Chapter Seven

A fter an hour or so of people watching, Olivia and Brock gave in to the empty feeling in their stomachs and decided to take their investigation inside to Breakers. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just teens playing volleyball on the beach or hanging out in the ocean. When darkness started to settle in, they gathered their clothes and towels and retreated into the cafe.

“Are you going to find yourself in another game of pool today?” Olivia prodded Brock a bit.

His lip curled in a laugh. “No. I don’t want to appear too obvious, you know.”

“Mh-hm.” Olivia arched an eyebrow. “You just don’t want to get beat by a teenager again.”

“Olivia!” Brock glared at her, teasingly. “I let him win.”

For a Friday night, they were lucky to get a booth settled back in the rear of the restaurant where it was a little quieter. The seating area was like a hall of some sort with booths lining one end and pictures of fishermen and their catches cluttering the walls on the other. Olivia settled across from Brock as a smiling Mila came to their table. Her smile hadn’t dimmed since last night, despite the crazy Friday night din from the bar counter area. “Hey, you guys, welcome back!” She spread the menus before them. “You had so much fun that you decided to give us a second try?”

“This is a great place.” Brock had his usual grin on his face as he looked up at Mila. “The service was pretty awesome, so we decided to give something else on the menu a try.”

“We couldn’t make a decision last night.” Olivia followed up.

“Oh, well, that’s great.” Mila did a little bit of a curtsy-dip. “We’re happy to have you back.”

“This looks like the best place to hang out in town!” Brock nodded his head toward where the teens were piling up in the other room again. “Are you guys the daycare center for teenagers?”

Mila’s laughter wasn’t fake, a sign she enjoyed her job. “No, we just have the best milkshakes and smoothies in town. And it’s right by the ocean. An easy stop for someone who likes to be out on the water as much as these guys do, and it keeps them out of trouble and away from drinking. Speaking of milkshakes and smoothies, can I interest you in our seasonal orange crème milkshake?”

“Oh!” Olivia exchanged a look with Brock. “Two of those, please.”

“Perfect. Any appetizers?”

They declined the appetizers and Mila awarded them another one of her courteous smiles. “I’ll be right back with that drink order.”

As she hurried back to the kitchen, Olivia cast a look around her surroundings. “Great way to play that in, by the way. ”

“What, the teenagers all gathering here?” Brock settled back, grinning in teasing arrogance. “Why, thank you. You gotta be good at what you do in this job.”

Olivia barely heard him as she let her gaze linger. There was a young couple behind her, early twenties and dating, maybe. In front of her, a teen sat with his back to her, hood drawn up over his head. Olivia noticed a drink beside him but no food. Was he waiting on an order or something else?

The bell chimed and her gaze lifted to the door. “Hey, check this out. There’s the guy you were playing pool with last night. What was his name?”

“Josh.” Brock snorted a laugh and said under his breath, “‘May your stars align.’ What kind of ridiculous crap is that?”

“You’re still thinking about that?” Olivia half-joked, but she kept her eyes on Josh. The way Josh looked around, here and there, the hood on his hoodie still up gave her a sense that he didn’t want to be noticed. Olivia let her eyes return to Brock. That’s okay. She could look without looking. Josh seemed satisfied that it was safe to proceed and began to walk in their direction. He didn’t go to them, however, as he slipped into the seat directly across from the other teen sitting at the table in front of Olivia. Once he was seated, he flipped his hoodie back, so Olivia could see his face clearly. His face seemed serious, as if this meeting was planning a battle rather than a casual meet-and-greet.

“How convenient,” she murmured softly, darting her eyes up and down every so often, but keeping her expression light to make it look like she and Brock were engaged in joyful conversation.

“What’s going on?” he whispered.

“He’s meeting with another teen.” Olivia awarded him one more glance up.

Brock couldn’t turn, but he straightened as if he wanted to turn around and see for himself. Olivia kept her eyes on Josh. He leaned into the other teen, whose face Olivia couldn’t see and his eyes were locked onto his counterparts. Olivia could be wearing bright neon yellow and he probably wouldn’t notice, so she allowed herself a few seconds of observing. Oh, how she wished in that moment for the hearing of a superhero. She also wished she could read lips; whatever Josh was saying seemed important. After a few minutes, Josh reached into his pocket and withdrew a pamphlet. Olivia caught her breath, unable to look away for long. Josh’s bony fingers slid the pamphlet across the table. His expression was serious, as if the pamphlet contained the answers to all of life. The body language of the kid across from him seemed hesitant, as if he didn’t want to so openly take the proffered material. Nevertheless, he eventually took it and the pamphlet disappeared from view.

