Virtue Falls (45 page)

She took a long breath.

“All right. I’ll take you into town and pick you up there. How’s that?”

She stepped back and looked him over. “Is that what you call a compromise?”

“Since I want to stand over you with a shotgun, yes.”

“Aren’t you taking this a little seriously?”

“Since Yvonne got attacked … yes.”

She took another long breath.

He stopped her before she could get rolling. “Look. If nothing else happens, we’ll assume that whoever it was has moved on, although God knows where or how. But right now, even if that attack had nothing to do with your father and mother, there’s a nutcase somewhere out there with a knife. You, my dear, are a beautiful blonde, and that makes you a target for nutcases.” He took a handful of the pale strands of her hair and rubbed them between his fingers. “So I’ll drop you off and pick you up in town. That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”

She sighed. “You do know I’m not helpless. I carry one great pocket knife, with lots of blades, for my work. And you taught me some self-defense.”

“Have you practiced since I taught you?”

“No.”

“Maybe we ought to start.”

She grimaced. “I hate when you attack me. I get bruises.”

“Or I could ferry you back and forth to the canyon and wait for you there.”

“I’ll practice with you. Okay. Let’s go.” She unbuttoned the one button, dropped the shirt and headed into the suite.

He admired the view, then rushed forward to pick her up from behind and whisper, “Have I told you about my three-minute, three-hour, and three-day plan? It’s an offer I’m making only to you.”

She tilted her head and let him nuzzle her neck. “Sounds intriguing. How does this plan work?”

“We can have sex for three minutes, three hours, and three days. Consecutively.”

She laughed and wiggled free. “Since we just enjoyed the three hour plan, and the three day plan is up next, and I have to get to work, I’m going to say … later, baby.” She skipped out of reach and into her bedroom, and locked the door.

Life was easier this morning. Less weighty, as if Garik had heard Elizabeth’s assurance,
You are a good guy, the best guy,
and taken it to heart. As if he needed this kind of investigation to gather all the pieces of himself together. As if the court-ordered psychiatrist was right, and his divorce had destroyed him in ways he hadn’t imagined, and only now was he getting back to normal … As if he could go to church, and face God, light a candle for Liam Walker, and know that it would help the little boy find his way to a better place.

The pain would always be there, and the guilt, but at least now Garik wanted to live.

He had reasons, more than one, to live and love, work and pray, and he would do his best. He was, as Elizabeth said, a better man.

He went into his bedroom to find some clothes.

The next time he saw Elizabeth, she wore a oversized brown khaki shirt tied at the waist, a pair of oversized jeans she kept cinched at the waist with a men’s brown leather belt, and an almost pristine pair of hiking boots.

She looked delectable, and happy, and she chatted about the previous day’s work all the way to the Honor Mountain Memory Care Facility, where she once again introduced herself to her father, and where she once again chatted about the previous day’s work.

But today, Charles seemed sad, tired, and abstracted. He sat with his head tilted, as if listening for someone, and his gaze searched the corners of his room.

When they left, Garik said, “He’s missing your mother.”

Elizabeth took a breath to explain her mother had never been there. Then she let it out and said, “Yes. Even since yesterday morning, he seems to have lost ground.”

“I thought that, too. The next time we see Dr. Frownfelter, we should ask if that’s directly related to the seizures, and if Charles is having a lot of them.” He slowed as they approached town. “I thought he had one today while we were there.”

“When I was showing him the video and he didn’t exclaim about the first wave? I thought that, too.” She put her hand on his knee. “I’m glad we’re going to visit every morning.”

“Me, too.” He kept his worry to himself. What was the use of railing on about the chances that her mother’s killer would view her attention to her father as a threat? The time spent with Charles Banner was almost visibly slipping away from them; there would be no later. These visits had to be now.

Driving into town was even more difficult today than yesterday, so Garik parked on the outskirts and they walked in, holding hands, intent on getting the scoop from Rainbow.

Instead, when they walked into the Oceanview Café, they were blinded by a barrage of flashes.

Elizabeth lifted her hand to protect her eyes.

“What the hell?” Garik asked.

