Finder

Chapter 3

"Chelsea Redfield!" A guy yelled as he entered Mr. Wright's house.

"Joe. Joe she's in the bathroom leave her alone. She'll be out in a few minutes."

The guy named Joe sat down at the table. A little boy stood next to Mr. Wright clinging to his side.

"Hi I'm Joe, Chels's stepdad. You are?"

"JJ, Mr. Wright hired me as a marina hand this summer."

"He's staying with me until September. Don't worry about him, Joe."

The little boy ran over to me from Mr. Wright's side. "Hi I'm Hawthorne."

"Nice to meet you."

"Do you like Legos?"

"Yeah."

Hawthorne pulled out a big Lego set and plopped it down on the table.

"Want to build this with me?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later Chelsea came out of the bathroom and skirted upstairs while Joe talked with her granddad.

We were halfway done with the Batman Lego set when Chelsea finally came downstairs. She was wearing a dress and had her hair on top of her head. Clearly putting up a front.

"Let's talk just the three of us in the office. JJ can you watch Hawk?" Mr. Wright asks me.

"Yup."

Hawk played with the Legos, talked about marine animals and how he wanted to be a vet. I asked if he like being on the Outer Banks and he said he like his granddad being here but he hadn't spent a lot of time here. 

Without asking he told me about how his mom died two years ago from cancer. Chelsea took it really hard but he was alright. I knew how that felt, my mom died when I was a little boy as well.

"Just let them stay here. Go sell the house and get settled in your new house on the West coast. Eight weeks with my grandkids won't kill anyone. Plus that little boy can learn more about marine animals living on the coast with me."

"Fine. Eight weeks, then you're packing your bags and moving. You got that Chels?"

"I am not your daughter. You don't get to tell me what to do."

"I'm the closet thing you've got to a parent."

"I've got granddad. And my eighteenth birthday is in six months. So what's the point?"

"The point is I'm responsible for you. Your mom didn't want you living on the Banks. She wanted a better life for you."

"She wanted a better life for herself. Don't forget I was with her way longer than you were."

"Whatever. Ken please take care of the kids. Let me go get Hawk's bag."

Joe stormed out through the front door. "Dad is always fighting with Chelsea. Chelsea is soooo smart. Dad's not that smart though."

"How smart?"

Hawk leaned in. "So smart she skipped a grade."

Holy shit. That's really smart. 

"I skipped two grades and I'm in college as well."

"When do you graduate?"

"High school in a few weeks and college in December. I move to a four year university next year but I most likely won't be there for four years."

"You're a brainiac."

"Yeah I am. I've got an high IQ. Don't know who I got that from."

"Sometimes the universe just spits out smart people."

"Sure does. Chelsea go get dressed its almost time for dinner and put some antibiotic on that cut too. JJ if you could set the table please. Hawk go wash up before dinner."

I wanted my entire childhood to be like this. Family.

Mr. Wright was true to that Southern Hospitality. He didn't care that I was from the wrong side of town. That I almost went to jail. He cared about me even if that was just putting me up during a storm. Two days into this job and I realized I was gonna like it here.

Chelsea came down in different clothes again. This time in a NCU sweatshirt and matching pants.

"Is that where you go to school?"

"Where I'm going next year. I'm attending Alamance Community College right now."

"That's the school with HVAC course right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I want to go there to get my HVAC certification. Need something to look forward to."

She nodded in agreement and helped me set the rest of the table. 

"So, you really think John B and Sarah are still alive?"

"Well yeah. After the hurricane passed that's keen fishing times. The coast guard won't make a move until its completely clear to search. That doesn't mean others abide by those rules. If the rednecks around here didn't pick them up I'd be shocked." Chelsea spoke as if she knew that they were still alive. That somehow, some way Sarah contacted her.

"No one's called you. You aren't fucking around with that knowledge right?"

"No JJ. I doubt that the first person either of them would call would be me. Plus its not like they know someone's phone number off the top of their head. Additionally the boat being found submerged after the hurricane I highly doubt that their phones still worked. If they were smart and wanted you to know they'd put a coded message in a newspaper or something, like Sherlock Holmes."

A coded message.

"Like morse code?"

"Maybe. Dots and dashes are very common forms of communication. Especially since a lot of people know it. Could also be in the form of another language with a cryptic message. Like 'the bread is in the toaster.'"

"What?"

"The money is gone."

"What paper do you think they'd put it in?"

"The Observer. Ward Cameron owns it. Most everyone around here reads it. If Sarah was that smart she'd slip it right under her daddy's ugly nose. You should look in all the papers since they went missing."

The Observer! Of course!

"Y'all need the Observer? I've got the last five sitting on my desk."

The two of us got up when Mr. Wright stopped us. "Eat ya salmon and broccoli and then y'all can start trying to find ya friends."

"Yessir."The two of us said together.

"Gonna be a long summer with the two of you. I can feel it."