Sommer Heat

Chapter 1



The air outside was thick and oppressive. It was July, the heat was on, and there was no breeze blowing through the palms at all. Hot and sticky was the way they worded it at the bar she inherited from her father and worked in as a bartender. Hot and sticky; however, that was simply a euphemism like hell warmed over as far as Kristen was concerned. She was used to the tropical heat and humidity since she had lived in Sommers Beach all her life.

She worked the night shift and dealt with those who early in the evening began their search for someone to go home with or to take home, comprised mostly of tourists and the younger set. After they managed to happily hook up and leave for pleasure that is more personal, the rest of the bunch including the worst of the clientele wondered in. Most came after the dinner hour and some stayed until closing time. Nevertheless, as usual, there were those whose current problems spilled out and local law enforcement had to get involved.  Those were the folks who drank until they became sad or mean because they hated their lives. On the other hand, there were the others who just decided to vent their dreary lives in her bar. Then of course, there were the predators. She was glad most of the latter type frequented other establishments in town.

Since tonight was Tuesday, Kristen was alone. Two other women worked with her on the weekends. Jessie, short for Jessica, as she happily told everyone when she met him or her, was a twenty five year old, playful bleach blond who worked hard to maintain her athletic build and deep tan by spending hours in the gym and on the beach when she was not working. She was a pleasant enough person, a little on the gabby side but then in a bar where the patrons (mostly men) were happy to engage her so they could devour her with their eyes as they babbled with her, being chatty was a good thing. Jessie had a college degree in chemistry but she liked the hours and the money she made at the bar. Her schedule gave her plenty of time for fun.

Jessie kept her tables happy and made decent money. The other woman she worked with there was Ronni, a dark skinned rather short woman who kept to herself but was and very efficient waitress. Ronni did not ignore her tables yet she did not engage them the same way Jessie did. Ronni came to work, worked and left for home without sharing much of her life with anyone.

The last few weeks at the bar had been boring by usual standards. No one had been taken to the hospital and only a few to the local jail. None of the especially crazy ones had decided to share their particular forms of their personal realities with the patrons of her establishment. The few local working women had even been pretty discreet of late with no one bringing local law enforcement into the place. Kristen did not really like the working girls but, she didn’t dislike them either, she just wished they would ply their trade somewhere else.

She had worked hard to maintain her place as the world she knew seemed to crumble around her. It was in an older building in town, but it had been well built by her father and the money she had invested in it to keep it in good shape had paid off. The last few years as some of the business owners near her watched their buildings falling apart because of the failing economy and the harsher weather that had been building over the past few years. The salt from the sea did little to help the situation, the salty sea breeze locked in a continual fight with those who wanted to live near the sea. It was a nice place, folks liked to stop by and enjoy a cold beer or tropical drink after a hard days work. During the early evening most sat out on the deck where they could watch the surf and those in it. As dark approached, they retreated inside where games and laughter usually were heard as they found friends and met others.

The rest of the people who wondered into the place were either drifters who managed to find odd jobs and yet managed to keep cash in their pockets or the ones that preyed on the masses, not caring whether their latest con hurt someone or caused misery, they only cared about what they could do for themselves.

The inside was dim as bars usually are yet even in the dim lighting one could see the details in the polished cypress that had been used for nearly the entire interior. The walls were painted in a muted green because her father had believed the green would help calm the spirits of the people who drank there. The cypress was present in the trim and beams that ran the length of the ceiling. It was also used to frame the pictures that hang throughout the place, mostly pictures of the beaches nearby. The place had a small dance floor made of inlaid cypress polished to a high shine, in front of a stage that held the band on the weekends again made of the cypress her father loved so much.  The dance floor and stage stood like an island peninsula with the room wrapped around it in a horseshoe. Her father had also made the tables and booths and his love of the wood showed in every one. The final touches were the carved cypress knees her Dad commissioned and placed in small alcoves designed for them about the place. The entire place smelled of old wood and years of polish giving the place an ancient feel. There were not many people in Sommers Beach that could remember a time the bar wasn’t there.

Kristen was closing for the night, she had finished cleaning the last of the glasses, swept the floors and was now getting the nightly deposit ready for the bank. The lights were all out except for the light behind the bar and the light in her small office. Her office was just to the right of the bottle wall behind the polished cypress bar that stretched across and around in a short sided horseshoe and took up about the back third of the place like some giant wooden creature.

Kristen was gathering the cash from the cash register when she heard a sound that startled her, it sounded like someone coming through the door that she knew she had locked. Quickly she ducked down behind the bar and tried to figure out exactly what she was going to do. She also thought to herself that she had been working alone too long. Her father had often tried to convince her to learn how to use a gun but Kristen did not want to feel like she needed a weapon at home or at the bar.  Again, she heard a noise, this time softer, more of a shadow of a sound. She moved quickly and quietly from where she dropped down to her office door only a few feet away.

