I left Nancy with the others, but Marissa came with us. We searched all the closets, cupboards and pantries, even the walk-in freezers. We checked in the laundry room and in Kevin’s downstairs suite. But there was no sign of Sandi.
“She could’ve just left on her own,” Marissa said. “That man she came with made it plain he didn’t want to be with her. Maybe when they were done upstairs, she just left.”
“What time do you think that would’ve been, Miss Endy?” Scott asked her.
Marissa shrugged her shoulders and looked at me. “I don’t know. I think they took us out of the ballroom about nine thirty. I’m not sure how long we were in the lobby.”
“The first time I looked at the clock, it was around midnight.” I tried to help fill in the gaps.
“If Mayor Foxx went upstairs with Mr. Wright at nine thirty or around there, then came downstairs an hour or so later, the storm was pretty fierce right then. It didn’t really let up until about two A.M.” He looked at both of us to verify that.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I lost track of everything while we were all sitting around.”
“So we really don’t know,” Marissa said again. “She could be back home for all we know. Maybe we should give it a rest until we can contact someone in Manteo.”
“That’s a good idea,” Scott said. “I have a friend with a ham radio. He should be able to get through to the police in Manteo. They could check on Mayor Foxx and find out if she made it back okay.”
“There’s only one problem with that theory,” I said. “Sandi came in Matthew’s car. I can’t imagine her hot wiring a car or hitchhiking to get home.”
“I’ve hitched rides before when I was desperate to get home,” Marissa said. “Mayor Foxx might’ve been desperate after that confrontation with her boyfriend. If she put her whole heart on the line for him and he rejected her, she would’ve walked home if she had to.”
I couldn’t argue that logic. No matter what I felt from the ruby ring, there was no way to know what happened until we found Sandi.
Chapter 7
Of course, that meant waiting around to hear something after Scott left to ask his friend to call Manteo. I knew it could take hours—if we were lucky enough to get through to someone. And this wouldn’t be as much of a priority for the ham radio operators trying to help coordinate medical efforts for people who were injured.
The mayors and their families and associates were bored and restless. They wanted to know what was going on outside the inn. They wanted to talk to their families and find out if their houses were still standing.
I didn’t blame them. I wanted to know about my house too. And no matter how much debris was in the roads, I could’ve walked home easily. But someone had to keep everything together, and this was my town. I wanted everyone stranded here to remember that even though this experience had been bad, the people of Duck handled the situation in a calm, efficient manner.
The first thing I did was create a cleanup brigade for the areas where people were eating and sitting around waiting for news. I got another group into the kitchen to wash some dishes and get ready for a breakfast of some kind in the next few hours. It was almost four thirty A.M. I knew the late-night snack everyone had shared would be wearing off soon.
I made a list of all the possible breakfast foods Kevin had on hand. I couldn’t believe how much food he had stored. With these provisions, he could probably feed everyone at the hotel for at least the next few days. Of course, the town would have to help him financially. It would be the least we could do for eating all of his food.
I had games arranged for the older children who were still awake. There was always something on hand for Kevin’s guests. It wasn’t too long before there was a large, noisy game of Monopoly going on around the big table in the lobby. Adults picked up some cards, and a few played checkers.
I knew everyone was waiting for daylight—like I was. We all wanted a chance to really see the damage, and hopefully the power would be restored by then. We were all anxious to hear the news about our homes and the towns around us. Television, radio and the Internet were still silent when we needed them the most. Civilization could be stripped away very quickly.
I remembered my good friend, Max Caudle, who knew everything about Duck history. He always said it was a miracle that anyone decided to stay here long enough to build homes and lives. Even things that seemed stable could be swept away by the sea and the wind. Yet, here we were—descendants of those people who lived here four hundred years ago.
It was cheating, I know, but I changed back into my shirt and jeans. Everyone else was stuck in their slightly damp evening wear, since Scott said they shouldn’t go back upstairs. My clothes were dry, and I was planning on doing some heavy cooking shortly. It seemed like I deserved this little accommodation.
My new dress was bedraggled and had a few pulled places along the hem where I’d walked through the water in the ballroom. There was also every possibility that the white stain on one side was bird poop. The birds I’d shooed out the windows had apparently gotten their revenge. I put the dress in a plastic bag and planned to visit the dry cleaners when they opened up again—whenever that was.
I took off my wet shoes—they were ruined, no help there. The shoes I’d worn over from Shayla’s were soaking too. The tennis shoes I’d left here last week when I was helping Kevin move some furniture were dry. They felt good on my cold feet.
The bridal suite was untouched by any of the events of the long night. How quickly things could change! When I’d left here last night, I was worried about my speech. Now I was worried about feeding an army and finding out if the people I cared about were all right.
Something caught my eye as I glanced up after transferring the key chain to the pocket of my jeans. It seemed to be a mote of light, but from where? The only light source was my flashlight (no emergency lighting here), and it was pointed in the opposite direction.
I watched the light drift across the room—like the spirit balls, but much smaller. This was only a pinpoint, like a twinkle from a diamond ring in the sun.
The light turned and began to come toward me. I swallowed hard and glanced away—
If I looked back maybe it would be gone.
No such luck.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, swallow or breathe for a moment as I watched it come closer. My gaze was glued to it—I fought to do something. I didn’t know if I wanted to be there when it finally reached me.
Then I did something I never thought I’d do in these circumstances—circumstances I’d waited my whole life for—I ran out of the room and slammed the door behind me.
I forgot the flashlight. I didn’t care. I didn’t stop running until I reached the kitchen where everyone was busy working.
“Is everything okay, Dae?” Marissa asked, her hands full of clean dishes.
“Fine,” I answered quickly. “Everything is fine.”
I couldn’t believe that I had gotten cold feet. Since my mother died, seeing ghosts had become almost an obsession for me. Or I guess seeing her ghost had anyway. I didn’t know if I wanted to see every ghost on the island. But I realized one might come with the other.
It had been a long night. I made excuses for my cowardice as I took out several pans to start making breakfast. I was exhausted and stressed about finding Sandi. If I’d been my normal self, I would’ve waited to see what that light brought to me. I hadn’t run out of the room when Shayla and I saw the spirit balls after the séance.
Of course, I hadn’t been alone in a dark room either. That probably made a difference.