Consuelo shrugged. “Yes. We’re just not sure exactly when it’s undercover or when it’s real life with them.”

  Mac turned to Charley, who was staring intently back at her. All the stress and emotions of the past few days suddenly seemed to be overwhelming. Everyone else in the room, all misgivings from the past, seemed to dissolve in the moment. Mac took a step toward Charley, and he stepped toward her. Their eyes locked on each other, and before she knew what she was doing, she rushed to bury her face in his chest. Charley bent his head to kiss her.

  “Ow,” she exclaimed, stepping back, holding her eye.

  “Ohh, ohh, umm,” Charley moaned, holding his mouth. “I think you loosened a tooth.”

  Mac kept touching her forehead and then looking at her palm. “Am I bleeding?” She turned toward Consuelo. “Is it going to take stitches?”

  Jasmine shook her head in disbelief and leaned close to Edie. “Those two are so awkward,” she murmured.

  Edie nodded in agreement. “If they ever get around to actually going on a real date, we should make them wear helmets and knee pads.”

  Chapter 38

  The agents had led the three KGC members away in handcuffs. The sight of criminals in handcuffs—two of them obviously injured—and several men in combat gear had caused no small stir among the tourists. Many had taken pictures of this unique addition to their vacation.

  Now Mac and Charley and the rest of the group sat on the broad porch of the assistant lighthouse keeper’s house, enjoying the warm sunshine and watching the tourists as they made their way to and from the lighthouse. They were nursing sodas, although Mac held the icy bottle to her eyebrow, and Charley held his to his swollen lip. There seemed to be no animosity between them, and they sat with their chairs side by side, comfortable in their proximity.

  “Bill,” Mac began as she tried to organize her thoughts. “I’m still not quite sure what just happened. How did you know Consuelo was an FBI agent?”

  Bill sat back on the bench and put an arm around his wife. “I knew Consuelo from my days as an LA cop. She used to work undercover down there, and we had a couple of occasions to work together. When I showed up at Driftwood Shores, we recognized each other immediately. She was quick though. Actually, her real name is Rose. Her undercover name was Consuelo, so when she introduced herself as Consuelo and did it in Spanish, that let me know she was working undercover.”

  Jasmine turned toward him. “Why didn’t you tell the rest of us? We wouldn’t have told anybody.”

  “I didn’t know what she was working on and didn’t have the opportunity to ask. Besides, I figured it was none of my business. Never even thought it might have anything to do with us. So I didn’t see any need, and if I had, even though you wouldn’t have told anybody, no matter how hard you tried, you would have treated her differently, which would have amounted to basically the same thing. When you’re working undercover, it’s important that you stay basically invisible. The last thing you need is someone treating you differently than they should.” He shrugged. “I had to stay away from her just so I wouldn’t treat her differently.”

  “So how did she get involved?” Mac asked.

  “When Charley called,” Bill began.

  “Charley called?” She turned to look at Charley. “You called Bill?” The accusation was barely hidden. What she wanted to say was, Why didn’t you call me?!

  “I called Grandpa. It was the only number I had memorized,” he explained. “I had no idea how long I’d been in that cavern.” Charley shook his head, looking at the floor. “Even after I was able to break the lock on the gate—”

  “What gate?”

  He smiled softly. “Another story for another time. Anyway, when I finally got to the top of the stairs, when I finally found the stairs, and bumped my head against the floor of that room, it was kind of a comedy of errors between me feeling around in the dark to find the latch, convincing the people in the room that I wasn’t the ghost of the Gray Lady, and getting them to slide the bed away so I could get out. I was cold and wet and hadn’t eaten anything for a couple of days, so I was getting a little weak. When I finally got out, I was surprised and, I’ll admit, a little embarrassed, to find out it was a little after one in the morning. I asked to borrow a cell phone. The only relevant number I had memorized was Grandpa’s.” He looked around at all his friends. “You know how it is. I have everybody’s phone number programmed in my phone, but you don’t learn numbers; you just push the button.”

