Chapter Six - Part Two

 

I stopped in the hotel office to grab a bagel before making my way down to the Bridge Tender.  Believing that Megan was really going to be okay, I took the time to watch the waves rolling in as I walked down the Promenade.  A couple of seagulls took an interest in my bagel, so I finally gave them what was left of it.  My appetite wasn’t what it usually was.  Maybe this would be similar to the famous ‘Divorce Diet’ that women talked about.  All of a sudden you lose twenty pounds after your husband leaves you.  This could be the ‘My Daughter Has Disappeared and It’s All My Fault Diet.’  It made me feel sick.

Continuing on, I tried to take notice of the stores and restaurants.  There really weren’t any until I turned down Broadway Street.  Right there near the corner was a coffee shop.  I went in to get the strongest cup of coffee I could find.  Thankfully, they had what I needed.  And who did I run into as I walked out of the shop?  Charlie, the detective and ghost lover. 

I didn’t see him at first.  I just heard a familiar voice say, “Susie?”  I almost jumped out of my skin.  The last person who’d called me that was my shmuck of an almost husband.  The one who left me all those years ago.  Just disappeared.  Never a word about “Oh, I’m so sorry but I have another family to feed.”  Or “I’d stay if I could, but it’s just getting too dangerous with my made-up, fake FBI job.”  Strange what memories one word can evoke. 

I jerked my head around to find Charlie standing behind me. 

“Oh!  I was just coming to look for you,” I blurted out.  “Have you heard anything yet this morning?  Do you know where Megan is?”

“No, I’m sorry,” he said.  “She hasn’t been found yet.  Let’s go down to The Seaside Agency and go over a few things.  I think Madam will have a few investigators for us to talk with today.”

I was disappointed.  I thought that at least part of the mystery would have been solved.  Didn’t Charlie say that Madam just knew things?  If she knew something about Megan’s whereabouts, why wasn’t she telling me?  The familiar knot of nausea was starting to churn again in my stomach.  Maybe the nameless Madam didn’t know as much as I was led to believe.  These spirit things were new to me, and I was still on the verge of running to the police. 

“I know this is hard for you,” said Charlie gently.  “Children are God’s greatest gift to parents, even when they don’t do what we want them to.  When something like this happens, we have to try and go to the center of that faith we have in God to make things right.  Do you think you can do that?  It’ll make today so much easier for you.”

“Easier for me?  Why do you say that?” I asked.  “What’s going to happen today that can be any worse than what’s already happened?” I was starting to sound a bit panicked again, and imagined that people were staring at me as they walked by on the street.

“Oh, great,” I thought.  “Now they’re thinking that I’m some kind of crazy bag lady being led back to my home by a relative who found me wandering the streets.  Probably an alcoholic who’s detoxing after a hard couple of days.  Or maybe a meth addict who’s tweaking.”

Charlie turned me toward him and said, “Now look.  You have to stop blaming yourself for Megan’s disappearance.  She’s a grownup and makes her own choices.  You’re doing the best you know how to do.  I can tell that about you.”

I think I may have fallen in love with him just a little when he said that.  No, that couldn’t be.  I made up my mind years ago that I’d never fall in love again.  I’d never again give a man the ability to hurt me the way the girls’ father had.  I refused to even think of him by name.  He was just a nameless being that disappeared from our lives, much the same way Megan just had.  He, though, had done it on purpose.  I so hated him for it.  It’s that same hate that gave me the courage to give up alcohol and start living again.  Not the reason you’re supposed to get sober, I know.  But I just needed to prove to myself that my girls and I were worth living in life’s light instead of in hatred’s darkness.  I wish I’d done it sooner before both Riley and Megan had been so hurt by it all. 

 “Listen, Detective,” I said reverting back to a more formal tone. It was safer that way. “Riley is wanting to talk with you back at the Ebb Tide.  She knows a lot more about this Nick person than I do, and she’d like to tell you what she knows.”

“Well, we can do that,” said Detective Charlie, “but I’ve already done my homework.  I doubt that Riley can tell me much of anything that I haven’t already dug up about Nick.  We’ve got a lot of work to get done today, and I’d hate to waste any time.”

“So, I’m just supposed to leave Riley alone in the hotel room all day again?” I asked incredulously.  “There’s really not that much on TV here in Seaside, in case you hadn’t noticed.  Can she come and help us?”

“No, that’s not going to work,” he said.  “Madam isn’t going to manifest herself for more than one ‘normie’ at a time. It takes too much energy.”

“Normie?” I laughed.  “What are you?  A closet recovering alcoholic???  I’ve only heard that word used at AA meetings to refer to the lucky throngs who don’t have drinking problems.  Where did you learn it?”

He chuckled.  “Actually, Madam uses that word to refer to people who aren’t open to the spirit world.  She probably heard it from someone who shouldn’t have been at the bar but was.  She overhears a lot of things that go on in that bar, but most people don’t know she’s there.  Except the owner.  He’s had a few run-ins with her.  Seems like she enjoys making herself known to customers who are being, shall we say, less than kind to their female companions.  She’s broken a few glasses over the heads of misogynistic men.  The owner probably wouldn’t mind, except that he has to pay to replace the glasses.”

“Sounds pretty bizarre to me, but I’m learning to open my mind to different things,” I said.  “I’ll call Riley and let her know.  Do you think she needs to stay in the room all day as long as she has her phone with her?” I asked.

“Nah.  I’d let her do whatever she can to keep herself busy.  She can leave a note in case Megan somehow makes her way back to the room.  I’m inclined to believe that she’s not in Seaside at the moment, though.  She’s probably back in Oregon City at the Benson mansion, or “The Compound” as Nicholas likes to call it.  See?  I told you I did my homework!”  Charlie teased.  The fact that he was confident enough in Megan’s safety to crack a joke, albeit a small one, made me feel better. 

I called Riley and gave her the news.  I could hear her irritation over the phone, but this was how it had to be.  Try explaining that to someone who has the drive of a hundred-ton front end loader.

For once, she was just going to have to be patient.