Kristen’s heart was pounding so loud she would have thought it could be heard for miles around if she had not known better. She worked to control her breathing, taking slow deep breaths and trying to figure out the best course of action. She wanted to stay hidden and hoped to escape whatever was going to happen. Nevertheless, she also did not want the intruder to trash what she had worked her whole life to keep.

When she reached the small office that was mostly hidden since when the door was shut it blended into the wall of mirrored glass that was the back of the bar, she stood up and looked out across the dark interior of the place. The mirror was of course one that she could see through to observe her establishment, yet all the patrons saw was a mirrored wall behind several shelves of liquor bottles. She thought she saw a shadowy figure near the door standing still, but she was not sure. Kristen wished she had some kind of weapon hidden in her office for the first time.

“Kristen” a voice hollered out, one that sounded a lot like Jessie. “Are you still here?” then as the figure moved forward slowly, as if it were as afraid as Kristen felt, Kristen could see it was indeed Jessie but instead of her usual smile she looked rather serious and Kristen could not imagine what she wanted from her. “Kristen” the frightened voice of Jessie called again, “please be here”.

Kristen released a breath she had not been aware of holding and felt her heart begin to return to normal and she called out to the intruder. “Back here, Jessie” Kristen called, wondering what could be the matter with Jessie, “in the office” she said as she stepped into the lighted doorframe so Jessie could see her. Kristen watched as Jessie hurried now and approached her while looking to her sides as if she was checking to see if anyone else was around “It’s just me here, Jessie. What’s wrong?” Kristen asked when she saw how Jessie was acting.

Jessie smiled a small, rather sad looking smile for a second and then looked like she just might burst into tears. Then she began. “Kristen, I’m sorry to have to do this with no notice or anything but I have to quit and I was hoping you could go ahead and give me what you owe me. I really need it.” She said in a rush, the tone of her voice saying more than her words. “I’m really sorry” Jessie added when she was done, dropping her eyes as if she had something to hide, something she didn’t want to talk about.

Kristen was disappointed that Jessie was going to be leaving, many of the regulars would be upset also as they looked forward to seeing her when they came in. In fact a few of them just might stop coming in as their whole reason for coming in was to gawk at the girl. “Jessie, you will need to give me a chance to sit down and take a look at your time card, figure out what you are due and take out the taxes and all, I just can’t give it to you right this minute.” Kristen replied, she saw Jessie’s face fall and she wanted to ask more, but she did not. She wanted to know why the girl seemed so afraid, because she knew that under all the perky smiles was a spit in your eye kinda gal, but she also didn’t want to get dragged into a messy situation if she could avoid it.

“Kristen” Jessie began again, “could you give me something, I mean anything will help? Please? She added, “I’m leaving town tonight and I could really use it. I don’t care if it is everything, just enough to help me get out of here.” Tears were forming on Jessie’s face as she continued, “I’m sorry to have to do this Kristen I really am, I mean, I really liked working here and I hate to do this but I gotta go now”.

“Oh Jessie, what have you gotten yourself into?” Kristen asked as she turned and walked over to her desk, searching for the time cards. She knew Jessie was owed for the past weekend but she wanted to check the hours anyway. Jessie stood there watching without answering her and she pulled a tissue from her bag and dabbed at the tear trails on her cheeks. She did seem to calm down a little when she saw that Kristen was going over her time card, although she did not offer any more information. For once, the gabby gal was silent. After a couple of minutes with the time card and the calculator Kristen reached for the bank bag and withdrew some money, counting it out and then handing it to the young woman. “I don’t know what is going on, and maybe I don’t want to know Jessie, but if you change your mind your job will be here.” Kristen told her as he gave her what she was owed.

“Thanks Kristen, I really appreciate this” Jessie began, “I am really sorry about the trouble and I hope things keep going good for you but I have to leave this place, I just can’t explain it, no one would believe me if I did anyway” Jessie mumbled. Then she tucked the money away in her jeans pocket, shoving it as deep into the pocket as she could, she did not want to take any chances of it falling out now. “I’ll see you again sometime, maybe” Jessie said as she turned and walked back toward the door, opening it and disappearing into the inky, wet feeling darkness beyond.

When Jessie was gone, Kristen followed her steps to the door and made sure it was closed firmly and locked. She thought for a moment about how Jessie had gotten in, she was sure that she had locked the door and that she had never given anyone a copy of the keys. Even the nights someone else closed the bar, Kristen would come down from her apartment to collect the night’s income and prepare the bank deposit. She made a mental note to herself to call a locksmith the following day and have the locks changed just in case someone had somehow gotten a copy.

