Marta Perry

by Search the Dark

  A quick search of the upstairs turned apprehension to something approaching panic. Her mother wasn’t in the house. She hadn’t left a note.

  Meredith scurried back downstairs, double-checking the kitchen to be sure she hadn’t missed a message. She hadn’t. Was this her idea of payback, going out without letting Meredith know? Possible, but unlikely.

  Before she had time to talk herself out of it, Meredith picked up her cell phone and pressed Zach’s number.

  He answered immediately, his voice husky and intimate. “Want to say good-night again?”

  “My mother’s not in the house.” Panic rose as she said the words out loud. “She didn’t have any plans to go out tonight, and there’s no note. I don’t know where she is.”

  “Are you sure there’s not a note?” Zach’s voice had turned crisp and professional. “Or anything marked on her calendar or daybook?”

  “Nothing.” She checked the calendar hanging on the pantry door as she spoke. “The television was on. She wouldn’t go out and leave it on. Besides, she hates to go out at night. Where could she be?”

  “Stay put. I’ll be right there.”

  She hung up the phone and stared at it, willing it to ring, to be her mother, calling to say that she’d gone out with friends unexpectedly. It didn’t.

  Was she overreacting? She didn’t think so.

  Meredith walked back through the downstairs again, knowing full well it was pointless. She reached the front door just as Zach knocked, and she rushed to open it.

  “I don’t understand.” She grasped his arm. “Where could she be?”

  “Take it easy.” He took both her hands in a reassuring grip, but she could see that he was already scanning the area, looking for anything out of place. “She’s a grown woman, not a child. You’re sure she’s not in the house?”

  “I looked everywhere. Well, not the cellar or attic, but why would she go there?”

  “Unlikely, but we’d better check, anyway.” He was already striding toward the kitchen. Opening the cellar door, he switched on the light. “I’ll take a look down here. Maybe you ought to start calling her friends.”

  Thank goodness he was taking her seriously. And she should have thought of that herself. She yanked open the drawer where her mother’s address book lived, under the kitchen phone.

  Zach came back up while she was on the phone with one of her mother’s bridge cronies. He shook his head, and a moment later she heard him trotting upstairs.

  By the time he was back, she’d called her way through most of the names in the book, and the faint embarrassment she’d felt on the first few calls had vanished.

  “Nothing upstairs,” he said when she hung up. “Have you called everyone?”

  “All except Bennett Campbell. Do you remember him? Retired doctor?” She was punching in the older man’s number as she spoke.

  “Vaguely.” Zach was frowning, his mind obviously churning. “Is the car here?”

  “I didn’t think of—” She broke off as Bennett answered. Without waiting for more, Zach went out the back door.

  Everyone else she’d called had expressed concern. Bennett was alarmed.

  “You’re sure she hasn’t fallen somewhere?” His voice was brusque, as if accusing her of not being there when her mother needed her.

  “She’s not in the house,” she repeated.

  “You’d better look outside,” he said. “I’m calling the police.”

  He hung up before she could protest. Still, maybe he was right. Struck by a sudden thought, she pulled open the cabinet where her mother customarily kept her handbag, insisting it wasn’t safe to leave it out where anyone might see it. The bag was there.

  She heard the back door open and hurried back to the kitchen. “Her handbag is still where she keeps it. The car?”

  “Still there.” Zach’s frown had deepened. “Do you have a flashlight? I’ll look around the outside.”

  She nodded. “Bennett said to do that. And he’s calling the police.” She yanked open the drawer and reached for the flashlight, only to discover that it wasn’t there. “Zach, she must have gone outside. The flashlight we keep here is missing.”

  Zach gave an abrupt nod. “You have another one?”

  “Yes, of course.” She darted to the pantry and pulled two more flashlights from the emergency shelf. She thrust one into Zach’s hand and switched on the one she held before running to the door. “She must have gone outside. But why?”

