Storm on Wildflower Island Page 16

  “No. He said that this has happened to other people too,” Piper told them.

  “What do you mean?” Claire narrowed her eyes toward Piper.

  “That as long as the Miranda Inn has been open, people have been disappearing. And some have come back, like a whole bunch of years later. Just like you,” Piper answered.

  “That can’t be true, can it?” Claire looked to Steve for answers.

  “Think about the source. That drunk guy. I mean, really?” He stuck his arms out, palms up, in a questioning manner. “I wouldn’t put too much stock into what he says,” Steve told her.

  “Well it happened to us. Why couldn’t it happen to someone else?” It was a legitimate question Claire asked him.

  Steve turned to the three girls sitting across from him at his kitchen table. “Thank you very much for coming. We’ve actually already decided to go back to the Miranda Inn to get our own answers. You’ve been very helpful.”

  He stood up to let the girls know it was time for them to go. They got the point and followed him to the front door.

  “We really hope you figure out what happened,” Piper told them as they walked away from the house.

  Chapter 34

  Driving up to the Miranda Inn the next morning was surreal for the two of them. Claire remembered being in love with the idea of a wonderful vacation there. It was something she had dreamed about since she was a little girl. It had been months since their fateful weekend trip, though it seemed like it had just happened. In reality it had been over 20 years since they set out for a romantic weekend at the Inn.

  Both of them hesitated before getting out of the car. Steve was the first one to take the plunge and opened his car door. He jogged around the front and opened Claire’s door for her. He feared that if he didn’t make the gesture, he wouldn’t be able to coax her from the car.

  She smiled tentatively at him as she took his hand and he assisted her out of the vehicle. They both stood there, next to the car, and took in the grandeur of the Inn. It was still as beautiful as they remembered. And, it was a stalling tactic that they were both well aware of.

  “Here goes nothing.” This time it was Claire that made the first move. She started walking toward the Inn. Still holding Steve’s hand, he had no choice but to follow along.

  “We would like to speak with the owner,” Steve told the desk clerk. She was a woman in her mid 60s, and by the pinched look on her face, she hated her job. Steve’s first thought was to ask himself why in the world was she in the customer service business.

  “What is this in regards to?” The woman almost sounded like she was grunting the words out.

  Before Steve had a chance to answer her, a pretty young lady spoke up. “He’s in the cafe.” By the look on the older woman’s face, jumping in to their conversation was not going to go well for the prettier one.

  “Thank you,” Claire said to the younger woman.

  Chelsea, the waitress that greeted them as they walked into the cafe, pointed out the owner. Steve and Claire walked over and sat down at his table without being invited.

  “Um, excuse me…” His voice trailed off when he looked up and saw who it was that had the audacity to invite themselves to his table.

  “I see that you recognize us,” Steve responded.

  “Yes. Um, Chelsea dear.” He waved his hand in the air to get her attention. “Some coffee for my friends here.”

  “Thank you, that would be nice,” Claire told him.

  “I was wondering if you might show up here at some point. I would if I were you. I’m Heath by the way. So, what exactly can I do for you?”

  “Well Heath,” Steve started, “we would like to know what you know about how and why we lost 20 years of our lives?”

  “Of course. Well, I’ll tell you what I know.”

  Steve and Claire looked at each other, eyes wide. The last thing they expected was to actually find someone that knew something.

  “I’m assuming you know that Sam Evans is my brother.”

  “We know,” Claire responded. “But we didn’t find out until after he killed our son. Apparently he had been stalking us for some time.”

  “Yes, I guess he was. He took it pretty hard that he spent all those years in prison for something he didn’t do. Who can blame him for that?”

  “Of course. We get it. It would be horrible to have that happen,” Claire told him. “That doesn’t give him the right to stalk us though.” Steve nodded in agreement. “Or to kill our son, who had nothing to do with any of it.”

  He watched Steve and Claire’s faces for sincerity. He was satisfied that it was there.

  “Let me tell you about Sam and me and why we bought this Inn in the first place. It’s a bit of a long story, but bear with me. It does have a point.” Heath looked to the two of them for approval.

  “Okay, go ahead,” Steve told him.

  Chelsea arrived and set their coffees down on the table in front of them. Heath waited for her to leave.

  “Something you probably don’t know is that you are not the first couple that this has happened to.”

  Heath could tell by the look on their faces that they did know that little fact.

  “That’s why we are here,” Steve responded, as he poured more sugar than he meant to into his cup. He stirred it and took a sip anyway.

  “Yes. It has been happening every 20 to 30 years since this place opened almost 200 years ago.” Heath took a sip of his coffee and a bite of the bacon on his plate while he let that little fact percolate.

  “We already know that,” Claire responded. “We heard all about it.”

  “Really? I’m surprised to hear that. People like to keep a tight lip when it comes to things they can’t explain. And, most of the disappearances happened a really long time ago. Long before any of us were born.”

  Steve and Claire sat patiently for the rest of the story.

