Lost and Found

by Colleen Coble

  Emily hadn’t noticed him standing among the gathered teachers on the gym floor, but he stepped up and took the microphone from the principal. He set a duffel bag on the floor beside him. “Hello, students. I’m very sorry for the damage to your school, but rest assured we’re looking into what caused the fire.”

  Only a few boys in the back made noise, and those were only clearing their throats and coughing.

  “We know a person or persons broke into the science lab where the fire started. It could have been a prank. The fire could have been an accident. We understand these things can happen.” The sheriff let his words sink in for a minute. “But we need to know what happened, and that’s why I’m here today. To ask for your help.”

  He opened the duffel and pulled out a clear bag holding the blue fleece jacket they’d found in the locker room last night.

  Emily grabbed Olivia’s hand. “That’s the one Samson found,” she whispered.

  “We have reason to believe the person who broke into the science lab was wearing this jacket. We are asking the person who owns it to come forward and answer a few questions.” He walked across the bleachers, holding up the bag with the jacket.

  The room went as silent as Emily had ever heard.

  “You don’t have to come right this minute, but I’ll be in the office for about thirty minutes after the assembly. If this is your jacket, or you know whose it is, please report to the office right after you are dismissed. Thank you.” The sheriff handed the microphone back to Principal Sturgeon and put the jacket back into the duffel. He left the gym without another word.

  “Students, I feel sure the owner of the jacket will report to the office immediately after the assembly. However, I’ve made the decision that if no one does come forward to claim the jacket, or no one with information about the jacket comes forward, I’ll have no choice but to cancel the homecoming celebration this weekend.”

  Everyone seemed to speak at once. Students loudly protested the principal’s ruling. Others began to talk and whisper to each other.

  “Excuse me,” Principal Sturgeon spoke loudly into the microphone. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but that’s the choice of the owner of the jacket and his friends.” He paused as people continued to mumble, although not as loudly. “Don’t forget to get the new class location and schedule from Ms. Bridges as you leave. You are dismissed. Please report to your second-period class.”

  The gym erupted in noise as everyone got up and headed down the bleachers to go to class.

  “I can’t believe it. Cancel the homecoming celebration?” Olivia stood, shaking her head.

  “I know.” Emily couldn’t believe it herself. “It’s so unfair. The whole town gets involved—not just us kids.”

  Olivia shifted her backpack as they made their way down the bleachers. “Yeah. Dad’s been helping the committee with some of the booths. They just finished all the repairs on the dunking booth.”

  “Grandma’s been collecting items for the silent auction for at least a month. She’s got some really neat things too.” Emily shook her head. This wasn’t good. “The Smackdown team was planning on doing a demonstration. We’ve been practicing for weeks.” Mrs. Kantola had made them study Rock Harbor history just for the exhibition. “I hope whomever that jacket belongs to goes to see the sheriff.”

  Caycie stood waiting at the bottom of the bleachers. “Can you believe this?”

  Emily hesitated. Why was Caycie being so friendly to her? Emily had volunteered to help with the school’s surf team for a few weeks at the start of the school year, but Caycie was a senior, and she hadn’t said much to Emily since then. “It’s a shock.”

  “I heard you and your mom were out searching with those dogs. That’s pretty cool.”

  Ah. That explained it. This morning’s newscast had not only reported the fire, but had shown Bree and Naomi and Emily in a short video clip about the police working the investigation.

  “Yeah.” But that’s all Emily offered.

  Caycie and Trevor moved up in the line at the exit. Ms. Bridges did her best to hand out sheets to the mass of students crowding her.

  “Oh, I texted Inetta last night. She’s going to meet us at the café after school, so at lunch, call your mom and let her know you’re coming home with me after school.”

  “Did you tell Inetta why you wanted to meet?” Olivia looked a little pale.

  “No. I figured we’d tell her together.”

  Olivia licked her lips. “I’m still a little nervous about telling anyone.” She glanced around, then lowered her voice even more. “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a reason Mom and Dad never told me.”