Kristen then returned to her small office and quickly finished the paperwork, and got it ready for the deposit. Then she opened the safe, hidden in the floor under her desk and placed the deposit and paperwork inside. After a last look around to double-check that all was done. Kristen went outside, locked the door firmly again behind her and walked around to the side entrance to her apartment.

As she climbed the stairs to her door, she glanced toward the beach and saw that some of the locals had built a rather large bonfire on the beach and were enjoying a late summer night by the water. The muted sound of their music drifted away from the beach but by the time it reached her it had been washed by the distance and waves so that she only heard pieces of the songs and laughter. She knew that the party would probably last all night and was glad her apartment was far enough away that it would not keep her awake for long.

Kristen finally reached her door and paused a moment when she was unlocking it to wonder if there were any copies of her apartment door key out there and added it to the mental list of locks to have changed. She had never had to worry about the locks before and it bothered her. She was sure that she had locked the door to the Breezeway before she started counting the money and doing paperwork. Kristen was proud that she had never been robbed. She attributed it to her thoroughness. Every night she would follow the same procedure, first locking the doors, then turning off all of the outside lights, followed by turning off the interior lights, save for the two she needed to work by. Then she worked to clean the place, after which she began the work on the books. Kristen had always been really careful, so worrying about someone having access to her home and business was a new and major concern.

Kristen rummaged in her dresser and then laid out some summer pajamas on the bed. Then she made her way into the bathroom for a long cool shower. She adjusted the water and stepped into the shower letting the water wash over her, cleansing the sweat and grime from the evening and making her feel wonderful. She spent long enough in the shower to feel all of the hot water run out.  Then she stood there allowing the cold clean water run over her body, lowering her body temperature and allowing her to relax, for the moment pushing the oppressive heat away and purging all of the worries of the day.



Chapter 2

The summer continued to heat up and things at the Breezeway were a little rocky the first few weekends after Jessie left. No one seemed to know why she left, or where she was going, although there was a lot of speculation. Kristen had been correct in thinking a few, but thankfully not many, of her regular customers would not come around anymore after hearing of Jessie’s departure. Even considering that, business at the place had been brisk. Kristen had worked for three weeks with only Ronni to help on the weekends and it was taking its toll on her. She needed help.

Dawn was breaking over the ocean with the sun streaking the deep blue grey sky in golden, rosy colors as it rose slowly above the horizon. George Sheridan was walking, coffee in hand, casually along the high tide line with his head down, his tanned frame clothed by a pair of cut off, well-used blue jeans.  His eyes forever searching for that perfect piece of driftwood, a beautiful shell or sharks tooth that he could fashion into the sought after jewelry and home decor that he made by hand in his ocean front cottage. George had a whole room full of wood, shells and sharks teeth that he had collected over the years. It was his routine every day, rain or shine, upon waking, to grab a cup of coffee from the pre-programmed coffee pot his sister Rita had given him, and head to the beach where he would walk along the tide line looking for nice shells and other things that had washed up during the night.

The day had been a good day so far, George had collected about a dozen good sharks’ teeth and some beautiful mollusk shells with which he could fashion necklaces He also found the flat side of a nice mollusk, a Pecten Raveneli shell, it was rather large and he was excited to find it. Most of the ones that washed up on Sommers Beach were either broken or covered with barnacles or worm casings. This one was clean and beautiful and George figured he would probably make a pendant for his girlfriend Kristen.

Kristen owned and ran the Breezeway bar that was located only steps away from his cottage. George and Kristen had been seeing each other off and on for years and George was deeply in love with her. She was not very motivated to move their relationship past the dating stage, as she had been hurt badly in a previous relationship. George was determined to stick with her until she changed her mind.

George was a tall, lanky fellow, with bright red hair and green eyes. His hands were long-fingered and slim and they seemed to dance with the materials he used to make his beautiful creations. His voice was deep and smooth and Kristen just simply loved to hear it when he read to her. Reading to her was one of the simple things they did together. Kristen would pack a picnic lunch and they would head out to a private spot on the beach where they would leisurely eat and he would read from a book they had decided on together.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t read. It was just that she enjoyed it so much more when George read to her. Listening to the sound of his voice was relaxing and the way he made the characters in the book come alive, each with a different voice, was such a wonder to listen to for her. Kristen figured he could get rich if he ever decided to make those audio books.

The day was becoming rather muggy, a typical summer day for Sommers Beach. There was a hint of a sea breeze, but with the temperatures hovering in the lower 90’s, George was covered in a glistening sheen of sweat, and he was looking forward to a quick swim followed by a cool shower when he finished his walk. He had covered nearly 5 miles of beach this morning, which was his usual, some days he found himself 10 miles or more from home when he decided to turn around and mosey back. He was thinking about the pendant he was going to make when he nearly fell after tripping over a large, freshly washed up conch shell. He picked it up and looked it over, noting the way the shell seemed to hum as the sea breeze blew over it.  Like a small boy, he held it up to his ear and grinned when he ‘heard’ the waves in the shell. He smiled as he added it to his collection basket and picked up the pace towards home.

