Two seniors headed down the steps of the high school’s main entrance. As they passed him, one of the boys kicked Evan’s backpack, sending it tumbling.
“Whoops, sorry,” he said, laughing.
The second teen looked back at Evan and laughed just as hard. “What a dork.”
The first boy, a tall red-haired kid, stopped. “Watch this.” He hopped a couple steps back up toward Evan and abruptly made a motion as if he was going to hit him. The boy was expecting Evan to flinch, but he didn’t. Instead, he jumped to his feet with clenched fists.
The antagonist looked at Evan with a hint of nervousness. Then he turned and leapt back down to where his friend was standing. “He’s such a freak.”
Evan silently leaned down and reached for his backpack, pulling it back up onto the top step.
“Hey there!” It was a female voice.
Evan looked to his right and was surprised to see Tania Cooper standing several feet away. Her short brown hair fell in perfect symmetry along her cheekbones, complementing her light skin and hazel eyes. She smiled broadly at Evan. “Need a ride?”
“Hi,” Evan said, noticing the nearby boys staring at her. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
She shrugged. “I asked Dr. Mayer if I could pick you up.”
“Oh, okay, thanks.” Evan stood up and slung the pack over his shoulder. He trotted down the stairs to where she was standing. “Where are you parked?”
“Over there.” Tania nodded toward the street. She observed even more teens staring at her and Evan. Some had their mouths open. She continued to watch the gawkers in amusement as she and Evan walked across the grass, headed for her car. Tania hid her grin, and deliberately slid her hand around the inside of Evan’s arm.
He looked down at her hand, and then at her.
Tania winked. “Keep walking.” As they neared her small Toyota, she leaned in close. “Do you know how to drive?”
“Yes.”
“Good, here.” She handed Evan her keys. “You drive.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And make sure you open my door for me.”
Evan did as instructed. He opened the passenger door and watched Tania slide in gracefully, and with a loud giggle. After she tucked her dress in, he closed the door, and walked around the front to the driver’s side. Before he got in, Evan glanced back toward the school. Everyone was now watching them.
He slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door, turning to smile at Tania. “Thanks for that.”
She winked again. “That was fun.”
He pulled the seatbelt across his chest and started the car. After a few more checks to his side mirror than were necessary, he pulled out into the lane.
“So how are you?” Tania asked.
“Not bad.” He lied. He almost told her the truth but changed his mind. There was no point. She couldn’t do anything but feel sorry for him, so why bother. When he began taking the Valium a few days before, it had given him some temporary relief, but he was beginning to have problems again. Something felt like it was burning inside his chest. He was going to talk to Dr. Mayer about it.
Evan turned left onto Broadway and headed for Glendale Avenue. “This is a nice car.”
“Thanks, I’ll tell the bank you said that.”
Evan laughed.
“So, are you looking forward to school being over?”
“I’ve been looking forward to it being over for about three years.”
This time Tania laughed. “I hated high school. I don’t know what it was, but when I became a junior it just felt like everyone was acting really stupid.”
“I know what you mean. Did you go to college?”
“No.” She shrugged. “College is expensive. My parents don’t have much money, and I didn’t want to go into debt up to my eyeballs. So I decided to learn some actual skills instead.”
“That’s pretty much where I am. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.”
Tania nodded and watched as they passed a group of female high school runners. “So . . . how are you?”
“Uh, didn’t you already ask me that?”
“No, I mean really, as in after the whole Ellie thing.”
“Oh that. I’m okay. I have some bumps and bruises, but I’ll be fine.” He turned to her as they stopped for a traffic light. “How is Ellie, anyway?”
Tania shrugged. “They’re not really sure yet. They have to do more tests. But right now, Dr. Mayer and her husband aren’t letting Ellie out of their sight.”
“I can understand that.”
Tania became quiet for a moment. Then she looked straight at Evan. “You know you’re a hero, right?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know about that. I helped, but that’s about it.” He looked at Tania, who was giving him a very sarcastic frown. “Well, I guess I did figure out where Ellie was.”
“Evan,” she began, with a touch of sarcasm. “You did a lot more than that. I was there for some of it, remember? And Dr. Mayer told me what happened at that house. You saved Ellie. You’re a hero.”
“I mostly just got beat up.”
Tania shook her head. “There’s more to courage than winning, Evan.” She was quiet for a minute. “You know, I had a boyfriend. He was a jerk. I broke up with him because I believe we all deserve to live happily ever after.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “And with him, there wouldn’t have been a happily ever after.”
As he drove, he could see from the corner of his eye that she was still watching him.
“Honestly, I don’t know if Ellie will have a happily ever after,” she said. “But you gave her a chance. Thanks to you, Evan, she at least gets an ever after, which is a lot better than the alternative.”
Evan pulled into the small parking lot and parked, a little crooked, in a corner spot. He and Tania got out and climbed the back stairs up to the offices. When they reached Dr. Mayer’s door, Evan held it open for Tania and followed her in.
