Page 53 of Light of Day
It occurred to Heather, as she did so, that those particular headlines had been deliberately chosen and curated. What newspaper headlines had been left out of John Carmichael’s display? Would local newspapers from 1912 be online?
Before leaving the Lightkeeper Inn, she took a detour to the room where Gabby had been staying. With dismay, she saw that it was empty except for a uniformed woman who was busy making the bed.
“Hi! I’m looking for my friend. Did the woman staying here check out already?” she asked her.
The woman shrugged. She had luminous dark skin and wore a head scarf, and when she spoke, Heather detected a strong Somali accent. “No bags. All gone.”
There was no chance Gabby had made her way back here, packed up her things, and waltzed off the island. Besides, if she was going to do that, why would she ask Heather to find her flash drives?
She swung by the front desk to see if Heidi Ochoa was on duty. Sure enough, Heather spotted her slim form barely visible behind an enormous glass vase of island roses and asters.
“Did you hear?” Heidi asked by way of greeting. “Your friend is fine. She checked out last night.”
Heather hid her disbelief. Gabby couldn’t possibly have checked out last night; she’d been hiding in the woods on the western side of the island. “Did you see her?”
“Me? No. But she left a big cash tip for all of us.”
“Did she leave on a private boat? The nighttime ferry doesn’t start running until peak summer.”
Heidi’s bright smile faltered as that gaping hole in the story became obvious. “I suppose she must have. I wasn’t here, I told you.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Someone must have cleared out Gabby’s things and packed them up somewhere. And added a “big cash tip” to quiet any doubts.
“I’m sure it doesn’t matter now, but I did find out who paid for her room,” Heidi said. “Do you still want to know?”
“Yes! Of course. Who was it?”
“Well, Denton Simms, of all people. It almost makes you wonder. He paid for her room and then he winds up dead?” She shivered dramatically.
“How about we let Luke Carmichael solve that case and not spread rumors?”
Heidi made a face at her, looking so much like the little girl she used to babysit that she almost laughed. “Fine. Also, I think Mr. Carmichael himself freed up a room for her.”
So Gabby had come here with the knowledge and support of both Denton Simms and John Carmichael III. Why hadn’t John mentioned that? He’d talked as if he’d just happened to run into her.
Alarm bells and red flags, check.
She had to find Gabby’s suitcase. If she was lucky, the staff had simply stored it somewhere for the time being.
“Heidi, there’s a box of old linens that the housekeeping staff wants to donate. I offered to run them to the thrift store when I’m done here. Can I store them somewhere safe until then?”
“Sure thing, we have a storage room out back next to the service entrance. Want me to?—”
“No no, don’t worry about it. I got it. I’ll snag one of your bellhops to help me. Maybe that cute one with the shoulders.” She nodded toward the bellhop who kept exchanging secret glances with Heidi. The girl giggled and winked.
Sure enough, in the storage room, she found Gabby’s suitcase, tucked into a corner behind some cases of toilet paper. Had they believed that they’d gotten rid of Gabby, and all they had to do was put out a story that she’d checked out? And who exactly was “they,” exactly? John Carmichael? He was the owner slash emperor of the Lightkeeper Inn, which put him at the top of the list.
She thought about Andy’s phrasing, how he kept referring to “they,” but never named any names. Would Andy be willing to talk to her now that he’d gotten a good night’s sleep? She could bring him the news that Gabby was safe and see how he reacted.
As she crouched next to Gabby’s suitcase, it struck her that she didn’t need to be on the island any longer. Her only goal had been to find Gabby. Mission accomplished. She could hop on the next ferry boat and return to her life. She could take a trip down to New York and try to meet with Mindy’s friend. That job was within her grasp, she could feel it.
But Gabby had passed the baton to her, and she couldn’t just drop it. She had to pick up where Gabby had left off, and besides…this mystery had its hooks in her now. She wanted to see this through, find out what was behind Denton’s murder, and what “conspiracy” her ancestors had been part of.
The part of her that had been drawn to journalism was wide awake now. She couldn’t walk away with the story unfinished. It was demanding to be revealed. That was why she’d chosen this field, with all its flaws. She wanted the truth. No matter how upsetting it might be.
Her first search of Gabby’s suitcase found nothing but clothes and audio gear, same as before. Had “they” searched it and found the drive already? She sat back on her heels, discouraged. Then she remembered Gabby’s stories about traveling in and out of China when she worked for NPR. She’d developed a trick for slipping things through customs. There was an inner pocket tucked within a bigger one. Once agents had searched the big one, they thought they’d found everything. That was where she put her thumb drives of photos the government might object to.
