Storm on Wildflower Island Page 6

  “I don’t understand all of this. How could we go away for three days and return 20 years later, and not know about it? Did we time travel? Claire asked.

  Steve, Claire, and Sissy spent the next half hour arguing about them being gone. Sissy was convinced that they ran off, leaving her to raise their children. Steve and Claire didn’t even know how to defend themselves. They had no explanation for the events that took place.

  “The sheriff’s office told us that you were probably killed in the storm that hit the island that weekend. They said that not finding bodies after a terrible storm like that one was more common than you think,” Sissy explained. “After searching for weeks for your bodies, we finally had to give up and go on with our lives.”

  Sissy grabbed Claire and hugged her fiercely. “I’m standing here looking at you, and I still can’t believe you are back.” With that, Sissy burst out crying for the second time since they returned.

  The stranger watching them heard all the commotion in the house. It was time. Picking up a weapon, he started across the street to deal with the occupants.

  Suddenly, a car turned the corner onto the street with bright headlights illuminating everything in front of him. Being seen was the last thing he wanted, and the stranger backed up into the bushes.

  His task must be done quietly and anonymously. Going to prison was not an option. He watched from the safety of the shrubbery.

  “Hope, is it okay if I hug you?” Claire tentatively asked her daughter.

  Hope nodded her head ever so slightly. As the two women embraced, Mother and Daughter, both had tears streaming down their faces.

  “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry we weren’t here while you were growing up,” Claire told her as she pulled out of Hope’s embrace and wiped the tears from her face with her sweater sleeve. “You certainly have grown to be a beautiful young woman.”

  Steve took his turn next, hugging his adult daughter. “I love you sweetheart.”

  Hope nodded her head in response.

  Steve then turned to Sissy. “Where’s Dustin?”

  Chapter 13

  All eyes turned toward Steve. He could clearly see the change in the expressions of each one of them. Sissy began staring down at her hands, wringing them nervously. Hope, who moments ago seemed thrilled with their return, with a bright, happy face, now had dull, sad eyes. Andrew, a man they had only met minutes prior, wouldn’t make eye contact.

  “What’s going on? I asked you where my son is. Is he okay?” Steve was terrified of the answer, his hands felt clammy.

  “Oh Dustin.” Sissy looked over at her niece, Hope. They shared a look that was not missed by Steve.

  “What?” Claire also saw the look between the two women.

  “Sit down. We need to talk.” Sissy took her sister’s hand and led her to the living room couch. The others followed. “Can I get you two something to drink?” Sissy said.

  “This is our house,” Steve blurted out. “We can get our own drinks. Please, just tell us what is going on with Dustin.”

  Once everyone sat down, Sissy told them about their son. “Look, Dustin’s not dead or anything.” Sissy looked at Claire and Steve, instantly regretting her words. “What I mean is that he’s okay. Or mostly okay, I guess. He’s in jail.”

  “What?!” Steve and Claire both yelled simultaneously.

  “Mom, Dad, please, just listen to what Aunt Sissy has to say.” Hope realized that she hadn’t been able to say ‘Mom and Dad’ in 20 years. She smiled at finally being able to do just that.

  Claire patted her daughter on the knee in a comforting gesture. Having a 25 year old daughter was going to take some getting used to, especially since Claire herself was only 30 years old. She looked over at Sophie, her granddaughter, sitting on Andrew’s lap, taking it all in. That was the even weirder part of the whole thing. They had a granddaughter.

  “Why is my son in jail, Sissy?” Steve demanded.

  Sissy fidgeted a bit on the couch. “Well, when you never came home, we had to make a lot of adjustments. We spent a lot of time looking for you. Then I had to try to explain to two young children why their parents were never coming home, and that you were dead. They were both traumatized, as can be expected…”

  “Sissy, we get that. Why is Dustin in jail?” Steve interrupted her.

  “I’m getting to that,” Sissy snapped back at him. “Just let me explain.”

