In His Sights

Then he opened the backpack and pulled out a small folding tripod-based stool; it wasn’t that he didn’t want to sit on the ground, but more that the small seat gave him the option to rest his elbows on his knees for support. Something that was going to be necessary soon. Next he took out a pair of ordinary-looking binoculars that were, in fact, quite unusual. A product of Redstone Technologies, they were lightweight but very powerful, wide range, had pushbutton zoom capability, a range finder with pinpoint accuracy, a remarkable new polarized coating that made it possible to see through glass and water and a stabilizing system that made them easy to use even set for great distances.

But right now they were serving the simple purpose of letting him survey nearly all of the Redstone plant below at once.

Not that there was much to see. The work of the plant was done indoors, and good as the binoculars were, they couldn’t help him see through walls. There was the occasional passage of someone from one building to another, and vehicles came and went from the outside, but mostly it was quiet. This whole place was quiet, he thought.

Once, he saw Kate come out of the main building and walk quickly across to the manufacturing building, where he could see several vehicles parked, including two of the bobtail trucks used to move product out from this production center. He hadn’t had his eyes to the binoculars at that moment, but nevertheless he knew it was her. He could tell not only by the dark, shiny fall of hair that swung as she went, but by the very way she walked, with that long-legged grace he’d noticed in her the first time he’d ever seen her move.

She was in the manufacturing building for nearly twenty minutes, and when she came out she was walking more slowly, as if thinking about something. Halfway across the courtyard that was landscaped to look almost like the untouched land surrounding the facility, she picked up speed again and went back to the main building where he knew her office was. He settled back down to watch some more, not sure what he was waiting to see, only that he would know it when he did.

By noon he was glad of the sandwich Dorothy had insisted he take with him. He opened the bottle of water he’d brought and took a bite of the thick stack of ham, cheese, tomato and some nicely spicy mustard on slices of bread so fresh he wondered if she’d baked it herself. It wouldn’t surprise him after the incredible stuffed pork chops she’d insisted he join her and Walter for last night.

I’ll have to add board to the room rent, he thought idly, shifting his glance once more to the mountains to the west. Amazing to see all this salt water around, yet know the actual ocean was on the other side of those towering peaks. This was truly a magical place. From everything he’d seen, life seemed slower, easier and much more sane than he was used to. He could see where it would grow on a person. And why Josh so loved it here that he’d sited this wing of Redstone in this place.

Even Kate’s life seemed simple and clean here, he thought as he walked back to the camera, figuring he’d better have some actual shots to show, to prove he was for real. She went to work, she spent lots of time with the people she loved, she breathed clean air, she glowed with health, appreciated the loveliness around her, she—

He snapped out of the uncharacteristic reverie as an oddly furtive motion from below drew his attention. A young woman, a girl really, had come out the same door Kate had, but she had turned and headed toward the small car parking area. She was walking oddly, hunched over, holding a sweater that looked too big for her closed in front with both hands as if it were much colder out than it actually was. That distracted him for the moment from the maroon-tinted hair that told him Summer Harbor was perhaps not so isolated from the rest of the world after all.

The girl walked quickly to an old blue sedan with oxidized paint. She fumbled with a set of keys, dropped them, clutched the sweater tighter as she bent to pick them up. She finally got the trunk open. She leaned over, slid something out from under the sweater and into the trunk. She backed up hastily and slammed the truck lid closed.

She turned and ran back to the building.

Rand clicked off the last shot of the girl that would be recognizable, took his finger off the shutter release, and began to think about where to have some film developed.

And to wonder if he’d already found the thief.

Chapter 6

“I was just about convinced I’d slipped back in time here,” Rand said as he leaned into the shovel. “Then I saw a girl with maroon hair.”

Dorothy laughed. “Melissa Morris. She’s actually Kate’s new mentee, I guess you call it. You should have seen her before she started the program—it was blue.”

So she was even younger than he’d thought. He got a sick feeling in his gut as the idea that Kate had recruited this girl to help in the thefts occurred to him. At least he told himself that’s what it was, that it wasn’t just the idea of Kate being involved herself.

“Deep enough?” he asked, gesturing at the irregular six by six hole he’d dug.