  Emily didn’t reply. What could she say? Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Webster did have a good reason for keeping Olivia’s adoption a secret. But, then again, maybe they didn’t.

  “I guess there wasn’t an e-mail response from Charlotte Tarver, huh?”

  Emily shook her head. “Sorry. But maybe today.”

  The girls took the sheet Ms. Bridges handed them and spilled out of the gym with all the other junior and senior high students.

  A slight stench of smoke still lingered in the breezeway, but the school grounds had been picked up since Emily saw it last. Some serious cleaning crews must have worked overtime to get the school ready for classes today.

  “Well, we can’t exactly contact the attorney offices ourselves.” Emily scanned the sheet. “Oh, look. Yearbook staff has been moved to the school library so the senior high math class can use our classroom.”

  “At least my morning classes didn’t change location.” Olivia folded the paper and stuck it in her notebook. “What about yours?”

  “Just science, but only moving down three rooms. Guess to make space for the high school science classes.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you at lunch.” Olivia shifted her backpack again.

  “Yeah. And don’t forget to call your mom and tell her you’re coming over to my place after school so we can meet Inetta.”

  “Okay.” But Olivia sounded as depressed and upset as she had yesterday and the day before.

  Emily gripped her backpack tighter and headed in the opposite direction. It was time she moved into high gear to find out the truth about Olivia’s adoption. Her best friend needed answers, and Emily was determined to provide them—whether Olivia wanted to hear them or not.

  SIX

  “Wow. I don’t quite know what to say.” Inetta stared across the table at Olivia. “How’re you doing?”

  The Suomi Café wasn’t too crowded on the October afternoon. Emily, Olivia, and Inetta had snagged a table in the corner by the window, providing them plenty of privacy for their conversation. Emily had long ago eaten the last bite of her panukakkua, a custard pancake drizzled with hot raspberry syrup.

  “I don’t quite know. I feel like my parents have lied to me all my life, which they have. It hurts.”

  Inetta reached across the table and squeezed Olivia’s hand. “I’m sure they love you to pieces, honey.” She flashed a reassuring smile. “There could be a lot of reasons why they didn’t tell you.”

  Olivia nodded.

  “We’re really hoping that either of the attorneys might be the one referred to on the back of the picture,” Emily said. “I haven’t gotten a response from Charlotte Tarver’s office yet.”

  “If you do, forward it to me.” Inetta jotted down names in her notebook. “I can call first thing in the morning.” She tapped her pen against the pad. “Olivia, what’s your birth date? And do you know any of the details on your birth certificate, like place of birth, time of birth . . . stuff like that?”

  “Did you know that the United States didn’t start mandatory registration of births until World War II?” Emily interjected.

  Olivia shook her head. “No, but it doesn’t surprise me that you do.” She rattled off her birth date as Inetta took notes. “I don’t know that I’ve ever actually seen my birth certificate, but I was born on April 18 at Trowbridge Park H
ospital, at 7:09 in the evening.”

  “Really? You know your time of birth off the top of your head?” Inetta asked.

  Olivia blushed and smiled. “Mom always told me I was polite, even as a baby, in that I didn’t wake her up to be born.” Her smile faded. “Of course, now I know that’s just another lie.”

  This time it was Emily who reached over and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, Liv . . . we’re going to find out who your birth parents are.”

  Olivia frowned.

  Inetta’s facial expression matched. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk with your folks before looking into this? I feel really awkward sticking my nose in here without your parents’ permission.”

  “I’m not sure what I want.” Olivia took the last drink of her milk.

  “Perhaps you might want to bring up the subject to them and give them the opportunity to tell you the truth.” Inetta stirred her coffee absentmindedly.

  “They’ve had fourteen years to tell her, and they haven’t.” Emily paused as Olivia’s head snapped up. Her hands balled into fists as she continued, “I’m sorry to hurt your feelings even more, Liv, but you know it’s true. They’ve had all this time to tell you, to just say something, but they haven’t. Not even when they had the chance.”

