River's Edge (3 page)

B
en Jackson’s house was one of the more elegant ones on the island, situated near the northeastern point with a backyard view of the Atlantic. Beach property came at a premium on Cape Refuge, but it was well known that the Jacksons had money. That was why he was pulling ahead in the mayoral race.

He’d invested more money than either of the other two candidates. He’d had television commercials running on Savannah stations for the last month, as well as a billboard just off the bridge onto Tybee Island, and another one on the island expressway into Savannah. He had also taken out full-page ads in the
Savannah Morning News
and the
Cape Refuge Journal.
Even Blair had been forced to sell him the ad space that helped create his image as “The Man for the People.”

The porch light was on, though the sun shone hot and bright. Ben had probably had it on all night.

She knocked. Jonathan stood behind her, his hands in his pockets. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

“Jonathan, take off your candidate’s hat and put on your pastor’s hat. We’re here as Christians who care, not competitors.”

Jonathan swallowed. “You’re right.”

Ben opened the door. His face was pale and his eyes were red, with dark circles shadowing them. He hadn’t shaved, and his hair was tousled and dirty. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to come and sit with you,” Morgan said. “You don’t need to go through this alone.”

He abandoned the door and headed back inside, and Morgan wondered if that was his invitation for them to come on in. She nudged Jonathan and they stepped inside, closing the door behind them.

They followed him into a great room decorated with rich silk draperies and faux-finished walls, with an adjoining kitchen that had a tin ceiling and shiny stainless steel appliances. Ben slumped over the amber granite counter. “What do you want?” He looked up at Jonathan. “Did you want to come over here and gloat that I’m finally getting mine?”

Morgan shot Jonathan a look that pleaded for him to answer gently.

“I would never do that. I came because Morgan said you were upset and you were alone. I thought maybe there was something we could do.”

“You could go out and find her!” He ran a shaking hand through his hair. “You could tell me where she is.
That’s
what you could do.”

“Ben, are you sure she didn’t just leave town for the night?” Morgan asked. “Maybe all the stress—”

“Absolutely no way. We were in the process of doing in vitro. It’s a huge daily commitment. I have to give her shots the same time every day, pumping her body full of drugs and hormones. She would never go through all that for nothing. Never.”

Jonathan sat down and rubbed his hands on his knees. “Those hormones, don’t they cause mood swings, maybe even some irrational behavior? Maybe the pressure got to her—”

“She can take the stress,” Ben cut in. “She always has. We’ve tried this three other times, and she was fine. This is a way of life for us. Has been for thirteen years. Yeah, the hormones make her moody. She cries more often than she should. She’s irritable and cranky, and sometimes she’s angry. Anyone would be when they’ve had four miscarriages and nothing seems to work. But she’s not angry at
me,
and she wouldn’t have just taken off when we still had some hope.”

He went to the huge window with an ocean view and peered out as if expecting her to swim up with the waves and come dripping across the beach.

“She was in a good mood yesterday morning.” His voice lowered. “She made me breakfast, and I took the day off to go fishing. I thought a day of relaxation would help me to get my mind straight before the debate. I got back midafternoon and showered and went to the doctor’s office to meet her there for the ultrasound we had scheduled. She was supposed to ovulate yesterday or today. It was critical that we knew when she did. But she didn’t show up. And it wasn’t until then I started to realize something must have happened to her.”

“Doesn’t she have a business partner?” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah, Rani Nixon.”

Morgan thought of the beautiful African-American woman who had once been a successful New York model. When she’d gotten out of the business, she had moved here to open a real estate office with Lisa, her college roommate.

“I talked to her,” he said. “At first she wasn’t too concerned. Said that Lisa was probably out showing property, that she’d had several appointments and a couple of closings. But a little while later she called back and said that Lisa hadn’t shown up for any of them. She’d heard from several clients who were upset.”

“Is that when you called the police?”

“That’s right. Chief Cade was here with some of the uniformed cops. Technically, he couldn’t file a missing person’s report for twenty-four hours, but I filled one out anyway. He probably took it back to the station and sat on it all night.”

“No, that’s not true,” Jonathan said. “He told Morgan he’d been working on it.”

