A Timely Vision

Chief Michaels rarely spoke highly of anyone not born and raised in Duck, so his good word was enough for me. I’d known him all my life. He and Gramps had been friends since high school. I trusted the chief completely, and if the chief trusted Kevin Brickman, then regardless of the secret circumstances, Kevin Brickman was okay. I glanced back up at the Blue Whale Inn’s roof. Kevin was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear his hammer.

“Anyway, as you can see,” I continued, “we may have a situation here with Miss Elizabeth. I think we should search her house, and if we can’t find her, we might have to issue a Silver Alert.”

The chief scratched his head. “Silver Alert? I’m not sure I’m familiar with that term.”

“It’s what they call it when an older person is missing,” I explained. “Like the Amber Alert when a child is missing.”

“No need to panic, Mayor. We’ll find her.” The chief looked back at the increasingly angry horizon, where bright streaks of lightning were stabbing at the sky. “I suggest we do it before this weather hits too. Looks like a nasty one brewing.”

Tim came over to hold my hand. “Don’t worry, Dae. We’ll find her.”

I don’t have anything against Tim. We went to school together and even kissed a few times back then. But I don’t have those kinds of feelings for him either. Each time he’s proposed I’ve told him as much. I don’t think he was listening.

I smiled as I took my hand back. “I’m not worried. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

But two hours later, things were far from fine. The storm was sweeping the town streets with rain and sand. A long line of visitors was snaking away from Duck to safer and higher ground. They represented at least a third of all the business we’d see that year. And Miss Elizabeth was still missing.

I put on a poncho and rain boots and locked up Missing Pieces. Gramps had gone to the fire station to help since he was a volunteer. I pulled the wood shutters closed over the windows to try to protect what I could. Even though the shop faces the Currituck Sound side of Duck rather than the ocean, there could still be damage. Everyone was meeting at town hall a few doors down on the boardwalk to coordinate efforts toward the storm and the search for Miss Elizabeth.

“It was going so well,” Shayla Lily said on a sigh as she met me outside on the boardwalk. “I’d already done two tarot spreads and a couple of palm readings. They were lining up at the door.”

Shayla ran Mrs. Roberts, Spiritual Advisor. Her business was located next door to Missing Pieces on the Duck Shoppes’ boardwalk. She hadn’t bothered changing the name of the popular tarot-card and palm-reading shop when she’d bought it from Mary Catherine Roberts last year. Shayla was an interesting person, with her slinky black clothes and sultry New Orleans attitude.

“I think everyone feels your pain. I guess we’ll have to make it up this fall at the Harvest Festival.”

“What about the fireworks?”

“I think they must be canceled.”

“You’re the mayor. Can’t you do something about it?”

“I don’t think I have that kind of power. We’ll have to save the fireworks for next year.”

“Or the Harvest Festival?” she asked with a brilliant smile.

“Maybe. I have to go. I’m looking for—”

“Miss Elizabeth. I know.”

“Did you find that out using the tarot?”

“No. Someone came by and told me she was missing. It doesn’t take a psychic to find out what’s going on around here, Dae. Like that new man up at the Blue Whale Inn. I keep hoping he’ll stop in and want me to read his palm.”

“I don’t think that’s likely to happen. He doesn’t seem the type.”

“You met him already? What type does he seem?” She looked at me suspiciously, her finely drawn brows knitting together in her cocoa-colored face. “Have you been flirting over the UPS packages again? If I’d known what a babe magnet they’d be, I’d have taken them in my store.”

The rain came down heavier, and I pulled my poncho hood down low over my face. I told Shayla we’d have to talk later. Miss Elizabeth might be out in the storm.

I kept seeing the image of Miss Mildred’s watch in my mind. I wished those images came with better detail. Usually, the things I found were easy to locate. They were behind an oak bookcase or under a mirrored coffee table. The hardest-to-find item I’d ever looked for was some lose change Andy Martin—owner of Andy’s Ice Cream—had somehow unwittingly dropped into a tub of his homemade vanilla.

But this was something else. Miss Elizabeth’s life could be in danger, and all I could see was her mother’s watch on her frail arm. Every time I tried to revisit the image, there was only darkness around it. Did that mean it was night? Was Miss Elizabeth sitting against something black? I felt helpless and didn’t know what to do. Having information that could save her life yet not being able to understand it was worse than useless.