Chapter Thirteen

“S o, how do we go about finding this so-called remote location?” Brock lounged on the bed, propping himself up by his wrist.

Olivia plopped down onto her place at the edge of the bed, running a comb through her damp hair. “I think the best place to start isn’t on land.” A laugh nearly burst from her at the confused frown that spread across his face. “Think about it. For two years, the local police have been searching, the community has been looking out for the teens, and the K9 units have been bringing their search dogs within the radius. Probably every single location near Cape Fremont has been searched by K9s, police, civilians, and everyone. After two years, if there were a bunch of teens buried anywhere near this location, something would have turned up by now. I’m thinking of some secret location out on the ocean, like a cove or something that no one knows about.” She changed her tone, blinking at him flirtatiously, and sweetened her voice. “Make-out spots, maybe?”

He gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Cute.”

“If they’re killed in some remote location like a cove, their bodies could wind up in the ocean.”

Brock adjusted his position to sit up, swinging his legs over the bed. “But wouldn’t they wash up on shore eventually?”

“Maybe. Unless there are sharks or other sea creatures who inhabit the waters and deal with them before they ever do.” She shrugged. “It’s worth a try. Or maybe we’ll stumble across something else while we’re out there.”

Brock pondered what she said, still not completely convinced, but he agreed that they needed to take this next step. She couldn’t resist an opportunity to tease him again, so she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “What? Are you going to say ‘no’ to going to a make-out spot with me?”

Brock eyed her out of the side of his face and grinned. “Not exactly. I rather like the idea, actually.”

.

She and Brock slept soundly through the night, not awakened by thoughts about the case as early as she had been the night before. After grabbing some breakfast the next morning, they made their way down to the fisherman’s wharf, as close to Cape Fremont as they could get. The marina could be seen from the east side of the beach, and it wasn’t that far to walk. For a Sunday, it wasn’t as busy, probably due to the fact that it was still too early for most people to be out and about .

Brock slipped his hand into Olivia’s, intertwining his fingers with her, and used his wrist to angle her closer to him. “Remember,” he murmured in her ear in a way that made her warm, “happy newlyweds.”

“I’m happy with you, no matter what.” She turned her face toward him, parting with a smile. Undercover or not, it wasn’t hard to pretend to be in love with Brock. She didn’t have to pretend at all.

“Let’s find a young guy.” Brock scanned the rows of boats lined up at the dock. “I’m thinking they’d know where the best ‘make-out’ spots are.”

“I’ll follow your lead on this one.” Olivia scanned the rows of boats lining up along the dock. She could hardly wait to get into one of them and set sail across the waves, heading for some remote location that might bring them closer to discovering more about the disappearances. The shot was one in a million, but it was worth a try. This area wasn’t very well known for cliffs or even small coves, but Brock was right; if there was a cult for teens, then they had to be somewhere. It didn’t make sense for nobody to be recovered unless it was somewhere that no one ever went.

“That one over there,” Brock nodded to a younger guy, early twenties, maybe, who offered boat tours and day trips. Olivia kept her reservations to herself. Could he be trusted? “Hey, there,” Brock called to him.

The guy looked up, banishing a few of Olivia’s reservations with a professional smile. Younger kid, but he seemed bright. “What can I do for you?”

Brock paused at the dock, looking over his boat with a quirky grin. “My wife and I, we’re on our honeymoon and maybe looking for a spot that no one knows about.” He and the kid exchanged a sort of knowing glance between them. “Do you happen to know of anything like that?”

The kid’s smile only grew. He glanced between Olivia and Brock and nodded his head backward to the boat. “Hop in. ”

He himself jumped into the boat and into the driver’s seat. Brock cast Olivia a look, stopping just short of saying the word See? She playfully rolled her eyes and stepped into the boat. It felt strange to go from steady ground to a floor that moved up and down underneath her feet. It gave her legs a heavy feeling at first, but she found her footing within a few steps. She settled beside Brock as the boat took off, engine roaring across the waters. While Brock made idle chatter with the kid, Olivia let her gaze wander out over the gray waters as the boat teetered up and down. Her stomach clenched with each time the boat’s belly slapped against the waves, only to raise up a little bit again. She never got seasick, so the butterflies in her stomach were probably her eagerness to get to where they were going. Observation marked each landmark in her mind’s eye, so she could remember where this place was if they ever needed to go back to it.

The wharf began to disappear from view, soon becoming a blurred line in the distance. Clouds began to gather overhead, and she tried not to think of the rain that might, quite literally, rain on their picnic. They’d have to do some investigating quickly before it did.

