by J A Whiting
Angie looked at Mr. Finch. “What are you thinking? A fight between Ryan and someone and the ring got pulled off in the tussle?”
“Perhaps. I don’t think we can rule out someone else in the car at the time it left the road.”
“Good point.” Jenna nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Hmmm.” Courtney tapped her chin. “So someone else might have been in the car. Maybe an argument started as they were driving. Maybe they threw a few punches or shoved one another inside the car and that’s what caused it to fly into the ditch.”
“Or.” Mr. Finch had another idea. “Someone may have been following the young man. Mr. Ryan may have been forced off the road and when he emerged from his vehicle, a fight may have broken out with the person who was tailing him.”
Ellie said, “But Ryan didn’t tell his parents anything like that when he called them.”
Mr. Finch looked over the top of his glasses at Ellie. “Did you tell your mother everything that happened to you?”
Jenna knew the answer to that question. Even though they were close with their mother, sometimes they kept things from her so as not to upset her or to keep from getting into trouble. “Ryan may not have wanted his parents to get angry or upset right then. He might be like us. We sometimes told mom things after the fact. Maybe Ryan planned to spill his nighttime adventures to his parents the next day.”
“Or the next week.” Courtney chuckled. “Or the next month.”
‘Well, you’ll find out some things when you go talk to Ryan’s friend tomorrow.” Ellie had gone back to cutting up the vegetables.
“It may not be tomorrow,” Jenna said. “We haven’t heard from the chief yet.”
Angie’s phone was on the counter and it began to buzz and jiggle as it slid a bit on the smooth surface. Angie eyed Ellie as she picked up the phone. “It’s Chief Martin.” She wiped her hand on a dish towel and took the call. When she rang off after speaking with him, she gave Ellie a pointed look. “You did it again.”
“What?” Ellie blinked.
“Chief Martin said Courtney and I should meet him tomorrow at the police station. Ryan’s friend is coming in to be interviewed.”
Courtney sighed and looked at Ellie. “How do you know what’s going to happen before it does?”
“I don’t,” Ellie protested. Her voice was high. “I didn’t know the chief was going to call.”
Angie narrowed her eyes. “But you knew we were going to speak with Ryan’s friend tomorrow. You said so.”
“I just assumed things would move quickly.” Ellie picked up the knife she’d been using.
A knock sounded at the back door and in swooped Betty Hayes, Mr. Finch’s girlfriend and successful Sweet Cove Realtor. She glanced at Ellie holding the knife. “What’s the argument about?” Betty rushed to Finch’s side and plastered a big kiss on the man’s cheek. “Such a handsome man. How did I get so lucky?”
Finch blushed and the two cats trilled.
Betty bustled about the kitchen starting to make herself a cup of tea. “Do I want wine?” she asked. “Maybe later. Now I’ll have tea.” She turned the burner on and took a mug off the shelf. “Have you heard the news? Everyone’s talking about it. A missing boy from town. He disappeared last night. Good grief. There’s always something, isn’t there? It’s just one thing after another lately. Someone in the office said there must be a curse on the town.” Betty whirled around. “Do you believe in such things? Could there be a curse?” She hurried to Mr. Finch and took his hand. “What do you think, Victor? You’re always so sensible. Could there be a curse?”
Finch patted Betty’s hand to comfort her. “Miss Betty, bad things happen everywhere. One need only listen to or read the news to hear about the bad things. It’s not just in our fine town. The bad things get all the attention. There are far, far more good people and good things in the world than bad. That is what we must hold onto.”
Betty smiled. “You are a gem … and you are what I intend to hold onto.” She placed her hand tenderly on the side of the older man’s face … which turned the color of a beet even though Mr. Finch’s eyes twinkled from his sweetheart’s attention.
“Okay,” Courtney moaned. “Enough with the mushy stuff.”
“Yeah.” Jenna teased her sister. “Mushy stuff is only allowed when Rufus is around.”
“It smells delicious in here.” Betty sniffed the air.
