“That’s what he told us—to let him know if we saw or heard from her.”
“At first I was confused, but the more I thought about it, some recent incidents have happened which lead me to believe Hailey and / or her aunt might be in some serious trouble.” Grace picked up the laptop sitting on her coffee table. “So I started doing a little digging around. The more I dig, the more I’m wondering what Hailey Varnum might be hiding and who she really is.”
Chapter 15
Morgan blinked rapidly. “Hailey is not who we think she is?”
“It’ll make more sense if I show you what I’m talking about.” Grace lifted the lid on the laptop and tapped the keys. She stopped tapping and handed it to her friend. “This.”
Morgan grew quiet, reading a Port Huron news story from roughly a year ago, about a woman who was employed by a local hotel and found a deceased guest in a room. Her hand flew to her lips. “Hailey found the body?”
“Putting the pieces together, I believe so. It lists the employee’s name near the bottom.”
Morgan skimmed the rest of the story. The very last paragraph gave the name of the employee—Hailey Clark. “Hailey’s last name is Varnum.”
“It’s possible I’m way off track, but my gut tells me this is her.”
“You mentioned recent incidents,” Morgan prompted. “Like what?”
“We were chatting a week or so ago, outside one of the units. Hailey bent over to pick up a coffee packet she had dropped, and a knife fell out of her apron pocket.”
“A kitchen knife?”
“More like a hunting knife.” Grace held her hands apart. “About this long.”
“Did you ask her why she was carrying it around in her pocket?”
“Yes. She blew it off and mumbled something about using it to cut some rope.”
“Rope for what?” Morgan handed the laptop back.
“She basically ignored the question. Maybe I’m imagining things, but she’s struck me as being nervous when I tried to pin her down about it. She also seems jittery.”
“I noticed it too. Like she’s afraid of her own shadow.” Morgan recalled a specific incident right after Christmas when she’d run into Hailey at the grocery store. She tapped her on the shoulder, and the poor girl nearly jumped out of her skin. “Have you met Hailey’s aunt?”
“Once. She stopped by to drop Hailey’s keys off.”
“What did you think?”
“She seemed fine…normal, pleasant and polite,” Grace said. “Her name is Jennie. Jennie Varnum.”
“Maybe you should…”
“Check Jennie…Jennifer Varnum on the internet? I have. Nothing came up.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait to see how this shakes out.” Morgan slowly stood. “My main concern is Greg. He’s falling for Hailey, and I would hate to see him get hurt.”
“Me too.” Grace followed suit. “I point-blank asked Grady about it. He wouldn’t answer, which leads me to believe Hailey from the story is our Hailey.”
“And now she and her aunt are MIA. Hopefully, she didn’t witness some horrific crime, came to Easton Island to escape, and whoever was behind the guest’s death is now after her, thinking she may have heard or seen something.”
“A hundred different scenarios have run through my mind. The bottom line is she’s always been somewhat fearful. I have no idea why she’s carrying a hunting knife around, and there are very few details about what happened in the hotel room when Hailey Clark found a body.”
Morgan glanced at her watch. “I need to get going. Please keep me updated.”
“Absolutely. Hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on sooner rather than later.”
Back at Locke Pointe, Morgan tackled her to-do list, answering email messages from potential guests who had specific questions, going over Tina’s meal plan for breakfast and the daily social hour for the upcoming month, approving a few small expenses, routine maintenance items Greg requested, which reminded her of Grady’s visit and Hailey’s disappearance.
