“Should try a book.”
His grin widened. “Maybe I will.”
“Since you have been down there to look for the car, have you gotten any photos?”
He shook his head. “We even had a guy come with high-end equipment hoping to score the first good photo, and it’s just sludgy green. As I said, the currents are pretty wild over this way. Providence Lake opens up around the bend past Phoebe’s house. The basin is wide and clear, but it’s deep as hell. Most of the sail boats stick to that end of the lake.”
“And where is the car exactly?” We walked down the drive to the half wall that looked out on the water.
Dylan pointed to the narrow ridge across from Phoebe’s house. “There’s a crevice there where the rocks make that sharp point. It’s lodged under there.”
“And what do you know about the lost kids lore?”
Dylan propped his elbows on the shale and stared out over the water. It was an overcast day and the water matched the rock formations creating an endless dark gray. “My grandfather was a cop when the last girl went missing.”
“Rachel Forrester?”
He nodded and glanced over at me. “You did your research.”
“Kinda what I do.”
“I thought you wrote fiction?”
“I still like to know all I can about a topic then...” I trailed off. It sounded cold and calculating when you broke it down.
“Use the parts that are interesting?” He straightened. “It’s okay. You should have seen it when the podcast team came to town. Our little town got quite the wide awakening with the true crime listeners started showing up. My brother was so pissed when they searched out our grandfather. He’s retired and doesn’t really like to talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“According to him they made a lot of mistakes. Before Rachel, the last kid to go missing was twenty years before that.”
I pulled out my phone, double checking my notes. “Rachel was eighteen years ago.”
“Yeah, spooky isn’t it? They never found her or a body. She was in Micah’s class so it really hit close to home for him.” He suddenly patted his pockets, then pulled out his phone. “Shoot. Duty calls. I’ll talk to my brother about the pier.”
“Thanks, Dylan. And for the details.”
“Molly is going to freak out when I tell her I talked to you about your book.”
I didn’t know who Molly was, but I’d kept myself pretty separate from the town. I was focused on getting the book done, but I also didn’t really have a reason to talk to people other than Phoebe. “Don’t give away too much. The book is still under wraps.”
“Should I keep my mouth shut?”
Yes!
The little voice in the back of my head demanded it.
“No. It’s fine.”
“She’ll be stoked.” He gave me a wave as he stepped up into the truck. “I’ll have Micah contact you about the pier when we get an appointment.”
“Thanks, Dylan.”
“Sure. No problem.” He backed out, giving me a little half honk before he slowly made his way back up the lane toward the main road.
My head full of ideas for the portal, I was tempted to lock myself back into my office, but I wanted to see Phoebe. She’d been so wrapped up in her current job we’d barely seen each other this week. It was just as much my fault as it was her busy schedule.
I stepped back inside and grabbed my laptop, tucking it into my bag. Maybe I’d convince her to grab some lunch with me and I could get some words done at the café.