  Claire gave him a look. Steve saw it and shook his head back and forth, with impatience. But to keep the peace, he shut his mouth and let Sissy finish her story.

  “Anyway,” Sissy continued, “the kids were traumatized by your deaths. Wow, that’s weird to say.”

  Steve glared at her.

  Sissy stood up and began pacing the room. Everyone watched her.

  “Okay, okay…Maybe because he was older, I don’t really know, but Dustin took it harder than Hope did.”

  Hope looked over and smiled slightly at her new found parents, a little embarrassed that her aunt said she didn’t take their deaths very hard. But she was only five after all. She barely remembered them. Her Aunt Sissy was the only parent she really knew.

  “Dustin started getting into trouble within a few months after your disappearance. Little stuff at first, like throwing rocks at cars and breaking windows occasionally at a neighbor’s house. Not huge stuff, really. Then it got worse. He started breaking into empty houses and stealing money. As he got older, he stole jewelry and electronics. You know, things he could sell. I tried my best to fix it, but no matter what I did he wouldn’t listen. He did what he wanted.” Sissy turned and looked at her sister with sad eyes. “I’m really sorry, but your disappearance made a big impact on him. He never got over it and blamed everyone else for his troubled behavior. He spent a lot of time in juvenile detention, then in jail once he was old enough. I know that if you had been here, he would be a completely different person today.”

  Claire began to softly cry and Hope gave her a reassuring hug. Everything was so messed up. How could such a thing happen? They had missed 20 years of their children’s lives and it looked like Dustin paid the highest price.

  “So why is Dustin in jail right now, and when is he expected to get out?” Steve asked.

  “Well, he burglarized a house in the middle of the night. Apparently he didn’t think anyone was home at the time, but there was an elderly couple there. Dustin and the man got into an altercation and Dustin hit him pretty hard. The man is okay, but Dustin got a couple of years added to his sentence because of it. He’s actually scheduled to get out soon,” Sissy told them.

  “We need to go see him,” Claire proclaimed, and Steve agreed.

  “Are you two hungry? I can make you something to eat,” Hope chimed in. “I’m a pretty good cook.”

  “Actually, yes,” Steve told her. “It’s been a long day and we haven’t eaten anything in hours.”

  “All right then.”

  While Hope headed for the kitchen to find something to make for her parents, Sissy told them more about the mystery surrounding their disappearance.

  “You know, the whole island talked of nothing but the two of you for months…heck, they still talk about you. I can’t go anywhere without your names coming up. It gives people something to talk about, I guess,” Sissy lamented.

  “I’m really sorry that you have had to deal with all of this while we were gone,” Claire told her sister. “The search for us, raising our kids, all the trouble with Dustin, all of it. I can’t even imagine.” Claire paused to reflect for a moment on what she just said. “God, it’s weird to say that. To us, we have only been gone for three days, that’s it. Then we come home to all of this. It’s surreal.”

  Sissy could clearly see that Steve and Claire had not aged at all in the past 20 years. So, somehow, she knew they were telling the truth. But in reality, how was that even possible? Had her sister and brother-in-law actually run out on them all those years ago, and then just show up with some crazy, unbelievable story ab
out how they magically missed those 20 years? Sissy didn’t know what to believe. She didn’t remember her sister as being a liar, but still…

  Around the island, there were two schools of thought on the issue of the disappearance of the Jamisons, and they were clearly divided, with the men on one side and the women on the other.

  When all together, whether at one of their weekly lunch get-togethers or just passing on the street, the women would always stop to chat and the conversation inevitably led to ‘The Disappearance.’ They never seemed to tire of talking about it. The women all said that something terrible must have happened to them. They all agreed on this point, almost without exception. After all, they had small children to look after. Everyone that knew Claire, knew that an accident of some sort, or foul play, were the only possible explanations. What else could it have been? That’s what was reported to them by the investigators after all. They must have been lost in the storm, or killed by someone.

  The men, on the other hand, had a completely different theory. They ran off. Plain and simple. They were overwhelmed with work and kids, and they did exactly what most of the men in the darkly lit bar wanted to do, but didn’t have the guts. And never would.

