Coleman, Christopher - The Sighting 01 - The Sighting by Coleman Christopher

Author:Coleman, Christopher [Coleman, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Christopher Coleman
Published: 2017-12-13T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The story hit the Rove Beach Rover on Saturday morning, just over a week after Sarah’s initial meeting with Danny Lynch. She’d not gotten him to tell his full story that afternoon in the bar, but something about her had made him trust her enough to send the pictures that now lay scattered about her desk.

The story had barely made the A section, one page from the back, and had been pared from 1,200 words to about 250, with several editorial additions that made the story sound like some kind of hoax, an April Fool’s Day joke to be laughed at. Strap had included the photo, but it was especially grainy looking on the black-and-white paper, and the size was reduced to that of a thumbnail, so small it was almost useless as an addendum.

And there had been no mention of Lyle Bradford, despite Sarah detailing the facts of his drowning and the events that followed it—including the peculiar acts of his girlfriend on the beach the next day. She knew it was a long shot for the piece to make it into the paper at all, let alone with an implied accusation about a citizen of Rove Beach, one who also happened to still be living there. But Lynn Shields’ role was crucial to make the piece work, despite the tabloid nature of the story and the Loch-Ness-Monster-style photograph,

Sarah tossed the paper on her dining room table and picked up the phone to call Tom Strap, but then placed it back in its cradle, knowing her protests would only be met with retorts about libel and lawsuits, and how she should be happy the story was there at all. Besides, he would say, it’s already printed. There’s nothing I can do about it now. And if she kept badgering, he would remind her that all she’d offered him as proof was the undeterminable shape in the photo; she had not a single quote from the source who had supposedly seen the thing up close.

Danny.

He had fallen off the face of the Earth. She’d called him relentlessly for two days after the photos arrived, left at least a dozen messages on his voice mail, and drove by his home on three separate occasions. She’d knocked on his door, but despite the car in the driveway (and likely one in the garage), there was no answer.

It was possible that he’d taken a vacation—and since she and Danny were hardly friends, he was under no obligation to keep her abreast of his travels—but this didn’t sound right. He wouldn’t have sent her those pictures and then disappeared. At least not willingly.

Sarah was going to give him one more day. If he didn’t surface by this evening, she was going to start following some leads.

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