Hard to Find: A Tillgiven Romantic Mystery

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  Upstairs, I grabbed my wallet and my coat.

  Malmo was just a couple of hours south. If I was lucky, they would have to wait awhile between rides to the train station and I could beat them there, all before afternoon classes.

  The roads were quiet and perfectly curved, and the Saab, though not new, handled like a dream. I may have set a record getting to Malmo, but it wasn’t just because it was perfect driving conditions. I had an urgent need to beat the students.

  Ha.

  I would have liked to beat them, the brats, but if I were being honest, Si could take me. He spent a lot of time in the weight room at the school, and I spent none there.

  I parked the car at Central Station—eerily like Central Station back home in Portland, right down to the clock tower and the words “Central Station” in English. I tried to shake off the sense of deja vu and made my way to the platform.

  My theory was that I could take a seat on the bench, sit back, and wait for them to show up. They couldn’t have beat me here, even with their head start. Not hitchhiking or on the bus. I checked the screens to see which train was headed to Calais and made my way that direction.

  I was just in time to see the back of Si’s shaggy head as he climbed into the train. “Si! Dani!” I hollered, but he didn’t turn around. And why would he have? The train’s doors had shut, and the train was sliding away down the track even as I hollered.

  I grimaced. Then I kicked the bench.

  So, they were off to France.

  There was always a chance the Saab and I could beat the train.

  Dani Honeywell 3

  I hated to lead anyone on, and I stood the risk of letting Sioeli get entirely the wrong idea by going to France together, but I had meant what I said to Professor: it’s not wise to run all over Europe alone.

  I only hoped that Drew was still alone.

  I heard Professor call to us as we got on the train. Or maybe I just saw him through the window and imagined what he sounded like, because I do think the train was already moving when I caught sight of him.

  I imagined he sounded very mad.

  And I wondered if he would make it back to school in time for the evening lecture.

  It wasn’t very likely he’d catch the next train. But well done to him for figuring out where we had gone. I was impressed.

  The train was uncomfortably warm and crowded. The mass of people inside smelled like they had all agreed to give up deodorant a year ago. Si, sitting close enough to bump shoulders, fit in well with the crowd.

  I put my backpack on my lap and rested my head on it. We were in for a bit of a long ride, and truth be told, if I could convince Si that I was asleep, it would go a lot faster.

  Si didn’t bother me, and by the time I woke up, all was dark and quiet. It might have been a mistake to sleep the day away, since now I wasn’t a bit tired. Si was leaning on my shoulder, sound asleep, and drooling.

  I sent Drew another text but hardly expected her to respond.

  Si shifted on my shoulder and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re wasting your time texting that.”

  I covered the screen of my phone. “I know.” Drew had probably had her phone stolen on her first day out.

  “If I know Drew, and trust me, I do…”

  I doubted he did, but I didn’t interrupt.

  “She is reading every single text you send, but doing her very best to ignore them. I bet she even types responses and then cancels them.”

  “If she still has her phone.”

  “She does.”

  “Maybe.”

  “If her phone had been stolen, you’d know by now. She’s so loud about everything. She’d have gone to the police, and they’d have called your parents, and your parents would have called you.”

  I narrowed my eyes and thought for a moment. He was right. Drew was usually so loud about everything.

  “She’s so demanding I’d have guessed she was a New Yorker.”

  “What do you know about New York, my Tonganese-Canadian-MK friend?”

  “Furlough, baby. Every four years I got to surf Rockaway Beach.” He folded his arms behind his head and sighed. “There’s no good surfing in Scandinavia.”

  “No, I suppose not.” I checked my phone again as discreetly as possible.

  “Let me text her.” He held out his hand for my phone.

  “Why not?” I handed it over.

  He bent over the phone and jabbed at it, brows furrowed, a mischievous half smile working on his lips. “There.” He passed it back.

  I read the text. “Drew, U HAVE 2 C this!” followed by a link.

  “She’ll think I got hacked, Si. And…what’s that link to, anyway?”

  “She’ll click it, it’s from you.” He smirked. “Who would hack you in Love Inspired Bible School, anyway?”

  “Love Inspired?” I swallowed a laugh. “You’re a dork.”

  “What do you think Tillgiven means?”

  “It’s devotion. Like, devoted to God.”

  “Or devoted to mistranslation. Devoted and affectionate. Romance. The perfect name for a bridal school.”

  “Oh, stop it.” I stared out the window. We must have been somewhere in the country, because it was nothing but dark. The inside of the train was dark, just a low glow from some lights that lined the aisle. I felt fairly safe with Si. He was a pretty beefy guy for just seventeen. “You’re right, though; if she has the phone, she’ll click it, because who would try to hack my phone in Sweden?”

  Sioeli chuckled. “Just me.”

  I stared at the link. “What did you just do?”

  “She’ll click it, and then we’ll be inside her phone. We can check her emails and stuff.”

  I stared at my phone, waves of gratitude washing over me. Sioeli Grey was probably the best person on the earth. “Wow.”

  “You’re welcome.” He pulled his hood over his head and closed his eyes. “Now go back to sleep. You want to be alert when we get to Calais.”

