Orchid Blues (Holly Barker 2)

"Okay."

She told him about following Emily Harston and about the little town she discovered.

"Seems strange, doesn't it?" Stone said.

"Yes, it does. Have you ever run across anything like that?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Could you call the guy in New York and see if you can find out anything more about the place these people lived, the ones who disappeared?"

"Sure, glad to."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd call me at home tonight and tell me what you find out. Ham and I are going out there tomorrow."

"Ham?"

"My father. He's a retired army master sergeant and a fisherman. We're going to poke our noses into that place, on the pretext of looking for some fishing, and see what we can see."

"This is all very interesting. I'd want to come, if I wasn't flying again tomorrow."

"Maybe next time," she said. She looked at her watch. "Well, I'd better get back to the station."

They both got out of the airplane.

"She's a lovely color, too." The airplane was a rich cream on top and a deep red on the bottom.

"Thanks. Holly, I think you ought to be very careful tomorrow. Don't press your luck in this place."

"Don't worry."

"Good idea, I'll do that."

They shook hands.

"I'll call you tonight after I've called New York," he said.

"Thanks, Stone." Holly got back into her car and, with Daisy, drove back toward Orchid Beach.

12

Holly reached home as the sun was setting over the island. Preoccupied with thinking about the little town she had found, she entered the house expecting Jackson to be watching the evening news with a drink in his hand, and the cold darkness shocked her.

She found a light, fed Daisy and let her outside, then went and sat in Jackson's chair, feeling bitterly lonely. She flicked on the news, just to have some noise in the house, but the screen was a blur in her mind, and so was the sound.

Then Daisy scratched on the door, and Holly went to let her in. She stood, looking out at the sea reflecting the dying light in the sky, and she thought it made the water look as if it were lit from underneath. She loved this time of day. Sometimes she'd lure Jackson away from the TV, and they'd sit on a dune with a drink and watch the light die.

She was surprised by a hunger pang and went to the fridge to see what she could have for dinner. She settled for a frozen meal, since Jackson had pretty much cleaned out the fridge in anticipation of their honeymoon absence. She sat in front of the TV while a rerun of Law amp; Order played. She'd seen it already, and even though she had, she wasn't able to follow the plot anyway, in her present state of mind. She seemed unable to organize coherent thoughts about anything, and her mind wandered. Fragments of days with Jackson played around in her brain, and sex entered into the mental pictures. She would never make love again, she was sure. After Jackson, what would be the point?

The phone rang, and she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Stone."

"Oh, hello." She had forgotten she had asked him to call.

"I talked with the ex-trooper personally this time, but he wasn't able to help much. This group, this religious sect that disappeared, apparently did so in an orderly fashion. I think I mentioned before that they had sold their property and their vehicles. In the months after the bank robbery, the trooper ran a check to see if any of their driver's licenses had been transferred to another state, but nothing turned up."