A Spirited Gift

The other shed was just a place to store tools. Kevin kept his lawnmower and other outside maintenance equipment there. The storm had flattened it—boards and shingles sticking up everywhere.

I was about to go back inside and begin the cleanup when I saw something protruding from one side of the demolished shed. I walked a little closer, At first, I wasn’t sure what it was on the soggy ground near the collapsed building. But as I looked down at it, I realized there was still a foot in that pink shoe and it was attached to a leg. I dropped down on the saturated ground, trying to catch my breath.

It seemed I’d finally found Sandi.

Chapter 8

I couldn’t bring myself to move. I finally thought—she might still be alive. There was that time a few years back when Mr. Fitzroy was trapped under his house after a storm. He was ninety years old, but he’d survived.

I knew it was a long shot with the whole shed blown down on top of her, but I couldn’t ignore the chance that I could save Sandi.

“Dae?” Nancy called from the kitchen door. “What are you doing out here?”

“I found Sandi,” I called back as I began throwing the boards that covered her. “Help me, Nancy! She might still be alive!”

“Don’t be daft!” I heard someone say in a very un-Nancy-like voice.

I looked around, but no one else was near. Nancy was still trying to make her way past all the wood and other items that had blown here to the shed where I was working. It must have been the crashing waves hitting the sand as the water churned and spit only a few hundred yards away. Or the raucous call of the gulls above me.

“The lass be long past your earthly ministrations,”

the voice continued. “Best not bother.”

Okay. This was too weird. But then the entire night had been one long weird fest. “Who’s there?” I demanded. “You’d better get back inside with your parents instead of out here playing this stupid game!” I decided it had to be one of the kids staying at the hotel. No adult would be so callous.

“Is she alive?” Nancy asked when she finally reached me.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Did you see anyone else when you came out here?”

“I think everyone else left the inn. I guess they’ll come back for their stuff once they think about it. There might be a few left lingering at the bar. They’ll be lucky if they can walk out here on their own after they’ve been drinking all night.”

“Did you hear anything?” I asked as we moved the lumber away from Sandi.

“The ocean,” she replied. “Dae, we have to call someone.”

“I know. Any ideas? There are no phones—no radios.”

Officer Randall was obviously born with perfect timing.  He came around the side of the Blue Whale and picked up speed when he saw us by the remains of the shed. “I’m calling EMS,” he said after we’d explained to him about Sandi. “I hope they can send someone right away. Things are really backed up.”

With Scott’s help, we were able to reach Sandi in no time. I knew when I saw her blue-tinged face and white lips that there was no help that could reach her. Scott checked for a pulse, then shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Mayor O’Donnell. I managed to get in touch with her husband in Manteo. He’s on his way up here anyway.”

“I hate these storms that come up so fast,” Nancy said, her hands shaking. “Why can’t they give us better warning? You’d think after all these years there’d be a better way.”

I looked at the generator shed only a few feet from the collapsed shed that had killed Sandi. It was in good shape, not even a board missing. It was amazing how the fury of the storm could pick and choose what it was going to take.

Kevin had heard the call as well and got back to the hotel a little after EMS workers officially declared Sandi dead. They were putting her body on a stretcher as he ran back to where we were standing. “Can you tell what happened?” he asked the paramedics.

“The storm must’ve collapsed the shed,” one EMT said. “There’s a lot of tissue damage from the boards and nails. We’ll have to wait for word from the medical examiner. But that’s the way I see it.”

“What was she doing?” He looked at me and Scott. “Did anyone know she was out here?”

Scott shrugged. “I don’t know. I got here after Mayor O’Donnell realized she was missing.”

I quickly explained the night’s events to Kevin, but I had to agree that Sandi being out here in the shed didn’t make any sense—unless my vision of the gun meant someone had forced her out here so the gunshot wouldn’t be heard.

After the EMS team had left and Scott was busy typing his report into the computer in the police car, I took Kevin aside and told him about the items I’d found at the inn.

He listened calmly, as he usually did. “So you think this man who was working with her did this?”

“I don’t know. I don’t see him out here collapsing a shed on top of her. But I did see a gun.”

“Has anyone searched him for a gun?”