Page 8 of Secrets Beneath the Waves (Beach Read Thrillers #2)

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Ramon walked up to the front door first with Zeyla behind him.

The house was an older single-story structure on a well-established side of town, where the decent schools were located—the ones that parents had attended years ago and now their children went there.

The front flower beds were a hodgepodge of shrubs that probably didn’t require much maintenance, and the car in the driveway was an early two-thousands model Toyota.

He spotted the doorbell camera but lifted his fist and knocked anyway.

The woman who opened the door wore a robe over pajama pants with plenty of pilling in the fabric.

The front of it just kind of draped open, revealing a T-shirt with a Disney character on it.

She had stringy hair, and the remnants of the previous day’s makeup were smeared under her eyes.

Ramon said, “Mrs. Harrison?”

The woman frowned, deepening the lines around her eyes. “There is no Mr. Harrison here, if that’s who you’re looking for.”

“We were actually hoping to speak with you about your daughter.”

Mrs. Harrison glanced between him and Zeyla. “You guys cops?”

Ramon shook his head. “I’m a private investigator, and this is my associate. Is it okay if we come in?”

“If you want to talk about Chelsea, then you can listen to what I have to say.” She stepped back, holding the door wide.

“The police haven’t done squat about it.

They just keep telling me that the case is cold and there’s nothing they can do.

No new leads. Every year, they call and tell me that.

” She shook her head. “Are you guys on the case?”

Ramon turned in the hallway and faced her. Zeyla stepped just inside the door so that Mrs. Harrison could close it. “Can we sit?” he asked.

“Through here.” Mrs. Harrison led the way down the hall. “I’d like to show you something first.”

The house smelled musty. The floor had dust gathered at the edges, or perhaps it was pet hair. But he didn’t see an animal anywhere. Mrs. Harrison’s house could use a deep clean and some time with the windows open to get the fresh air in. But then, he wasn’t here to judge her cleaning habits.

He discovered where she put all her time and effort when they stepped into what probably was meant to be the dining room.

Along one wall, where the light from the window could shine on the surface, Mrs. Harrison had set up what could only be described as a shrine to her missing daughter.

Photos littered the wall above the table, on which framed images had been laid out specifically.

There were even a couple of medals and certificates of achievement.

Candles between every item had burned low, dripping wax down the sides. It smelled like incense in here. Almost like she might want to summon her daughter’s spirit after death.

Ramon didn’t know much about the spiritual world, but he knew that it was a bad idea to try and conjure anything. There was enough evil in the physical world without having to bring the spiritual into it.

Mrs. Harrison touched a small speaker on the center of the table. A voice came through that sounded a whole lot like a teenage girl. “Mom, it’s me.”

Ramon froze and glanced at Zeyla. She lifted her brows as the voice from the speaker continued.

“Practice sucked , but I’m on my way home. I’ll be there soon, okay. Love you, bye .” Chelsea Harrison dragged out the last word, and then the line went dead with a click.

“I come in here every day, so I remember what I have to live for. The child I will never forget.” Mrs. Harrison turned, her hands clasped in front of her.

Ramon wanted to tell her he was sorry for her loss, but if she was refusing to give up hope that her daughter would be returned to her one day, he didn’t want to tread on that hope. “Could you tell us a little about the circumstances of her disappearance?”

Mrs. Harrison wandered into the neighboring room, which was dimly lit thanks to the heavy curtains being almost closed, and sat in an armchair.

The thing looked worn, and she had laid a blanket over it.

She motioned for them to take seats on the couch, which Ramon did.

Zeyla stayed in the corner of the room like a sentry.

“First, you should tell me why you want to know about Chelsea.”

Ramon set his forearms on his knees and laced his fingers together.

The couch creaked under his weight, and dust now danced in the air.

No one had sat on this couch for a long time.

“New evidence has come to light in a different case that we believe might be related to your daughter’s.

In the pursuit of that case, we thought it necessary to speak with you about Chelsea.

Just in case our investigation provides information that might give you some kind of closure. ”

“She’s still out there somewhere.” Mrs. Harrison laid a hand on her chest. “I can feel it, in here.”

“I would never tell you to give up hope. But I don’t want to oversell our role here.” He motioned at Zeyla. “We may not find anything, but we’re certainly going to try.”

“Has there been another disappearance?”

Ramon said, “It’s possible your daughter’s case is connected to another missing young woman. Perhaps several, in fact. We are still in the early stages of the investigation, though. So we don’t know for sure.”

Despite what he had said, her eyes lit with hope.

“Perhaps you could tell me what you knew that the police didn’t put any stock in. What they might have overlooked.”