Ben rubbed his neck. “He ought to be on leave. He practically just got out of the hospital. He can hardly walk, for Pete’s sake, and he’s trying to run a police force?”

Morgan saw Jonathan bristle. Revamping the police force had become one of the mayoral race’s biggest issues. She hoped they wouldn’t start debating now.

“He’s as capable of running it now as he ever was,” Jonathan said.

Ben went to the window and looked out again. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. He never was capable. Our illustrious former mayor was his uncle. Nepotism, pure and simple. The whole family is corrupt. He’s not qualified to do that job, and it’s time somebody else was appointed.”

“When he finds Lisa, you’ll change your opinion,” Jonathan said. “Meanwhile, I’m calling off the debate.”

Ben threw up his hands. “I don’t care.”

Jonathan looked at Morgan, and she knew he realized the urgency of the situation. This was no publicity hoax.

Ben Jackson was scared to death.

B
lair Owens’s morning walk always provided the last bits of peace in her day, before she started chasing down stories for the newspaper that came out three times a week. The newspaper business was new to her. For the past several years she had worked as a librarian, and only bought the paper a month ago. While she was widely known as a research whiz who could chase down facts like a greyhound after a rabbit, being a librarian had suited her specific paranoias. The burn scars that covered the right side of her face made her uncomfortable in public, but when she’d bought the paper, she’d been forced outside her walls. It took some getting used to, but she was finding that her new duties suited her personality even better.

She trudged through the sand and grass on the river side of the island to Cricket’s, the little hole-in-the-wall diner on the dock where she had breakfast each morning. Often her walk had a payoff at the end, when she found Cade sitting at the counter, sipping his coffee as if waiting for her to come in.

She hoped he would be there today. It had been a month since that first kiss between them, and ever since she’d walked around with butterflies in her stomach, wondering if it had meant as much to him as it had to her. Though he’d been spending a lot more time with her since then, she didn’t want to assume anything. Word had gotten around that she and Cade were a couple, and people on the island were beginning to treat them as one. But in truth, she wasn’t sure
what
they were. They had never expressed their feelings in words, but Cade’s treatment of her had changed from intense friendship to flirtation. Not having that much experience with that type of relationship, she found herself feeling like a bumbling kid who had a crush on someone out of her league.

She got to the screen door of the small diner and pushed inside. Cade sat at the counter, wearing his khaki uniform. He swiveled on his stool at the sound of the door and smiled at her. She couldn’t explain the thrill that went through her.

“Hey there,” she said in a voice that she hoped sounded friendly and cool. She fought the urge to lean over and kiss him, to touch his freshly shaven jaw or run her finger over his ear.

“I was hoping you’d come in before I had to leave.”

“Where you going?”

“Work.” He turned back to the counter as she sat down. “Colonel, get Blair a cup of coffee, will you?”

She studied Cade as the Colonel got her a cup. He looked as if he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. Had the pain kept him awake? She’d seen the struggle he encountered going from crutches to that cane, forcing himself to walk on the surgically repaired fractures, his bones held together only by the steel rods the surgeons had inserted. “You look tired.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” He sipped his coffee. “Been working on a missing person case.”

“Who’s missing?”

“Lisa Jackson,” the colonel said over the bar.

Blair looked up and caught her breath. “Ben Jackson’s wife? She’s
missing?”

Cade sipped his coffee and nodded. “Yeah. It’s pretty much common knowledge now, since we’ve been questioning people all over the island.”

“Ben too,” the proprietor said. “He was in here drilling everybody who came in last night. I’m thinking they probably had a fight and she ran off for the night. She’ll turn up this morning, and they’ll get it all worked out, I reckon. They have to. Neither one of them would want to jeopardize the mayoral debate.”

Blair took her coffee and turned back to Cade. “How long’s she been missing?”

“Not quite twenty-four hours, best we can tell. But I didn’t see any point in waiting after Ben reported it. If she shows up today, so much the better.”

She thought that over as she took a sip. “The stress of this debate probably got their tempers flaring. Ben can’t be easy to live with right now.”

“He’s convinced something happened to her.”