  Her mother wasn’t the type of person to go out in the dark to investigate a suspicious noise or a barking dog. She’d send Meredith or she’d call for help. But it seemed that was exactly what she’d done.

  Zach was beside her when she reached the bottom of the porch steps. “The back porch light was on when I came out,” he said. “Did you leave it on?”

  “No. It was off when I left, I’m sure.” She sent the beam of her flashlight spinning across the lawn, reflecting from the brave orange and yellow of the mums along the porch.

  Zach’s hand closed on her arm. “Let’s be methodical about this. You walk around the house. I’ll take the backyard and garage.”

  He was giving himself the more likely spot, she realized, but she wouldn’t waste time arguing. She nodded and trained her circle of light on the ground, looking for any sign as she went.

  Please, please. The prayer was instinctive and very nearly wordless.

  Don’t panic, she repeated the words as she circled the house. That won’t help.

  Nothing had disturbed the mulch around the shrubs beside the house, nothing lay hidden beneath the overgrown lilac bush she kept intending to prune. She reached the front just as two cars pulled into the driveway, one after the other. The first was Bennett’s dark sedan; the second the Deer Run police car.

  Bennett was out first, hurrying toward her. “Any sign of her?”

  “Nothing. Zach is checking the backyard now.”

  “Zach Randal, would that be?” Jim Burkhalter, Deer Run’s burly, graying chief of police, followed Bennett more slowly.

  “Yes.” Meredith kept her voice even. Chief Burkhalter would have been the person to whom her mother had reported the theft that had torn Zach away from her. “We had been out to dinner. When I returned and found my mother missing, I called him to help me look for her.”

  “Instead of the police or your mother’s friends?” he asked.

  “Obviously I called my mother’s friends, as well.” She wouldn’t let his question annoy her. He’d never been noted for tact. “And Bennett said he’d notify you. It’s only been...” She paused to look at her watch. “It’s been about twenty minutes since I went inside and realized she wasn’t there. I was alarmed, because she didn’t have plans to go out tonight. The television was playing. Her purse is where it belongs. The back porch light was on and the flashlight we keep in the kitchen is missing. I can’t think where she’s gone.”

  Zach rounded the house, switching off his flashlight as he approached them. “I checked the back. Nothing there.” He nodded to the other two men. “Chief.”

  Burkhalter returned the nod with a long look. “Randal. I heard you were back in town. Heard something about you being in law enforcement, too.” His tone expressed doubt.

  Zach reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a dark object, which he flipped open to reveal a badge. “Pittsburgh P.D.”

  The chief looked it over carefully before handing it back. “Good,” he muttered. “Just bear in mind this isn’t your jurisdiction.”

  Meredith couldn’t remain silent. “Why are you wasting time? We have to find my mother.”

  “She’s right,” Bennett said. “It’s clear something has happened to Margo. If she felt ill and she was alone...”

  He let that trail off, but it was probably clear to eve
ryone what he meant. Something had happened to her, and Meredith was to blame.

  * * *

  ZACH FELT FAIRLY SURE that Chief Burkhalter wasn’t convinced there was cause for alarm, but also sure that he wasn’t about to argue with the respected physician. Even retired, Bennett Campbell no doubt wielded a strong influence in Deer Run.

  “Well, now, I don’t think you should worry too much.” Burkhalter patted Meredith’s hand. “We’ll do a search, but most likely we’ll find she’s visiting someone.” He held up a hamlike hand when Meredith seemed about to protest. “Yes, I know you called people, but likely she’s with the one person you didn’t think of.”

  Meredith did not look soothed. “Without her car or her handbag? Or her keys, for that matter?” She swung to Zach. “Was the back door locked when you went out?”

  “No. The porch light was on, and the door was unlocked.”

  Meredith rubbed her arms, and he realized she was shivering. He caught Bennett Campbell’s gaze. If anyone would get Burkhalter moving, it would be him.

