Missing on 30A by Deborah Rine

Author:Deborah Rine [Rine, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798645883324
Published: 2020-06-23T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Hobbs called as she was pulling into a parking place in Rosemary Beach. “Hey, Claire. How are you? I’ve been worrying about you.”

“I’m all right. How about you?”

He paused. “I’ve been trying to figure out how, why and when that body was buried. Drakos drilled me for a couple of hours. We went through my landscape schedule over and over. Then he wanted to know if I knew Samantha Marshall. It’s hard to prove you’ve never met someone.” Hobbs sounded frustrated.

“He didn’t think you were involved, did he?”

“I hope not. But he probably thought I had the means to do it.”

“That’s nuts,” Claire said.

“He’s got detectives talking to all the gardeners working for me and the construction workers; but I don’t think they had anything to do with it.”

“Neither do I. This is much bigger than that.”

“What do you mean?”

Claire didn’t want to tell him what she’d learned about missing girls from Drakos, Hank and Mary. For now, she wanted to keep her investigation to herself. “Samantha was known to do in-depth investigations that rubbed people the wrong way, particularly people in power. She must have been onto something major.”

“And they wanted her out of the way,” Hobbs said.

“Listen, Hobbs, I’m at work. I’ve got to go in.”

“Okay, do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?”

“Sure. Where?” Claire asked.

“How about the Grayton Seafood Company? Seven o’clock.”

“Wonderful. See you then.”

***

Claire was busy that day; lots of phone calls and walk-ins. She spent time with a young couple who were moving down to the area. The husband was a surgeon and would be working at Sacred Heart Hospital. The wife didn’t seem too keen about the move. She considered the Emerald Coast a vacation spot, but not an appropriate place to raise three young children.

“Where will I make friends? It’s not like living in the suburbs in Omaha, near my family and all kinds of folks I know. I’ll be totally alone. What about the schools? I definitely am dreading this move,” Anne Johnson said.

Bill Johnson seemed annoyed and amused by his wife. They spent an hour discussing where they wanted to live. Claire found several houses that met their expectations. At the same time, she talked about the Seaside Neighborhood School and local activities for children and their parents. “Believe it or not, there’s a healthy number of families who live here year-round. You’re going to make lots of friends through your kids. And…there will be no snow days.”

Anne laughed and Bill beamed with pleasure. Claire set up appointments to see more houses the following morning.

At three o’clock she had a meeting with Lilly Rose. It had been planned in advance and was to be a monthly evaluation.

As she entered the office, Lilly Rose asked her to shut the door. The heavy smell of the yellow roses perfumed the room. Lilly Rose worked in a permanent garden, Claire thought as she sat down across from her boss.

“Congratulations on your two big sales,” Lilly Rose said. “You’re an asset to the agency already.

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