The boat sailed along the shoreline, past condos, and other beaches both public and private. Given the direction of the dawning sun, the kid was taking them north. After what felt like an hour had passed, she felt herself stir with impatience. Was this kid just taking them on a nice tour of the ocean, eager for a few extra pennies because of it? Wariness betrayed her feelings when she turned to murmur her suspicions to Brock until the kid banked right. The boat puffed and sputtered into the waves and the distant shore disappeared behind a small chunk of land, replete with trees swaying in the wind. A tiny isthmus, of sorts. Olivia glanced at her watch. They’d been sailing for about an hour at this point, so they had to be closer to Charleston. Still not too far for these teens to go and it made more sense with the distance between them and Cape Fremont. The boat pulled into a small little cutout and the engine sputtered to a stop .

“Best place on the waters.”

Neither Charleston nor Cape Fremont had any cliffs to speak of, but seclusion was freely an option. The beach only stretched a few feet before leading into a grassy area replete with trees and shade. The trees grew so closely together that they did well to hide whoever might be in the forest. The thought unnerved Olivia at first. What if there was someone in this hideout who knew about it, whom they might run into?

A newlywed couple, exploring. An easy story to pull out of her pocket if they met with any hostiles.

“I’ve come here a time or two.” The kid looked smug as if what he said was true and something to brag about. “There’s really nowhere more private than this.”

“Thanks, man.” Brock slipped a payment into the kid’s hand and gave him a wink to keep it quiet. “How do we get ahold of you when we’re ready to leave?”

He shrugged. “Take as long as you need. I’ll just be out here, fishing.” He grabbed a fishing pole from beside his boat, looking happy with the payment and with the extra time to fish. He was in no hurry, and neither were Olivia or Brock. Brock knew what he was doing when it came to picking the right people for the task.

“Thanks again.” Brock grinned at Olivia extending a hand to her. “Shall we?”

Olivia took his hand and he helped her out of the boat and onto the sandy shore. Following him up the path and into the grass, she was glad when the boat roared to life. The sound became more distant as the kid sailed a little bit away from the shore to give them a little privacy. When the roar of the engine became little more than a hum, the quietude surrounded her. Waves gently lapped onto the shore, whispering rather than roaring and the trees swished with the late summer breeze that brought just enough warmth to make anyone comfortable.

“This place is beautiful.” Olivia had to pause for a moment and glance around. No wonder it was a popular spot to hide away. She pressed further into the forested area with Brock, her eyes scanning the ground for anything that could be of use. Her hand slipped into the purse she carried where she hid a few Ziploc bags, some tweezers and gloves, and an on-the-go field kit to collect any evidence they might find. She handed a pair of gloves to Brock and slipped some on herself. “This looks promising.”

Deeper into the secluded area would be their best bet for any evidence to be uncovered. After fighting their way through some underbrush and battling with sweat breaking out from the heat of the day, they broke into a clearing in the trees. The space was large enough for a small party to be had and it probably hosted quite a few, judging by the leftover trash that littered the ground.

“I wonder if this is someone’s private beach,” Brock stooped down, picking up a beer bottle in gloved hands. “And if so, how do they feel about all this trash being strewn all over?”

“It’s not the tides,” Olivia squinted, looking back at the trail where they’d come. “They wouldn’t come up this high. So this is another hangout spot.”

“Probably not just for teenagers, though.” Brock bagged the beer bottle. “All of this is a shot in the dark, but you never know. Evidence.”

“The least we could do is find out who’s littering,” Olivia said with a snicker as she continued to search the area. It wasn’t just beer bottles she found. Evidence of one-night stands or Friday night hookups lay scattered here and there, blending in with the flora and fauna. She shook her head. “People are disgusting.”

Brock crouched on the ground, peeling back some vines away from the bottom of a bush. “Aha.”

His voice trailed off with his thought. “Lookie what we have here.”

“What?” Olivia turned, stepping closer as Brock held up a few injection needles. “Drugs.”

“Remember the weird crap that Cyrus Lockwood was into? Way back. ”

“You’re not seriously suggesting this could be connected to that?”

Brock carefully bagged the hazmat into a separate bag, scribbling his notes on the surface. “I just mean cults in general. People can get their hands on all kinds of stuff that will stop your heart or your breathing.”

“For sure.” Olivia crouched low to the surface where he was looking. “But how do we prove it?”