When George arrived back at the cottage he could hear his phone ringing but, ignoring it, he did not hurry, he figured if it were important, whoever was calling would either leave a message or call him back. If it weren’t for his business he could have cared less about having a phone at all, he was the type of fellow that liked to talk to someone face to face if he could. He felt he learned so much more about a person when he could observe their body language along with their words. He noted that most people gave far more away to an educated observer than they knew, convincing themselves, more than him, of the lies, some harmless other not, that they told.

Most people carried cell phones but George did not want one. He could not understand the need to have one. George reckoned it to sitting by the phone waiting for someone to call and he didn’t see any sense in that either. His older sister Rita had tried to convince him to get one, even offered to buy one for him with her employee discount at the local department store she worked in, but he would not budge on the issue. She had tried everything she could think of, knowing how her brother wondered the beach, because she worried about him so much. It had even taken a long time to convince him to use an answering machine, but George finally caved on the issue because of his business; he did not want to miss any customers who called while he was out and he didn’t want to have to hire someone to stay for the phone. As far as family and friends went George figured if someone wanted to talk to him they would call him back or just come by when he was home, which was most of the time, unless he walking on the beach or out with Kristen.

When George reached the porch of the cottage, he turned and he stopped to empty any remaining sand from his shoes to watch a couple of teenaged boys who were out trying to catch a wave. The boys didn’t seem to be very aware of the waves, and after watching them for a bit, George became convinced they were tourists and started on inside. If the boys had been locals and catching decent rides, he would have grabbed his surfboard and joined them. George seldom surfed anywhere near newbie’s or tourists because he didn’t want to become a surf instructor or tourist guide; he just wanted to enjoy the surf. As he headed in, he set his collection of shells, sharks teeth and driftwood aside on a ledge he made so they could drain, bugs could leave and the strong smell of recently emptied shells could dissipate. He would gather it all again later and wash off the sand, grit and salt then take them into the cottage and put them in the room he worked in, and set them out to dry on wire racks, before adding them to the proper boxes he had organized of things to work with.

After George enjoyed his swim and shower, he punched the play button and listened to the answering machine when he noticed the light for messages was blinking on it. It was a phone bot calling to remind him that his order was in at the local surf shop. He had ordered a custom longboard, a longer board than most of the younger set used. It could not be used to turn fast or do many tricks but he enjoyed surfing every day and the longer board would allow him to surf on days when the waves were too small for the shortboard riders to enjoy. After pulling on some older blue jean shorts and a t-shirt then sliding his feet into his flip-flops George set out to walk over to the bar, see how Kristen was doing, and grab a cold drink.



Chapter 3

The next few weeks went by uneventfully and were not much difference than in any other summer week on the beach, the locals working, shopping and maintaining their homes as usual and finding plenty of time for sunning and having fun, and tourists cluttering up everything from the beachfront to bars. They all coexisted peacefully enough; the tourists knew that the luxury they afforded themselves while there on vacation would not be possible without the local working community and the locals knew their mostly laid-back lifestyle was paid for in by those same tourists.

Things at the Breezeway were no different with the exception of Kristen placing help wanted ads both with the local newspaper and online. She had already had quite a few applicants come by but she had not hired anyone yet. She knew what kind of person she wanted and would settle for no less, but with the economy the way it was, she had plenty of applicants to wade through in order to find what she was looking for. 

Ronni had been helping by picking up extra shifts when she could, so she was at the bar when the tropical peace of the summer afternoon was shattered when Bubba Jackson, the very dreamy, in Ronni’s opinion, local sheriff deputy came into the Breezeway one hot slow afternoon. He was tall, tanned and his uniform shirt was pulled taunt by his firmly muscled chest. He usually had an easygoing attitude about life but today ,he was all business.

“Kristen”, Bubba said as he walked up to the bar, giving Ronni a wink in the process, “Do you know how to reach that young gal that used to work here, uh... Jessie, I believe was her name, we need to ask her some questions”. He then sat down on one of the bar stools and grabbed for a pretzel stick in a nearby basket, placed to help keep customers thirsty, and looked around to see who all was present.

He spotted mostly the local folks, there were not many tourists this time of day at the bar, most of the tourists were still cooking themselves on the beaches, and they did not come in until after the dinner hour. “No, sorry” Kristen told him, “She just came in and quit one night after closing, she said she had to leave town, but didn’t offer any more information, why Bubba, what’s going on?”

