Page 81 of The Lighthouse on Plum Island
Keep your distance, or you’ll have to deal with the consequences, and this time, I will destroy you.
“Dawn!” Brad looked at her in alarm. “When did you get this?”
“Just after I left the clinic,” Dawn told him. “When I got to my room, my first draft of the script I’d printed had been shredded.” She looked at him. “Some of the equipment has been taken from the one truck, and the equipment in the second truck has been vandalized.”
“Why am I only hearing about this now?” Brad stared at her in disbelief.
“Because I only got the message about it now!” Dawn told him. “Your father messaged me right before you and Jennifer arrived. I was just about to show Harriet the message.”
“Why is my father messaging you?” Brad asked, confused.
“He’s been trying to call you and Harriet all afternoon,” Dawn told him.
“That’s strange,” Brad pulled out his phone. “There are no missed messages or calls from my father.” His frown deepened as he realized there were no missed calls or messages at all. “That’s strange.”
“What is?” Dawn looked at him.
“I’ve had no calls or messages for most of the day.” Brad scratched the back of his neck as he looked at his phone.
“Do you have a signal?” Dawn looked over his shoulder at his phone.
“Yes.” Brad nodded. “It has full bars.”
“You didn’t drop it into the toilet again?” Dawn raised her eyebrows.
“No!” Brad said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t keep it in my top pocket anymore.”
“Let me test it.” Dawn dialed his number.
Brad’s phone never rang and instead went straight to voicemail. Dawn messaged him:
Hi, Brad. It’s Dawn.
No message came through on Brad’s phone.
“There must be something wrong with it,” Brad looked at the device in frustration. “I’ll have to take it to a phone shop in the morning.”
“Uh, Brad,” Dawn held out her hand to him while she stared at her phone. “If your phone is broken, why are the typing dots bouncing around on my screen?”
She held her phone up for Brad to see, and to their surprise, a message from Brad appeared on her screen.
What do you want, Dawn?
CHAPTER 19
Caroline awoke to the gentle touch of the sun’s rays weaving through the gaps in her curtains like silver threads reaching across the room. She stretched and winced as the bump on her temple brushed against a pillow.
The room greeted her with a muted stillness as she sat up. Her fingers instinctively sought the bump on her temple. The dull ache in her head that had lingered the previous day was gone, leaving only the tender bump that had caused the pain.
Caroline’s brow furrowed with a mixture of confusion and curiosity as her eyes scanned the room, searching for the familiar forms of her pets, but they were conspicuously absent. Her head moved toward the door to her bedroom, which stood slightly ajar, fuelling a sense of unease after the last two days’ events.
Caroline shook the feeling away.
“This is Cobble Cove, Caroline. Not New York!” She reminded herself.
Caroline rose from the bed and walked over to the door poking her head through it to listen for sounds, but there were none. The upstairs was quiet. Her eyes narrowed as a frown creased her brow.
“Jennifer must’ve let the animals out,” Caroline reasoned, closing and locking her bedroom door. “Just in case!” She looked at the lock and shook her head. “What have I done to our little community?”
