Vanished in the Dunes by Allan Retzky

anything else about her?”
    â€œWhen I spoke to the police I wasn’t sure I remembered her from the faxed picture, but the color photo and that dress—it’s not easy to forget that dress.”
    â€œDid you talk to her? Did she happen to say anything?”
    â€œActually, I was going to the rest room. That’s in the back of the bus. She was sitting near the back and stopped me and asked how to get to the beach from the East Hampton stop. I probably told her she’d have to take a cab. That’s when she asked me if I could drive her.
    â€œTold her no. Even though I live in Amagansett, told her I was getting off in East Hampton village. That’s where I parked my car. Said I had things to do. Didn’t have the time to drive her to the beach. Nor the particular interest.”
    Henry lets the words slide past him, and looks around the room.
    â€œNice house,” Henry says.
    â€œWe like it,” answers Welbrook.
    â€œOh, you’re married,” says Henry.
    â€œNot at the moment,” answers Welbrook, and slips away a tiny laugh.
    Henry takes a few steps towards a floor-to-ceiling glass window and looks out.
    â€œThat’s quite a view.”
    â€œSure. Most houses anywhere this close to the beach usually have some ocean view. It’s what people pay top dollar for.”
    Henry takes a chance and decides to see if Posner’s home without first calling since the drive is only minutes away. Welbrook’s house is clearly larger and closer to the beach than Posner’s, but both houses do indeed seem to have an ocean view. Henry’s rented Chevy climbs the driveway and stops behind a parked Lexus.
    Without an entry bell he raps with the brass knocker that guards the door. There is no response for at least thirty seconds, and he’s just about to leave when he hears a voice from inside.
    â€œWho is it? I’ll be there in a minute.”
    The voice is clear and slightly faint, almost tired, Henry thinks,before he raps again, more briefly this time, and announces himself as a doctor friend of Heidi, whom he describes as the missing woman from the bus. The door opens. He apologizes for the unannounced nature of his visit and watches as Posner releases the door even wider as an unspoken invitation to enter. He follows Posner up the stairs to a living area with its own ocean views. He sees the twin green sofas, set around the art deco coffee table, and imagines that Heidi might have been here, just as she might have been in Welbrook’s home, or one like it. He inhales the affluence of the room. Doctors may be paid well by comparison to other work, but there is no way he can ever see affording such luxury. There is art on the walls, probably original prints. Some of the images are familiar: a Picasso Don Quixote and a full-sized Rauschenberg share space on the far wall. From what he’s read on Google, Posner has not worked for a few years, yet his art collection seems significant enough, and the house is quite grand by Henry’s standards even if slightly more modest than Welbrook’s.
    Further introductions are brief. Posner clearly prefers that he not be there, but Henry is now used to this attitude after his time with Welbrook.
    â€œDo you remember this woman?” he asks when the preliminaries are over.
    Posner looks briefly at the photo Henry presents. Almost too briefly, Henry thinks, but he sees Posner clearly stare at the image with the pink-and-white dress.
    â€œOh, that’s definitely her,” he says, echoing Welbrook’s recollection.
    As with Welbrook, Henry has prepared himself for some confession of sorts, an act of contrition, and an acknowledgment that the man had some involvement with Heidi, but there is nothing. In this regard, Posner behaves much the same as Welbrook. He relates his recollection of their brief bus conversation. Heidi appears to have asked both men for a ride to the beach. He sighs and wonders