Free Vanished in the Dunes by Allan Retzky

I’ve been in New York people always talk about the Hamptons and the beautiful beaches out there.”
    So she went on an early bus despite the chill. After he got back to his apartment he checked his cell phone for messages. He had been so upset that morning he’d forgotten to take it with him. He saw that she had called. Since that day he played it over a hundred times.
    Just wanted you to know I’m out here at the beach. Actually, I’m in a house with a view of the ocean. I met this nice guy and he invited me in for a view. I might be a little late for dinner, but I should be there.
    And there wasn’t anything more. He tried to call her that same day, in the early evening, probably shortly after dusk, but her phone rang until her message pickup. He tried again later but could never get through, even to her voice mail. Maybe she was out of the regular service area in one of those dead spots. She never came to the restaurant, but also didn’t show up for her shift the next day. That was more surprising, as she was always diligent about her shifts.
    The next afternoon he got a call from her supervisor. There was no secret about their relationship. “Do you know where she is?”
    He somehow suspects that Heidi has found another partner. Another lover. The thought tears him up, as it has before. Another mouth seeking out and gliding above the brown skin, moving a tongue into her crevices, bringing her off. Still, it is not like her. Two more days pass. He convinces her superintendent to open her apartment, but there is no evidence she has been back. A toothbrush rests on the ledge of the sink, clumps of aqua caught in bristles, just next to the strands of dark hair that float above her hairbrush. He picks up the toothbrush and sucks the stiff blades into his mouth, but it isn’t her. She’s not there, and for the first time since they met, he feels a chill, and realizes with horrific suddenness that he may never see her again. That’s when he decides to call the police.

    People appear to go missing in New York with amazing frequency, yet most are found. They turn up after a few days, or weeks, either after a drug or alcohol binge, or a tryst with a secret lover. They make excuses and apologize to the authorities.
    The voice on the other end of Henry’s call is reassuring.
    â€œIf she went to East Hampton for the day by bus, there will likely be a record. We’ll check it out and ask the town police to look for her. Do you happen to have a recent photo?”
    He does. They’d spent a long weekend in Bermuda three months before. He’d placed the camera on a balcony table, set the timer, and then taken a number of shots. He chooses one with her silhouetted against the balcony wall. She wears a new sleeveless pink-and-white dress that shows off her tan. Her short black hair barely grazes her cheek. He uses a scissors to slice away most of his own image and delivers the photo to the appointed address that afternoon.
    He tells the investigator that he thinks her parents might live in or near Vienna, but that they should seek an Austrian address through the hospital since he doesn’t have one and Heidi never spoke of them.
    â€œNo.” As far as he knows she doesn’t have any relatives that live in America.
    And later, “I don’t know if she had relationships with other men.”
    The last question raises an edge of angst. It wasn’t possible that they might think he had anything to do with her disappearance, yet a tiny seed of doubt rises, and makes him tremble. He doesn’t tell them about the message on his cell phone. Not then. He couldn’t admit there could be other men.
    They thank him and ask that he tell them if she turns up. From past experience they expect that would happen within a few weeks at most. In the meanwhile, they will check with the Hampton Jitney and advise East Hampton P.D. to be on the lookout. They’ve done this