by M. S. Parker
“They did their shopping and then went out to lunch. Roberta said that right before they were about to come home, Stacey excused herself to the bathroom and never came back.”
I closed my eyes and prayed that someone hadn’t grabbed Stacey from the restroom. On a day like today, no one would be looking at faces, trying to remember people. We’d be lucky to get a single description of anyone out of the ordinary.
“There’s nothing on any of the security cameras, and no one saw her come out of the bathroom.” His voice broke. “Where’s my daughter?”
“I’m going to help you find her,” I promised. “I’ll work things from my end and call you if I learn anything. If you need me to talk to anyone at the police department, let me know.”
“They said they’d be searching for her, but...” He coughed the emotion out of his throat, and his tone hardened. “If I find out you’re lying to me and her sister knows something, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you pay.”
I absorbed the threat and ignored it. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”
I ended the call and immediately went to my contacts. I hated to ruin Jenna’s family time today, but she’d want to know. Besides, I needed to ask to make certain that Stacey hadn’t somehow found her and called. For all I knew, Stacey had called but hadn’t mentioned anything about where she was or the fact that her parents didn’t know she’d left. Jenna wouldn’t know that her sister was missing unless Stacey told her.
“Rona?”
“I’m sorry to do this,” I said, “but I just got a call from Elliot Johnson. Stacey’s missing.”
Jenna gasped but quickly recovered, and in a firm voice said, “Come over.”
Twenty-Two
“I have favors from the FBI I can call in.” Jenna broke the silence that had filled the space between us almost constantly since we’d left her house a couple hours ago.
“I thought there were restrictions about when the FBI can step in.” I didn’t look at Jenna when I spoke. Neither of us were looking at each other, actually. Instead, we were both staring out of our respective windows, hoping that we’d see a hitch-hiking kid.
I’d barely explained my conversation with Elliot when Jenna was grabbing a jacket and rushing me out the door. It didn’t matter that the Johnsons didn’t want her to meet Stacey or that we really didn’t have much in the way of clues about what had happened. Elliot and Roberta would be searching the obvious places – friends’ houses, favorite hangouts, that sort of thing – so the two of us would look at the fringes, beginning with roads in and out of Loveland.
“Technically, you’re right,” she said. “But I’ve given the Denver office some of their biggest arrests over the last couple years. They owe me.”
Her words were as grim as her expression, and I hoped that it wouldn’t come to calling in favors. If the FBI refused to help until they had cause to get involved, I didn’t think Jenna would ever forgive them. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure I would either.
“What are the chances she ran away?” I asked. “I know I thought about it when I was her age.”
“Before your dad’s accident?” Jenna shot me a look. “From what you told me, Stacey has a great home and is a good kid. She was adopted as a baby and never knew anything about it. No shit from Helen or baggage from being in some group home or bouncing from one place to another. Not even any unresolved issues from the adoption itself.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Jenna was right. Stacey had been adopted, but she’d never been told. She had the same racial makeup as the Johnsons’ biological daughter would have, and even looked enough like them feature-wise that she’d have no reason to question that they weren’t her biological parents. And while Elliot and Roberta had been short with me, it’d been clear that they loved their daughter and didn’t want anything to hurt her. They wanted to protect her. Then it struck me. Maybe that had been the problem.
“Do you think that she might think her parents are too strict?” I asked as I glanced over at my friend. “In trying to protect her, they hadn’t let her do a lot?”
Jenna shrugged. “Anything’s possible, I suppose.”
I pulled into the parking lot to Moby Arena and parked off to the side. I turned to face Jenna. “Before we start back toward Loveland again, we need to think about where we’re going. We’ve covered all the main routes between her parents’ house and here, and driven past all the fraternity and sorority houses. If anyone’s having a party, they’re keeping it low-key.”
“That was a long-shot anyway,” Jenna said. “If a kid’s going to sneak away to a party, they’re not going to do it hours before it starts, and they’re definitely not going to make it obvious to their parents that they’re gone.”
That was the part of this story that kept nagging at me. Stacey hadn’t snuck out of her room or told her parents she was going to a friend’s house. There’d been none of the clichéd ‘rebellious teen’ behavior. If she’d voluntarily left, she’d done so in a way that indicated she’d wanted her parents to know that she was gone.
Which meant the two biggest possibilities were that she’d done it with the intent to scare them…or she hadn’t had a choice in the matter.
Either way, we needed to find her before things got even worse, for her and her parents sakes.
“If something happens to her because of me, I’ll never forgive myself,” Jenna said quietly. She glanced at me, then went back to staring out the windshield. “I should have just left it all alone. Let my brothers and sisters live their lives free of anyone or anything connected to our mother.”
I reached over and put my hand on hers. “You’re not responsible for what’s happening. Stacey doesn’t even know about you or Helen.”
“No more,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “I don’t want you to look for anyone else. Once we find Stacey, we’re going to walk away. I refuse to risk anyone else.”