  “What do you mean?” Olivia asked.

  “Remember in sixth grade, Mrs. Bridges made us do that family tree? Your mom pulled out all sorts of family history stuff to help you. I remember because I was jealous. Dad didn’t keep a lot of stuff when Marika ran off, so I didn’t have near the amount of information you had.”

  “I got an A on the project.” Olivia spoke more to herself than to Emily and Inetta. “My documentation was three pages long.”

  “Right, because you had so much stuff.” Emily stared at Inetta. “So her mom had a perfect opening to tell her she was adopted but didn’t. I don’t think Olivia bringing it up now would make her mom tell her.”

  “She’s right.” Olivia set her napkin on top of her plate. “Mom and Dad aren’t going to volunteer the information. I’m going to have to find it out myself.”

  “So why not just tell them you found out?”

  Olivia shook her head. “Then I’d have to tell them why I was looking in the chest. I don’t want to spoil the surprise of their anniversary party.”

  Inetta sighed. “Okay, I’ll see what I can dig up. I’ll text you with anything I find out. In the meantime, if you could find a copy of your birth certificate, that might help.” She closed her notebook and shoved it into her purse. She tossed some money on the table by the bill. “I’m sorry to rush off, but I’m hoping to meet up with Sheriff Kaleva when he returns to his office. I want to see if he had any luck.”

  “I didn’t hear that anyone claimed the jacket,” Emily said as she and Olivia both stood. “He left the school within an hour of the assembly.”

  Shoving her purse strap on her shoulder, Inetta led the way out of the café. A sharp breeze kicked up, rustling leaves across the hill. “Oh, no one did. But since the jacket was found in the varsity football locker room, he’s going to visit all those players’ homes tonight and talk with their parents and show them the jacket.”

  Emily and Olivia followed her to the sidewalk along Kitchigami Road. Emily shivered. Why hadn’t she remembered her jacket this morning? “I wonder if Principal Sturgeon will go through with his threat to cancel the homecoming celebration.”

  Inetta looked off in the distance, toward Lake Superior.

  “What?” Olivia asked.

  “I really shouldn’t say anything . . .”

  “Now you have to tell us.” Emily pleaded with her eyes, using Timmy’s puppy dog eyes and everything.

  “Word on the street is that he called all the planners and organizers of the celebration to call it off, but met with so much resistance from the community that he’s reconsidering. That’s another reason the sheriff’s acting so quickly to find out who owns the jacket. It will take some of the pressure off of the principal. He only threatened to call everything off if the jacket’s owner wasn’t identified.” Inetta held up a hand. “But that’s not verified yet.”

  Emily slung her backpack over her shoulder. Actually, he said if no one came forward while the sheriff was at school to claim the jacket . . . but perhaps that was just splitting hairs, as Dad liked to say. “Well, I hope someone can tell him something tonight then.”

  “Me too,” Olivia added.

  “Do you girls need a ride home?”

  “No, thanks. It’s a really short walk.” Olivia smiled. “And thanks for checking into things for me.”

  “I’ll text you both when I learn something. Bye.” Inetta got into her little Volkswagen Bug, and with a finger wave, hummed off toward Houghton Street.

  Emily waved, then turned to Olivia. “I’ve got to get home. I want to hear what Naomi learned from the vet about Charley. I’m really worried about him.”

  Olivia nodded. “Call me later. I’ll be praying.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be praying for you too.” Emily gave Olivia a quick hug and then rushed home.

  She ran into the house and then tossed her backpack on the bench in the entry. The enticing scent of stew filled the air. Even though she’d finished her pastry not long ago, her stomach growled at the smell.

  “Naomi?”

  Sherlock came barreling down the hall and slid on the wood floor. Emily bent and picked him up, snuggling him under her chin.

  “In here.”

  Emily found Naomi and Matthew at the kitchen bar, coloring with markers. The television sitting on the counter was muted but showed the lead-in to the local news segment.

  She let Sherlock out the back door, then poured herself a glass of milk. “Where’s Timmy?”