“Miss Angie is making cupcakes,” Mr. Finch informed Betty. “And Miss Ellie is making enchiladas for dinner.”
“You’re staying?” Angie invited Betty. “Tom and Jack are coming, too.”
“I’d love to.” Betty took Finch’s arm and handed him his cane. “Why don’t we go into the living room and have a glass of sherry before dinner?” The two left the kitchen arm and arm. Euclid and Circe jumped off the refrigerator and padded down the hall after them.
“Those two.” Courtney shook her head as she watched Betty and Finch leave the room. “They’re like teenagers.”
Angie smiled. “I like it. It’s sweet that they found each other.”
The back door opened. “And it’s sweet that I found that beautiful brunette over there.” Tom came into the kitchen and made a beeline for Jenna. The tall, dark-haired man had a rugged build. He wrapped his fiancée in his arms and she beamed up at him.
“No smooching in the kitchen,” Courtney admonished them.
Still standing with his arms around Jenna, Tom glanced over his shoulder at the youngest Roseland sister. “Since when are you against love?”
Angie answered. “Since Rufus has gone to Boston for a few days to see a friend from Oxford who’s here visiting from England.”
“Ah.” Tom made himself a cup of coffee. “You all heard the news about the missing guy from town?” He looked at the sisters. “Did Chief Martin call you in?” Tom knew that the four sisters and Mr. Finch had special powers and that they sometimes used their skills to help the police with cases.
Jenna nodded. “We went with the chief this afternoon to see Ryan Allen’s car in the ditch.”
“Weird case.” Tom shook his head and carried his coffee to the kitchen island. “Where the heck is the kid? You think he just took off?”
“You think maybe he faked the whole thing?” Jenna prepared the rice. “Why not just leave if he wanted to go somewhere else? Why make his parents worry?”
“Who knows? You’ll all get to the bottom of it.” Tom smiled at Jenna.
Ellie turned to reach for some seasoning for the veggies. “Oh. Jack.”
Jack Ford, wearing a dark green bowtie, stood just inside the kitchen from the entrance to the back door. He held a bottle of wine in his hand. Jack looked from one to the other. “How will you all get to the bottom of the missing man case?” He tilted his head to one side in a questioning posture. Jack was unaware of the sisters’ powers.
“What?” Ellie stammered as she went to kiss her boyfriend and take the wine from him.
Tom covered for what Jack had heard him say. “I said ‘they’ll’ get to the bottom of it, meaning the authorities.”
For a moment Jack looked like he might ask something else, but then he focused his attention on Ellie who had taken his hand and was leading him out to the dining room.
When he was sure that Ellie and Jack were far enough down the hallway, Tom whispered, “I’d better be more careful. I didn’t realize he was there.”
Something about Tom’s words caused a shiver of unease to run over Angie’s skin.
5
As they climbed the steps to the police station, a biting wind blew across the street and made the girls shiver. They stepped into the warmth of the station’s small lobby. The officer at the front desk nodded to the young women as they removed their gloves and hats.
“Nice and warm in here.” Angie unbuttoned her coat and hung it on the coat rack.
“The chief will be right along,” the officer told them.
As soon as the words were out of
the man’s mouth, Chief Martin strode down the hall into the lobby. “Morning.” He waved the girls forward and ushered them to the conference room. “Ryan Allen’s friend is here. His name is Henry Whitaker. Age twenty, goes to school in Boston, studying engineering, same as Ryan. The young man is a little awkward.” The chief lowered his voice as they got closer to the room. “Ready?” The chief opened the door and stepped back so the sisters could enter.
Henry Whitaker sat slumped in the plastic chair on the far side of the scraped metal table and he scrambled to his feet when the three entered. He was tall with sandy blonde hair, cut short to his head. It was clear that Henry Whitaker had a very fast metabolism as he was as skinny as a rail. His brown eyes looked from Angie to Courtney and to the chief and then made another sweep.