I wanted to argue with her about it, but this wasn’t the time. We needed to focus on finding Stacey. Everything else could wait.
“Let’s take this one step at a time,” I said. “First, we find Stacey.”
Jenna nodded and then sighed. “I think I know why we can’t figure out where she would go.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
“We weren’t normal thirteen-year-olds.”
That was an excellent point.
“We need to touch base with Elliot and Roberta,” I said. “We need to know more about who Stacey is if we’re going to find her.”
“They won’t want me there,” Jenna said.
“They want to find their daughter,” I countered.
“We need to be thinking outside the box,” Jenna said, “not the same things as everyone else.”
“What aren’t we seeing then?” I asked. “We need to stop thinking emotionally. How would we come at this if it was a case?”
She might not have been a private investigator, but she had a logical way of approaching things. She thought things through, looked at issues from different angles. That’s how we both needed to be looking at this problem. Not out of emotion, but from logic.
“If we were looking for a missing kid who we thought ran away, where would we go after we eliminated friends and family?” I asked.
“It would depend on whether or not she wanted to feel safe, or if she wanted to rebel.”
“Let’s go for safe first,” I suggested. “She’d go somewhere familiar, but if that wasn’t available, she’d go with somewhere she knew but off the beaten path.”
“I’m guessing her parents will have already checked the school, places of worship, that sort of thing.”
“Her parents,” I said suddenly.
“What?” She looked at me.
“When I was a kid, before things with my dad went…the way they went, I used to visit him at work. I loved going to the mill, seeing the crew and how they worked together. I loved the smell of the fresh cut lumber.”
I swallowed aro
und the lump in my throat. To this day, that scent brought back childhood memories, something I appreciated in private moments. Right now wasn’t the time though.
“You think she went to where her parents worked?” Jenna asked. “Didn’t you say that her father’s a teacher?”
I nodded. “They would’ve already checked the school.”
“What about her mother?”
I tapped the steering wheel, mentally scanning both parents’ profile. “She’s a real estate agent.”
“Which means she might know where empty houses are,” Jenna said.
“We need to talk to Roberta.”
Fifteen minutes later, Jenna and I walked into Mrs. Johnson’s office. As soon as I called and told Roberta my theory, she asked me to meet her at her office.
“That’s her, isn’t it?” Elliot glared at us as he spoke to me. “Why the hell would you bring her here?”
“Elliot,” Roberta snapped, “I don’t care who she is. We need to find our daughter, and she’s helping.”
“How do we know she isn’t the reason Stacey’s missing?” Elliot asked, deep lines furrowing his forehead.
Jenna stepped forward. “I was disappointed by your decision, but I understand it. I won’t go against what you want. I’ll help you look for her, but I won’t tell her who I am. Not unless you change your mind.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Elliot muttered.
Jenna ignored him and directed her question to Roberta. “Do you keep a list of the houses you’re selling, the ones that are vacant?”
Twenty-Three
It was well past midnight before we went back to the Johnsons’ house. Jenna and I had checked every house on the list Roberta had given us, and even a couple others nearby that had looked empty. We’d kept going even after getting a text from Roberta saying that she and Elliot were going back home to see if Stacey had come back. But after another hour of nothing, we’d gone to the Johnsons’ house to regroup and see if anyone had heard anything.
I had to admit, I was surprised when Roberta let us in, but Elliot didn’t even blink when we walked inside. He actually looked a little shell-shocked, and I felt a wave of pity for him. No one deserved to go through something like this.
Then I thought about the woman who’d given birth to Jenna and Stacey. She would’ve deserved to go through this. Hell, she deserved worse than this. Elliot and Roberta, they were good parents, and I hoped I hadn’t completely fucked up their lives by showing up.
I’d told Jenna that she wasn’t at fault, and I’d meant it. Me, on the other hand, I should’ve been thinking clearly. I should’ve given her better advice about how to approach things.
I should have started with her older siblings, the ones who were already adults. The ones who could’ve made the decisions themselves and been equipped to handle the emotional impact that would come with those choices.
“What do we do now?” Roberta asked. Her dark eyes were shining with tears, and I could only imagine what it took to hold them back. She sat down next to her husband and leaned against him.
I looked at Jenna and saw my own thoughts reflected on her face. She reached into her pocket, but I shook my head. I had an FBI contact too. I’d try first, coming from the friendship angle. If that didn’t work, Jenna could play the debt card with Agent Matthews. I wouldn’t tell the Johnsons either way unless the FBI agreed to help. Getting their hopes up would only make things worse. Plus, I had a feeling they felt like I’d already interfered in their lives enough.
I started toward the door, intending to quietly slip out to make my call without the risk of anyone overhearing me, but I was still a few feet from the door when it opened, and Stacey walked inside.
Everything froze for several long seconds, and then everyone started talking at once.
“Where have you been?!”
“What the hell were you thinking?!”
“What’s going on? Who are they?”
“We should really go.”
“I think you should. Thank you for coming.”
Roberta gave us both a smile as she hugged Stacey, but I knew they both wanted us gone so they could deal with whatever was going on with their daughter.
