Chapter Six

C ape Fremont was no less crazy on a Friday afternoon than the preceding day when they had driven through. Having rested well the night before, Olivia and Brock found it easier to contend with the annoying traffic than they had the previous day.

“GPS says the school is down this way,” Olivia pointed. “We’d almost need a reason to go down there. It’s in a neighborhood.”

“We do have a reason,” Brock shrugged. “We’re tourists and we get lost. We blame the GPS just like everyone else does.”

That sounded good to Olivia. “That being said, do you ever wonder how much is actually GPS’s fault, or just people not wanting to take accountability for their actions? Oversleeping, forgetting to fill up their gas tank, you know, the whole nine?”

“Hey, hey, don’t call me out like that!” Brock held up one hand in mock surrender, the other gripping the steering wheel as he guided the car through Main Street. Cape Fremont was a town where historical met modern, with two and three-story buildings brimming with antebellum architecture to stoplights and fast-food signs to clutter the skyline. Just like every town, some streets looked more run-down than others. A handful of yards brimming with dirty toys, overgrown weeds and ashtrays for every well-kept house and tended yard. The neighborhood that bordered the school was a mix between the two. Not sketchy enough to lock your doors, but not fancy enough to be elite, either. Brock took his time, the school to their left and a neighborhood to their right.

“I can only imagine how thrilled these people are to live right across the street from a school,” Brock muttered as he drove. “Friday nights, especially.”

“Not somewhere I would choose,” Olivia admitted. Her keen eyes searched the school area. The high school sat tucked back away from the road with a giant U-shaped driveway that curved in front of it. A one-way, from the looks of it. On the left side, an under-maintained road led back to where the school buses lined up for all students to board. To the right of the school was another wide open parking lot where the teachers and driving kids could park. The parking lot had only one way in and out of it, a driveway that slanted down a hill that led into the parking lot. It had a middle, right turn and left turn lane.

“That must get pretty hectic during school hours.” Olivia let her gaze drift toward the football field where a group of players were running their drills for practice. It was amazing how one of their own had gone missing and life seemed to bounce back to normal, like nothing had happened.

Once they drove past the school, Brock turned up the road that would take them back to the main drive that cut through the heart of town. “Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. ”

Olivia felt disappointed, but she couldn’t say why. It wasn’t like she was expecting to see a group of teens forming a welcoming committee to greet aliens or some other weird thing. Those things were always done in secret. To her, other than the players on the field, everyone was intent on loading up in the buses or climbing into the cars that would take them home. There was one thing she observed, however, that she shared with Brock. “There’s only one driveway in and out, other than that parking lot, which also has one driveway in and out. The school buses are all back in there. It would be hard for a kidnapping to take place in front of all these people. Especially if their one and only exit was blocked.”

“So it looks more like a runaway, then.” Brock paused at a stoplight in the left-turn lane, blinker ticking.

“I’m not ruling out a kidnapping,” Olivia replied. “A kidnapping could have happened discreetly. The kidnapper could have lured the teens to get them to go with him. It’s too early to reach any conclusions.” She leaned her head against the seat. “Mae said she was happy the day she went missing, more so than usual. I’m thinking that’s a lead I want to follow.”

Brock was quiet for a while. He got a green arrow and turned into one of the two lanes that straddled a turn lane down the center. After he had righted his car, he spoke his thoughts out. “Here’s my question. If we’re thinking suicide—possibly mass suicide—is a factor, then why haven’t we found any bodies?”

It was a good question. One that Olivia had been pondering since she and Brock had gotten down here. “They probably know of some secret place to do it.” She shrugged. “After all, this kind of stuff never takes place in the places you would expect it to. More like random abandoned houses. Or vans parked in the middle of a desert somewhere.”

“Still.” Brock shook his head but kept his eyes on the road. “I would think that after two years, someone’s body would have shown up.”

He was right. Olivia chewed on that thought for the rest of the ride back to the hotel. It was true that these teens disappeared without a trace. School traffic was proving to be mayhem, so she let Brock concentrate on the road while she battled for unspoken answers. When they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel, Olivia settled back, already chasing another plan in her head. “Let’s go hang out by the beach for a while and observe the activity going on around Breakers. We might get something out of that faster than driving by the school.”

“I’m okay with that.”

She and Brock changed into something more beachy, then found themselves by the shoreline. The roll of waves onto the shore and the spray of mist as the waves hit the sand tempted Olivia to relax, but she was more interested in watching the goings on around the beach. She checked her watch, making note of the time. Around 5:10, 5:15, the teens began to show up one by one. However, instead of heading for the cafe, they crowded onto the beach. A small group took up volleyball and began to engage in a competitive game. Others hit the shallows, up to their waists in water. A few even grabbed surfboards. A young blonde caught Olivia’s eye when she took her surfboard and jogged into the waves like she was always meant to be there. There was something familiar about her, and Olivia wondered if she was one of the teens she had spoken to last night.