“Mr. Whitaker.” The chief gestured to Angie and Courtney and introduced them to the young man. “These are the consultants I told you about.”
The sisters greeted him and shook his hand and they all sat down, with the chief at the head of the table and the girls sitting across from Henry. Henry had a look on his face that suggested that he was surprised at how young the “consultants” were who had arrived to sit in on the interview.
Chief Martin began. “So, Mr. Whitaker, may I call you Henry?”
Henry gave a nod.
“For the record, could you restate your name, age, and your occupation.”
Henry did so using an official sounding voice as if he thought he might be being taped. He sat ramrod straight and his arms were folded and rested on the tabletop in front of him.
“How do you know Ryan Allen?” the chief asked.
“We’ve known each other since grade school. Ryan and his family used to live in Mission River. His parents moved to Sweet Cove once Ryan went to college.”
“Would you describe yourselves as good friends?”
“Yes. We used to hang out together all the time. We’re sophomores now and we go to different universities, but we’re both in Boston and we still get together and hang out.”
Chief Martin gave Courtney and Angie a quick glance encouraging them to pick up the questioning.
Angie shifted slightly in her seat. “When did you last see Ryan?”
“Last night. He drove up to Mission River. We went to a pub.”
Courtney made sure her expression was calm and pleasant. She leaned forward a little. “Did you drink?”
“No.” Henry snuck a look at the chief. “The pub doesn’t serve underage people.”
“Did you have dinner at the pub?” Angie asked.
Henry nodded. “Yeah, we had dinner. We talked about school, how things were going. There’s a dart board in the pub. We played darts for a while.”
“Were there other patrons there at the time?” Angie made eye contact with the young man.
“Oh, sure,” Henry said. “People were eating dinner together, others were drinking at the bar.”
“How did Ryan seem?” Courtney leaned forward a little, resting one of her arms on the table.
“Seem?” Henry blinked, not sure how to answer.
“Yes,” Courtney said. “Did he seem himself? How long had it been that you’d gotten together?”
“At school, we see each other at least two or three times a week. I hadn’t seen him since right before Christmas when we both left the city to go to our parents’ houses for the holidays.” Henry paused. “Ryan seemed like his usual self last night.”
“Was he worried about anything?” Angie looked at the young man with a concerned expression. She wondered if Ryan might have some issue at school that had upset him. “Did he mention any trouble at school?”
“No.” Henry modified what he’d just said. “Ryan did say he was worried about a math class he’d just finished. He was worried he might not have done well on the final exam.” Henry chuckled. “Ryan not doing well meant he got an A minus, not an A. I bet he got the A.”
“What about friends at school? Did he get along with people?” Courtney gave an encouraging smile. “Did he talk about any trouble with any of the guys he hung out with?”
Henry sat straighter. “Ryan always got along with everybody. He didn’t bring up anything about any trouble with anyone.”
“Does Ryan have a girlfriend?” Angie thought she noticed Henry’s cheeks flush a bit when she asked the question, but she could have been wrong.
“There was a girl he liked, but he was so busy with school that he didn’t really have time to date.”
Angie nodded. “Had he ever gone out with this girl or did he just like her from a distance?”
“They were in a lab together. They’d gone out a few times in a group of friends. Ryan never asked her out though.”
“What’s her name?” Courtney glanced at the chief as he wrote things in a notebook.
“Um.” Henry’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I know. I’m pretty sure it was Bree. I don’t know her last name.”
“What did you and Ryan do after the pub?” The chief asked.
Henry quickly turned towards Chief Martin with a look that seemed almost surprised that the chief had spoken. “Nothing. We both went home.”
“Henry.” Courtney held the young man’s eyes. “Did you and Ryan have anything to drink?”
“No, nothing to drink.” Henry flicked his attention to the chief who was still writing in the notebook and had his head down. “We’re both almost twenty-one, but neither of us drank last night.”
“And what did you do after the pub?” Angie asked the same question that the chief had just posed. She folded her hands in her lap.