  “There’s something else you need to know,” Sissy continued.

  “There’s more? What else could there possibly be?” Steve jumped in. “Haven’t we had enough surprises for one day?”

  Claire could see the exasperation on Steve’s face, and she could hear it in his voice. “Sweetheart, just let her talk.” She tried to soothe Steve with her words. “We might as well get it all out at once. I don’t want anymore surprises later.”

  “Well, you have a point there,” Steve said to her. Turning to Sissy, “Please continue, I’m sorry for the interruption.”

  Steve ran his fingers through his brown hair. His words said one thing, his actions another. He was having a hard time deciphering the whole mess they had found themselves in. Claire could easily see that.

  Sissy looked over at Steve, took a deep breath, and continued. “There are a lot of people that think you were washed away in the big storm on the island that weekend.”

  “You already told us that,” Steve jumped in.

  “Steve, please.” That was all Claire had to say. He closed his mouth dutifully.

  “There’s more. Even though that’s still what a lot of people think, and some think you guys just ran off and left your kids with me, someone was actually arrested and convicted of your murders.” Sissy stopped talking and sat back to gauge their reactions to the stunning news that she had just delivered.

  Steve couldn’t hold back. “Holy crap! Are you serious?”

  “It’s true,” Hope chimed in. “It was the owner of the Miranda Inn that they convicted. His name is Sam.”

  “Oh my god,” Claire exclaimed. “Sam? No way. We just met him the other day…or met him 20 years ago, I guess. God, that’s so confusing. Anyway, he’s a really nice kid. And obviously, he did not kill us. Wow, this is nuts.”

  “Why in the world would they think Sam killed us?” Steve asked.

  “Well, from what I understand, after you disappeared he started asking a lot of questions about you. Weird questions about our family, and our ancestors, and stuff. And he started rambling about other people disappearing. It was all just really odd, you know? He had no alibi for when you disappeared, and they found him with your personal belongings,” Sissy told them.

  “Wait, how can he have our personal belongings when we have them here with us? Look, I’ll show you.” Claire walked over to their suitcases and opened them up. She held her breath as she did so, half expecting the suitcases to be empty. But they weren’t empty. Everything they took with them, came home with them. “See, everything is here.”

  “Well I know he had some of your stuff, because I saw it myself. They presented it as evidence at the trial.” Sissy walked over and peered into the suitcases. “Yeah look, here’s the necklace, and the shoes, and these exact souvenirs.” Sissy picked them all up, one by one, as she named them off.

  “And here.” Sissy picked up Claire’s makeup case. “He even had this.”

  “How can this be possible?” Claire was stunned. Their belongings were in two completely separate places, decades apart.

  “How can any of this be possible?” Steve chimed in. “This whole thing makes my head hurt.”

  “There’s more. They even found blood in your hotel room. There were other things that made them believe Sam did it too. Then they convicted him,” Sissy added.

  “They found blood in our room?” Claire was puzzled.

  Steve thought for a moment. “Of course they would,” Steve jumped in. “I cut my hand on the glass in the bathroom. I bled quite a bit. Look for yourself.” Steve held out his hand, which was still bandaged. He unwrapped it for all to see his wound, just starting to heal. He thought for a moment. “You know, this actually happened 20 years ago, but is still a fresh wound. Wrack that around in your brains for a moment.”

  “So, where is Sam now?” Claire asked her sister.

  “He’s still in prison, as far as we know,” Andrew chimed in.

  “What? Seriously?” Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “We need to do something about that. He clearly didn’t kill us.”

  “He’s been there for nearly 20 years now,” Andrew told them. “He probably doesn’t have much time left in there anyway.”

  Steve could see the tears in Claire’s eyes, threatening to spill over and down her sad face.

  “Oh honey, it’s okay. It will be okay, I promise.” Steve tried to comfort his wife.

