The Butterfly Forest

THIRTEEN

I sat on one of the three barstools next to my mini-bar. Nick started to say something, and I held my hand up so I could hear Elizabeth. “What do you mean you can’t reach her?”

“She’s not answering her cell phone. She’s so stubborn. Her boyfriend called earlier, and they’d decided to head back to Gainesville together. I thought I could talk her into staying a while longer. But Mark is working, too. He had to get back and suggested it would be best if they traveled together in their separate cars so he could keep an eye out for Molly as she drove. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t being followed. She agreed. So she packed up, took her father’s pistol and left.”

“Did you tell the police?”

“I called them right before I called you. They said for her to keep together with friends and to be aware of who and what’s around her. In the meantime, they’d continue searching for Frank Soto.”

Her voice sounded fatigued, filled with worry. I asked, “Does she live alone?”

“She lives with a roommate, a girl she’s lived with for most of this year.”

“Is the girl back at school?”

“I don’t know… Molly left so quickly I didn’t ask her. I called her apartment and there was no answer. And, Mark hasn’t answered his cell phone either.”

“Keep calling them. Make sure her roommate is there. If not, maybe Molly should stay with her boyfriend.”

Elizabeth was silent. I could hear her breathing. I could almost feel her hands griping my back again. Thought I heard her crying. “Are you okay?” I asked, regretting the banality of the question as soon as it came out of my mouth.

“I just feel so damn helpless… I don’t know what to do.”

I said nothing, letting her speak, to say whatever she needed to say.

“Sean, I think there was a reason you were there when that man — Soto, it’s so hard to even say his name. You just didn’t happen by, you were put there. I don’t know if you believe in angels, but for that moment in time, you were our guardian angel. You saw what no one in the parking lot saw, and you did something about it… thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I chuckled, “But I’m no angel.”

“Oh, you have a devilish side, do you?”

“Multifaceted.”

“I see. Thanks, Sean. Thanks for being a good listener. Bye.”

“Wait,” I could feel my internal compass shifting poles like some huge magnet moving across the moon and pulling at a tide within me. Later, I might regret saying it. “Elizabeth, call me anytime you want to talk. Let me know as soon as you hear from Molly so that I know she’s okay. And, maybe we can get together down the road. After this thing goes away, we’ll have dinner.”

“I’d like that. I can make something here at the restaurant or my house.”

“You spend time in the kitchen for a living. I can make something for you.”

“Oh, you cook, too?”

I looked over at Nick who was beginning his second bottle of Corona. “I’ve been associated with an extraordinary chef. Matter of fact, he’s here on my boat. I’ve managed to learn how to make a few meals from him. I probably can reproduce one for you.”

“I’d like that. I’d like that very much. Bye, Sean.” She disconnected.

Nick rubbed Max, her eyes half closed and he said, “So you makin’ a hot date with a gal, and you want to begin in the kitchen, huh?”

“It’s not a date at all, it’s—”

“Aw, ‘come on Sean. Why do you think I learned to cook? What starts in the kitchen ends in the bedroom.” His eyes danced, a wide grin spreading, Max now fully awake. “Trust me. It’s an old Greek way. Men learn how to cook, ‘cause they had to do it out at sea. Who you think does the traditional cooking around Easter, the Epiphany?’

“That’s twice a year, I bet it’s the women in the kitchen the other 363 days.”

Jupiter rocked. Someone had come aboard, and Max uttered a low growl.

Not a good sign.