“Well,” Bubba began, “it looks like that boyfriend of hers, Mark Huston, has been killed in her condo, and no one has seen either of them for weeks now. There are a lot of questions she needs to answer about what happened in that place”

With that, the entire bar became completely silent. No one said a word, it was as if everyone had taken a breath at the same time upon hearing Bubba’s statement and had forgotten to release it. Every one was processing what he had just said and no one wanted to break the silence. Then they all began to question at once. “Bubba, was he shot?” someone called out, “Maybe she poisoned him”, someone else offered. The theory’s were piling up as fast as folks could come up with them and when they all began questioning him at the same time, the noise level in the bar became equal to that of a jet taking off nearby, and you could not hear yourself think.

“Hold on a minute all of you” Kristen shouted, banging on the side of the tip bell as she tried to bring order back into the bar, if not her life, all of a sudden as the questions flew through her mind as fast as the patrons were asking them. She continued when they quieted down a little, “Bubba can only answer one question at a time, let’s let him speak please.” In addition, she said, the house would furnish all present a round, which did seem to help calm the current patrons down just a little as they sat back and waited for her to hand out the drinks and Bubba to fill in the details, which as it turned out wasn’t really all that much.

He explained that when the neighbors in her complex had noticed the mail, newspapers piling up, and no one had seen her. Then a woman named Betty that lived down the hall decided to ask a friend of hers in the sheriffs department, Jake, to check on the situation. Jake had gone to Jessie’s door and knocked, of course there was no answer. Then he confirmed for himself the amount of mail and untouched newspapers before he went to the property manager to gain access. What was found, according to Bubba was a condo that looked like a big fight had taken place, a huge amount of blood, a couple of teeth, and some of Jessie’s boyfriends clothing.

Bubba recalled the day he had been called to the condo by his friend and coworker, Jake Stryker. Jake had warned him when he called that the scene was a bloody mess, not that that was unusual for a crime scene that involved murder, but it did turn out to be part of the most unusual of circumstances. It was a relatively cool day by beach standards and the sky was a cloudy mess, the television weatherman, the night before on the evening news had called for rain that day. By afternoon that day it had not rained and Bubba figured if it didn’t, it would miss a good chance; however, he was glad that it had held off. When he had arrived, there were far too many law enforcement vehicles of different kinds, both state and local for him to count, a medical examiners vehicle and a Crime Scene Investigation van. However, if he thought there were a lot of vehicles, there were even more people; law enforcement, gawkers and of course the media who seemed to find out the when and where entirely too fast for his taste. From the sheer amount of interest in the scene so far, if Bubba had not known better he would have thought that the scene was a celebrity’s place, not the condo of a waitress at the local drinking establishment.



At the front door, he ran into Jake and asked him what all the fuss was about, wondering again why the need for state involvement and why so many people were necessary to process the scene. “Be careful in there Bubba”, Jake told him, as he nodded his head toward the sheriff, who was looking rather out of sorts, “Danny is not at all happy about all the attention this is generating”. A rather fair warning yet not quite a accurate description of the mood of the sheriff as he tried to handle the volley of questions being put to him at present. Bubba thanked him for the warning and proceeded through the short entry hall and into the room that had caused all this mess.



The furniture in the room was scattered, some of it was laying askew, a chair on its side, and a table completely overturned so that its legs were pointing toward the ceiling, the chairs’ seat next to it on the floor. A few of the pictures on the wall were cockeyed as if they had been run into in some kind of disturbance. However, the most interesting thing about the place was that it appeared to be covered in blood, not just a smear here or there, rather a huge amount of it everywhere. One wall appeared to be nearly completely covered with spatter, almost as if it had been sprayed there with some kind of hose. Every piece of furniture and all of the accessories in the room had blood on it ranging from a few drops on some of doo- dads and paintings to being soaked in it like the couch cushions.



Bubba walked over to the place where his boss was talking with one of the state troopers and ask him, when he paused in his conversation, what he needed him to do. “Find me the damn body is what you can do Bubba” the sheriff nearly growled in response, as his face became a deep red, almost purple in color from the stress he was feeling. Bubba thought that the man looked as if he would collapse at any moment. “Excuse me?” Bubba said, thinking he had surely not heard the man correctly, “what do you mean find me a body?”  The sheriff looked now as if he might burst, and was about to growl another comment when he was pulled to the side by one of the troopers for more questions. Bubba was now staring in disbelief as he took in the entire scene once more before heading over to a small group of deputies standing near one of the bigger blood pools on the floor, who were engaged in conversation with one of the crime scene investigators as he was removing something and placing it in a evidence collection envelope.