  I must have slept, because it was morning and we were in France the next time I opened my eyes.

  Si had a hot cup of coffee, but he didn’t offer me one.

  “What now?” He tipped his cup back for a long drink.

  The train was at a standstill, so I guessed “now” meant disembark and find my sister.

  But first we found breakfast. I had a butter-and-sugar crepe that melted on my tongue like nothing I’d ever had before and made me almost forget why I had left school. Or at least made me thank my sister for sending me on my journey. Si had something called a Scotch egg, which appeared to be a hard-boiled egg rolled in sausage and deep fried, like the worst possible kind of train food. It had to be for the British tourists—the French could never have invented such a greasy, heavy blob of food. He licked his fingers when he was done and then bought himself another.

  “What does the phone say? Where is she?” I perched on a stool and licked the sugary butter from my fingers.

  He held out his hand. “Phone.”

  He jabbed at the screen with his greasy sausage fingers, then passed it back. “She hasn’t clicked the link yet. Give her time.”

  I exhaled slowly. Time? I had all the time in the world, but did she? “I could flip a coin.”

  “What would that help?”

  “She took money out here, so did she stop here because it was convenient or because she was going to cross the channel?”

  “Or was it because she wanted a crepe?”

  “Coins don’t have three sides.”

  “Do you want to cross or go south?”

  I looked around for a wall of television screens that would tell me the schedule for the many trains that came and went here, but we weren’t near one. “She claimed she wanted to go south.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So I guess we keep going.”

  Si smiled. “That’s the point of these train passes, isn’t it?” He pulled his out and kissed it.

  “But, she could
still be here.”

  “At the train station?” Si looked over his shoulder. “I don’t see her.”

  “She could be at the train station; this place is massive. But I meant she could still be here in Calais. Won’t that thing you did to her phone tell us? I think we should stay until we find out.”

  “When she clicks the link, we can read her emails, and we ought to be able to check some of her other posts, but I won’t know if it works until it works. We should be able to see what she’s been planning. I can’t get a bead on her GPS or anything. But it should help.” Si stopped to drain his coffee. “I wonder why she hasn’t clicked it yet?” He scowled at the phone and then looked over his shoulder again. “I tell you what, we do have passes, so we can leave whenever we want. Let’s get out of the train station and take a look around. It won’t hurt us to see if we can run into her.” His brows were pulled together in what I could only consider disappointment, like he wasn’t that excited about finding Drew.

  I appreciated his sort of chaperonage, but if he was already sorry we might have a third party with us, then I had a bigger problem on my hands than I had imagined.

  If we couldn’t find Drew here, I would have to figure out a way to ditch Si.

  Isaac Daniels 4

  The train slipped away with Si and Dani inside of it. I was torn between frustration at her for acting like a child and running away, and the need to punch Si in the face for taking off with her.

  I could beat the train to Calais, at the speed I had been going. It couldn’t be more than ten hours’ drive, anyway.

  I yawned.

  Could I drive ten hours on just a few hours of sleep?

  Before I turned on the ignition, I called the school. “Stina?”

  “Ah?”

  “This is Isaac. I’m at the train station in Malmo. Apparently Dani and Si have taken off to find Drew. What should I do?”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. “That Sioeli, he’s only seventeen, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  She exhaled slowly. “I spoke with Steve a few minutes ago. He said his family’s plans were up in the air. He didn’t know if they’d be heading back to the school to relieve you of control tonight or later.” She paused. I counted to twelve. She spoke again. “Do you know where Sioeli and Dani went?”

  “They took the train to Calais.”

  There was another moment of absolute silence. This time I counted to twenty-five. I thought she might have given up on me.

  “You’re sure Sioeli is with her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’d better go get them. Do you have money for the tolls and gas?”

  I patted my jacket pocket. My thin wallet had a Visa in it, if nothing else. I wasn’t excited about racking up the balance, or the payment getting bigger, but I could pay the tolls at least. “Sure. I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll make it right with Steve. You just bring the kids back.” She paused. “Fast.”

  I looked back at the Central Station sign, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “You got it.”

  Two ferries, countless tolls, and fourteen hours later, the adrenaline was long gone, but I was finally in France, parking at the massive station that took Northern Europeans to all points south and west. It was morning, and the place was swarming with backpackers, tourists, and vacationers, all bleary eyed and cranky.

  First I found a cart that sold strong coffee; then I found a city map. After staring at the map and cursing the French language, I prayed. Whether I was bored with God or not, I was going to need all the help I could get.

  I hoped to catch Dani and Si getting off their train, so I hunted for a sign that would direct me to the right terminal.

  The station was bright, morning sun streaming through glass ceilings crisscrossed by steel supports. The train schedule wasn’t hard to find, and even I knew enough French to see I had missed them by half an hour. There was about half of no chance that they were still in the station.

  Plus, Dani wasn’t a morning person. Most likely she had stayed on the train just to keep from having to see people.

  If I had to drive on down to whatever town the train would stop at by the time Dani woke up, I’d need breakfast first.

