The Missing

by Melanie Florence

  I heard the doorbell ring midway through my rant but I ignored it. A minute later, I heard it again.

  “Is that the doorbell?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah. It’s okay. Kiowa is home. He can get it.” I took the phone away from my mouth and yelled to him. “Ki! Get the door, please! I’m on the phone! Sorry about that,” I told Jake. I lay down on my bed and sighed deeply. “I just can’t get my head around it, Jake. How do the police, no, the government! How does the government let something like this happen and do absolutely nothing to stop it?”

  I heard a thump from downstairs. Then a muffled shout. There was definitely a scuffle going on down there. I dropped the phone to my side and started out my bedroom door, Jake’s tinny voice sounding a million miles away as he continued talking — something about the ineptitude of the police and racism — and I broke into a run when I heard Kiowa scream my name.

  Chapter 24

  Prime Suspect

  “Feather!”

  I almost flew down the stairs, my phone hanging by my side with Jake’s faint voice calling, “Feather? Feather? Are you still there? What’s going on?”

  I ran through the living room, banging my thigh on the sofa so hard that I nearly went down, but I kept running towards the front hall where I saw my brother, pressed face-first into the wall.

  “Kiowa!” I screamed, throwing myself at the police officer who was cuffing him. “Stop it! What the hell are you doing to my brother?” I dropped my phone and went at him with two hands.

  “Feather, stop!” Kiowa yelled. The cop smirked at his partner and then reached out and shoved me. First my shoulder hit the wall, then my head. I crumpled to the floor, holding the side of my face.

  “I’ll arrest you for assaulting an officer if you try that again,” the cop said. His partner stepped forward.

  “Okay. That’s enough.” He held out a hand to me. I looked up at him warily, vaguely registering Kiowa asking if I was okay under his breath. I nodded at him and took the cop’s hand. He helped me up.

  “You should have left the stupid bitch on her knees where she belongs.” The cop holding Kiowa laughed. He pulled Kiowa away from the wall and shoved him forward.

  “Why are you arresting him?” I asked, directing the question at the officer who had helped me up. “What did he do?” Before he could answer, Officer Dickhead piped in.

  “We’re arresting him for the suspected abduction of Mia Joseph”

  “What? What are you talking about? Why would you arrest him for that? That’s insane! Kiowa, what are they talking about?”

  Kiowa opened his mouth and then closed it again.

  “Your brother was seen with her last night around the time she disappeared.”

  “No, he was home last night. Kiowa, tell them!” I remembered hearing the door open and close while I was on the phone with Mia. Was that Kiowa coming home or going out? “Ki?” I asked.

  “Feather, just stop talking!” he hissed, not meeting my eyes. My mouth dropped open. The cops started to pull him out the door, and not very gently.

  “What should I do, Ki?” I asked, my eyes filling with tears. I wiped at them angrily, my head throbbing where I had hit the wall.

  “I didn’t hurt her, Feather! You know that! Call Mom!” he yelled over his shoulder as he was muscled out the door and onto the front lawn. “Feather, call Mom!” he shouted again.

  “I will! I’ll call her right now!” I yelled back, looking down at my empty hands for my phone. The neighbours were out on their lawns, staring at Kiowa being dragged to the squad car and whispering to one another. I saw at least three people with cell phones filming him. Where the hell was my phone? I stayed in the doorway watching as they put Kiowa in the car. Our eyes met through the car window. He looked broken.

  What made them think he had something to do with Mia’s disappearance?

  I closed the door behind me before the neighbours could start asking questions. I saw my phone lying on the floor where I had dropped it moments before.

  “Feather, what the hell is going on?” Jake’s voice sounded far away as I picked up the phone.

  “Jake . . . they just arrested Kiowa. I have to go. I have to call my mom.”

  “They . . . wait. For what?” he asked before I could hang up.

  “They said he was with Mia last night.” My voice broke and I took a breath, willing myself to stay calm.

  “That’s insane! Call your mom. I’m on my way over.”

  “Okay. Thanks. And Jake?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Please hurry.” I hung up and took another deep breath. I had no idea what I was going to tell my mother. I hit the number three on my phone and waited, listening to it ring on the other end. I almost hoped that I’d get her voicemail. Then I remembered Kiowa’s face in the car.

  “Mom? It’s me. Something happened to Kiowa.”

  * * *

  How do you tell your mother about the arrest of her child for the possible abduction of your best friend?

  I tried to explain what was going on to my increasingly frantic mother but I wasn’t even sure myself. I had no idea why they suspected Kiowa. I said as much before my mom hung up, saying she would rush to the police station. I was left pacing and waiting for Jake.

  I was popping some Advil and getting ice for the rapidly forming lump on my head when I heard the front door fly open.

  “Feather!” he called out.

  “In here.” I was wrapping ice in a hand towel when he rushed into the kitchen.

  “Hey! What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’ll live,” I told him. “One of the cops didn’t appreciate me jumping on him.”

  “So he hit you?”