  His gaze finally rested on Mac, who put her hand on his arm to reassure him it was okay, pleasantly surprised that, evidently, he felt some guilt in not calling her.

  “Anyway,” he continued, “I expected him to be in Utah. I figured he could call the authorities here.” He grinned. “I was surprised and relieved, to say the least, to find out that all of you were here. He told me to sit tight and he would come up and get me.”

  Peter picked up the narrative. “Of course, I had to trudge up the hill in the middle of the night and wake up Jack so I could borrow the rig to go get Charley. In the process, I woke up Bill too.”

  “Good thing he did,” Bill intervened. “When I heard the story, I figured this whole mess was something the FBI should be aware of, and I happened to know an FBI agent in the area that I trusted. Rose had slipped me her emergency phone number, so I called her. Of course, she knew more of the story than any of us since the reason they were here was much the same reason we were. She came and picked up me and Peter, and we went up to meet Charley.”

  “Wait a minute.” Mac looked between Bill and Peter. “So you knew Charley was okay last night?”

  Bill nodded.

  “Then why didn’t they just go arrest everybody last night? Why the little charade?”

  “The FBI had been following Roxy and Miller and the KGC for some time. They even suspected they might have had something to do with the death of Charley’s parents. That’s why Rose was undercover. They had a pretty good idea what was going on, but they didn’t have enough evidence to convict anybody. They needed a confession.”

  Mac sat silently, thinking through the events of the morning. She looked up at her grandfather. “That’s why it was so important that I invite Roxy along this morning.”

  He nodded.

  “But why didn’t you just tell me?”

  He shrugged. “We considered that. Wanted to, but you needed to appear completely natural to Roxy.”

  Mac turned to face Bill. “But I’m still not sure about the rest. How did Jack get the room, that particular room?”

  Bill chuckled. “That part is easy. The management was more than happy to work with the FBI. The couple that was there, that helped Charley, received a full week’s stay free for vacating the room and agreeing to remain silent for another twelve hours. I knew where the latch was and how to open it because we were able see it once Charley had opened it from the other side.”

  “And then the FBI just followed us down the stairs?”

  Bill shook his head. “No. Rose and her team went down there with Charley last night and waited for us to arrive. They brought Charley some blankets and food and even prepared those lanterns we used so they would light easily. It was Miller and that other guy that followed us down the stairs.”

  “Why did the FBI allow that other guy down there with that assault rifle?”

  “They hadn’t planned on him, although if Obie hadn’t taken him down with the coins, he would have been shot in about another second or two.”

  “And like Consuelo, er, Rose, I mean, said, thank goodness for bulletproof vests.”

  “Amen to that.”

  “So who built the passageway?” Jack asked.

  “And who stole the money?” Jasmine added. “From Dimmick, I mean.”

  Bill and Peter exchanged looks, and it was Peter who finally answered. “We don’t know. We can make a few guesses. The passageway would have to have been built early on, during or soon after the house was built. Haversham could have had something to do with it and possibly with stealing the money too. He obviously knew about both, but then the question remains, why did he write the poem instead of just taking the money?”

  “Which reminds me,” Charley interrupted. “I need to return those coins in the safety deposit box to his great-granddaughter Mrs. Nelson down in Gardiner. My dad borrowed those coins from her originally, and that’s where we discovered the poem, which I think pretty much ties Haversham to the theft of the coins in the first place. My question, though, is who killed Haversham?”

  “You think somebody killed him?”

  “There’s no other reason for him to be nosing around the entrance to that sea cave.”

  Peter sat back in his chair. “Those are questions we’ll probably never be able to answer.”

  They sat in silence, enjoying the sunshine. After a few moments, Mac, who still rested her hand on Charley’s forearm, turned to him. “Charley, I feel the need to tell you something. Something very personal.”

  Charley, who had been thinking that maybe now he and Mac might be able to begin exploring a deeper relationship, was a bit startled. He could feel the butterflies begin to churn in his stomach. He solemnly turned to meet her gaze.