Before we could get to the door, however, Stacey raised her voice. “Wait!”
“Stacey–” I heard the warning in Elliot’s voice.
“No, Dad, we need to talk, and if they’re who I think they are, they need to be here too.” Stacey’s dark eyes moved from her parents to Jenna and me.
Roberta gestured for us to sit down, and when Elliot opened his mouth to say something, she shot him one of those looks that only wives and mothers could get away with. His mouth snapped shut, but he still glared at us.
Stacey’s next words, however, caught all of our attention. “I know I’m adopted.”
“What are you talking about?” Roberta’s voice shook.
The girl folded her arms, a stubborn expression on her face. One that I’d seen Jenna wearing. “I’ve known for three years.”
“How?” The question came from Elliot. “We were always so careful.”
“Grandma was babysitting me, and I was doing a genealogy project for school. I dug around in your office, found the keys to the fireproof box, and I remembered you saying that it held our birth certificates, that sort of thing. I opened it up and found the paperwork for my adoption.”
“I’m so sorry we never told you,” Roberta said, the tears finally spilling over. “But if you’ve known all this time, why did you run away tonight?”
“I didn’t run away…exactly. I needed time to think.”
“Think about what?” Elliot gave Jenna and me a glare.
“While Mom and I were out shopping, I overheard her side of a conversation with you.”
Both Elliot and Roberta flushed, and I wondered if this was where my responsibility came in.
“I heard Mom say she wanted to know what you guys would do if my sister came around even though you’d told her not to.” Stacey glanced at me, and then at Jenna, before turning back to her parents. “I hadn’t really thought about whether or not I had any brothers or sisters. I hadn’t really thought much about my biological family at all. But when I heard that I had a sister and she was looking for me…” Stacey shoved her hands into her pockets.
“This is something we need to talk about,” Elliot said. “You, your mother, and I. After we discuss what you did.”
Stacey shook her head. “I’m sorry for making you worry, but I needed to think about how you two have been lying to me my whole life. Adopted. A sister. You two always went on and on about honesty, and you’ve been hiding all this from me?”
Roberta reached out and took her daughter’s hand. “I’m so sorry. We were scared that you might want to find them, that you’d want to leave us and be with them.” She looked at Jenna, then at me, a glint of determination in her eyes. “This young lady,” she gestured to me, “is Rona Quick. She’s a private investigator that came to your father and me on behalf of your sister.”
I gave Stacey an uncomfortable smile and a little wave.
“Roberta,” Elliot hissed, glowering at his wife.
“I’m doing this, Elliot,” Roberta said firmly. “I won’t lose our daughter because we’re too scared to tell her the truth.”
“You’re my parents,” Stacey said, her voice softening. “You’ve raised me, and you love me. You won’t lose me just because I have a bigger family.”
She wrapped her arms around Roberta, and a moment later, Elliot got up and joined the embrace. Feeling like I was intruding, I looked over at Jenna, who only shrugged. We might be able to slip away now, but if we did, Jenna might miss actually being introduced to her sister. As Roberta stepped back, she wiped her eyes and smiled at Jenna.
“Stacey, this is your sister, Jenna Archer. She’s been wanting to meet you for a while.”
Jenna stood up, and I saw her hands shake as she rubbed her palms on her jeans. I couldn’t hold back the smil
e as she moved forward to greet the first of her siblings. Hopefully, the other introductions would be a lot less eventful.
Twenty-Four
When I’d been figuring out what I wanted to do this weekend, it hadn’t included driving all over the city for hours on end, looking for a missing thirteen-year-old, and I certainly hadn’t thought I’d be involved in a strange sort of family reunion.
Jenna was quiet as I drove her home. A different kind of quiet than she usually was. My own thoughts kept running over and over everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and I knew that Jenna was thinking about it too.
This had been the first of her siblings that she’d met, and one who’d never lived with their mother, not even for a few months. Stacey was the same age Jenna had been when she’d been rescued from her mother, and I couldn’t help wondering if Jenna saw that in her sister. The life Jenna could have had if she’d been born to a decent person. All of that potential. All of the love and support that would have nurtured her natural talents.
Would this make her reconsider having me look for the rest of her brothers and sisters? I hoped not.
I wasn’t worried about the billable hours I’d lose if she asked me to stop. I agreed with her reasons for wanting to find the others in the first place, but I couldn’t say that I understood what she was going through. What I, as an outsider, might think was important might be the last thing Jenna cared about. Whatever my friend decided, I would support her.
As I pulled into her driveway, I finally spoke, “I’m here if you want to talk about any of this.”
She gave me a tight smile and nodded. “Thanks. I think I’m going to wait to make any decisions until I’ve showered, slept, and eaten. I need a clear head.”
“Any time you want to talk, just call.”
She thanked me again as Rylan opened her door. The moment she was on her feet, he had his arms around her. She buried her face against his chest, and I looked away, not wanting to intrude on such a personal moment.