Josh reached out, tapping the teen’s wrist as if to reassure him, then slid out of the booth. He flipped his hood up over his head, shoved his hands in his pockets and headed for the door.

Nice, inconspicuous move, there, Josh. Could it really be this easy?

“I wonder what that was all about.” Olivia let her attention drop to Brock. “He popped in, gave the kid a pamphlet, then left as soon as he could.”

Brock’s eyes darted to and from each end of the table as if trying to read the answers in the cloud print. “Wish we could get our hands on that pamphlet.” As if seized with an idea, his voice trailed off. Faking a cough, Brock sent a look over his shoulder that looked like he was clearing his throat. Not that he had to be so secretive. The kid’s back was to him and Josh was gone.

Brock slid out of the booth and casually walked over to where the corner of the eating area was. He pretended to examine the picture of the fisherman with one of the large catches, acting like a tourist in a museum. The kid still didn’t look up, so Brock chanced to look down at him as he passed. He studied him for a minute and not once did the kid look up.

No wonder a bunch of teens come up missing around here, with observation skills like that.

Brock only stood for a split second before returning to his place at the table. He slid across from her, leaning in to whisper to her. “I think you were right about that teen cult theory. ”

“Why?” Olivia closed the gap between them some as she leaned closer to hear what Brock had to say. Before they could say anything, Mila came around the corner with their two shakes and she grabbed his hand, stroking it with affection. Her eyes told a story of leaning closer to her husband in love and not observing the odd behavior of the local kids.

“Here we go.” Mila set the drinks down before them. “Are you two ready to order?”

“Can we get just a few more minutes?” Olivia asked politely.

“Sure! I know, there’s a lot to choose from. If you have any questions, lemme know!”

“Thank you,” Brock nodded to her. As Mila disappeared from sight again, he resumed his close proximity to Olivia, ignoring his drink completely. “I couldn’t see anything, but what I did see was an astrological-looking moon with the words ‘meteor shower’ across the top.”

Olivia turned her bottom lip inside her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “It doesn’t mean that it’s a part of a cult... but it does indicate some sort of astrological interest there.”

“Something to keep an eye on, at least,” Brock pointed out.

“And the fact that Josh was acting all suspicious. That points to something more.”

“It’s not like we have any leads so far other than knowing where all the kids hang out,” Brock mentioned.

Olivia glanced around the restaurant. Any one of these people could be doing exactly what they were doing. Pretending to be engaged in heavy conversation while listening in to theirs. “Let’s discuss this in our hotel room after we eat. So as not to be overheard.”

“Agreed.” Brock nodded.

By the time they finished their food and paid up, every table in the cafe had filled up with hungry customers and the noise grew so loud that they couldn’t even talk over it. The kid read the pamphlet, finished his drink and left shortly after Olivia and Brock’s food arrived. With little else that counted as suspicious, they paid the bill and walked back to their hotel. The silence that greeted Olivia when Brock closed the door of their hotel room was something akin to an embrace, bringing her comfort and solitude.

She poured a glass of wine for Brock and herself as they sat across from each other in the plush chairs, winding down as they talked.

“So let’s talk about what we’ve got so far.” Olivia swirled her wine in the bottom of her glass, not yet fully dedicated to drinking the whole glass. She wanted to relax, yes, but she wanted her mind to be sharp as she worked this out with Brock. They’d spent the day doing what? She needed at least something to show for it. “We have a school with three driveways, all practically one-ways or horseshoe shaped and no back entrances to the school from what we could see.”

“Right.”

“Indicated that the missing victims who went missing after school were either lured or they left with someone they trusted.”

“Or didn’t disappear from the school parking lot at all.” Brock tilted his glass toward her. “Just because they went missing after school doesn’t mean they went missing from the school.”

This is what Olivia loved so much about working with Brock. Not only did they balance each other out, but each introduced ideas that would, in time, spin together to form a clearer picture. “That’s right.”

“A lot of kids go to the beach or Breakers after school. Cape Fremont seems to be a town that’s still part of the eighties, when kids actually went out and did things.”

“Also that.” Olivia sighed and leaned back in her chair, her eyes searching the ceiling as if the answers were there. “We need to find out more about Ellie. What were her hobbies, did the file say?”