  “No, it won’t be okay,” Claire responded. “A man has been in prison for all these years for something he didn’t do. How can we live with that?”

  “It’s not our fault. Just really bad circumstances, I guess. We are all victims of this, including Sissy and our kids,” Steve tried to explain.

  “I’m really tired,” Claire told no one in particular. “Can we just forget about all of this for now? I just want to go to bed.”

  “Oh, of course,” Hope spoke up. “You can stay in our room.” Hope looked over at Andrew and he nodded in agreement. “We’ll take the sofa sleeper. We can square everything away tomorrow.”

  “That would be great. Thanks sweetheart,” Claire told her with a smile.

  Chapter 14

  Twenty Years Ago

  “Excuse me, Mr. Evans?” the desk clerk stopped Sam as he was walking through the lobby of the Miranda Inn toward the stairs.

  “Yes, what is it? I’m kind of busy.” Sam had been running non-stop all night and most of the day due to the hurricane like storm they were experiencing.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Jamison have not checked out of their room. They were supposed to be out by 3 p.m. Should I send someone up to remind them?”

  “Um, no. I have to go up that way anyhow. I’ll let them know.”

  Sam headed up to the third floor to do a damage check. They had a lot of damage from the storm. He knocked on the Jamisons’ hotel room door. He waited a full minute, but heard no noise from inside, and knocked again. Still no response. Normally he didn’t go into a guest’s room, but they were supposed to have check out by then and no one was answering the door. It was entirely possible that they left without checking out at the service desk, as many people do. So, he used his master key and opened the door.

  He entered tentatively. It wouldn’t be the first time that he caught someone coming out of the shower when he entered their room. He did not want a repeat of that awkward moment.

  “Hello? Is anyone here?” Sam said to an empty room. He stood only in the doorway, waiting for a response.

  Confident that no one was there, he walked over and peered into the open bathroom, just to be sure. No one. The room was empty. Empty of people anyway. However, all of the Jamisons’ belongings were still there. He found their clothes and suitcases in the closet, the dresser contained jewelry and a wallet. It was obvious that
they hadn’t checked out yet, so he turned and left everything as it was. They were probably in the cafe, he thought.

  Sam scanned the cafe and found only a smattering of people having a late lunch. The Jamisons were nowhere to be found. This is just great, he thought. Now I have to spend my day looking for these people. Why in the world did they think it was okay to stay as long as they wanted? They were probably out sightseeing. The day turned out to be beautiful, without a cloud in the sky. Wait, he thought, they couldn’t have driven anywhere, the trees were still blocking the road. He had been getting complaints all day from guests that just wanted to go home, but couldn’t. He spent a lot of time trying to explain to them that the sheriff had been notified and that he had no control over when they would be removed. They would just have to wait. He had quite a few unhappy guests when he told them that, but it was the truth. There was nothing he could do about it.

  His next stop was the valet desk.

  “Tim, have the Jamisons picked up their car?” He knew it was a dumb question since they couldn’t drive anywhere, but he needed to check anyway.

  “No sir,” Tim replied. “I haven’t seen them today.”

  “They won’t be back for a very long time.”

  Both Sam and Tim turned toward the voice. Sam shook his head in disbelief, then turned back to Tim.

  “Shoo that crazy old man off this property, will you Tim?” Sam went back to his duties as Tim asked the drunken pirate to move along.

  By 6 p.m. Sam went from being annoyed at the Jamisons for not checking out on time, to being angry about it. At 10 p.m. he got worried. Surely, they would not be out that late on check-out day without contacting someone. Sam spent the night tossing and turning. He just couldn’t get the Jamisons out of his mind. What if they got caught in the storm somewhere? What if they were injured and had no way to call for help? He wondered why they would have gone out into the storm at all. They had both been there when he made the announcement in the lobby to go to their rooms. Then he remembered a few minutes later that Claire had come back down and pressed him for more details. He remembered being short with her. He was positive it was her. She was a very pretty woman, with the most beautiful aquamarine eyes he had ever seen. She was hard to forget.