  “Charley,” she said earnestly, “you really stink. You need to get back to the house and get a shower.”

  Chapter 39

  She struggled from the depths of a deep sleep. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and she pulled the covers closer to fight the chill. Charley had returned to the beach house, so she had moved her things up to the condo at Driftwood Shores. It had just seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

  She peeked out from under the covers. The light from the streetlight in the parking lot filtered through the drapes just enough to see that the other bed in the room was empty. Her grandfather had chosen to stay on the couch instead. She heard the tapping on the window and, turning, could see a dark silhouette standing on the walkway outside.

  The tapping came again. “Mac!” she heard Charley whisper. She frowned and looked at the digital clock on the dresser. 6:07 a.m. “Mac!” he whispered again, louder.

  She swung her legs out of bed and stood, keeping the comforter wrapped around her shoulders. Pulling back the drapes, she tugged open the window and hissed, “Charley, what do you want?”

  His face broke into a smile. “Rise and shine!”

  “Have you ever heard the old adage ‘The early worm gets the bird’?” she hissed back.

  “I think it actually goes—”

  “Right now, my version is more accurate. It’s barely after six. What do you want?”

  He paused for a moment. His silly grin disappeared but was replaced by a kind smile. “I want to show you something.”

  She rolled her eyes. The bed had felt so good. “Come back when it’s light. Then you can show me.”

  The smile remained as he shook his head. “It won’t wait. Come on. We need to hurry.”

  “Uhh, what is it?”

  “Just trust me. Hurry up and get dressed.”

  She could see the parking lot behind him shrouded in a dense, heavy fog. “The weather looks lousy.”

  He chuckled. “We have a saying here on the coast. There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. Now hurry up. You’ll want to wear shorts, a hoodie, your waterproof windbreaker, a hat, and your sandals. Hurry.”

  She didn’t answer, but she decided that if she didn’t do what he asked, she might regret it. After all, she wanted to go on a real date with him, although this just wasn’t quite like she had imagined it. In only a couple of minutes, she had changed her clothes, pausing for just a moment to brush her teeth. When she quietly let herself out of the front door onto the balcony, Charley was waiting for her.

  “Come on.” He took her by the hand and began dragging her toward the stairwell.

  “Where are we going?” she insisted.

  “Just trust me on this one, okay?”

  He led her down to the parking lot, where he opened the door of a new Jeep Cherokee.

  “Where did this come from?” Mac asked as she got in.

  Charley didn’t answer until he had gotten in behind the wheel. “Jack went and rented it yesterday. He said since we were going to stay here for another few days, we needed more than one vehicle. I think he worked some deal with one of the local dealers.”

  They were silent as Charley drove the Jeep inland up Heceta Beach Road then turned north on Highway 101.

  “Did you have a chance to read your dad’s journal?” Mac broke the silence as the now-familiar highway rushed past. The FBI had been able to recover the journal when they had searched the house where Forbush/Miller and the other fellow had been staying.

  Charley nodded, his face now solemn. “Yes. I stayed up pretty late reading it last night. And since you made me get up so early this morning, I’ll probably pay for it later today.”

  “I made you get up so early? May I remind you who came tapping on whose window? And while we’re at it, I assure you, you will pay for it later today!”

  Charley grinned and glanced at her. “We are doing this because of you, you know.”

  “Me?” she exclaimed, but before she could say more, he put up a hand.

  “Just trust me.”

  The car was silent for another mile or two.

  “So was your dad really going to be baptized?”

  Charley nodded. “Yes, he was. He even wrote down his testimony.”

  “Wow.” And then, “So sad. That would have been such a special thing for you.”

  Charley chose his words carefully. “Yes, but at least now I know, and having it written, well, that’s something pretty special.”

  “You’ll have to do his temple work,” she replied.

  “Yes,” he agreed, keeping his eyes on the road. “And that will be special for me and others who will need to participate.”

  They glanced at each other, both of them aware of the possibilities that implied, neither quite willing to give voice to them.

