At first, he thought she must be joking. When he noted the seriousness shadowing her expression, he told her, “You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” He wasn’t about to back down. Not on this. “Everything you’ve been through in the last few months would have done most women in, Jess. But look what you did—”
“Oh, Danny,” she said softly. “You don’t understand.”
He stood and crossed the deck toward her. She reached up and took his hand, squeezing it, and Danny sat on the redwood bench beside her feet before she released him.
“Don’t shut me out, Jessie.”
The words seemed to stroke her. She removed her sunglasses entirely and balanced them on her knee. “I might have to,” she said, her voice like warm velvet. “Just for a little while.”
He wanted to argue, to plead his case and tell her how important she’d become to him. But something stopped him from doing it. Good sense, he figured. But before he could question it any further, he noticed someone walking up the stairs from the dock.
“Danny,” the older woman called out to him. “Danny Callahan.”
He stood up and waved to her. “Mrs. Slaughter, how are you?”
“Can I stop up?”
“Of course.” Danny nodded at Jessie. “Our neighbor, Kaye Slaughter.”
She turned and planted her feet on the ground, combing through her hair with both hands.
“Danny, how are you, honey?” the woman said as she reached the top of the stairs. “I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Of course not,” he said, taking her hand. “Let me pour you something to drink. Is tea all right?”
“That would be just fine.” She brushed Jessie with a warm smile before stating, “Hello. I’m Kaye Slaughter.”
“This is Jessie Hart. Jessie, Mrs. Slaughter owns the place right down the dock.”
The woman reached out and shook Jessie’s hand. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told this boy to call me Kaye, but he insists on formalities. I don’t know whether to feel insulted or respect his upbringing.”
Jessie chuckled. “I wouldn’t be insulted.”
“Pleasure to meet you, dear.”
“You, too.”
She sat down on the bench next to Jessie and accepted the glass of tea from Danny. “Thank you. I saw your friend Aaron swimming out there with his young daughter. My, she’s grown up, hasn’t she?”
Danny grinned. “She has.”
“I was so glad to see you were here, Danny. I thought perhaps we could have a chat.”
“Anytime. You know that.”
Kaye fidgeted with a lock of short silver hair. She ran her finger around the rim of the glass and stared down into it for another long moment before speaking. “I have a situation, Danny.”
“A situation.”
“And I thought of you right away because of your being . . . you know, an investigator.”
Danny dragged one of the chairs away from the table and sat down on it across from her. Kaye Slaughter had been a friend of his family for more than a decade. The only time he remembered her breaking her game face was that week in the summer of 2009 when her husband Burt had suddenly passed away. Until now, anyway. He spotted a sense of panic mixed with confusion churning in her gray-blue eyes, and an array of possible sources ricocheted in soft pings through his thoughts.
Danny reached over and touched her hand. “Take your time and tell me what’s going on.”
“Thank you, dear.” She dabbed the tip of her nose with a tissue he hadn’t noticed she held wadded in her fist. “It could be I’m just being silly. I don’t know.”
He caught Jessie’s eye just quickly enough for an exchange of shared concern, and he nearly loved her for it.
“I know I’m getting on in years, so it could just be . . .” Her words trailed away, and she sighed. “I’ve tried to convince myself it’s my imagination, but I know it’s not, Danny. I know something strange is going on over there.”
He wanted to clarify her quick nod toward the docks. “At your place?”
“Yes. Something isn’t right.”
Jessie touched the woman’s arm. “I find it’s better not to over-think things. Our instincts are pretty much dead on.”
Kaye smiled at her. “I’m not getting any younger, so when I first noticed it . . . I started to wonder if it wasn’t a warning sign of things to come. But it’s happening more and more, so . . .”
“What’s happening more and more, Kaye?” Danny interjected.
“Oh, I’m sorry. In the beginning, I noticed things seemed to have been moved around. The spatula in the drawer instead of hanging on the rack over the stove, that kind of thing. I never keep the spatula in the drawer.”
“How long has it been happening?” Jessie asked.
“A month or so, I think. Every time I drove up from Pasadena, it seemed like something else was out of place. Then a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the key to the storage cabinet in the garage was missing from the hook in the kitchen. And you’ll never guess where I found it. Right there in the lock.”
“In the garage?” Danny asked.
“That’s right. Hanging right out of the cabinet lock.”
“Have you ever left it there before?”
“Danny, I don’t think I’ve gotten into that storage cabinet since Burt passed.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like your imagination,” Jessie said.
“I don’t think so either. And that made me more keenly aware, and I went looking for things that might be moved or missing.” She pulled a folded sheet of paper from the pocket of her trousers and ironed it open with her palm before handing it to Danny. “I made a list.”
He took it from her and skimmed the page.
Only 5 wine glasses—should be 6
Bottle of merlot
Bathroom drawer standing open
Green pillowcase
Danny glanced up at her. “You’re missing a green pillowcase?”
“Oh. No. The green pillowcase is supposed to be on the square pillow. But two weekends ago, it was on the rectangle, and the lilac case was on the square.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but he reeled in the chuckle that simmered at the base of his throat.
Next to the TV Remote notation, Kaye had scribbled, “Still missing.”
½ laundry detergent gone
Wet towels in dryer—2 bath, 1 kitchen
Red comb out of the drawer—sitting in the shower
Anniversary necklace missing
“Anniversary necklace?” he asked her.
“Burt bought me a lovely amethyst necklace that we saw in one of those little shops in town.”
“Amethyst,” he repeated. “Is that valuable?”
“It was just a hundred dollars, I think. But the setting was very unique, and . . .” She swallowed before turning toward Jessie. “It was