  “I know for a fact that it has happened to other people, because it happened to our grandparents about 70 years ago, before I was even born. My brother has always been intrigued by the disappearance of our grandparents. He started researching it when we were only teenagers. Sam became completely obsessed about the whole thing, which is why he bought this Inn the moment it came up for sale. Our family owns some very old oil leases and we do pretty well."

  Heath ate some more of his breakfast while Steve and Claire sat patiently drinking their coffee.

  “Would you two like to order some breakfast? It’s on me.”

  “Oh no, we're fine, thank you," Claire answered.

  “Initially I had nothing to do with the Inn, but Sam was not really a businessman, and he needed my help. So he brought me on as a partner.”

  “Sam spent a lot of time looking for records and other information regarding our grandparents. Eventually he found some documents in an old dusty box in the basement."

  “What kind of documents?” Steve asked.

  “Oh, things like old newspaper articles and some of the Inn’s guest records. Even some reports from the sheriff's office. I have no idea how Sam got a hold of those. And some handwritten notes. I don’t know who wrote them though. It appears someone had done some looking into the matter a while back. I don't think anything ever came of it though, which explains why everything was stuck in the dusty old box in the basement,” he told them.

  “So what kind of information was in these records?" Claire asked.

  “He found that guests disappeared roughly every 20 to 30 years or so for as long as the Inn has been here. Of course, there aren't actual records for most of that. A lot of it happened over 100 years ago. He actually spent some time talking to relatives of the people that disappeared. Many of them had old stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Most of the family members confirmed that the relatives returned many years after disappearing, and looking the same age as when they disappeared.”

  Heath looked to Steve and Claire for a reaction. The two of them were spellbound, l
istening to every word he told them. They knew that his story was true.

  “The family members also said that most of their relatives never told anyone, because they were afraid people would think they were crazy. Who wouldn’t? Most of the families would just move away where people didn't know them. Especially the ones back in the 1800s. Some of the people told my brother that their ancestors were actually killed by people when they heard the stories. I guess people were afraid of them. I think people were a lot more superstitious back then. They probably thought they were evil."

  “Yeah, I get that,” Claire admitted. “We’ve had our share of run ins with the crazies too.”

  Heath nodded and continued.

  “According to some of the articles, the local authorities thought it was strange that people disappeared, but they could never pinpoint how or why. Most of it was attributed to the storms. Sometimes people were out on a boat when the storm hit. Some thought that a missing couple had just taken off. And, by the time the next one happened 20 or 30 years later, the previous investigators were either long gone or never put the two together, due to the time span between them. People returned at different times, not exactly the same number of years later. The first couple returned a few months after disappearing, and each couple was gone longer than the last. No one really kept records, due to the long time spans. And the Inn has gone through a lot of owners over the past couple hundred years.”

  “This is crazy,” Claire said. “It's so hard to believe that this has been going on for centuries and no one put it together."

  He continued his story. “All the other couples were convinced that people would think they were nuts. So they found their families and convinced them to keep it quiet. All the old-timers in the families were either gone or senile themselves to ever know what happened. I guess it was the young ones that they had to convince. Most people never knew about the disappearances or returns, because the people were from other states or very far away, and no one put the two things together.”

  Heath took a drink of his coffee.

  “My grandparents were different. Even though most couples kept the details of their returns quiet, my grandparents did not. They had been gone 18 years when they returned, and they refused to keep it quiet.”

  “Really? That’s fascinating. What happened?” Claire asked, tapping her foot while waiting for Heath to finish.

  “Well, from what I understand, and of course I was not around at the time, but when my grandparents returned they told everyone that would listen what happened. They weren’t shy about it either. Of course, some people believed them. I'm sure those people were good friends with my grandparents. But overall, I don't think it went very well for them."

  Claire chewed on her lower lip as she sat riveted by his story.

  “Of course, they lived the rest of their lives with people thinking they were crazy. Though they still looked young, people figured they just skipped town. Then when they returned with their outrageous story, it made things worse.”

  “How so?” Claire was intrigued.

  “Well, they were murdered."

  Claire gasped. “I had no idea.”

  “No, there’s no reason why you would. It was a long time ago and they didn’t live here on the island, which is why no one around here knows about it.”

  “That makes sense,” Claire responded. Steve sat quietly during their conversation, taking it all in.

  “Part of the reason Sam was so intrigued with investigating their disappearances was because of the subsequent murders. They were never solved, though it was pretty common knowledge that the suspects were a deeply religious group of crazy people. Nothing ever came of it though,” Heath added.

  “Because of all of that, I started hanging out in the café 20 or so years ago watching people, just to see if I could figure out if there was some sort of pattern to people disappearing. You know, to see if it would happen on my watch. But it doesn’t happen on the same date, or even the exact number of years each time. It seems to be fairly random. I did know that it was always during a big storm.”

  Heath paused to think over the rest of his story.