“We could find some bodies.” Brock shrugged, nonchalantly. “Or other telltale signs. Ellie Cline was more recent and if she’s one of the teens involved with this, we might find some freshly upturned dirt where she might be buried.”

Olivia nodded and started a spiral search of the area. Brock worked a grid, but she preferred to start at the bush and work her way outward. But other than the usual signs of late-night parties, she didn’t find anything else alarming. Articles of clothing, random old socks. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the images she’d downloaded, but of course, they were all medium shots of the teens. No one would have thought to take a picture of their feet for any comparison she might have made with the socks. But if she could find something out here that matched the articles of clothing in the last seen pictures of the teens, then they’d be onto something. She combed the area with her eyes, but rather than cute dresses or sweaters like most of them wore, all she found clothing-wise were some shorts here a tank top there. Brock only found a few more needles scattered throughout, but there were other signs of drug paraphernalia.

“Let’s take a walk,” Olivia suggested. She felt a little bit of frustration mounting that they hadn’t found anything directly leading to the case. Then again, what was she expecting to find? This was the first spot, and if it existed, there were probably others.

She tossed a glance up at the sky, framed by the tops of the trees that circled the clearing. “Perfect for meteor shower gazing.”

“Yeah,” Brock cast a single look around before moving to step into line beside her. “And tons of other things. ”

No kidding. The litter that scattered throughout the area demonstrated that, perfectly.

As she and Brock walked to the beach, she let her thoughts trod along with her. Motive was one word that kept coming back to her mind again and again. She humored the idea that Josh was a small part behind the disappearances of his classmates. What would a kid like Josh gain by luring his peers to their deaths for some cult? Unless he was fully sold out in what he believed, convinced he was achieving a higher version of himself by getting as many as he could to follow him, there wasn’t really much else he could gain.

So maybe someone else was behind it, convincing kids to give up their money or some other thing. Or maybe it was some kind of fetish; a guy who gets off on this sort of sick, twisted thing. Maybe it was a sexual trap and the suicide portion of it was an ingenious way to make sure he’d never get ratted out. Still. What happened to the bodies?

The beach came into view. They had wandered far enough to where their tour guide’s boat was nowhere to be found, but as a blur in the distance was a cargo ship. It sailed along the horizon, and Olivia studied it for a moment as she looked out on the water. The beach was private enough, sure, but was it enough to dump twenty-one teenagers’ bodies and risk them getting washed up on shore? She focused on the cargo ship. In the distance, she could barely make out an image of a Gothic-looking, lacy black flower painted on the side.

How strange, to see a flower on the side of a cargo ship. Maybe it was an international flower supplier or something, but dang, that was a lot of flowers. The flower logo and its cargo ship were only one of many which passed this way. So if the bodies of the teenagers weren’t washed up on a beach somewhere, the chances of the sea carrying them out to be seen by passing ships were also present. A killer who was smart enough to convince teens to follow him to this remote location for a cult would surely think of that. So where did they go ?

She felt Brock’s arms sweep around her shoulders and draw her back against him. For a moment, even the thoughts of the case faded and everything else that wasn’t important floated away with the current, out to sea. She turned in his arms and slid her own over his neck, drawing him close. “This isn’t part of the case.”

“No, it isn’t.” Brock leaned closer. His voice had dulled to a low murmur, resonant from his chest. Olivia leaned into the vibrations that rumbled from his chest voice and closed her eyes, feeling her forehead pressed against his. “But why waste a perfectly good make-out spot?”

Her eyes flickered open. Everything tried to pull her away in that moment, battling for her attention. They could find more on the grounds they could use as evidence, search in vain for any piece of clothing, run some tests... but all of it faded in the fold of his arms and the hint of his voice. A smile creased her lips, one she shared only with him. A smile that wordlessly spoke of deep contentment rooted in the love she shared with Brock. She loved this. The way they had drawn closer over the years that led up until this moment. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Alone on the small little beach, probably someone’s private property, but who cared, Brock pressed his lips against hers. Olivia couldn’t help but let go of everything she wanted to discover about the case and melt into him with all of her being, returning his kiss with delight. She felt one of his hands remove itself from her upper back and his fingers dug through her hair, pressing her face closer to his. She, in turn, pulled him closer, deepening their kiss to the sound of the ocean waters gently lapping against the shoreline. Though her heart was broken for each of the twenty-one teens they were searching for, for each of the families still lacking closure, these moments that she stole behind the scenes with Brock replaced that emptiness in her heart with undeniable happiness.