Chapter 2

It was a bright morning the sun rising and casting its rays across gentle waves of the ocean. The tranquil atmosphere, masking yesterday's event. With a gentle breeze and steady surf, the day would turn out to be one of the more comfortable ones seen on the island. The island was a solace in the summer; full of summer time travelers and businesses. Most of the houses would be rented, and the beaches full of sunbathers, families, and groups of rowdy college age kids.

With a slight sigh, and a waking yawn, a man tossed the covers off of him and stood. He turned back around, leaning down to kiss the sleeping form of his wife gently on the forehead. He silently reached into his dresser and removed a two part uniform. He slung on the navy blue uniform and strapped on a black leather belt, the belt was full of all kinds of tools. He then reached in the drawer again, with practiced finesse; he silently pulled free a golden badge. He pinned it to his chest, checking that it was level with his nameplate. He looked himself over in the mirror; his graying hair a mess, his thin beard a little rough and his green eyes still foggy with sleep. His police uniform a little worn, but still in decent shape; a few frayed seems and the color was a little faded. Unfortunately, his other uniforms were used and filthy, one thing the man couldn't get use to was the heat on the island. It wasn't that he had just moved here; he had lived in Kingsview most of his life. His father had moved the family here in hopes of the family business picking up; which, during the summer months, it did.

The man gathered the rest of his things, leaned over his sleeping wife and kissed her gently on the head again. He then stepped through the door.

"Roy, be careful," he heard his wife mumble from his bed.

"I will hun," he replied leaving the house. He took a sip of his coffee and started his jeep. With a crackle of his radio, he reported in to the office that he was on his way. The old Jeep rumbled down the streets surrounded by houses just rising from their slumber. He passed a young boy on a bike, a satchel slung over his shoulder.

"How's the route look today?" Roy asked pulling up next to the boy.

"Just a normal day," The boy said smiling at the officer, "only one or two families have arrived. Well, that's what Tom told me."

"That's good," Roy said taking a paper from the boy, "I kind of expected more people to show up by now."

"I know Officer White,"

"Come on, Scott, I've told you to just call me Roy,"

"I'm sorry Offic…. Roy," Scott said a little embarrassed

"Don't worry about it kid," Roy responded tapping on Scott's shoulder with his paper, "hey, have a good day. "

"Yes, Officer White," Scott said starting his pedaling.

Roy shook his head with a smile as he pressed the gas gently; he waved at the paperboy as he pedaled down the way that Roy had driven from. Roy glanced at an older man with snowy white hair, opening a store door and turning on the open sign.

"Good Morning Harry!" Roy shouted out of his window, all he got was a wave towards the jeep as the old man entered the store. Roy frowned friendly fella he thought to himself. He neared his office and stopped outside of the small off white building. It was made of solid concrete walls, the roof was a washed out brown from years of salt water spray and sand erosion. Roy walked up to the old door and propped it open with a loud creak; to his surprise the office was silent, but it wasn't empty. In the corner at, in his desk, Clyde Gordon was sitting; his head propped in his hand, while his arm rested on the solid oak desk, his eyes shut.

"Clyde," Roy said tossing a pad of paper off the desk towards him, "what are you doing here? Where is Elis?"

Clyde looked up startled by Roy's appearance; he shook his head and smiled at his partner.

"Bout time you got here," he said stretching

"I thought I told you to not sit at my desk?"

"Sorry," Clyde said standing up and dusting of the desk chair, "didn't realize it was holy ground."

"Ha ha, very funny," Roy said shaking his head at Clyde "where is Elis?"

"He was out, on his beat,"

"Well he is suppose to be here when I get in,"

"You know him he is probably napping," Clyde said taking a cup and feeling a cup with coffee and sipping on it.

"We need to get someone with him,"

"What for? There haven't been any crimes for near two years,"

"So? I'd like to keep that trend," Roy said sitting in his chair and flipping open the newspaper.

"What do you think we will have to do today, Roy?"

"Not much, we're just waiting till the rest of the summer people arrive."

"Great, a dead day,"

"Yea yea, quit complaining," Roy said with a sigh.

The two sat in silence for a while, Clyde's phone buzzed a few times; he responded, but not without a few glares from Roy. Roy despised the use of cellular phones; he was happy with just a radio and a house phone. He grimaced as he realized that he would eventually be forced to use one of these god-forsaken devices by his wife; she usually made him try all the new technology. She had an abundance of the stuff piled in the house; her using some of the things was a rare sight indeed. Roy leaned back in his chair and pinged on his radio, trying to reach Elis. He was relieve to hear that Clyde was right, he did however scold the other officer and dismissed him from his shift. Roy placed his radio on his desk with a sigh.