  “I spent months looking for some sign. That’s when I saw the two of you come into the cafe, back when you were staying here. I was watching you. I had an odd feeling that you were involved somehow, but I had no idea how. I checked the weather and we were expecting a small storm, which was a vast understatement, considering what actually hit us.”

  Steve and Claire were both leaning forward, sitting on the edge of their seats.

  “Is there anything else I can get for you?” It was Chelsea.

  Claire jumped at Chelsea’s voice, then smiled, a little embarrassed at her overreaction.

  Chelsea saw Claire’s reaction and furrowed her brows in Claire’s direction. No one seemed to notice.

  “No, no, we don’t need anything.” Steve brushed her away like an annoying gnat. It made Heath smile.

  “I also checked to see what room you were in. I found that you were staying in room 333, which is the room that every single person that disappeared had stayed in.”

  “Yes, we heard that too,” Steve told him. “Every person that has disappeared since the place opened stayed in that same room. That’s just nuts.” Steve was having a hard time wrapping his head around that whole thing.

  “Do you think the room had something to do with it? Do you think it’s haunted?” Claire asked, half jokingly. No one laughed.

  “That’s a really good question,” Heath responded, seriously. “I certainly can’t explain why it’s always the same room. And I don’t even know if the people were actually in the room when they disappeared. Some were thought to be out boating or shopping, which is why the authorities thought they had just been swept away in the storm. I mean, I assume the room has something to do with it. How could it not? Every single person that disappeared and reappeared later had stayed there. That can’t be an accident.”

  The three of them looked at each other. No one could explain that strange coincidence.

  “Go ahead and finish your story,” Steve prodded. He needed to hear the rest of what Heath knew.

  Heath nodded. “Well, while I was keeping an eye on you, it happened. Of course, not while I was looking directly at you, but it did happen, and I was shocked. You actually went missing.”

  Realization dawned on Claire at that moment. “Oh my god, you are the man that was sitting at the café, staring at us that weekend!”

  She looked over at Steve. “You remember, right Steve?”

  “Now that you mention it, yes that was you. You were 20 years younger, of course, but I can see it now. Wow, this is really crazy,” Steve lamented. “We had noticed you watching us during that weekend. You weren’t very subtle about it.”

  “No, I guess I wasn’t,” Heath smiled. “I was a lot younger back then. And you two haven’t changed a bit.”

  Steve and Claire nodded their agreement. “So we’ve heard,” Steve added.

  “You know, until I heard that you had returned, I thought that my brother really killed you. I couldn’t believe that you actually disappeared, even with all of the evidence in front of me.”

  “You did? Did Sam know that you thought he killed us?” Steve asked.

  “He knew. We haven’t spoken since the day he was arrested.” Heath looked down at the table, ashamed at his behavior toward his brother.

  “Oh.” Claire didn’t know what else to say. “We’ve taken up enough of your time for one day, we should go.” She looked over at her husband.

  “Hey, why don’t the two of you stay here tonight? On me. I feel a bit responsible for what happened.”

  “Oh, don’t be silly. You are not responsible in any way,” Claire told him. “And I don’t know about staying here. That’s kind of tempting fate. Don’t you think?”

  “Look, we are not expecting any storms. It’s a bright, clear day out. Besides, I’ll put you in a different room, on a completely differ
ent floor. A room that no one has ever disappeared from. Okay?” He smiled at his attempt to lighten their fears.

  “Ah come on, Hon,” Steve said to Claire, “Let’s stay. It’ll be nice.”

  Claire agreed, though hesitantly. They stayed the night and everything was fine. When they got up the next morning, the first thing they did was verify the date with the desk clerk. Nothing had changed overnight, to their great relief.

  Chapter 35

  After leaving the Miranda Inn, Steve and Claire came to the conclusion that they were never going to find out any new information. The fact that many people had disappeared from the Inn, after having stayed in the same room they stayed in, really didn't change anything. They were still in the exact same predicament. So they resigned themselves to the lives they were dealt. They lost 20 years, but what could they do? Nothing as far as they were concerned.

  So, life went on, as it tends to do.

  Steve and Claire spent the next several years trying to get things back to normal. Things were never going to be the same, so they learned to live with their new normal. Even many years later, they were still the talk of the town. Many people thought they were freaks due to their appearance and the ridiculous stories they had heard about the Jamisons.

  No matter how many years passed, they never did get over their son’s death. Dustin was always on their minds.

  Almost 20 more years passed, with rarely a mention of the incident that started it all. Steve and Claire had long ago moved into a new house, Hope was managing the Wildflower Inn, and Sophie grew up to be a beautiful young woman with a 3 year old daughter of her own.

  One day, Steve went to Claire to talk.

  “Sweetheart,” he started, “I know we haven’t spoken about it in a really long time, but what do you think about doing some of our own research on the Miranda Inn? I mean, it’s too late for us now, but maybe we can prevent this from happening to someone else.”

  Claire turned to her husband and thought about everything they had been through. It was something that she wanted to completely put out of her mind. And she had done a pretty good job at that. She rarely thought about that weekend, so long ago.