  “This is nonsense,” Campbell snapped. “Standing here muttering platitudes while poor Margo is lying ill or injured. I demand you call out enough men to mount a thorough search.”

  Zach saw Meredith wince at the image Campbell had planted. She needed something concrete to do.

  “Meredith, have you looked to see what clothes are missing?” he asked. “It might help to know what your mother has on.”

  The strain ebbed from her face. “I’ll do that right now.” She ran for the house. After a moment’s hesitation, Zach followed her. Burkhalter would probably let himself be pushed more readily without an audience.

  Meredith had already run upstairs by the time he reached the hall, and he went up two steps at a time, propelled by an urgency he didn’t want Meredith to see. This was looking more serious by the moment.

  He found Meredith in the largest bedroom, which was a masterpiece of pink and frills. She burrowed in the closet and then jerked out one drawer after another. Finally she looked at him, a frown drawing her eyebrows together.

  “I don’t understand. She seemed to be settled for the evening when I left, but apparently she came up and changed clothes at some point.”

  “Can you tell what she’s wearing?”

  Her frown deepened. “Yes, but it doesn’t make any sense. She’s put on her black slacks and a black sweater. That’s all that’s missing. Where would she go dressed like that?”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  Actually he could, but he didn’t think it would be good to say so. If it weren’t for the presence of the car in the garage, he’d think she’d set out to follow them. He could picture her creeping around, maybe peering into the vehicle when they’d been parked at the overlook.

  He shook off the thought. The car was here. They couldn’t get away from that fact.

  Another vehicle pulled into the driveway, its headlights reflecting from the window. Maybe reinforcements had arrived.

  They went downstairs. Deer Run’s two patrolmen had arrived, and Zach realized that Ted Singer was eyeing him suspiciously. No doubt he’d be glad of an excuse to blame Zach for any malfeasance. Several other cars pulled up within moments. It looked as if word was spreading.

  To give him credit, Burkhalter proved adept at organizing a search now that he had sufficient numbers. Several people were dispatched to search along the road in either direction, while others started knocking on doors and looking in neighboring yards.

  Meredith still wore the dress she’d had on when they went out to dinner, but she’d pulled a coat over it. She looked as if she held on to her composure by a thread. He touched her arm lightly.

  “Why don’t you go inside? There’s nothing you can do here.”

  “No, I can’t—”

  “Zach’s right.” The woman who spoke came to put an arm around Meredith. “We’ll go inside and start coffee brewing. That’s the most useful thing to do now.”

  To Zach’s relief, Meredith seemed to listen. She let herself be pushed toward the back door.

  Two figures had been standing quietly behind the woman. Now the older man moved forward. “Don’t fret about her. Rachel will take care of her.”

  Rachel. Of course. “If she keeps her busy inside, that’ll help,” Zach said.

  “I am Rachel’s daad.” The tall, graying Amish man looked vaguely familiar. “This is her brother, Benjamin. We’ll help search, ja?”

  The teenage boy looked like most Pennsylvania Amish boys his age, with fair hair in a bowl cut, blue eyes and a general air of growing out of his blue shirt and black pants.

  “Thanks. The more sets of eyes, the better.” He switched his flashlight back on, seeing that the two of them had come prepared with their own. In fact, the father carried a battery lantern that cast a wider field than a flashlight.

  “Where should we start?” The boy spoke for the first time. He sent a nervous glance in the direction of Burkhalter, making Zach remember Meredith saying that the Amish, though very law-abiding, preferred to avoid the police when possible.

  “I was just going to scout along the tall grass at the far edge of the yard for any sign she went beyond the yard. You want to help with that?” Zach asked.

  They nodded, separating to move slowly along the point at which mowed lawn gave way to a tangle of weeds and brush. Zach followed suit, trying to concentrate on each blade of grass as if it had a secret to tell him. Anything to keep himself from wondering and worrying.