  “No. He pushed me away and I fell into the wall.” I saw his face darken with anger.

  Jake took the ice from me and led me over to a kitchen chair. He pressed the ice gently against my head. I winced.

  “Sorry.” He pushed a lock of hair off my face. “So why do they think Kiowa did something to Mia?”

  I sighed.

  “I don’t know. I don’t get why he’d be a suspect. But they said he was seen with her before she disappeared.”

  “But why would your brother be with her?” he asked.

  I shrugged.

  “I have no idea. I told them he was home but . . .” I glanced at Jake. “I’m not so sure.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I heard the door. I don’t know if he was coming or going. I just don’t know. Anyway, they didn’t seem to care what I had to say.”

  “So . . . he could have been with her,” Jake said.

  “No. Why would he be?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But you can’t be his alibi if you didn’t see him at home and don’t know for sure he wasn’t with her.”

  I paused. I couldn’t really be sure. But either way, I felt confident he didn’t have anything to do with Mia.

  We sat mostly in silence, waiting for my mom to get home from the police station. I had fallen asleep in front of the TV with my head on Jake’s shoulder when she finally came in.

  “Feather?” Jake shook me gently. I opened my eyes just as my mom walked into the room. She saw us on the couch and burst into tears. We both jumped up. I hugged her tightly while Jake slipped past us to make tea.

  It took my mom a while to stop crying. “Is Ki okay?” I asked her as we sat down on the couch together. Jake walked in with a tray holding a pot of steaming tea, milk, sugar and three cups. He handed one to my mom.

  “Thanks, Jake. He’s all right, I guess,” she answered me. “I only got to see him for a minute.”

  “Did you speak to the police?” Jake asked her, pouring tea into her cup.

  “Yes.” She blew on her tea.

  “So what did they say? Why are they blami
ng him? When is he coming home?” I asked in one breath.

  “I don’t know, Feather,” she said. “He goes before a judge tomorrow and hopefully they’ll set bail so we can bring him home then.”

  * * *

  The next day was brighter and more cheerful than I felt it had any right to be. I scowled out the window, and then yawned widely. I had barely slept, and from the looks of my mother, she hadn’t either.

  Jake arrived wearing khakis, a blue button-down shirt that made his eyes pop brightly and a tie. He was balancing a box of donuts and a tray of take-out coffee cups.

  “I thought you could use this,” he said, handing a coffee to each of us and opening the box of donuts.

  “Thanks, Jake,” I said and gratefully tore into a maple dip.

  * * *

  I could still taste the sweetness of the maple glaze on my lips as we sat down outside the courtroom. It took over an hour for our turn, and we shuffled in together with the lawyer that my mother had hired for Kiowa. He smiled and waved at us as he entered, looking better than I expected.

  “Your Honour,” the other lawyer began smoothly before Kiowa had even sat down. “I would like to respectfully request that bail be withheld for Kiowa Bedard. I believe strongly that he is a danger to himself and to the community at large. We have reason to believe he abducted Mia Joseph and quite possibly others. With the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in this city, I believe it is our responsibility to investigate the disappearance of this girl fully before we allow him the opportunity to run. We believe that Miss Joseph is, in fact, dead and Mr. Bedard is the prime suspect.”

  I heard a gasp of shock from my mother and turned to look at Jake. His face registered the same horror I was sure was written all over my own.

  “Your Honour!” Kiowa’s lawyer interjected. “There is no evidence to back up this claim. My client is innocent. He presents no danger to anyone and should be released immediately into his mother’s custody.”

  My mother gripped my hand so tightly, it was turning purple.

  “Your Honour, not only is this man a danger to the community, he’s a flight risk,” the other lawyer interrupted. I loathed her. My brother wasn’t a danger and he wouldn’t run away! I wanted to scream. The lawyer continued, “He has family on a reserve in northern Ontario and I believe he may leave the province if given the opportunity. The RCMP has reported that the vast majority of crimes perpetrated against Aboriginal women are by members of their own communities too,” she continued.

  “Mr. Bedard’s family is here today, Your Honour.” I looked at the judge and willed him to let Kiowa go. His lawyer continued. “He has a close family and a supportive community right here in Winnipeg. There is absolutely no risk in releasing my client to his mother.”

  “Enough!” the judge said tiredly. “I’ve heard enough from both of you. Mr. Bedard, you are to enter the Winnipeg Remand Centre until your trial.” He slammed the gavel down and looked at the bailiff. “Next case, please.”

  As the guards took a shocked Kiowa away, my mother cried and I held Jake tightly. What had just happened? Kiowa met my eyes briefly. Then he was gone.

  Chapter 25

  Free Bird

  He stared intently at the newspaper, and then laughed violently.

  “Local Man Arrested in Disappearance of Teen” the headline read.

  He was in the clear. He looked towards the basement door where he could hear a voice calling out thinly.

  “Help.”