“Well, we both know that Ben’s usually wrong. Does make for a more interesting story about the debate, though. I was picturing a big front-page article with a bunch of sound bites from their dogfight this morning, but now I can talk about missing wives and the stress this has put on the families. Heaven knows, it’s been stressful for mine. Morgan has been so tense you can hardly talk to her. You’d think Jonathan’s been in politics for years.”

“Don’t exploit it, Blair. There’s not a story there yet.”

Blair tried not to look insulted. “Me? Hey, I just report the truth. You know I don’t embellish.”

“Every journalist embellishes, and your imagination is right up there with the best of them.”

“You know I’m fair.” At least, she hoped he knew. Before, when she had lived by her own set of rules, she might have exaggerated for the sake of subscriptions. But her life had changed. Just weeks ago, she had given her life to Christ, and everything had changed. Now, even in her work, she tried to live by the biblical
principles of honesty and love. It wasn’t always easy—sometimes she just didn’t get it—but God was teaching her.

Cade slipped off the stool and got his cane. “I’ve got to go.”

She tried to hide her disappointment. “You don’t have time to eat?”

“I had a bowl of cereal at home.” His voice dropped to a deep bass as he leaned in close to her ear. “I just came to see you.”

She smiled up at him, knowing that her feelings flashed like neon through the transparency of her eyes. He grinned as he limped out the door, letting the screen door bounce behind him.

When she turned back, she saw the Colonel grinning at her. “What?”

He started to chuckle. “You’ve got it as bad as he does.”

Laughing softly, she brought the cup to her lips and hid behind it, hoping the Colonel hadn’t read Cade wrong.

T
here was bad blood between Cade and Ben Jackson, but Cade knew he had to put it out of his mind during the course of this case. He couldn’t dwell on rumors and stretched truths, on Ben’s unfounded criticism of his department and Ben’s promises to fire Cade if he was elected. If anything, Cade had overcompensated on Lisa’s case to prove he wasn’t holding anything against him. Most departments wouldn’t even start a search until she’d been missing twenty-four hours, but Cade had a special interest in missing persons since he had so recently been one himself. It didn’t matter that Lisa’s husband was out to destroy him.

Cade knew Ben would have called him if he’d heard from Lisa, but he decided to go by his house after leaving Cricket’s, just to update him on the search. He found Morgan and Jonathan there, and while it surprised him that Ben would have let Jonathan into his house, he was glad the man wasn’t alone. Morgan was known as one of the chief comforters on the island—one of the first to show up after any tragedy with a casserole and a hug.

Jonathan, who had grown more compassionate since becoming a pastor, would have a harder time comforting his political rival. But Cade knew his buddy was up to the task.

Ben looked even worse than he had last night. His eyes had a wild fear about them and his hands trembled, but he seemed grateful when he learned just how much the police department had already done to find Lisa.

He rubbed his stubbled jaw and looked up at Cade with misty eyes. “Listen, about all the stuff I’ve said about you during this campaign—”

“Don’t worry about it, Ben. None of that matters. I’m just here to do my job.”

Ben looked more humble than Cade had ever seen him. “I’m just saying that if I’d known I was going to need you like this, I sure would have been a little more careful what I said.”

Morgan patted his shoulder. “Cade’s not the type to hold grudges. You’ll find her, won’t you, Cade?”

“We’re giving it everything we’ve got. But I need to go over some more things with you, Ben.”

Ben nodded, as if anxious to cooperate. “Of course. Anything.”

Jonathan got up. “Look, we’ll be leaving now so you guys can talk.” He reached out to shake Ben’s hand. “Let us know if you need anything, okay?”

Morgan gave Ben a hug. “Please, if she turns up, would you call us? We’re going to get everybody to pray.”

Ben rubbed his face. “I appreciate that.”

“And we’re not going to be debating without you,” Jonathan said. “I’m calling it off.”

“You don’t have to do that. Sam will revolt.”

“Of course I’m gonna do it. This is serious. He’ll get over it.”

Ben couldn’t have looked less interested. He just fixed his eyes on Cade, clearly ready to begin. Cade got the feeling that the mayoral race was the farthest thing from Ben’s mind.