  They drove through a tunnel of fog. There were no grand vistas this morning, only gray mist on all sides, the white lines of the highway appearing only seconds before they rushed by the car.

  “I feel bad about Roxy.” Mac’s words came out unexpectedly. She had been thinking about it but hadn’t intended to share.

  Charley glanced at her. “What’s to feel bad about? She admitted to everything. She deserved what she got.”

  Now that she’d said it, she felt the need to explain. “No. I mean, how I treated her before I knew she was, well, what she is.”

  “The way I heard it, you were always really nice to her.”

  Mac nodded, trying to remember. “I suppose that’s what it looked like, but that’s not what I was thinking, what I was feeling. I suppose that’s what I mean. I’m kind of embarrassed over some pretty uncharitable thoughts.”

  After a silence and few turns in the highway, Charley said, “Well, in the end she wanted to kill you, so I suppose you can be forgiven for a few nasty thoughts about her.”

  “You stepped in front of me so I wouldn’t get shot,” Mac said suddenly, softly.

  Charley hesitated. “I’d been down there a long time. My eyes were blurry. I thought she was offering you a sandwich.”

  Mac grinned, understanding the discomfort, somehow comfortable with Charley’s reticence. “Just like the movie says, love means never having to say you’re hungry.”

  Charley grunted. “I don’t think the word the movie used was hungry, and besides, the FBI had given me a bulletproof vest.”

  Mac’s hand moved to touch Charley’s forearm. It was an intimate gesture, and both tensed a bit when she did it. “The important part is still there,” she said. “Thanks.” She pulled back her hand, but the touch, for both of them, still lingered.

  Soon Charley followed the now familiar road down under the Cape Creek Bridge and stopped near the south end of the Devil’s Elbow parking lot. This morning the beach extended farther out than she had ever seen it. In fact, it was difficult to discern the white froth of the breakers through the dense fog that shrouded the area in the early-morning light. The gray sky above them was lit in intervals by the sweeping lamp of the lighthouse.

  “Come on.” Charley took her hand and led her down toward the rocky cliffs that formed the southern border of the beach. When they reached Cape Creek, Charley didn’t stop but plunged through the ankle-deep water. Mac initially held back, fearing the cold water, but then decided to take the plunge.

  Charley led her around the initial outcropping of rocks, along a narrow path of wet sand, then back into a large grotto. Moss-covered cliffs rose high above them on three sides, quickly disappearing into the fog. The ocean waves beat a steady roar behind them. Mac found this isolated spot breathtakingly beautiful and was about to thank Charley for sharing it with her, but he continued to drag her up the beach. Soon, to her astonishment, a towering cave appeared in the cliffs to their right. She could see daylight at the far end.

  Charley led the way. Mac walked carefully in his footsteps. Hundreds of starfish covered the lower reaches of the cavern. At one point, a pool of seawater stretched from wall to wall about fifteen feet across.

  “The bottom isn’t flat,” Charley told her. “There are ridges you can walk on, but you need to kind of feel them as you go. Hold the bottoms of your shorts up, and you should be able to keep your clothes dry.”

  He entered the water, holding the bottom of his cargo shorts about midthigh, feeling each step with his toe. Mac waded directly behind him, trusting him, enjoying the adventure, fearing she might lose her balance and go plunging into the water. Soon they climbed up on the damp sand and walked out of the far side of the cave.

  They were on a long, narrow beach that stretched away to the south, disappearing into the fog. To their left, the beach ended in a narrow stretch of boulders that abutted the base of the cliffs.

  “What is this place?” Mac whispered, for she felt a reverence here.

  Charley took her hand again. “Tlowa’sk,” he responded softly. “Your Aleshanee most likely found the coin on Devil’s Elbow Beach, but she probably stayed the night here.” He turned and looked in her eyes. “We can only get out here during an extreme minus low tide, which means we only have about a half hour before we need to go back. It only happens early in the morning maybe two or three times each year. That’s why we had to come now. That’s why not many people, even locals, know about it.”

 

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