  When he straightened to stretch his back briefly, he could see the lights crossing and recrossing the surrounding properties, and hear voices calling Margo King’s name. Where had the woman gone? This didn’t make any sense. Margo was hardly the type to go out for a walk at night, not if she was in her right mind.

  And if she’d had some sort of episode, become confused, wandered off? He suspected that was in everyone’s thoughts. If so, Meredith was going to have a hard time forgiving herself for going out tonight. To say nothing of forgiving him.

  A breeze swept down the valley, making the grasses sway and whisper. He spotted a light flash on and off and realized it was Rachel’s brother, signaling him. He hurried to join the boy.

  “You find something?”

  “Ja. Maybe,” he added cautiously. “See here.” He knelt, focusing the light on the path that led back to the woods and the dam. “Someone has been here. And since that shower yesterday, ain’t so?”

  The boy was right. In a soft patch of ground was the smudged mark of a shoe.

  “Could be nothing, but maybe we’d better have a look. Go slowly, in case there are any other prints.”

  “Ja.” Keeping his light trained on the path, the boy moved cautiously. Zach kept pace with him, supplementing the kid’s flashlight with his own.

  At the place where the path entered the fringe of trees, Benjamin stopped. “There.”

  Zach bent for a closer look. The boy’s sharp eyes had picked up the faintest smudge that might be another shoe mark.

  “Good work spotting that. Could be someone else going to the pool, I suppose, but not that many people go there.” And why on earth would Margo?

  “No. It’s a bad place,” Benjamin said unexpectedly.

  “Why bad? Because Aaron Mast died there?” He eyed the boy.

  “Ja.” The whites of his eyes showed.

  “You don’t have to come any farther,” Zach said. “I can check it out.”

  Benjamin straightened, young face firming. “I will come, too.”

  “Right. Let’s go, then.”

  The belt of trees ended in the cleared space around the pool. Zach paused as they stepped into the clearing. “Margo King,” he called. “Can you hear me?”

  Nothing. They swept the beams of their flashlights around the cl
earing slowly, the dark pool telling them nothing. Then the light hit an even darker shape at the edge of the water.

  The boy gasped, and the flashlight shook in his hand. “Is it...”

  “Stay here,” Zach ordered, moving forward carefully, his logical mind telling him it could be a half-submerged log even as his instinct told him it wasn’t.

  He went closer—close enough to see that it was Margo, facedown in the water. Gone, he thought, but he had to make sure.

  He came in from the side, avoiding the scuffed marks at the water’s edge, and reached out to the form that rocked slowly with the movement of the water. A few moments later he stood.

  “Sh-shouldn’t we get her out?” It sounded as if the boy’s teeth were chattering, but he hadn’t run or screamed.

  Zach retraced his steps. “It’s too late,” he said. “Benjamin, listen to me.” He grasped the boy’s arms, turning him so that he no longer looked at the body. “The police will want to see everything just the way we found it. I want you to go find Chief Burkhalter. Don’t say anything to anyone else. Just tell him quietly. We don’t want Meredith to hear until someone can break it to her properly. Understand?”

  The boy gulped, nodded and spun to race back down the trail.

  Zach stood, surveying the scene, knowing Burkhalter wouldn’t thank him for interfering in a case of what might or might not be accidental death. He stared at the body, sympathizing with Benjamin’s instinctive desire to pull it out. Pity moved through him. He couldn’t pretend he’d liked Margo, but she shouldn’t have died like this.

  It could have been an accident, of course, but Zach found it hard to imagine a likely scenario.

  Poor Meredith. She would grieve no matter how it had happened, but he very much feared the circumstances were going to double her grief.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE SECONDS TICKED BY. Zach pictured the frightened boy trying to explain the situation to Burkhalter without alarming everyone else. Would the chief understand?

  Maybe he should have gone himself, but it had seemed wrong to leave Margo’s body alone here. And he couldn’t ask Benjamin to stay. The kid was scared enough already.