Brock leaned back, grabbing the very edge of the file with his fingertips before sliding it toward him. He held his glass of wine in his hand while flipping through the pages on his lap. “It doesn’t say. But I’m sure you can get that information from Mae and Susanna since you’ve made such friends with them.”

Olivia cracked a smile. “Don’t know how that happened.” She laughed as she took another sip. “Whatever her hobbies were, even if it was just hanging out and watching Josh play pool, she probably would have gone from school to Breakers or the beach. Anything could have happened to her on the commute.”

“Which brings us back to Josh Gallegos.” Brock flipped the file closed and leaned forward, tossing it on the coffee table beside him. He eased back into the chair and hooked one ankle over his knee. “He has all the signs of being into some pretty fishy stuff. He’s handing out pamphlets and acting all suspicious while doing so. His behavior would be something I’d attribute to a drug dealer or something. Why do you need a hood to meet someone in a popular hangout spot just to deliver a pamphlet? And why leave without ordering anything if that was your main purpose... why not do it at the school to save time?”

“So, do you think this Josh kid is behind all these disappearances?” It was a broad question, but sometimes the broad questions were the ones that narrowed down to a possible answer.

“He could be.” Brock mused, brows furrowed as he focused on a spot on the carpet. “Or he could be working with someone else.” His gaze flickered up to Olivia. “A cult leader, perhaps?”

Brock broadened the horizon even further but what he said made sense. Olivia felt her eyebrows raise and she nodded in agreement. It made sense, but she needed more. “Can you elaborate on that a bit?”

“Sure.” He leaned forward, setting his wine glass on the table so he could use both hands to steeple his fingers. “Think about it. This has been going on for two years. The kid would have been around fifteen at the time.”

“That’s still not too young,” Olivia pointed out. “Susanna’s brilliant, meaning she probably matured at a young age. Who’s to say that this Josh guy couldn’t have done the same? ”

“That’s true,” Brock nodded. “Sure, the kid may be brilliant and intelligent, but this is a big deal, Olivia. It’s hard for me to believe that Josh is the only one behind this. Something this big, such as twenty-one teens disappearing over two years? I feel like there’s more to it than just a kid getting other kids involved in his little cult.”

Olivia had a thought and blurted it out to Brock. “If that was the case, then people would probably start to suspect him. They’d notice that anyone who hung out with Josh and was interested in what he was saying would eventually turn up missing.”

“Exactly. Which is why I still think there is someone else behind this. Some kind of influencer. Maybe a teacher?” He threw out as a way of suggestion, shrugging one shoulder.

Broad questions. Narrowed fields. “I think we need to go back to the school.” Olivia could feel the excitement building up inside of her, hot on the trail of a new case. “Tomorrow isn’t a school day, so maybe we can take that as an opportunity to take a walk or something around that area. See if there’s any signs of something that’s not right.”

“We will.” Brock didn’t seem to be getting worked up with excitement like she was. He eased himself forward and slipped his hand into hers. “But tomorrow.”

Olivia felt the adrenaline crash from his words as easily as if she had fallen from a five-story building.

“It’s getting late, and we want to be sharp for tomorrow. Let’s call it a night and get some rest.”

Reluctance clawed at her and she refused to loosen her grip on the case. They were just figuring this out, they were onto something, they were—Olivia cut her thoughts off with a sigh. “You’re right.”

“We can’t do anything until tomorrow, anyway. Even the world’s top FBI agents need to sleep sometime.”

There was that mock arrogant grin and the lilt to his eyes that Olivia loved. She laughed. “You’ve been watching too much TV, Brock. ”

“It wouldn’t be on TV if it wasn’t true, right?”

They shared a laugh and Brock’s features softened. He gazed into her eyes, letting his own roam over the features of her face. “You know…” His voice came out, softer than velvet, and Olivia couldn’t help but lean into it. He took her hand within his. “I can’t wait to be married. And actually be on our honeymoon, rather than just a pretend one.”

She hadn’t mentioned anything, but she agreed. She squeezed his hand back and smiled. “We will get to do that, soon. This will give us a sample of the best, which is yet to come.”

They shared soft smiles and expressions between them, the love on each of their faces and in their eyes speaking more than a thousand words of poetry could have. Olivia felt any thoughts of the case slipping further and further away as all she could think about now was this man who had made her life so much better simply by being in it.