Free The Rhythm of the August Rain by Gillian Royes Page B

The articles never mentioned which hospital.”
    Her listener’s eyes stretched wide as he put down his sandwich. “What you mean? Her—how her body disappear?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m supposed to find out. All I know for certain is that she had a Rastafarian boyfriend and left where she was living in Gordon Gap. Then she was found on the steps of some hospital very sick, and after her death her body vanished into thin air. She was an only child, so it must have hit her parents hard when they were told. The father came down, but he couldn’t find out anything. Both parents have died, Angie said, but she wants to know what happened.”
    â€œWhat really happened to her, though?”
    â€œShe was young and foolish, I’m thinking. Maybe she fell in love with this fellow—”
    â€œAnd she get caught up in something like drugs or crime.”
    â€œSomething that killed her.”
    â€œAnd they take her body because they didn’t want it examined.”
    â€œThen why did they take her to the hospital at all?” Shannon insisted. “They could have just buried the body after she died. Doesn’t make sense, does it?”
    Shad dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. “I asking myself, what would I do if my daughter disappear like that? I would hunt under every rock and bush, I’m telling you. But, you know, maybe the father didn’t know where to start. Jamaica can be a difficult place to do any business like investigating things. The police busy all the time fighting gunmen, and they don’t pay you no mind.” Shad narrowed his eyes. “This kind of job call for somebody who dedicated to it, who understand how to talk to witnesses and look for clues, seen? And even if is a cold case—so they call it on TV—somebody need to finish it off, so living people can get satisfaction, you know?”
    â€œIt doesn’t seem right, I agree.”
    â€œLike the dead woman just crying out for you to find her resting place, Shannon. I can hear her—you can’t hear her?” He tilted his head back. “Shannon, Shad,” he wailed in a high-pitched voice, “come and find me. I’m here, I’m here.”
    â€œYou’re a trip, Shad.” Shannon shook her head and smiled.
    Shad took a sip of his lemonade. “You know where in Gordon Gap she was living, though?”
    â€œHaven’t a clue, and I don’t know how I’m going to get around to it, with all the research for the article I have to do and the photographs I have to take. It’s a big job, eh?”
    Shad pushed away from the table, looking smug. “I knew there was some reason I supposed to help you. All I doing in the car now is falling asleep, anyway, because Carlton don’t talk much.”
    â€œBut now there are two jobs to do. What if we have to go in different directions?”
    â€œNo problem, man. Let we just focus on looking for this lady and you can interview any Rastas you find on the way. Plenty Rastas all across Jamaica, and if she have a Rasta boyfriend like you say, my head telling me he was living in a camp near Gordon Gap. We can kill two bird with one stone.”
    â€œGordon Gap tomorrow, then.”
    They discussed Shad’s hourly rate for his part in the deal. He was happy for the extra money, he said, because he and Beth were spending all their money on the wedding, and with Joella going off to Titchfield High School in September, the extra cash would come in handy.
    â€œBy the way,” Shannon warned him, “you’re the only person in Largo I’ve talked to about Katlyn—that’s her name. I don’t want anyone to worry about me, and I know they’d try to stop me from looking into it because it could be dangerous. I haven’t told Eve because she’d probably end up telling Casey or Jennifer, you know kids. As for Eric, he’s bound to try and stop us, and he’s