  Something in the distance smelled like crepes and my stomach urged me to turn. I managed one step towards the promise of food, but something slammed me from behind, like a linebacker that smelled good. I fell chest first into the metal arms of a map carousel. Maps and pamphlets flew across the floor. The force of nature grabbed my arm and pulled me back up.

  “Shhh!”

  I spun, and came face to face with Dani.

  “Come on.” Her grip on my arm was admirable as she dragged me into a dark corner. “We’ve got to lose Si.”

  “Er.” That was the last thing we had to do, in fact, but Dani had crazy eyes, and I was more than a little afraid of her in the morning on the best of days.

  “He’s got the wrong idea about us, and I can’t have him sabotaging my search for my sister just to get me alone.”

  “What?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ve just got to get far away from this section of the station. Come outside.”

  “Errr.” I drew out the Rs this time. Where had she come from? Why was she ditching Si? I couldn’t ditch him. Stina, if I read into her few words correctly, only cared that I get Si home.

  “Don’t waste time with your lecturing. I have an idea that my sister is in town still, so let’s get out of the station and find her. Forget about the car.”

  “How did you—”

  “You wouldn’t have waited for the next train if you thought you could catch us, and obviously you would take the school Saab instead of the bus. You’re a smart guy.” She led the way out of the station, running. Sneaky apparently wasn’t her main goal.

  “It’s Wednesday morning. My sister left Friday night. She got money out on Sunday morning, which tells me there was something she didn’t want me to see on the bank statement. She could have taken the train anywhere with her pass, so either she was going to stay here and needed money for a hotel she didn’t want me to know about, or she was going to go somewhere she couldn’t take her train pass for.”

  I nodded. Her logic was pretty good.

  “She didn’t have any reason to stay here. What does anyone do in Calais, anyway? It’s not the city of lights, or romance or Gretna Green or anywhere else cool for eloping. But it does have the Chunnel.”

  I nodded again. She wasn’t going to let me get a word in, so it seemed the most efficient way to communicate.

  “Eloping to a girl like Drew has to mean Gretna Green, don’t you think? It’s the Las Vegas of Europe. Everyone goes there for a quickie marriage. To get there, she would take the Chunnel, because it’s the thing you can’t do at home. Anyone can take a ferry. So she needed a ticket, and that’s why she needed cash. Last-minute tickets are hard to get, so she had to buy the ticket and hang out for a while.”

  Dani paused for a deep breath, so I grabbed my chance. “But who is she eloping with? No one else from the school is missing.”

  She held out her phone to me, but her hand was waving all around and I couldn’t read it. “She finally clicked the link.”

  “Er.” I hated to resort to that, but what link?

  “So I read her email while I hid from Si. She’s been posting to the Unschool message boards. The responses are coming to her email.”

  “Unschool message board?”

  “Even kids who are unschooled need friends.”

  “Yes, but…”

  Dani must have slept well on the train, or had several of those little mugs of powerful French espresso. I’d never seen her like this in the morning before. I realized she had paused and I was supposed to say something, but I was at a loss, so I nodded, indicating she should just continue.

  “She’s been having a conversation with her friend Marissa from Brussels.”

  “Do you think she went up to Brussels to
meet Marissa?”

  “No.”

  “So, what have—”

  This time she didn’t let me finish. “On the message board, Drew goes by Andrew. She pretends to be a boy, for kicks and giggles, I guess. So I don’t think she is meeting Marissa here. She’s meeting him in Gretna.”

  “Him?”

  Dani rocked her head from side to side, her lips pursed in confusion. “Maybe?”

  “You think your sister has been pretending to be a boy so she can elope to Scotland with a boy who has been pretending to be a girl?” I wanted to sit down. And have breakfast. This was moving too fast for my taste, and going places I didn’t want to go. Like Scotland.

  “It could be. But I can’t be sure.” She stared at the phone and shook her head. “It seems obvious that Marissa and ‘Andrew’ have a plan. Listen.” She started to read a message. “So far so good. I can be there before it closes, but I don’t know exactly what time. No hitches yet, but stay flexible.”

  “It does sound like they have a plan.” I was thankful that I got to finish the whole sentence, but Dani stared at me like she wanted more. I hesitated, but Dani didn’t fill the gap. “I, er—” She liked to stop me after I said “er,” but it didn’t work this time. I tried again. “What do you know about this Marissa for sure? If she could actually be a boy, could she also not be from Brussels?”

  Dani slapped her forehead. “Of course.” She began to pace. “I don’t know anything for ‘reals’ about any of these people. I don’t even use this group because I hate the anonymity.”

  “Drew is a risk taker, isn’t she?” While Dani paced, I racked my brain for places in Calais that a risk taker would go to. Of course, I had no idea, since I had never been in the town before.

  “You think?” Dani sat down on the handrail and rested her chin in her hands.

  “Have you had breakfast yet?” I glanced around again, looking for a crepe shack, a McDonald’s. Anything.

  “Yes, of course.” She exhaled slowly.

  “I haven’t. Let’s go.” This time I grabbed her hand. I had had enough being led around for one morning. I stopped at the first set of golden arches that I found and ate the French version of the breakfast sandwich while Dani called around for ticket info on the Chunnel. We had circled the station once and found ourselves back at the school Saab.