“After the pub, we both headed home.” Henry thought for a second. “At least, I did.”
“Did Ryan text you or call you as he was driving home?” Angie asked.
“No.” Henry shook his head. “We talked in the parking lot of the pub for a while, but I didn’t hear from him after that. He did text me when I was asleep. I didn’t see the texts until morning. Ryan said his car broke down. He said he’d get a ride home from someone else.”
“So that was the last time you saw him?” One of Courtney’s eyebrows went up.
Henry’s cheek twitched and his face flushed. “Well, yeah, but….”
“But?” Courtney cocked her head.
Henry gave a nervous chuckle. “I’ll see him again.” His voice sounded flustered. He looked at the chief. “You’ll find him. Ryan must have a concussion or something, right? That’s all it is.”
The chief lifted his eyes from the notebook and gave the young man the slightest of nods.
“Is there anyone you can think of that Ryan might have gone to visit?” The chief used a gentle tone of voice. “Maybe it was a last minute decision?”
“You mean after we left the pub?” Henry’s face had definitely reddened over the course of the conversation. “No.” He shook his head. “Not that I can think of. Ryan didn’t mention wanting to see anyone.” Henry adjusted the collar of his shirt like it was too tight around his throat.
Angie caught sight of a deep red line on the young man’s neck. She looked at Chief Martin as he took an evidence bag out of his pocket. The chief slid the bag across the table. “Do you recognize this?”
Henry pulled the bag closer holding it delicately with his thumb and forefinger and leaned down to look at the item inside the bag. His head snapped up, his eyes wide. “Where’d you get this?”
“Do you recognize it?” The chief asked calmly.
“It’s Ryan’s. It’s Ryan’s ring.” Henry swallowed hard and spoke in a rush. “His mom gave it to him for his birthday when he was in high school. See the engraving?” He pointed to the design on the ring. “It’s a vine. Ryan played guitar. He was in a band all through high school. He’s super talented. The band was called Vine.” Henry took another look at the ring. “Was it in Ryan’s car?”
The chief said, “I’m not at liberty to discuss where it came from.”
“Ryan always wore that ring. He never took it off.” Henr
y’s voice shook slightly as he moved his hands from the tabletop to his lap.
A feeling of unease flicked over Angie’s skin. Staring at the evidence bag, she wondered if someone might have helped Ryan remove the ring from his finger.
6
“I think they were drinking.” Courtney used a tool to crimp the bead on the necklace she had just strung following Jenna’s design. “I think Henry doesn’t want to admit it for fear of getting into trouble.”
Courtney, Angie, and Jenna sat around the round table in Jenna’s jewelry shop working on different pieces from her new winter collection. Flickering flames danced in the fireplace and Euclid and Circe were curled up on the rug in front of it. Several lamps lit the room with a golden glow. The fire made the space cozy and warm, but occasionally one of the sisters would take a quick look at the flames to be sure they weren’t advancing on them. Last fall, a guest at the Victorian’s bed and breakfast trapped the Roselands in the carriage house before setting the place ablaze and now, each one of the girls was careful and hesitant near fires of any kind.
Jenna sighed. “I have to stop being so paranoid about fire.” She placed multi-colored stones on a felt mat in front of her.
“We all feel the same way.” Angie took another look at the fireplace to be sure the grate in front of the logs was containing the blaze.
Jenna said, “Did you both get the feeling that Ryan and Henry drank alcohol the night Ryan went missing?”
Courtney rolled her eyes. “They’re two twenty-year-old guys. I find it hard to believe that they didn’t go somewhere or maybe sat in one of their cars to have a few beers together.”
“It’s possible that they didn’t though.” Jenna moved some of the stones around on the mat. “What did you think of the friend?”
Angie reached for some silver spacers to put between the beads. “He seemed intelligent, seemed like he wanted to help. I didn’t get the feeling he was making anything up about Ryan.” She pushed her hair over her ear and looked across the room staring into space. “He may have left some things out though. I’m not sure.”