Jake looked up to see Bubba approaching and let the group to meet him, asking Bubba what he thought of the mess and seeing Bubbas’ eyes cloud over with confusion. “Oh, I see no one has brought you up to speed yet” Jake said as he pulled his coworker to the side to fill him in on the details that he knew. “It looks like someone has killed Jessie, that cute little number that works over at the Breezeway Bar.” Jake began “except for the fact that nobody is sure that it is Jessie that is dead, even thought it is her condo, because so far the only thing besides blood we have found here is a human tooth.”  Jake continued with a look that said he was having trouble with this whole thing, “No one is sure yet of anything really, except what you see here, all this blood and the tooth, and of course the way things in here look”.  From that moment on Bubba kept his eyes and ears open hoping to find some way to make all of this make sense to him. At the end of the day all the police had been able to come up with, besides the blood, was a few more teeth that had been found in the living room, among the tossed contents of the room and one of Mark Huston’s’ shirts, covered in blood with a few bits of what they thought to be human tissue, and torn by what appeared to be several stab slashes in the back

Bubba followed his short narrative with the statement; “They are testing the blood and the teeth for DNA and such and we should know more in the coming days”. He continued, “However, the crime scene guys did a quick blood typing test and have determined that the blood type matches Mark’s not Jessie’s, and believe me when I say it is not possible to be alive after losing that amount of blood”.  When Bubba finished everyone was looking at him as if he would say more but he didn’t add anything else.

Kristen could not believe what she had just heard. She had known something was up the night Jessie had quit, but she just could not believe that Jessie had anything to do with killing someone; it was too much to get her head around very quickly. She knew that Jessie and Mark had their problems, and she knew that they occasionally had gotten physical; Jessie had confided in her a couple of times after a fight.  Kristen handled the customers requests almost in a daze as she listened to the questions being asked by the patrons, being politely avoided, as Bubba tried over and over to tell them that nothing was proven yet,. No one was accusing anyone, nothing in fact was certain. They all would have to wait for the investigation to finish or at least until some of the testing was completed before anything certain could be said outside of the fact that someone had died in Jessie Parker’s condo and neither Jessie or Mark had been seen since the night Jessie had come into the bar and quit.

Chapter 4

George had spent the morning working on jewelry orders and then spent the afternoon surfing the choppy waters under the cloudy gray sky, wondering if they would get any rain, before returning the board to its place on his deck and heading over to the Breezeway for a drink. He wanted to see Kristen; he had finished the pendant he fashioned from the brightly colored Pecten Raveneli shell he had found on the beach one day while he was strolling along, and wanted to surprise her with it. George was in love with Kristen and he knew it, he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. His favorite activity with her, as odd as it might sound, was brushing her long, dark cherry chocolate hair. He would sit after they swam and showered and brush her hair until it dried, admiring the way her hair shone with fiery highlights.

Those fiery highlights were the first thing George saw when he entered the Breezeway that evening. The sun was setting and Kristen had opened one of the fire exit doors to let in some fresh air and light from the setting sun was streaming in, hitting Kristen behind the bar and causing her beautiful locks to look as if they were consumed by a golden red fire from deep within. The sight nearly took his breath away as he took in the view while he strolled up to the bar. “How is your evening going sweetheart?” George asked as he looked around. Noticing that few of the patrons looked happy, and more than one of them seemed very upset by something. George turned back to Kristen, “did something happen that I don’t know about?” he asked as his smile slipped into a more serious frown.

Kristen quickly filled George in on what was happening as she continued to tend bar, and when Bubba got up to leave, she stopped him for a minute to thank him for coming in and letting her know what was going on, then before he left, she went into her office for a moment and came back with Jessie’s employment file so Bubba could document the information about Jessie that it contained. There was not much in it, Jessie’s address, phone and a little personal information like a copy of her birth certificate and social security card. Kristen just kept the records she was required to keep so there was not very much in the file and most of what was there the sheriff already had.

Bubba left and after a little while the excitement leveled off  a tad and the people who were there when he had come in to find out about Jessie, had for the most part left to go home or to head to a friends and relay the information they had learned. The town would buzz about the scene of the crime and speculate about what happened for weeks.

George digested what he had learned while drinking a cold beer at the bar and talking with Kristen when she was not busy with customers. He stayed at the Breezeway all evening, sometimes shooting a game or two of pool with others that he knew and sometimes just sitting at the bar sipping on a cold beer, sensing that Kristen needed him around, even if only just to be there with her. She hadn’t said anything, nor had she ask him to stay, in fact, nothing in particular had happened and Kristen didn’t seem worried something would, it was more simply the presence of an underlying, tense, malevolent atmosphere. A few of the folks that came in early in the evening, mostly tourists, just came in and grabbed a cold beer while they played a game or two of darts or pool and chatted about their day on the beach or their plans for the following day(s).  Most of the local patrons whispered among themselves about the news Bubba Jackson had brought earlier in the afternoon. The news. That awful news that no matter where you went in Sommers Beach, folks were talking about, more than one of them trying to make logical sense out of what they had heard and none of them succeeding. It had been years since anyone had been killed in the community and no one knew quite what to think about it.

