The Sisters McFadden

Chapter 23 - The Stir

At five o'clock, Dalton walked Ash down to the beach parking lot where her father had dropped her off at seven that morning. In Dalton's sweatshirt with a beach towel wrapped around her waist like a skirt, Ash stood on her tippy toes kissing Dalton until she saw the headlights of her father's black Range Rover approaching in the fog. Warren pulled up and stopped. He did not get out or acknowledge Dalton. Soon Ash was gone. Dalton missed her already.

            He walked back up the street to his house. He only had a few hours before he'd agreed to pick up Chelsea to take her to Lexie's get together. When he walked into his bathroom and looked in the mirror, he saw two bikinis hanging from the hook on the back of his bathroom door. One was Chelsea's from the Fourth. The other was Ash's from that day. Mementos. Both girls had been in his shower. Both girls had ended up in his bed. Both girls had gone home in his clothes. Sisters, he thought. Why did they have to be sisters?

***

Jack stopped at the market after work and brought dinner home for his boys. Dalton took his second shower of the day to clean up and lessen the smell of lavender. Jack opened three bottles of beer to stick with summer tradition. Neither Jack nor Dalton had heard from Rex as to whether he would be home for dinner. Rex always tried to catch dinner at home even if he was working nights. When he walked through the door, he looked despondent, liked he'd aged twenty years in two days.

            "Knights of the round table?" asked Jack as he handed his son a cold beer. That was code for a family sit down. The small kitchen table in the breakfast nook was round.

            "Yes," said Rex. "We found another girl."

            The three Walker men sat around the table and started to eat as Rex described what he and Kurt discovered at Malaga Cove. Jack and Dalton could not believe the detectives went out there in the fog and found another dead body.

            "Burned?" asked Jack.

            "Yes, her entire body."

            "My god."

            "Was she the same age as the other girl?" asked Dalton.

            "We're not sure, she may be older but still a teenager. We'll know more tomorrow when we meet with the coroner and view the body."

            "Maybe a boating accident?" asked Jack.

            "It is a possibility. More likely she was burned and thrown in the water. I believe we are dealing with a homicide. Which increases the chances that the first girl's death was no accident. Which means we could be dealing with a double homicide."

            "What if the two girls are connected somehow?" said Dalton. "Like friends? Or even sisters?" Dalton had sisters on the brain.

            "I think you could be on the right track."

            "Dad, do you still have the photo of the first girl?"

            "I do, why?"

            "I want to be sure I don't recognize her," said Dalton. He needed to see the girl's cheekbones one more time.

            Rex brought his tablet over from the kitchen counter, finger tapped a few icons and produced the photo on screen. Dalton looked at the photo of Jane Doe number one with razor sharp focus.

            "What do you see?" asked Jack.

            "Her cheekbones," said Dalton pointing to the girl's cheeks.

            "What about them?" asked Rex.

            "I was not sure yesterday, but now I think I am. I think this girl has the same cheekbones as Ash."

            "Ashley McFadden?"

            "Ash sat right here at this table this morning and I studied her cheekbones. I know it sounds crazy, but their faces are similar. Not the same, but similar."

            "So what you're saying," said Jack, "is that this girl and Ashley may be related? Rex, I think you need to talk to Warren McFadden and show him this photograph."

            "Okay, we need to keep this all confidential," said Rex. "This is the first real lead we've had. Warren McFadden is quickly becoming a person of interest. He moves back here and within days we find two dead girls. One girl may be related. I believe you, son. But we have no evidence. No motive. Not yet anyway."

            "What if these girls are locals, cousins, distant relatives of the McFadden family from the South Bay?" asked Jack.

            "We still have no missing persons reports."

            "What if these girls are also from South Africa?"

            "We need to get our facts together before we can bring Warren in for questioning. We can have Ashley submit to a DNA test but need her parents to consent. I am heading back to the department tonight. We have to give another press conference. I will start looking into missing girls in South Africa as well. We cannot jump the gun or Warren McFadden will not cooperate and lawyer up. He's too smart."

            Dalton started to feel conflicted as Ash had told him certain things in trust. He had now opened up a can of worms, but two girls were dead and that trumped all. "Ash told me her family had a lot of problems in South Africa. She told me something bad happened down there before they left."

            "What exactly happened?"

            "She couldn't tell me. She trusted me with this. I got the sense she was kind of freaked out."

            "When are you seeing her again?"

            "Not until tomorrow. She has to watch her little sister tonight. I am taking Chelsea to Lexie's party tonight. Don't ask."

            "Alright, be careful tonight. And don't say anything to Ashley yet about the photo or DNA tests," said Rex. "By the way I met Ashley's family today. Her father, mother and both sisters."

            "You met O?"

            "Octavia, yes. Why?"

            "Ash described her as very special."

            Rex thought about Octavia's shark eye and the palpable force field of energy around her. She was special just not in a conventional way. "She is a unique little girl, and very quiet." Rex deflected. "Kurt and I also had a run in with your horseman."

            "You caught the guy?" asked Jack.

            "No, we chased him after he put an axe to my truck. He got away but Kurt took off a piece of his shoulder with my shotgun. We have deputies and roadblocks all over that side of the hill. This guy will need help soon or bleed to death. Hope to have him in custody tonight."

            "What was his deal?" asked Dalton.

            "No idea. I thought maybe he was connected to the dead girls but now I am not so sure."

            "Maybe Warren McFadden hired a henchman," said Jack.

            "At this point, anything is possible."

            Dalton remained conflicted. Again, he thought of the dead girls and their families. "There is something else," he said.

            "What's that?"

            "It's called The Stir."