He’d come out this morning to find Dorothy trying to do this herself. He’d stopped and asked her about it, and she’d explained she wanted it done before Walt came back from the barber, so he wouldn’t feel compelled to volunteer to do it despite his knees.

Dorothy had also made it clear she didn’t want him to feel compelled either, but he’d talked her into letting him take over anyway.

Dorothy leaned over now to inspect the depth of her new bulb bed. “I need about another two inches, if you don’t mind. The daffodils need to be deeper.”

“No problem,” he said, and hefted the shovel again before continuing the conversation. “Did Kate choose her?”

“Melissa? Actually, it was the other way around. She wanted to work with Kate. Asked for her specifically, or I doubt Kate would have taken her on.”

“Is she a problem?”

“She’s been in a little trouble. Nothing serious, just kid stuff.” She gave a little chuckle. “But what’s serious out here would be kid stuff in the city.”

Like theft? Rand wondered. Was that why Kate had agreed to take on a problem child, did she figure it would be easy to involve the kid?

Don’t get carried away. You’re making her sound like Fagan, or whatever that guy’s name in Oliver Twist was, he told himself.

“Melissa would be fine,” Dorothy said, “if it wasn’t for that boyfriend of hers. Now there’s trouble.”

“Oh?”

“You mark my words, one day we’re going to open the paper and see Derek Simon’s photo on page one, and it won’t be for anything good.”

“So…he’s a bad influence?”

“You never would have seen her with that hair before,” Dorothy said. “But I tell myself it’s no different than the bobs women got in the twenties. They were shocking then, and this is now, which is the point at that age, I suppose.”

Rand smiled at her. “It’s a tough age. I remember following a few trends in high school that make me cringe now.”

“Funny how they think they’re being so unique, yet end up all looking alike, isn’t it?”

He laughed at that, unable to deny the simple truth of what she’d said. “You sure you don’t want me to help with the rest of this?” he asked, gesturing at the hole he’d dug.

“Oh, no, thank you dear. The rest is sheer pleasure for me, mixing in the bone meal and compost, and planting the bulbs. You just leave the soil there in the wheelbarrow, and I’ll do the rest.”

“If you’re sure,” he said. “I don’t mind. My mom tries every year to grow bulbs, but she hasn’t quite got the knack of it down in Southern California.”

“Tell her she should try planting ranunculus, and spar-axis. They’re considered bulbs, and they do well down there, I think. Lovely flowers, too.”

“I’ll tell her that.”

“You tell her to call me if she wants to talk about it. And thank you again, Rand. This was very sweet of you.”

“No,” he said, meaning it. “It was good of you to let me help. I’m never in one place long enough to even think about a garden.”

“So, it keeps you trotting around the globe, your photography work?”

“I travel a lot,” he said; that at least wasn’t a lie. He tried to avoid direct lies whenever possible. “Speaking of which, if you’re sure you don’t need me, I guess I’d better get started.”

“Oh, dear, I shouldn’t have kept you from—”

She stopped when Rand held up a hand. “Please, I mean it, I was glad to do it.”

“Walt can’t do this like he used to. His knees are just too bad. But he would have tried, and maybe hurt himself, so I truly thank you.”

“Has he considered replacement? My grandfather did it, said it was the best thing he’d ever done.”

“We’ve considered it,” Dorothy said, but she didn’t look at him when she said it. Nor did she say anything more on the subject.

He thought about that as he loaded his photography gear into the car, and then headed out. He wondered if those bills he’d seen were what was stopping them. He frowned at the idea. No wonder Walt was gruff; he could well be hiding a lot of pain and frustration behind that crotchety exterior. Just like Dorothy was hiding a lot of worry and strain behind her cheerful demeanor.

He was surprised at how much both ideas bothered him. He liked the Crawfords, and the idea that they might be doing without anything—let alone needed medical treatment—grated on him. He put it on his mental list of things to look into. Right behind the whereabouts of Kate’s former income, an inquiry he had yet to make. He wasn’t sure why he was putting it off, but he knew that he was. He told himself it was because he was still just getting started on this case, but even he didn’t quite believe that.