"I can't believe it," Roy said flipping his paper to the trashcan.

"It shouldn't surprise you. No one is here, when the summer folks get here then I would worry about it. For now, let it go,"

Roy turned to Clyde with a frown creasing his face, he was about to say something to his partner when the door to the Police Office opened quickly. In rush a women, she was obviously worried and stared at Roy. Roy at once knew who it was; her name was Alice Benchley. He could tell something off, he could almost sense that the woman was trying to form a way to tell him something.

"Alice? Alice what's wrong?" Clyde asked from behind Roy

"It's… It's Peter. He didn't come home last night; neither did that boy he took out,"

"Wait what?" Clyde said "he took out a boy?"

"Yes, Clyde, to water-ski," she said bluntly

"Oh, ok, I was really confused and a little worried there for a second,"

"Clyde, stow it," Roy said, he turned to Alice and motioned for her to sit down, "tell me everything you know and we will take a look into the situation."

Alice proceeded to tell the officers all that she knew. Peter had had the idea of charting out his speedboat to groups of families and college kids. She attributed this to their family's low income; she decided that it would be a smart move for Peter to do this as a side job and gave her consent. She managed to find one or two families, everything was working fine; the pay for a few of these trips allowed the Benchleys to fix their home and even spoil themselves in various ways. Alice then burst into tears as she remembered that she had encouraged him to take the charting last night.

"Alice, please, I'm sure that he is just fine. Maybe he and the kid were out later by accident and just slept on the boat. He didn't have a phone on him did he?"

"No… but he has the radio on the boat,"

"Maybe he switched it off to sleep better, it's a possibility. Look, I don't want you to worry anymore; go on home and make a few calls to your family and friends, give them a heads-up. After that I don't want you to think about this for a few days," Roy said standing up and helping Alice to her feet.

"What if you can't find him?"

"We will try Alice. If you want someone to talk to or anything give Melody a call,"

"Roy, I don't want to bother you and your wife,"

"Please Alice, you and Melody have been friends since before I can even remember," Roy said opening the door for her, "head on home Alice. I'll have Melody call you."

Roy watched her walk from the office and to her old battered car; she sputtered away back towards her own home. Roy grabbed the office phone and immediately called his house; the phone sat on dial tone for what seemed like a century, then after three rings he heard the receiver being picked up.

"Hello?" a female voice said on the other end

"Melody?" Roy asked not bothering to see who it was.

"No this is Natalie," the girl said with a little irritation, "who is Melody?"

"Your mother… Look just go get mom would you, hun,"

"Ok," he heard, he couldn't help but smile at his daughter; she was young and naïve, but she was his little girl and he loved her so much. Roy sat and waited for about a minute or two, he was growing impatient; he was police chief he shouldn't be ignored like this.

"Hello, Roy," he heard in the phone, suddenly his impatience melted away and he felt happy to hear his wife's voice.

"Hey, babe," Roy said "can you do something for me? Peter didn't come in last night, and Alice is pretty shaken up over it. Can you call her and check in on her?"

"Sure thing, what do you think happened to Peter, Roy?" she asked worry piecing her voice

"I can't say for sure yet, she just reported it," Roy said picking up his keys from the table and motioning Clyde to him, "Clyde and I are going to go out and investigate the beach and the surrounding waters. Alice told me the general location of where they were going to be."

In all actuality Roy was rather annoyed that he would have to go out on the waters today. He just wanted to relax in the office and work on paper work. It was getting pretty bad; the two officers had piles of papers on both of their desks. These piles were full of new rules and regulations being enforced from the state. Roy despised having to answer to the mainland of California; the state didn't send their troopers or send money to the island. Every year, without fail, the state would send a giant stack of letters and orders requesting Kingsview to follow up on. Roy would simply sign off on them and pass them along. He thought it would be best to soon hire a secretary; Melody might be a good candidate. Of course there were the kids to consider, those two were too rambunctious to leave alone all day.

Roy and Clyde left the old rickety office and drove to the dock. The two sat in quietly, the radio's music was barely audible, something was wrong and Roy could feel it; he hoped that Clyde did too, otherwise he might feel as if he were losing it.

"So you wanted something to happen?" Roy said glancing at his partner

"I didn't mean something that was possibly life threatening like this. Peter is my friend too, you know," Clyde responded a little surprised by how hostile his voice sounded, "I just didn't want to sit in that office all day."

"I know, Clyde, I know,"