Chapter 2

Jim pushed away from his desk, stood, and walked to his office window. Outside the calm, rolling waves of the Atlantic beaconed him, as it did all those fortunate enough to be standing near its shores. He knew, however, that even though the sun was shining and the sky was crystal clear, the water temperature at the end of May was in the area of fifty-five degrees. At that temperature only the hardiest of individuals could stay in the water for more than a couple of minutes. However, the shore line proved an almost perfect place to run.

The Wildwoods had been blessed with a wide expanse of nearly flat, powdery-sanded beach. The difference between the low and hide tide waterline was over one hundred yards. At low tide, as it was at the moment, there was plenty of wet, hard packed sand to run on. No matter how many people stood or walked along the water’s edge, there was more than enough open space to run along the over four miles of beach.

Jim couldn’t resist its call. Glancing back on the blank screen of his work computer, he decided that today was not going to be a productive day ... just like the last six months had been. He powered down the computer, walked over to his closet, pulled out his trusty running sweatshirt and a pair of well-worn running shoes. He headed out the door, down the five flights of stairs to the ground floor and exited the building, then down the seven stairs from the parking lot to the beach and set off south along the water’s edge. After a quarter mile he came to the end of the public beach. A sign on the beach stated, “Restricted Property of the United States Coast Guard” marking the beginning of the Guard’s New Jersey Station. He turned and headed north at a comfortable pace. As he approached the El Coronado Motel he recalled how they had first come to live there.

It was over ten years ago. The writing team of Jim and Erika had established themselves in the literary world even if almost no one knew their names. After four novels, three of which had made it to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list and had received much critical acclaim; Lieka Sordic Holdings had signed a new contract with their publisher and had received a very substantial advance on their next four novels.

It was the beginning of August and they were preparing for their annual two-week vacation at the Jersey shore. As in the last couple of years, they would be staying at one of the newer motels in the “Crest”, the El Coronado. At check-in Jim was informed that the motel had been sold to a group of investors who planned to make significant changes to the building and how it operated. Intrigued, he made an appointment with the on-site manager for later that afternoon. At that meeting he was shown the plans for the new building. The pool would be moved from the back side of the building facing the ocean to the south side and would have a far larger concrete patio for sunning.

In addition, a new five-story structure would be added onto the back of the building that would include 10 ocean-front two-bedroom efficiency suites. When the construction was completed, the motel, from above, would look like an exclamation point with the dot on the ocean side. Additional plans for future expansion included an addition to the front of the building as well. Then came the best news of all as far as Jim was concerned; the entire property was being converted to condos.

He rushed upstairs to their room, changed into his bathing suit, and ran out onto the beach where he discovered Erika and Kristin frolicking in the warm summer surf. In between jumping over breaking waves and racing waves in towards the shore he told Erika about his meeting and their plans for the motel.

“I don’t know, Jim; you’ve seen our room, I don’t think I could spend a whole summer in that room, let alone live there.”

“I saw the plans for the new suites. They are almost three times the size of our room. There are two bedrooms and a large great room with a functional kitchen and a living room. A large counter separates the living room from the kitchen. There’s also a full bathroom. Best of all, both bedrooms and the living room have sliding glass doors that open onto a wrap-around balcony facing the ocean.”

“I’m still not sure, Jim. Will it be big enough for the three of us? After all Kristin is growing up, she’s going into kindergarten this year.”

“I know; that’s why I put a $500 deposit on two! We’ll have the entire top floor of the new addition. We’ll talk more about it after we get Kristin to bed.”

When Jim reached the other end of the beach in North Wildwood, he looked at his watch; he had been running for nearly twenty-five minutes. He’d have to pick up the pace a little if he wanted to pick up Kristin when she and the other girls were dropped off at the bus stop.

“The manager said we couldn’t make any changes that would affect the outside of the building, but on the inside, we could put doors connecting both suites. Kristin could have her bedroom on one side, along with the main entrance to the suite, and our kitchen and a guest bedroom. We would have the other side. We can turn one of the bedrooms into our office; the other would be our bedroom. We could use the other kitchen as a wet bar and the living room would be our family room.”

“We’ll have to look into schools for Kristin. When do you think this will all take place?”

“From my conversation with the manager I think we’re looking at a year, at least, before the units are available for occupancy, and another couple of months before our changes can be completed. We’ll wait until the end of the school year before we move out of our apartment.”

Before he knew it, he was back in front of the El Coronado; in fact, he had almost passed it. Glancing at his watch, he figured that he had enough time to take a quick shower and still be able to get to the pickup location before his daughter.

Long ago, they had decided to send their daughter to an all-girls private high school. Unfortunately, the closest one was halfway across the state, and the school would only provide busing as far as Millville, NJ. It was up to the parents to provide transportation between Millville and their homes. Because it was Thursday and he would have only Kristin in the car, he chose his 1978 Corvette rather than his wife’s Explorer. Five minutes later, he was heading north on the Garden State Parkway. He got off at exit 20 onto Route 50, and then turned onto Route 47, a long, mostly straight two-lane country road that crossed through the Pine Barrens. Since he had plenty of time, he settled in and cruised at the 50 MPH speed limit for the next eighteen miles. He pulled into a strip mall and parked next to four other cars at the far end of the lot, furthest away from the stores.