Chapter Eighteen

U nder the light of the afternoon sun, Olivia and Brock explored the beach until they found what looked like the place where Josh had told them he’d taken the drugs. Brush surrounded a small patch of seclusion; anyone who crouched behind the grass would be well concealed. Olivia gave it a once-over, noting that there was nothing out of the ordinary other than a few straws or Coke cans. No obvious signs of drugs were evident, but the kid was probably smart enough to pick up after himself after indulging in things that were illegal. It seemed crazy to Olivia that he would choose a location that was so close to Breakers or the neighborhood that bordered the beach, thus taking a chance at getting caught. But no one had seen him, so maybe the hiding place wasn’t so bad after all. The grass and the darkness probably did a good job of hiding him.

Straightening, Olivia set her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “Just some trash, and other things, but no evidence of drugs or any foul play.”

“Footprints are irrelevant.” Brock sounded resigned as he glanced around. “Everyone walks past this area to get to the beach during the day.”

“ I really wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find. A note that said, ‘I did some drugs here?’” Olivia let a smile crease her face, using humor to disguise her frustration.

Brock matched her laughter and shrugged. “We’re allowed to hope, right?”

“Right.” Olivia rolled her eyes, playfully. Curiosity pricked at her, causing her to wonder what she might find along the beach. She turned, following the trail of thought along the shoreline where they had taken their Saturday morning run. Walking might help gather her thoughts a bit, some time away from the direct hit of the case could bring something hidden to her attention. Brock seemed to read her mind and fell into line beside her, scanning the shoreline. This time, though, they weren’t looking for seashells. Not that they were looking for anything evidence related either. Olivia’s sarcastic humor only amplified the fact that there would be no obvious signs. Whatever was causing those teens to go missing was remaining well hidden, probably under their very nose, which infuriated her.

“Do you think there’s any way we can talk to Mae without being obvious?” Brock kicked at some of the sand as he walked.

Olivia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Why Mae, specifically?”

“She might know if Ellie Cline was into some kind of astrology or a cult or something. She was her best friend, maybe they confided stuff like that in each other. Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with astrology. It could have been any number of things. You know how kids are these days. Whatever is popular is what they’re into, no matter how dark or unreal it is.”

“It’s possible.” Olivia shrugged. “But maybe we’re looking in the wrong direction. We don’t want to be too narrow-minded about this. There might be a cult, but there could also just be a case of kidnapping. Some stalker who knows too much about the teens, who knows how to grab them at appropriate times. I mean, think about it.” She dug her toe in a cool spot of sand before moving on again. “We were able to figure out by the first night where all the teens in town go to hang out. Surely a serial stalker or kidnapper could do the same thing. Maybe the best thing to do is to trace the path from the school to the beach and see if anything looks out of line.”

“We definitely need to think along those lines,” Brock agreed. “We also need to get some teens talking Now, Susanna isn’t the party type, so we need to find an in with the other kids who might be, particularly Mae. She’s going to be a good connection, as she was Ellie Cline’s best friend. She would know what kind of stuff she’s into. Maybe she’s into some of it, herself.”

“Today’s the perfect day to talk about it.” Olivia glanced at her watch, noting that the kids should be flooding the beach any minute, now. “After all, we can just say that we heard about Josh Gallegos getting arrested last night, especially since you kind of knew him from playing pool with him that one time. Someone like Mae would gladly spill any details about him without thinking twice. That’s what she did for me the first night we met. We can maybe catch a game of pool tonight, or…”

“Olivia! Brock!”

They did a half-turn, following the direction of the eagerly excited voice of a young girl. Susanna stormed the beach, running toward them with athletic grace, a paper held high in her hand and waving in the strong beach breeze. “Wait up, you guys!”

“ She sounds happy.” Brock turned at the same time Olivia did and started to close the gap between them and Susanna, only with far less eagerness. “That makes one of us. ”

Olivia grinned a bit and slapped his arm. “Whatcha got, there, Susanna?”

Susanna caught up with her, panting and out of breath but her eyes were alive with an excitement Olivia hadn’t seen in them before. And for Susanna, that was saying something. She spoke so rapidly, that it was hard to keep up with her. “Y’all are not going to believe this! I got accepted! I got accepted!” She thrust the paper in her hand toward them but didn’t give them a chance to grab it before yanking it back as exciting news tumbled from her mouth. “There is a surfing competition at the end of this month in Hawaii and I got accepted !”

“What?” A smile hung Brock’s mouth open, excitement dawning in his tone.

Olivia reached out, setting a hand on Susanna’s shoulder. “That’s wonderful!” She didn’t want to rain on Susanna’s parade, but... the end of the month? Wasn’t that a little fast? Did she have to train for that? Surfing every day was one thing, training for a competition was quite another. Was it a realistic idea to be ready for a surfing competition in a month? Not to mention the logistics of getting there.

Brock aligned with her thoughts as he often did. Though he smiled, his voice was serious as he pinned her with a question. “How are you going to get down there?”

“Oh, I’ve got it all figured out.”

Of course she did.

“My savings, plus some help from a friend, it’s going to be amazing!” She couldn’t even complete a sentence. Nor could she stand still as she danced from one foot to the other, swaying in her excitement. Olivia tried to catch the name of the surfing competition, but Susanna couldn’t hold it long enough for her to see anything but a brightly colored flier. “I just wanted to tell y’all. I know you’ll probably be leaving town soon, but remember the name Susanna Webster because someday, I’m going to be a famous surfer! I can’t believe this is actually happening!”

“We’re very happy for you.” Olivia smiled at her .

“Nothing good ever happens to me.” Susanna’s excitement dimmed and she glanced down at the flier, reading over the words again and shaking her head. “My life has been full of bad luck so this... this is amazing! I finally got a break! I’m having trouble believing that something this good is just happening, handed to me on a golden platter!” She jerked her head up, her smile returning. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I’ve got to go tell Mila!”

In a flash, she was gone, kicking up sand with her bare feet as she shot like a bullet toward Breakers. Brock laughed, shaking his head as he watched her go. Olivia’s thoughts overpowered the ocean waves in regard to noise as she spoke them aloud to Brock. “I can’t believe it, either.” She creased an eyebrow and tilted her head to look at him. “Doesn’t it seem too good to be true?”

“It does.” Brock didn’t miss a beat.

Olivia watched Susanna disappear into Breakers. “Did you happen to catch the name of the surfing competition?”

“I didn’t. She kept flapping the paper around like crazy so it was hard for me to read it. I’ll ask her about it when we see her later. The surfing competition’s not until the end of the month, she said. We’ve got some time to do a background check on it.”

Olivia loved how he agreed to take a side quest in this case to check out a surfing competition. Something about this was off. It was, in reality, too good to be true. Then again, for all she knew, Susanna had applied for it, sent in a video of her surfing and was asked to come down. But didn’t she need parental approval? She was a minor, after all. “Still. We need to make sure we ask her about it before we leave. That is,” She sighed, looking along the beach which at the moment was as empty as she was about this whole entire business. “Unless we need to stay a little bit longer.”