Reception was empty. Dr. Mayer had cancelled all of her appointments for two weeks. In fact, that day was the only day she’d come into the office at all.
Evan thanked Tania again for the ride as she sat down at her desk, and he continued down the hallway toward Dr. Mayer’s office. When he reached it, he knocked lightly on the wide door and waited.
Inside, Shannon sat at her desk next to her daughter, who was drawing on a large piece of paper. It was part of the play therapy, and just the beginning of a long road ahead for them both. Drawing pictures was a common technique used to help victims externalize damaging experiences, to bring them out where they could be dealt with.
Shannon heard the knock, and gently placed her hand on Ellie’s back as she stood up. She crossed the room and quietly opened the door.
“Hello, Evan.”
“Hi,” he said, and stepped into the room. He spotted Ellie at the large desk with the paper in front of her.
“Ellie, honey, look who’s here. It’s Evan.”
Ellie wore a beautiful white dress with blue and green flowers, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She stopped and looked up at Evan. Without a word, Ellie stood up and walked around the desk. She went to Evan and wrapped her little arms around his waist.
He bent over and hugged her back. “Hi Ellie, how are you?”
“Good.”
Dr. Mayer watched the tender moment and placed her hand over her mouth. She blinked the tears away and dropped her hand onto Evan’s shoulder. “Come in, Evan.”
He nodded and moved away from the door. He crossed the carpeted floor and leaned against the familiar leather chair.
They both watched Ellie return to the desk and sit back down.
“How are things?”
“Pretty good,” he replied, with an optimistic tone
. “My mom got a new job.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah. A customer in her restaurant told her he’d been watching her and wanted to hire her to manage the wait staff at his own restaurant. Some fancy place in Montrose. So we’re going to go looking for a new apartment.”
“That’s great, Evan.”
“And get this, this man Mr. Friedricks also said he has an older car he’s selling and asked if I wanted to buy it. He said I could work part-time at his restaurant to pay it off.”
“Incredible.” Shannon smiled, and maintained an innocent expression. She was happy to see Evan excited, even for the moment. He had done so much for her, things for which she could never repay him. But it didn’t mean she couldn’t try. Of course, it would be a breach of ethics to compensate him directly. She could, however, make a few phone calls.
“And how are you feeling?” she asked.
“Better. Still healing though.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh.” He glanced again at Ellie, her head down and the pen working away in her hand. “The Valium helps, but it feels like it’s wearing off. I’ve been waking up with a lot of pain in my chest.”
Shannon’s expression grew serious. “Evan, I think we need to stop with the Valium.”
“Why?”
Before she could answer, there was another knock on her door.
“Come in,” Shannon said.
Tania opened the door and looked at them both. “She’s here,” she said quietly.
Shannon approached the door just as her sister entered. Mary looked tired, but her eyes searched the room intently until she found Ellie. When she did, she began to cry, and held her arms out. Mary dropped to her knees as Ellie abandoned the paper again and ran to her, throwing herself into her aunt’s arms.
Mary cried hard, stroking Ellie’s soft hair. “Thank God,” she whispered. “Thank God.”
As Evan watched the two, a tall, older man discreetly stepped into the room behind Mary. His hair was thick and gray, and he was dressed in an old flannel shirt and jeans.
Mary cleared her throat and looked up. “Sis, allow me to introduce Daniel Taylor.”
Shannon extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor. I hear you were a hard man to find.”
Taylor shook her hand. “Not for your sister, apparently.”
The large man smiled at Ellie from under his thick brows. Next he turned his piercing eyes to look at Evan. “So this is him,” Taylor said. “You’re the one who can see things, are you?”
Evan didn’t say anything. He took a nervous step back, and glanced at Dr. Mayer.
Taylor followed, stepping closer toward him. He towered over Evan and looked him up and down, examining him.
Evan tried to back up farther but ran into the arm of the chair.
A devilish grin slowly spread across Taylor’s face. “Relax boy. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to keep it from killing you . . .”
AFTERWORD
Anne Keyes stared at her living room with a mingled sense of hope and dread. It was eerily quiet as the morning sun began to rise, shining through her front window. Over the next few hours, it would begin its work, thawing the winter morning frost and warming the air to an almost balmy fifty degrees.
Keyes glanced down at her watch again. It was 6:50 a.m. People would be arriving shortly. She was hoping for fifty this time, but worried it would be far less. The numbers had dwindled rapidly over the last month. She couldn’t blame them, at least not out loud. In her own mind, she herself battled between feelings of appreciation and disgust. Appreciation for those still dedicated to sticking it out, and a secret though guilty feeling of disgust for the majority who didn’t. Who cared about the holidays?
The large wooden table behind her was covered with flyers. A smaller table against the wall supported several large canisters of hot coffee and stacks of paper cups. Next to the cups were four dozen doughnuts in pink boxes.
