FIND HER (short story) ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡

Chapter One / What The Cove Reveals

About one year ago today, in our seaside town of Pacific Cove, a girl went missing. A girl I knew, actually. No trace of her remains or clues were ever discovered. She was just...gone. Pacific Cove is a small town lined along the beach in California, so when this news started spreading around, it spread fast. There are many allegations of her disappearance. Maybe she got sucked under the ocean and never brought back to surface, maybe a Siren was jealous of her highlighted blonde locks and pulled her sun kissed legs under the surface, maybe she was drunk and went somewhere where she couldn't find her way back, or maybe she even just escaped from her filthy rich life and left the California coast. This town is reaching its one year mark, and still no one knows the truth about what happened to Leighton Allton.

Personally, this disappearance didn't affect me in any way. I knew the truth about Leighton was going to be said eventually. Someone always spills the truth. I see it every single day.

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"Come on, just turn this way!", I said, balancing my camera to get a money shot. Mistress in lacy lingerie and a robe, while the man, in an untucked shirt, completed with a receding hairline and a ton of wrinkles. He is in his forties, and the girl has to be early twenties. The man grabs her face and pulls her in for a kiss. *CLICK* You see, I know secrets have a way of surfacing. People get sloppy, opting for local motels over distant ones, ditching fake phone number apps for their real ones. They get lazy, and then they get caught. Preferably, by me, Kaylee Bennett.

"Lennon, I'm back!", I yelled at him from outside.

"I don't think I even want to see those photos", he put his hands over his head.

I walk to his desk, and scan it with my eyes. It's covered with papers, writing utensils and used coffee cups from Starbucks days ago. I pulled out my camera and showed him the photos. His eyes gaze from the left screen to the right screen.

"These will come in handy. Between these pictures, his cell records and his motel bills, that should be all we need to prove his affair to his wife." Lennon says, sipping on some iced coffee, black of course.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I work for a private investigator. Lennon Lombardi, Pacific Cove's one and only, We stumbled into each other by chance around three years ago, during my senior year of high school. There was an accident that happened near the beach, and I happened to be there with my camera, chilling with a few friends. I was taking photos of the beach scene when Lennon told me he was investigating a guy driving, and would pay me to use my camera, because his died. Eventually, he ended up getting my phone number through an old Pacific Cove's phone book and asked if I wanted to work for him. I said yes, of course, and I've been working here ever since. After that, we put our heads together to solve mystery crimes, cheating scandals, police investigations, indulge in questioning, and try to get missing information. No matter how long it takes, Lennon and I always figure it out.

"Another concerned wife has asked us to follow her husband around town, I just got a call today. Seems like these are the only cases we are getting these days", Lennon laughs and places his palm on his forehead like he always does when he is stressed. "Were you at the beach or are bikinis the new company uniform?

"Blend in, remember?", I responded back, adjusting my bikini top. "It was a beach motel. I figured if the guy caught on I would just grab a towel and walk onto the beach. I can follow him around tomorrow or the next day."

Lennon rolls his eyes and downs the rest of his iced coffee. He shoos me out of his office with a hand motion, and I do as he says.

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Pacific Cove is about a half an hour north of San Diego. The city revolves around the marina, saturated palm trees everywhere, hibiscus flowers, huge waves covered by surfers, it's the dream life. My family decided to park it in Pacific Cove from Massachusetts when I started my freshman year of high school, so I've been here for 6 years. We relocated because my father landed a lucrative job offer, something in accounting. Back then, living without constant worry about money, food, and bills was a luxury we never had. It was me, my parents, and my sister Alia, who was twelve at the time. My parents worked tirelessly just to make ends meet, but their salaries were insufficient, and it was never enough. At the age fourteen, I stepped up and made the decision to take on a part-time role at a shitty diner to ease the financial strain on my family. While I didn't mind putting in the hours, those late nights after school presented challenges I haven't anticipated, and I was too young to expierence them. It wasn't merely the exhaustion or the demanding workload that weighed on me, but rather the uncomfortable attention from the men who frequented the bar area, the way they would look me up and down in a way I knew wasn't humane, or the way the older servers would bitch and complain if I didn't do something right, or how my coworkers would steal my tips. It all added up. When the opportunity to move to California arose, the decision was a no-brainer. The opportunity for a fresh start, coupled with the promise of better financial stability was what my family craved. The prospect of leaving behind the struggles of our previous life and creating a new one in California seemed like a dream amidst the uncertainty, and we were all in for that big move to the coast.

I walked back to my parked pearly white Range Rover, (its a recent addition, a reward from the monumental project Lennon and I had just completed, accompanied by a sexy paycheck) slid into the driver's seat and cranked up the AC to its maximum setting. The refreshing cool breeze offered relief from the scorching California sun. I pulled into the driveway minutes later, arriving at my family's ocean front bungalow, cornered with palm trees. The bungalow stood as a sanctuary against the backdrop of the Pacific Cove coastline. Before I open the door, I looked back at the ocean, the waves getting bigger and bigger after they crash. It reminded me of the mysteries hidden beneath the surface of the ocean and the secrets that whispered through the seaside town of Pacific Cove. What stays hidden? What comes to shore? It's always a surprise.