  Chapter 26

  Suspect List

  A prison bus took Kiowa to the Winnipeg Remand Centre, to wait out the time before his trial. I still couldn’t believe there was going to be a trial. Getting a trial date could take months. The only good thing about Kiowa being at the WRC was that we could go and visit him. We immediately made an appointment to see him the following day.

  As soon as I saw the imposing building through the car window, I knew I wasn’t ready to see my brother there. Truthfully, it looked like an office building. But knowing the inside would look different, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t look at Kiowa in a neon orange jumpsuit through a dingy pane of scratched-up Plexiglas. Okay, so it was entirely possible that we’d all be sitting around a table playing cards and chatting, but I wasn’t ready to take a chance that I’d be talking through a handset that smelled like the hundreds of people who had used it before me. What if they brought him out in shackles?

  I was also afraid to hear the reason why the police thought he had something to do with Mia’s disappearance. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it was all some big misunderstanding. Obviously, they had some reason to think he was guilty. I didn’t think he was involved. I really didn’t, I told myself. But I just wasn’t ready to see my brother locked up. I said as much to my mom.

  “It’s not going to be like some prison show on television, Feather.” She tried to reassure me but I had an overactive imagination and I had reason to worry.

  So, I waited in the car, trying to ignore the disappointed but understanding look I got from my mother. It didn’t make me feel any better about missing the visit to know that she understood why.

  I spent some time googling information on the WRC. I should have done that before I declined the visit. My horrible vision of walking in and finding a brother I didn’t recognize, covered in prison ink and refusing to talk to me without calling me a bitch and swearing excessively seemed over the top now. Especially given the short time he had been in remand.

  I put my phone in my bag and pulled out a pen and a crumpled receipt for a book I had bought a couple of weeks ago. It had been a gift for Mia. My heart twisted. I turned the receipt over and wrote “SUSPECTS” on the back. I chewed the cap of my pen and thought hard before I started writing.

  1. Leonard!!

  Mia’s skeevy stepfather had to be at the top of the list. He had a motive and he had the opportunity. I added a couple of exclamation marks after his name.

  2. Michael

  This one was tougher. I liked the guy who ran the rec centre. But Mia and Carli had both spent time there. And, truthfully, I knew nothing about him.

  I paused for a second, then wrote:

  3. Larry

  I had never even met the guy who worked the night Mia went missing, but if Michael had the opportunity, so did he.

  I chewed my pen again before continuing to the names I didn’t want to add to the list.

  4. Kiowa

  It killed me to write my brother’s name on the list but a part of me knew that the police believed he was with Mia that night for a reason. I just didn’t know what it was yet.

  5. Jake

  For some reason, my boyfriend’s name was easier to add to the list than my brother’s was. I had seen a side of him recently that I didn’t like and, hard as it was to admit, it proved that I didn’t know him nearly as well as I thought I did. I remembered how he had pulled my hair and forced my head back . . . I didn’t want to, but I imagined him doing that to Mia or Carli. Thinking of Carli made me add the next name to my list.

  6. Ben

  I couldn’t really see gentle Ben hurting anyone. But he knew both Mia and Carli well and he knew where they liked to hang out.

  I folded the list in half, then unfolded it and added another name.

  7. Joyce

  Mia’s mom. I couldn’t imagine Joyce killing Carli but who knows how far she might go to get rid of anyone who threatened her relationship with Leonard.

  8. ???

  If the RCMP report was reliable, then I’d have to consider it was someone Mia knew. But the fact was, it could have been a stranger. Both Mia and Carli had knives. They knew there were some dangerous people down by the river at night. What if it was one of the guys they saw down there?

  * * *

  The driver’s side door opened, scaring the hell out of me. I jumped and shrieke
d. I admit that for a second, I thought a convict had escaped and was going to steal our car to get away with me still in it. Obviously, it was just my mom coming back from her visit.

  “Are you okay?” my mother asked. I nodded at her and stuffed my pen and the list back in my bag.

  “How did it go?” I asked. “Is Kiowa okay?”

  “He’s okay. Hanging in there. “ She rummaged in her purse for a tissue and blew her nose loudly. She turned towards me and tried to smile.

  “Mom, are you all right?” I asked her softly. I hated seeing her cry. It made me well up too.

  “Yeah, it was just so hard. Seeing him in that place . . .” She took a deep breath. “I’m okay now. I understand why you wanted to stay in the car, though. Ki understood too,” she told me.

  “He did? Really?” I asked her, reaching for her hand.

  “Yes, he did. He’ll be happy to see you whenever you’re ready,” she said, turning in her seat to smile gently at me.

  “Is he really all right? Did he say anything about why they arrested him?” I asked.

  “He did,” she admitted. “But he said he really wanted to tell you in person.”

  “Oh . . . okay,” I said, settling back into my seat and fastening my seatbelt. “Can we go home now? I hate the look of this place.” I shuddered.

  “Definitely,” my mom said, starting the car.

  Chapter 27

  The Truth Hurts

  I had been neglecting my homework. For good reason, obviously. But the fact was, I had a huge English assignment due and a math test to study for. I’d have to pull a few all-nighters to catch up.