Missing, Presumed Dead by Christiane France

Author:Christiane France [France, Christiane]
Format: epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian
ISBN: 9781611241822
Publisher: Amber Quill Press, LLC

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I took Tim back to the beach house, told him Mi casa es su casa, to make himself comfortable and gave him a key. I then returned to the SUV and checked my voice mail. Among the messages was one from Calista. She said both Lopez and Schultz were currently working the day shift, and at the end of the message gave me their last known home addresses.

I was at the point where I needed an hour or two of quiet time to have an in-depth think about the possible reasons for Petra's disappearance I'd given Tim and consider all the angles. Given what we knew, or rather didn't, what was the most likely to have happened? What was the most unlikely? Rather than go to the office where quiet time was a rare commodity, I drove up the Coast Highway a few miles and parked at a secluded spot between an outcropping of rocks, where I had a panoramic view of the ocean.

I rolled down the window and pushed back my seat. Up here, the heat of the sun was tempered by a cooling breeze. The ocean below was an unending expanse of dark green peppered with white foam thrown up by the waves, and the surfers were out in full force.

I watched a guy catch a big wave and ride it almost to the shore. When he lost it, purely out of habit I waited for him to reappear and swim to safety, then I leaned back and closed my eyes.

Tim didn't believe his sister would risk her budding career by taking off her clothes and going for a spur-of-the-moment swim. But what if she had? What if she tucked her sandals and purse out of sight either under or between the rocks, went for a dip, and for some reason never returned to claim them? Since then the rocks had somehow moved, revealing their existence, and, in the process, provided ample evidence for Foxy to close the case.

As conclusions went in the case of any missing person where there was nothing in the way of leads or evidence to suggest otherwise, it was the most likely. I would have done the same thing.

Swimming accidents happened all the time, and rock-solid didn't exactly apply to the scattering of rocks along a beach like the one here at the Cove. Between people climbing up and over them, the incessant pounding of the surf, and the tides shifting the sand in which they sat, they were under constant attack. Then there were the earth tremors experienced from time to time due to the San Andreas Fault Line. With so many different forces at play, it would be a miracle if some of the rocks didn't occasionally move or get dislodged and expose what they'd previously kept hidden.

It was all so logical and made such perfect sense, if I hadn't heard what Mary had to say, I'd have bought the drowning theory and told Tim to go home.

As it was, I was coming to a few new conclusions of my own.

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