  “Don’t fill up on milk. Dinner’s almost ready.” Naomi began putting the markers back in the container. “Timmy’s over at Dave’s. Kade’s helping the boys build a clubhouse on stilts, then they’re having a club meeting dinner in the backyard.”

  Emily laughed. “Peanut butter and jelly with crushed-up potato chips, right?”

  “So Bree says.”

  She sat at the table beside Naomi. “What did Dr. Meeks say about Charley?” She took a sip of her milk.

  Matthew slammed the coloring book shut and squirmed.

  Naomi reached for the rest of the markers. “He doesn’t know for sure yet, but he thinks Charley may have ingested something toxic to a dog. He’s running tests now and hopes to know something more tomorrow.”

  “He ate something that made him sick?”

  “Apparently.”

  But Sherlock had gone everywhere Charley had. Even the search last night. Well . . . except for in the beginning when Sherlock didn’t follow Samson and Charley, but still.

  Emily moved to the window over the kitchen sink and stared into the backyard. Sherlock ran around, chasing dead leaves. “What did he eat that made him so sick?”

  “Dr. Meeks said he should know something tomorrow, but for now, he’s keeping Charley at the office to monitor him.”

  Emily glanced out the window at Sherlock again. “Should we take Sherlock in to have tests run?” If anything happened to her puppy . . .

  Naomi gave a tired smile as she helped Matthew from the barstool. “No, honey. If Sherlock had ingested something toxic like Charley, he would’ve showed symptoms even sooner because he’s so much younger and smaller.”

  Thank you, God, for keeping Sherlock safe and for watching over Charley so that he didn’t get sicker.

  Matthew ran to the back door and hurried outside. Sherlock met him at the bottom of the stairs, barking and jumping. Naomi put the coloring book and markers in the arts-and-crafts supply cabinet.

  “Principal Sturgeon threatened to cancel the homecoming celebration this weekend if no one claimed the jacket we found last night.”

  “I heard that.” Naomi turned up the volume a little on the television, then lifted the lid off the pot and stirred the stew.

/>   The smell made Emily’s mouth water. “What do you think about it?” She set her glass on the counter and reached for a stack of bowls from the overhead cabinet.

  “I think Principal Sturgeon said what he felt he had to say.”

  By Naomi’s wording, Emily could tell her stepmom didn’t think he’d made the right call. She pulled spoons from the drawer. “Nobody claimed the jacket.”

  Naomi narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that?”

  Oh no! She’d done it again: opened her mouth without thinking. And this time, Inetta had said the information wasn’t verified, which was definitely code for “don’t tell anyone.”

  “Emily?”

  She swallowed and set the spoons on the counter beside the bowls. “Sheriff Kaleva left the school too quickly. If someone had come forward, he would’ve called their parents and had them come to the school, right?”

  Naomi crossed her arms over her chest. “Em-i-ly.”

  She let out a heavy sigh and told her stepmom what Inetta had said. “But that’s not verified or anything yet.” She avoided eye contact with Naomi, staring instead at the television.

  Was that Sheriff Kaleva?

  “Emily, how many times have we—”

  “Look. At the TV.” She turned up the volume.

  On the screen, Sheriff Kaleva, holding the clear plastic bag containing the fleece jacket, appeared larger than in person. “We’re asking for all the residents of Rock Harbor to help out.” He raised the bag higher, and the camera zoomed in on the jacket. “If you recognize this jacket or know who it belongs to, please contact the Rock Harbor Sheriff’s Office immediately. Thank you.”

  The screen panned back to the five o’clock anchorman. “Thank you, Sheriff Mason Kaleva.” He stared directly into the camera. “The number for the sheriff’s office is there at the bottom of your screen. If you have any information regarding the jacket Sheriff Kaleva just showed you, please call the number at the bottom of your screen now.”

  “In other news . . .” The coanchor launched into a report on storm safety tips.

  Emily turned down the volume again. “Looks like the information was verified after all.”