She hoped to be on the road by 8 a.m. sharp.
Twelve people. Twelve lousy people. That was all that showed up. Her sense of despair deepened as the hour approached eight o’clock. She knew from experience that most of those who were coming had already arrived. There wouldn’t be many stragglers. It meant they would be lucky to cover a third of the distance she had mapped out. She forced herself to ignore the frustration and remember that thirteen was better than one.
She watched silently as the group members chatted with each other, coffee cups in their hands. She was suddenly overcome by a feeling of loneliness as she thought about her life now and everything she had to do, alone. The doorbell rang, and she shook herself out of it. Fourteen is better than thirteen, she mused.
Crossing the carpeted floor, she opened the white front door to find two people standing on her porch. She didn’t recognize either of them.
“Good morning,” she said, with a feigned smile.
The larger of the two nodded. “Good morning. Are you Anne Keyes?” He already knew the answer.
“Yes, I am. Are you here to help?”
The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow, and peered over her shoulder at the volunteers in her living room. “Are we interrupting?”
Anne looked at him curiously. “You’re not here for the search?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Oh,” she frowned. “What can I do for you then?”
“My name is Dennis Mayer, from the LAPD. We’d like to talk to you about your case.”
Anne’s heart jumped. “Los Angeles Police? Did you find—”
Dennis raised his hand cautiously, cutting her off. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that.” He looked over her shoulder again at the assembled group inside. “Would you mind if we talked privately?”
Anne asked one of her volunteers to go through the details of the search, while she led her visitors to the small dining room on the other side of the kitchen.
“We’re sorry. We can see you’re busy,” began Dennis. “But we wanted to talk to you about your daughter’s case.”
“Of course.” She nodded, looking back and forth between the two visitors. “You just caught me a little off guard. I didn’t know LA was working on the case too.”
“They’re not officially,” replied Dennis. “I’m retired. I’m more of a private investigator now, following a handful of special cases. Yours being one of them.”
“I see,” Anne replied. “Well, I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have. I can use all the help I can get.”
Dennis could hear the people in the other room, and glanced around the corner before he continued. When he did, he spoke in a lowered tone. “We’re familiar with most of the details regarding your daughter Katie. But there were a couple questions we wanted to ask you, things that generally take a while to be updated in the case file. First and foremost, has anyone been in contact with you? For example, a ransom note, a phone call, anything at all. It could even be something that struck you as odd, but you assumed to be completely unrelated. Even a strange comment from a friend.”
Anne pondered the question. “No, nothing overt. And I’m trying to think of anything odd, but nothing comes to mind. To be honest,” she said, with a longing look, “when you can’t sleep for four months, your mind tries to connect anything and everything.”
The truth was that Anne Keyes didn’t know what to think. There were so many things about her daughter’s disappearance that she couldn’t understand. How could she just disappear less than eight blocks from her own house on a neighborhood sidewalk? How could it be that no one had seen anything? Christ, most everyone on the block knew each other; if not by first name, then certainly by last.
They lived in a nice area, and Katie was twelve years old. She rarely walked home by herself, and even when she did, she knew what to do if app
roached by a stranger. The police thought that might mean Katie had been abducted by someone she knew. But they’d checked everyone—family, friends . . . They’d even traced every person who had ever called or texted her phone.
Anne shook her head, still thinking about the question. “I’m sorry, I can’t think of a single thing.”
“I understand.” Dennis nodded sympathetically. “Just one last question. Do you know for how many of those contacts, the people who called or texted your daughter’s phone, did the police conduct a full background search?”
“I’m not sure. Most of them I think.”
“I see,” answered Dennis. He thought again about the group in her living room. He had counted twelve when they walked through. Anne’s numbers were falling fast. It was normal after a few months of searching. Most volunteers eventually got pulled away, having to attend to their own lives. It was understandable, but it left the victim’s family in an increasingly large emotional vacuum, lost in a void of loneliness and despair. She did still have these twelve, he thought, and probably several more who couldn’t make it that day. But it didn’t help that the mood was not an optimistic one.
Dennis could see the disappointment filling Anne Keyes’s eyes as she realized her two visitors didn’t know any more than she did. He finally bobbed his head slightly, turning and looking down past his right shoulder.
Evan was facing away from him, examining several photographs on a nearby shelf. His gaze finally circled back, and he looked up to Dennis Mayer. Evan then turned to Anne and spoke quietly, for the first time. “Can we see her bedroom?”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Autumn, Julie, Liz, Susan, Don, Tony, Dennis, and Karen, for their expert advice and proofing help. I have learned (the hard way) that mistakes in books can be harder to find than needles in haystacks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael C. Grumley lives in Northern California with his wife and two young daughters where he works in information technology. He’s an avid reader, runner, and, most of all, a devoted father. He is the author of three previous thrillers, Breakthrough, Amidst the Shadows, and LEAP.
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