“There’s Elizabeth,” Bradley announced in an expansive tone, and walked toward her, smiling.

She looked dumbfounded.

Taking her hand, Bradley turned her to face the crowded table in the middle of the café. “Here’s Elizabeth Banner, Virtue Falls’ newest media star, and a woman I’m proud to call my friend.”

Another barrage of flashbulbs.

Garik recognized the governor, his aides, and at least two TV newscasters. Someone was shooting video—wait, it was that girl photographer from yesterday, Loring.

Vivian Hoff stood beside her, wordlessly directing her.

Garik moved closer to listen.

For the video, Loring was saying, “Elizabeth Banner is a child prodigy who put herself through college and grad school by modeling women’s shoes. She followed in her father’s footsteps to become one of the world’s foremost geologists, and she is the woman who shot the now famous tsunami video for the Geological Society of America. The video took the Internet by storm, posting yesterday afternoon and going viral almost at once, with people watching in amazement as she filmed the big waves at considerable risk to herself. Elizabeth Banner’s other claim to fame, of course, is that she’s the girl who saw her father kill her mother with the scissors. Yet despite her past, or perhaps because of it, famed American artist Bradley Hoff has long been a fan of her blossoming talent and scientific genius.”

Considering that yesterday Bradley couldn’t quite remember Elizabeth, Garik considered this news nothing less than astonishing.

Bradley herded Elizabeth from one dignitary and newscaster to another, introducing her and claiming friendship.

Rainbow moved in and out, serving coffee and distributing donuts … The governor must have brought them.

Garik crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, and waited.

As the moments ticked away, Elizabeth spoke, she smiled, she shook hands, but her chin jutted, her eyes darted, and her complexion turned red and blotchy.

Bradley was so busy garnering attention, the fool didn’t recognize the warning signs.

So Elizabeth’s sudden outflung arms caught him by surprise, and slapped him in the chest. “I have to go to work,” she declared.

Garik straightened away from the wall, walked to the door, and waited.

“Thank you for your kind words.” She stared at the governor, at the news reporters. “But the Banner geological study needs as much time as possible in these … these fraught days after the earthquake and tsunami. If you would excuse me.”

Garik opened the door.

She fled as if avoiding the gallows.

“And there you have it,” Bradley said. “That dedication to work is what has made Elizabeth Banner the foremost geological expert in the world.”

Polite applause and approving murmurs swept the Oceanview Café.

Vivian Hoff touched Loring’s arm. “Stop filming.”

“No kidding.” Loring put down the camera.

Vivian swept toward the open door, her heels clicking on the shattered linoleum.

Garik waited for her to pass, then stepped out in time to hear Vivian say, “Elizabeth Banner, halt.” She spoke softly.

But Elizabeth heard her, and twirled to face her. “What do you want?” She exuded hostility.

“I want to talk to you about Bradley, all the attention you’re receiving, and are going to receive.” Still that soft voice, the deadly tone.

“I don’t want—”

Vivian advanced. “You have to understand that Bradley is the reason Virtue Falls is in the national spotlight.”

“I know that, but—”

“It’s because of his kindness that your name is now on everyone’s lips.”

With her usual pedantic fairness, Elizabeth said, “That’s not strictly true. I took the video. It is a very good video. And Noah Griffin is the reporter who placed it—”

“I know it’s intoxicating to realize you’re a celebrity, but”—Vivian stuck her face into Elizabeth’s—“don’t try to overshadow the talent. Do … you … understand … me?”

Elizabeth stared at her, wide-eyed with shock. “I believe I do. You want me to make sure I don’t take anything away from Bradley Hoff and his stardom.”

“You can’t take anything away from Bradley Hoff. I want you to make sure you don’t try, because I would make you sorry.”

“Okay.”

“Remember.” Vivian turned and marched toward the door.

Garik opened it for her.

She strode inside.

Elizabeth turned to him in astonishment “Did she
threaten
me?”

“I think she did.” If he hadn’t been here to see the event, he didn’t know if he would have believed it. “That woman is scary.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Very odd.”

They stared through the broken windows into the Oceanview Café.