The night was winding down when George gave Kristen the pendant he had made, sliding it across the bar towards her in a plain brown box he had put a miniature bow on. “I know this might not be the best time for this, sweetheart,” he began in a quiet voice. One that as he continued began to grow louder with his excitement, “I found this beautiful shell a few weeks ago while walking and when I saw it I knew I had to make something special with it for you, I hope you like it.” George sat there with a lopsided grin on his face as he waited to see her reaction.

Kristen reached out for the small box with a smile spreading slowly across her face. She loved the trinkets and jewelry that he made for her out of the things he found while walking. She had many pendants and rings, bracelets and baubles that he had created over the length of their relationship and she loved every one of them. As she opened the small box and saw the newest of his creations, she gasped with awe at the beautiful piece. The fine flat Pecten Raveneli shell pendant had the colors of the sunrise adorning its shell. The muted yellows and oranges streaked with a soft reddish tone fading into a off white with violet streaks on the back. When she picked it up from the box and turned it over, she found an almost iridescent yellow and creamy white color on the inside, all wrapped in silver wire that George had wrapped by hand with a precision that looked almost machine-like. He had finished the pendant by hanging the wrapped shell on a fine silver chain.

“Oh George, this is just beautiful”.  Kristen said with love in her eyes, as she came around from behind the bar. “Thank you so much”. George helped her fasten the pendant on after she examined it with him once more. Then she felt his arms go around her holding her close while his lips covered hers, making her want to melt into him and lose herself in the feelings he could bring out in her. She kissed him back with hungry, exploring lips of her own and for a moment, she did forget everything. When the kiss broke, she pulled herself away from him and smiled, then turned and headed back behind the bar to begin the process of closing down for the night. They both watched the clock as together they got most of the work for closing out of the way. Finally, time came for Kristen to announce last call and by then there were only a few people left in the bar. As they all finished what they had and headed out somewhere else. The door opened and before her or George could say, “We’re closed”, Rita, Georges sister popped in. Looking like she had just gotten up from a restful nights sleep, freshly showered and on her way to work she had her Wal-Mart vest thrown over one arm while the other one reached out to wrap itself around George’s waist when she walked up to him.  Rita had stopped by to talk to George for a few minutes, as she would not likely see him again before heading to the Keys on her vacation. It was scheduled to begin after her shift at work that night and she was all packed and ready to go.

“George”, she began, with eyes that could have come right off of any puppy wanting to play, “could you drop by my place in a few days and check on the cats and water the plants for me?” She asked. George reach around her small frame and hugged her back as he answered her with a smile, “you know I will Rita”, he said, eyes full of love for his baby sister. “Did you remember, this time, to print me a copy of your itinerary in case I need to get hold of you?” he asked.  He had asked her for one a half a dozen times yet she had yet to do it. George liked to know where she was, he was very protective of her since she had been in a wreck when she was younger. She was critical for a few days and George felt that he nearly lost his mind while she was in the ICU, before they knew she would recover and be okay. He loved his baby sister with all his heart and she was his biggest promoter. She returned all of the love he had showered on her through the years and had somehow brought him more business at times than he could keep up with.

“Yes, big brother”, Rita said as she reached inside the small bag that held her lunch and brought forth the requested document. “I know you thought I would forget again!” she added with a laugh as she crossed her arms in front of her and drew herself up to her full height of 4 foot 11 inches and tried to look arrogant. All she really succeeded in doing was make George and Kristen both bust out in full laughter as she tried to keep a serious look and failed. As they all laughed together, George opened up the document and was mildly surprised to find everything he had asked for and more. Rita had listed the routes she would be driving with her best friend Mallory from work, the hotel they would be staying at, a few numbers of places she was planning to visit as well as the local numbers for police, the hospital and fire/rescue. She knew she had come close to upsetting George over putting off giving him a copy of her plans and she wanted him to know that she knew it was important to him.

“Sorry big guy” Rita said as she again employed the puppy dog eyes at him, “I really meant to get them together before now, I do know how you worry, and I love you for it” she said as she set her work vest on the bar and with both arms out moved towards him for a full bear-type hug. “Don’t be too mad at me, ‘k” she asked as she released her hold on him, looking up into eyes that reminded her so much of their father. “Baby girl, you know I can’t stay upset with you,” George said as he released her from the hug.

About that time, Rita noticed the pendant George had just given her and she had to fuss over it and declare it, as she did everything he made, the most beautiful thing in the world ever made. They chatted for a time while Kristen finished closing up the bar and doing paperwork, then they all prepared to leave the bar, George and Kristen to make the bank deposit and Rita to head off to work then the Keys.

