Page 30 of Lost Truth
Unfortunately, he spoke the truth, but thankfully, zero reporters had been on scene. Well, no one, except Cady, and Hayden was pretty sure she wouldn’t report on this situation.
They made their way to Dorothy’s house. Hayden knocked, and they waited a good three minutes before they heard her coming toward them.
She pulled the door open. “Oh my, I’m so glad it’s you. I’ve been watching things unfold at the surf shop, and I can’t imagine what could’ve happened. Please tell me Kai is okay.”
“Kai wasn’t present,” Hayden said before Abby had to handle the same situation again. “Unfortunately, we don’t know anything more about his whereabouts than we did when we talked to you earlier. We were wondering if you’d ever seen him with a woman.”
“Woman? Now that’s an interesting question. I can’t say as I have.” Dorothy lowered her gaze and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Oh. Oh.” Her eyes opened wide. “Yes. Yes, I did. Not too long ago. It was three in the morning on the beach by his shop. He went into his shop with her.”
Abby was too much of a professional to show any excitement she might feel, but she took a step closer to Dorothy. “Where were you when you saw this?”
“It’s easier to show you than tell you. Follow me.” She pushed past them and hurried around the side of her house.
Hayden trailed the women through the side yard leading to a wide-open backyard, and a large wooden deck protruded over the hillside. Dorothy hustled up the steps, her slippers whispering on the wood, and pointed out over the ocean. “See? See? You can see his shop clear as day from here. That’s what I was doing when you arrived. Watching to see what was going on down there.”
Hayden joined her on the deck and looked over the edge. She had a perfect view of the beach and of Ride the Tide. “And you were out here at three in the morning?”
Dorothy frowned. “I have insomnia, and I often come out at night when the weather’s nice.” She rested a hand on a glider with a plush cushion. “I rock myself to sleep in this all the time. That night was no exception. I saw Kai with his arm on this woman’s back escorting her to his surf shop. I tried to stay awake to see what else happened, but I fell asleep.”
“Can you describe this woman?” Cady asked, her pen poised over her notebook.
Dorothy shook her head. “It was too dark, and my vision isn’t the best anymore.”
“If so, are you even sure it was a woman?”
Dorothy sniffed as if she was offended by Cady’s continued questioning. “This person was very petite and moved in a feminine way. I guess I can’t really describe it well, but I think you can often tell when you’re looking at a man or a woman based on how they move. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes,” Abby said. “Sometimes we’re fooled when we get up close, but I think your assessment is on target.”
Cady looked up from jotting on her notepad. “Did you ask Kai about it?”
“Of course I did.” Dorothy dropped down in her chair, the cushion hissing a release of air. “He said I must’ve been dreaming. He wasn’t on the beach. He was home sleeping at that time. I trust him completely and figured he was right and I must’ve seen someone else. Until you asked. Now I feel certain I was right, and he didn’t want me to know about this woman.”
“Could be,” Hayden said.
Her gaze stayed anchored on Hayden. “What’s going on down there, anyway? Since you asked about a woman, it seems like it must have to do with women. Maybe with the woman I saw.”
“As I said, we’re not at liberty to discuss that.” Hayden planted his feet wide so she didn’t think this topic was open for debate. “Did you notice anything else that night on the beach? Anything at all?”
She leaned her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes. Her fingers drummed rapidly on the armrests, sounding like a woodpecker. She bolted forward and her eyes flashed open. “A ship. There was a ship anchored offshore. Not a fishing boat or personal boat. One of those big ones. Like a commercial shipping one. I’m not sure, but I think it might’ve had those big containers on it.”
Hayden took a moment to force himself to calm down before he let his excitement over these leads creep into his tone. “Where was it anchored in relationship to the surf shop?”
She heaved herself out of the chair and went to the deck railing. She pointed to the left of the shop near Outlook Rock. The over two-hundred-foot-high rock formation just offshore was a tourist destination and people climbed it to get a better view of the ocean.
“I’m not good with distances,” she said. “But it was near Outlook Rock. I suppose it was as close as it could get for a big ship without grounding itself. And it was straight out from the Rock.”
Cady’s hand holding her notepad trembled. “Did you catch the name of the ship?”
Dorothy shook her head. “I was too far away for that. From the way you sound, I should’ve gone in to get my binoculars, but there’ve been ships out there other times, so I didn’t think it was important.”
“Was it still there when you woke up?” Cady asked.
Dorothy shook her head. “No. No. That I’m sure of. No ship when I woke up.”
Abby lifted her foot to the upper step. “When you saw Kai and the woman, what direction were they coming from?”
“From the left, but I didn’t see where their path originated. It’s like they suddenly appeared from nowhere.”