Sure enough, as the girl began to take wave after wave, the ocean brought her closer to where Olivia could get a clear view of the girl’s face.

“That’s Susanna, one of the teens I talked to yesterday,” Olivia leaned into Brock, nodding to Susanna.

“She’s quite the surfer,” he remarked in return.

He wasn’t lying. They couldn’t help but watch as a large wave began to swell, like a lump moving through a blanket. These waves were nowhere near the size of the waves in Hawaii or places where big-time surfing competitions took place, but some of the larger swells weren’t something that an inexperienced surfer should take on, either. Susanna didn’t fall into that category. She met the wave head-on, or rather board-on, and moved her feet, her body and her board to catch the rise and swell of the wave. Instead of riding it down as it crested, she did a series of bottom turns and rose up and down on the wave several times before making it to more shallow waters and riding her board to the shore.

“She is killing it.” Brock sounded as impressed as Olivia felt. “She looked like a professional surfer out there.”

“She’s only seventeen.” Olivia shook her head in wonder. “And she has better balance than I do.”

Susanna smiled from ear to ear. She looked over and caught Olivia and Brock’s gaze and waved at them. Olivia returned the wave with more heart than Brock’s. Susanna looked back out at the swells again, then started jogging toward where Olivia and Brock were lounging.

“Here she comes,” Olivia said under her breath before the teen arrived beaming down at them as they lounged in their beach chairs. “Hey, Olivia! Is this your husband?”

Husband. The word made Olivia smile as if they were married, already. Soon, she told herself. Very soon. “Yes. This is Brock. Brock, this is Susanna. We met last night while you were getting your butt kicked in a game of pool.”

Brock’s laughter broke through his lips and he shook his head. “Hey, now.” He reached to shake Susanna’s hand, no doubt noting the firm grip with which she shook it. “Brock Thomas, nice to meet you.”

Susanna looked sweetly satisfied as she settled back, clutching the board to her side. “How’s the honeymoon going?”

“Amazing, of course.” Olivia smiled, then nodded to the ocean. “We saw you out there surfing. You’re incredible!”

“Aww.” Susanna gave a blush and lowered her head, a reaction all too humble for the show she had just put on. “Thank you, guys. Surfing is,”—she raised her board, turning it vertical to stick in the sand beside her. The board rose above her head by several inches, but it didn’t make her seem any less small. “Surfing is my passion. Some people tease me, saying that when I get cut, I bleed ocean water rather than blood. ”

Brock and Olivia joined her in a small laugh at that. “I see. You really love it, I can tell,” Olivia said.

There is a look that a person gets in their eyes when talking about something they passionately love to do. It lights up their face and deepens the expression in their eyes like nothing on earth can shake that joy. Susanna had that look now.

“Oh, I do.” She glanced out toward the waves as if waiting for the next big surge. “My biggest dream is to be a surf instructor someday. And to compete. I know that it’s not something as glamorous as working for the government or being a lawyer or whatever, but it’s always been my dream.”

Olivia had to hide a smile and force herself not to look at Brock. Little did Susanna know she was talking to someone who worked for the government. And no, it wasn’t all that, although to Olivia, the thrill of solving a case probably equated the thrill of Susanna catching that big wave. “Hey, dreams are dreams, no matter what they look like. Besides, Your dream is unique. The other ones you mentioned are overrated anyway.”

Brock chuckled, something that only Olivia would catch on to.

“You’re right.” Susanna sent a smile in Olivia’s direction again. “There’s nothing like riding the waves and catching the next one. It is the most freeing feeling in the world.” She sounded like a newlywed, talking about her bridegroom from the way she spoke about the waves. This wasn’t her hobby, it was her life, her passion.

She shot a look over her shoulder and quickly turned back to them. “Well, I’ll let you get back to relaxing. I’m gonna go catch some waves.”

“Good to meet you, Susanna,” Brock karate-chopped her a wave.

Olivia gave her a smile. “You go, girl!”

Susanna practically bounced across the sand and into the waves where she laid herself on her surfboard. As Brock and Olivia watched her do another pop-up to catch a smaller wave, Olivia snickered a bit. “She thinks that working for the government is glamorous.”

“Well, it can be.” Brock gave her a side-eye. “When I get to work with you.”

Olivia snorted a laugh. “Laying it on a bit thick, there.”

“It’s true, though!” Brock laughed as he pressed. “My life wasn’t near as exciting until you came along.”

“You know, you’re always saying that, and then I find out about all the stuff you used to get up to,” Olivia muttered through her grin. “Not sure I should take that as a compliment.”

Brock laughed and reached, linking his fingers with her. “You should.”