Chapter 5

It was late in the afternoon, although you couldn’t tell from the windowless room Jessie had been locked in since leaving Sommers Beach. She had lost all track of time and didn’t know day from night. All she knew was that he wanted her to do something for him. Something he didn’t believe she would be willing to do without being threatened and she could only wonder what that could be. She was so tired of crying, of trying to figure all that had happened out that she simply stopped thinking about it. She was now trying to live minute to minute fighting a continuous fog, to figure out how to convince him she would do what he asked so maybe she could get him to let her out of the room she was locked in. She knew that as long as she was trapped in that room she couldn’t escape.

No one from outside the smaller beach cottage would have ever guessed at what was happening inside of it. The building itself blended in with others in the community so well, it wasn’t noticed. It looked like a hundred other cottages in the beach communities that some people bought and then rented out to tourists, charging them for a week what was usually paid for a month by someone who lived there. The property also had an in ground swimming pool in an enclosed, private patio area with a pool house. In addition, a garage looked to be in the midst of some kind of addition or renovation.

Now maybe I have the proper motivation for her, the man thought to himself, as he opened the locked door, walked in and tossed the newspaper down on the bed in front of her. He watched Jessie as her red, swollen eyes tried to focus on what she was seeing; she had been reading that newspaper for years and immediately recognized it as the local paper from Sommers Beach. When she saw the headline and gasped, feeling her world tilt on its axis, he laughed.  “I don’t believe you want to go run back there so fast now, do you?” he asked with a sneer.

The headline screamed at her “Local Man Missing, Feared Dead, Jessie Parker Wanted for Questioning”. In addition, there along side the boldfaced letters that looked so condemning, was a picture of her that had been published the previous summer. She closed her eyes as remembered that picture; she was smiling and happy then. She had participated in a beach volleyball tournament then, she had played on the Breezeway Bars’ team, and they had finished the tournament on top keeping alive a streak of winning for the five years then. Then seemed so very far away as she opened her eyes and looked at the picture again.

Jessie found the picture and the memories associated with it incongruent alongside the accusing headline. As Jessie read the article, her entire being wanted to scream. Tears ran down cheeks stained during earlier eruptions, from eyes that were swollen nearly shut. Her hand shook as she reached for the paper and pulled it closer, as if somehow a different perspective would change the words.

According to the article, Jessie was wanted as a “person of interest” in the apparent slaying of Mark Huston. The article went on to say that a large quantity of blood that was being tested along with a couple of human teeth and some minute pieces of human tissue was believed to be Marks. His torn and bloody clothing had been found at the scene, which was Jessie’s condo. Although the article never directly accused Jessie of anything, the style with which it had been written was laced with accusations. It essentially lead the reader to believe that in some kind of fight between the two lovers, Jessie had killed Mark and disposed of his body, then fled town and had not been seen or heard from in weeks. There was a number listed to call with information right beside the article that advertised a monetary reward to information leading to the capture and conviction of Jessie Parker.

Jessie felt as if her entire world was collapsing around her. “Why… I don’t understand”. Jessie cried repeating words she had asked many times since he had locked her in the room. When he answered her, it wasn’t with understanding it was with a threat, “Soon you will do what I want, I will have the preparations ready in a matter of days or I will call this hotline number, your choice.”  After he said that, he left the room and locked the door once more leaving Jessie alone with her fear and the accusing newspaper.

Jessie sank back into the chair she was sitting on. She didn’t know what to think anymore. She had been living what she thought of as “the good life” for a while in Sommers Beach. Just last month, she thought, I bought that cute, light purple sundress that Mark commented on when they had walked through the department store together. He had said that he liked it, so she had gone back to the store the following day when he was out with his friends, to purchase it as a surprise for his upcoming birthday party. In thinking about it, she realized the date for that party was past now.

As she sat there, remembering her last day in Sommers Beach, she thought of that light purple sundress, hanging in the back of the closet in her room, tucked way back behind her warmer clothes, where he wouldn’t notice it if he went in there. In her mind, she slashed that light purple fabric until nothing was left of it but a pile of butchered strips.

The man could now make her do just about anything, she realized, because as she looked again at the reality of the blazing headline, she knew she was completely dependant on him now, whether she want to be or not. It was either that or go to prison for murder. He had made sure she understood he had planted plenty of evidence that would lead police to her, with enough proof of her guilt that she would never convince them otherwise. Jessie sat there trying to get her brain to focus on how to get out of the situation she was in, but she could barely function at that point and soon fell asleep from exhaustion while she pondered.

Chapter 6

The day after George gave Kristen the new pendant dawned on a breezy morning in golden rosy colors to match Rita’s mood as she hopped into her car after her shift and headed south towards her vacation destination of Sharps Key. At the Breezeway Bar Kristen was at the Breezeway a little early because she had interviews set up with a few ladies. She was hoping that she would soon find the replacement she was looking for.