristled. His shoulders slumped. But he kept his eyes glued to the train as it made its way around the track. “You escaped out of here. You left all the crap behind, only coming back for Christmases. Me? Some of the kids at school never forgot that I came from a nutcase.”

Cooper went over to where Caleb sat. “It’s true I ran out of here. I ran to escape, but I couldn’t, not really. You can never truly escape your past. It’s impossible to leave behind the memories. But you can learn to deal with them and understand how whatever Eleanor did, that’s on her. Now I realize I’ve been a lousy brother to you over the years. And that’s the last thing I ever wanted to be.”

“No. You’ve always been the steady example to follow. That’s why I was surprised, shocked really, when you decided to come back. For months, I wasn’t sure you’d stay. Even after you bought your house, I still kept thinking I’d wake up and you’d be gone the next day.”

Cooper slapped Caleb on the back. “I’m not going anywhere. My wandering days are over.”

“Because of the hot pilot?”

Cooper grinned. “She’s one reason. But you, Drea, Shelby, and Landon, are the other reasons. I tell you what, why don’t you see if Abby’s free later this evening and we all plan to meet over at McCready’s for a round of beers and some stale nachos.”

“You buying?”

“Sure. Eastlyn and I are celebrating. Aviation doc says she’s physically fit to fly.”

Caleb gave his brother a high-five. “Then we’ll knock back a few and make it a party.”

Once Eastlyn got
into the habit of wearing dresses, she didn’t seem to be able to resist making a weekly stop at Reclaimed Treasures just to go through the new inventory.

“I don’t know how you manage to find such great stuff,” Eastlyn told Julianne as she draped two tops and a skirt over her arm.

“During the school year, it’s a challenge to find the time. But once summer gets here, I let loose and make trips back home to Santa Cruz, San Sebastian, you name it. I hit all my favorite places.”

“Well, whatever it is you do, it works. Each time I come in here I find something new I want. And with your eye for color, I feel more at ease dressing for informal evenings around town.”

Julianne grinned. “I’m glad you feel that way. It makes me think my little shop is as important as the bank.”

“Oh, it is. My choices so far have gotten me a lot of compliments. I mean, I know I’ll never be a fashionista but…”

“Who says you aren’t?”

Eastlyn laughed. “It’s okay. I don’t really want to be a fashion guru. I just want to look my best when I’m out with Cooper.”

Julianne pointed a finger. “Now you listen to me. Since the assembly, I’ve had three girls come up to me—from first grade to fifth—and tell me they wanted to become pilots because of you.”

“Really?”

“You bet. You’re much better than some fashion trendsetter, you’re a role model.”

“Hmm, come to think of it I don’t mind doing a man’s job driving a forklift or plowing, but I’ve discovered I like the look on Cooper’s face when he sees me dressed up.”

About that time her cell phone dinged with a text from him suggesting happy hour. She held up the message to Julianne. “See, I like the idea of putting on something other than jeans to mingle.” 

“It never hurts to show off our girlie side during downtime,” Julianne said.

Pleased with that assessment of herself, Eastlyn bought several flattering outfits.

At home she showered, kept her curly hair sassy and wild looking. She changed into a white swing sleeveless tank that showed off her tan lean arms. She wrapped a flowing Mercado skirt around her hips, draped a turquoise necklace around her neck for color, and let little moons in sterling silver hang at her ears.

Walking into the drab, dark pool hall, Cooper decided she was the most beautiful thing there. But the stark change in her appearance did make a lot people do a double take, including several of the men at the bar.

Caleb and his date, Abby Anderson, waited for them at a table near the back.

Abby waved wildly at Cooper but almost didn’t recognize Eastlyn. “You look awesome. What’s gotten into you lately?”

Eastlyn lifted a shoulder in a casual sign that said she did this all the time. “What? A girl shouldn’t dress up and make an event out of having a drink? These days, I do it all the time.”

“She does,” Cooper said with a grin. “She’s the sort of woman who looks good in anything she wears, but mostly, mostly, she looks best wearing nothing at all.”

Eastlyn felt her face flush. She elbowed Cooper playfully in the ribs as Abby, ever cheerful and spirited, simply went on with her glowing praise. “You look fantastic. Want to take a selfie with me to post on Facebook?”

Delighted with the idea, Eastlyn leaned over next to Abby’s chair. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

Abby grabbed her camera phone, snagged the photo and then uploaded it to social media.

“What about taking a picture of all of us?” Caleb suggested, holding up his phone, capturing the image for all to see.

While they were goofing around, Eastlyn spotted a face she recognized. She leaned into Cooper’s space. “There, at three o’clock, that’s the same guy Brent ID’d as Titus Driscoll, the one in several of your shots from the compound.”

“The one making the buy. I remember. Driscoll seems to be friendly with a lot of the guys drinking at the bar.”

Eastlyn kept her eyes on Driscoll as he joked with Flynn and several other men before heading off to the pool tables in the back. “Maybe I should go over and listen to their conversation.”

