Sanctuary(120)

,,Nathan?"

He turned and, seeing Jo mounting the incline between the dunes, held out a hand to help her up.

"I went by your cottage," she began. "I see you've heard."

"That must be the husband down there. I've seen him a couple of times before."

"Tom Peters. I've been all over the island. I was out working this morning, from about seven. One of the Pendleton kids tracked us down an hour or so ago and told us. He said her shoes were down there, by the water."

"That's what I heard."

"People are thinking she might have gone in to swim, and .

The current's fairly gentle here, but if she cramped or just swam out too far . .

It was a grim scenano, one that had already occurred to him. "Shouldn't the tide have brought her in by now if that's what happened?"

"It may yet. If the current carried her along for a while, they could find her down the island at the next tide change. Barry Fitzsimmons drowned like that. We were about sixteen. He was a strong swimmer, but he went out by himself one night during a beach party. He'd been drinking. They found him the next morning at low tide, half a mile down."

Nathan shifted his gaze to the south, where the waves were less serene. He thought of Kyle, sinking under blue Mediterranean waves. "Where are her clothes, then?"

"What? "

"It seems to me if she'd decided to go swimming, she'd have stripped down."

"I suppose you're right. But she might have come down in her bathing suit."

"Without a towel?" It didn't quite fit, he decided. "I wonder if anyone's asked him if he knows what she was wearing when she left the house. I'm going down to talk to him."

"I don't think we should intrude."

"He's alone and he's worried." Nathan kept her hand in his as he started down. "Or he had a fight with his wife, killed her, and disposed of her body."

"That's horrid and ridiculous. He's a perfectly decent, normal man."

"Sometimes perfectly decent, normal men do the unthinkable."

Nathan studied Tom Peters as they approached. Late twenties, he decided, about five ten. He looked fit in wrinkled camp shorts and a plain white T-shirt. Probably worked out at the gym three or four mornings a week, Nathan thought. He had a good start on his vacation tan, and though the stubble on his chin gave him an unkempt appearance, his dark blond hair had been cut recently, and cut well.

When he raised his head and Nathan saw his eyes, he saw only sick fear.

"Mr. Peters. Tom."

"I don't know where else to look. I don't know what to do." Saying the words out loud brought tears swimming into his eyes. He blinked them back, breathing rapidly. "My friends, they went to the other side of the island to look. I had to come back here. To come back here, just in case."

"You need to sit down." Gently Jo took his arm. "Why don't we go back up to your cottage and you can sit down for a while? I'll make you some coffee."

"No, I can't leave here. she came down here. she came down last night. We had a fight. We had a fight, oh, God, it's so stupid. Why did we have a fight?"

He covered his face with his hands, pressing his fingers against his burning eyes. "she wants to buy a house. We can't afford it yet. I tried to explain to her, tried to show her how impractical it is, but she wouldn't listen. When she stormed out I was relieved. I was actually relieved and thought, Well, now, at least I can get some sleep while she goes out and sulks."

"Maybe she took a swim to cool off," Nathan Prompted.

"Susan?" Tom let out a short laugh. "Swim alone, at night? Not hardly. she'd never go in water past her knees anyway. she doesn't like to swim in the ocean. she always says she hears cello music the minute it hits her knees. You know," he said with a faint smile, cyaws."

Then he turned back, staring out at the water. "I know people are thinking she might have gone swimming, she might have drowned. It's just not possible. she loves to sit and look at the ocean. she loves to listen to it, to smell it, but she won't go in. Where the hell is she?

Goddamn it, Susan, this is a hell of a way to scare me into buying a house. I've got to go somewhere, look somewhere. I can't just stand here."

He raced back toward the dunes and sent sand avalanching down as he rushed up and over them.

"Do you think that's what she's doing, Nathan? Putting a scare into him because she's angry?"

"We can hope so. Come on." He slipped an arm around her waist. "We'll take the long way back to the cottage, keep our eyes peeled. Then we'll take a break from this."

"I could use a break. From just about everything."

The wind was rising as they headed through the through between the surfside dune hummocks and the higher, inland dunes where beach elders and bayberry stabilized the sand. Tracks scored the ground, the scratches from scudding ghost crabs, the three-toed prints from parading wild turkeys, the spots where deer had meandered to feed on seeds and berries.