People were starting to look back. People like the network cameramen. People like the governor.

“Want me to take you to work today?” Garik offered.

“Yes.” She walked to the truck and got in, and on the ten-minute drive to the canyon, Garik noted that ruddy color rose and fell in her cheeks, ebbing and flowing like the tides, and several times she closed her eyes and her mouth moved, although she said nothing.

They got to the plateau above the canyon. He pulled off the road, close to the path that led through knee-length grass and to a different world, where science reigned supreme and Elizabeth felt at home. In fact, he could almost watch her relax.

She took off her seatbelt. “They won’t find me here.”

“I wouldn’t depend on that. If the governor wants a tour, he’ll get one.”

She dropped her head into her hands.

Garik continued, enjoying himself just a little. “They’ll bring their cameras. Your new best friend Bradley Hoff will pretend to be interested in your work. Andrew Marrero will glare from the background.”

Elizabeth groaned.

“It
is
a circus, and you’re in one of the rings as a big deal. Elizabeth, you’re famous!”

Elizabeth lifted her head. She opened the door. She turned on him and glared. “They all took pictures of me. They all took video of me. I was on camera. I’m going to be on the news. And I didn’t. Even. Have. Any. Makeup on!”

Garik grinned and watched her stride toward the canyon.

Sometimes he forgot how very girly she could be.

Glancing in his rearview mirror, he saw the caravan of cars headed this way.

The governor had demanded his tour.

Today, at least, Garik didn’t have to worry about Elizabeth’s safety. She was going to have a lot of company.

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

No one knew where the fog hid. Sometimes it was gone, vanquished by summer, heat, green growing grass, sweat, and the smell of Coppertone. Sometimes it hung at the edge of the horizon, a pale greasy gray line glistening in the sunshine. And when autumn began to sniff around the coast, fog would roll in like a tsunami, rising higher and higher, a silent menace that broke over the land. Fog muffled every noise, changed tree stumps into stalkers and car headlights into monster eyeballs. Fog moved in without warning, without sound, swallowing the sun and surprising the unwary.

When Elizabeth’s phone bleated and shook her out of her concentration, she blinked and sat back on her heels. She dug in her bag and looked. The screen was lit. But no text. No call. Only a number she didn’t recognize from an area code she didn’t know.

Weird.

Did somebody try to call and it failed? Did the cell tower have a power surge? Maybe the attention Bradley Hoff had brought Virtue Falls had made the phone companies move toward fixing the blackout. If everyone had a way to connect with the outside world, the tensions in town would ease.

Her phone went black.

She rubbed her back and looked around.

At some point while she had been crouched over four square feet of soil and debris deposited by the tsunami, fog had moved in, blotting out the sun.

But at least she had cataloged and photographed every twig, every rock, every expired sea creature. It had been a good day’s work. And best of all, for the first time in four days, she was alone. No governor, no state senators, no news reporters, no Loring the photographer. They had all flown away …

No Andrew Marrero, no Ben, Luke, and Joe. No Garik.

Uh-oh.

She stripped off her gloves. “Luke?” she called. “Hey, Luke, where are you?”

No answer.

“Andrew? Joe? Ben?… Anybody?”

No answer.

Not surprising that they had abandoned her; they were not happy with her. She had witnessed the earthquake. She had taken the tsunami video. She was getting publicity. Lots of publicity.

True to her promise to Garik, she had been carefully tagging after her team.

Today, she’d been absorbed in work, and they had seen their chance and escaped her.

“Damn it,” she whispered. Garik was going to be pissed. Standing, she dusted off her knees and called, “Hello! Hey, guys, where are you?”

Had they left for the day?

She checked her cell for the time. It was only four thirty, so probably not. For all that Ben, Luke, and Joe were Marrero’s sycophants, they were solid workmen. They had slipped away to work other spots. In fairness, they didn’t know she was supposed to keep close to them. They didn’t imagine, as Garik did, that evil lurked around every boulder, waiting for its chance to take her out.

She sighed. No use wondering if he was right. No use getting psychotic over a little spooky atmosphere. She’d walk back to town as quickly as possible and hopefully Garik would never find out.