When she started to get up, Cooper grabbed her hand. “Maybe now isn’t such a good time to let him know you’re on to him.”

“Why do you have to be so logical?”

Cooper spotted Bree and Troy coming in and waved the couple over. “Hey, why not join us? We’re ending the workweek with a happy hour to celebrate Eastlyn getting her aviation physical behind her.”

Cooper noticed Troy didn’t seem like his usual cheerful self. The guy didn’t even acknowledge Eastlyn’s achievement. “Sounds like a plan. Bree and I’ve had a rough week, what with Zach and all. I pulled Bree in here because I thought she needed to get her mind off things.”

“How’s Zach doing?” Eastlyn asked Troy.

Troy’s eyes cut to Bree before he answered. “Haven’t you heard? Zach’s gone missing.”

Everyone gaped but it was Cooper who asked, “What do you mean missing?”

Bree dabbed at her eyes. “Zach’s gone. I stopped by his house before I headed to work to check on him two days ago, his truck was in the driveway, but he was nowhere around. I went to Brent right away. Brent issued what he called a BOLO or Be On the Lookout that same day. The BOLO went out to law enforcement, but still no word, no one’s seen Zach. For the past forty-eight hours Troy and I have been worried sick about him.”

Troy went on to explain, “We drove up and down the Coast Highway, north and south for miles, but couldn’t find him anywhere. There’s been no sign of him around town.”

Bree’s voice trembled. Her breath hitched. “I’m afraid he’s wandered off without his medication. I found it sitting right there in the kitchen where he left it.”

After ordering beers all around, Troy turned to Cooper and Caleb. “I just want you to know there are no hard feelings on our part about Drea breaking up with Zach. He’s been…in a bad place now for months.”

Cooper nodded. “We were concerned about Drea’s safety, especially when Zach wouldn’t leave her alone.”

But Eastlyn was still having a problem processing the fact that Zach had simply wandered off. “I can’t believe he’d up and leave like that without his truck. What did he do, walk wherever he went?”

Troy sipped his brew. “That’s just it, we don’t know for sure. We’re afraid he’s not in his right mind and might have tried to hurt himself.”

Bree picked up her drink. “There are a dozen places he might go. Maybe he even headed back to Colorado. You know several years ago he took off for the Rockies. He didn’t even let me know where he was for two days. He just packed up and left. When I think back to that time after our dad died, Zach’s been acting strange for years.”

Troy nodded. “It’s those kinds of things in Zach’s past that make us think life’s pressures started getting to him. He just couldn’t handle things.”

Zach’s disappearance still didn’t make sense to Eastlyn. “But on foot? How far could he really get on foot? Think about it.”

“But if he got a decent head start…” Caleb proffered. “He could be in Scott’s Valley by now.”

Eastlyn glanced over at Caleb and stared. “That’s the point. Scott’s Valley is less than thirty minutes from here.”

“You don’t think it’s too late for a search?” Bree asked, her voice filled with hope. “It’s been two days.”

“In my book, it’s never too late to look. A search is definitely doable,” Eastlyn concluded. “Even with a two-day head start we could fan out, beginning at Zach’s house. Did anyone think to look in the immediate vicinity of the house?”

Troy and Bree eyed each other. “You mean go up and down the street, door to door, search the field behind the house, that sort of thing?” Troy asked. “We didn’t do that.”

Eastlyn put her hand on Bree’s arm. “That’s a shame. That’s what should’ve been done initially to eliminate the possibility that something happened to him in the house or nearby so you could move on to other theories.”

“Is it too late to do that tonight?” Bree wanted to know.

Eastlyn shook her head and looked around the table. “Not for me.”

“Then what are we waiting for,” Cooper said as he drained his beer. “Let’s go see if we can eliminate that area around his house before it gets dark.”

Bree used her
key to the house on Cape May and let Eastlyn inside to look around just as she’d done with Brent, two days earlier. The place was orderly. Dishes put away. Zach’s clothes were still hanging in the closet along with his suitcase sitting beneath. And just as Brent had decided for himself then, Eastlyn saw nothing out of the ordinary that would indicate foul play. It looked as though Zach had simply disappeared.

After locking up, the six of them spread out along Cape May to the smell of newly mowed summer grass lingering on the evening air. The fragrant aroma drew them along as they looked behind every shrub, in between the houses, and covered every inch of alleyway.

From there, they combed the gully behind the house, then wandered through a tract of undeveloped pastureland that opened into an adjacent field where the terrain was overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. 

The sun began to sink over the bay as they brought out flashlights and spaced themselves out to cover more ground. It was near a line of yaupon holly and a nest of sandpipers that Cooper spotted a pair of men’s work boots sticking out from underneath the base of a large cypress.

“Over here. I found him!” Cooper shouted, signaling his location with his flashlight. Cooper kneeled down, checked to see if Zach showed any sign of life. He soon realized Zach was breathing but it was very shallow. He picked up a wrist, found a weak pulse.

“He’s alive,” Cooper shouted to Eastlyn. To Bree, he yelled, “Call Doc, tell him we’re bringing Zach in.”