Mrs. Harrison nodded. “They always thought she had just run off with a boy. But after she broke up with Silas that January, a few months before she went missing, she’d sworn off relationships. At least, for a while. Usually, she called from summer camp to tell me about a crush.”

The grieving mother smiled slightly, as if remembering fond memories.

Ramon asked, “Did the police speak with this Silas?”

She nodded. “He didn’t know anything, so it was a waste of time.”

Ramon caught something in her tone. “Was there someone else who did know something? Perhaps Chelsea’s father?”

According to county records, Mrs. Harrison was still married. So where was the husband, who she stated was absent?

Mrs. Harrison rolled her eyes. “Chelsea’s father didn’t know anything. That waste of space only cared about himself.”

“I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with this alone.” Ramon tried to soften his tone. “That must have been very hard.”

“You have no idea.” She didn’t elaborate on that, and he didn’t ask her about it.

“Did Chelsea have anyone else in her life who might have any information about what happened to her?”

“The night she went missing, she was supposed to meet her best friend at the theater. Apparently, the girl waited ten minutes, bought her ticket, and went in alone to see the movie. Chelsea never made it. The police confirmed that she left work, but she and her car both vanished. No one ever found the car either.”

That was interesting. Instead of being snatched somewhere, both the girl and the car seemed to have gone missing at the same time.

Or perhaps the kidnappers had done something to her car so that she was forced to pull over.

They could have taken her and ditched the car somewhere no one would ever find it.

Which meant there could be more than one kidnapper.

So, either Zeyla was wrong about her Count of Shadows theory or that mysterious man was working with an accomplice. Or he had people working for him.

“Her best friend, Shauna,” Mrs. Harrison spat the words. “She had to know more than she said.”

“Is she still around now?” There did seem to be a strong past tense in the way she’d said that.

A tiny smirk crossed Mrs. Harrison’s face. “She left a few months after, and the police couldn’t find her when they had more questions. But she packed a bag and left a note. She was so distraught over what happened to Chelsea that she had to leave town.”

“Where do you think her friend went? Perhaps we can track her down and speak with her.” Ramon shifted on the seat, feeling an odd note in the air.

Mrs. Harrison’s face blanked. “I’m sure she’s in the same place as my husband. Burning in hell because they should have protected Chelsea, but they only thought about themselves.”

Zeyla cleared her throat.

Ramon didn’t look at her, not entirely sure what to make of this woman and the malice in her eyes. “Is there anything else that you think we should know about what happened to Chelsea?”

Mrs. Harrison’s expression shifted again, becoming the epitome of politeness. “I can’t think of anything. But do let me know if you find her.” She did the hand-on-the-chest thing again. “I’ll try not to get my hopes up.”

Ramon stood. “I’m sure if you do, it will be understandable.”

Zeyla moved to the door.

Ramon said, “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Harrison.”

She didn’t show them to the door, so he closed it behind him. As soon as he did, Zeyla said, “Wow, there is something deeply disturbed about that woman.”

Ramon glanced back, hoping Mrs. Harrison didn’t hear the comment that Zeyla didn’t even try to disguise. “Maybe we could talk about this in the car instead of on her doorstep.”

“If I didn’t know the kid looked so similar to all the other missing women, I would be wondering if Mrs. Harrison killed her daughter out of jealousy or something.” Zeyla climbed in the car.

Ramon didn’t disagree but made a point not to accuse people of heinous crimes without actual evidence. He turned on the car. “I think we should dig a little more into her life and see if there isn’t something she’s hiding. Do our due diligence.”

Zeyla had her phone out already. “I’ll ask your pal Maizie if she can find anything.”

Ramon headed down the street. “Do you have some kind of problem with her?”

“How can I? Everyone thinks she’s just the best ever.”

“So you’re what, jealous? I wouldn’t peg you for the kind of person who needs to be the center of attention. Or are you just mad that you want to have a problem with her, but you actually like the girl?”

“If I was jealous, I would probably sound like that woman back there.”

Ramon shook his head. She really didn’t want to talk about this.

Probably because she was still figuring out how she felt about Maizie.

The old mix of protectiveness and respect that the rest of them felt, coupled with the fact that none of them had a whole lot of friends.

They could use all the quality people in their lives that they could find.

He almost asked Zeyla then if she was interested in being friends with him. The worry over what she would say and how she would react kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t like he wanted to get laughed at.

It would be far better to just focus on the case.

“While we’re waiting for Maizie to get back to you, why don’t you tell me about this Count of Shadows guy?”

She tensed in the seat. “What do you want to know?”

“How about everything? Have you ever met him? Where did you hear about him? How do you even know he’s a person? Why do you need to find him?”

She waved a hand. “Okay, fine. I get it.”

“Who is he?”

“Find me a place that will make me a giant salad for lunch, and I’ll tell you everything.”