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Authors: Victoria Laurie
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and utilized to the best of their talents and abilities.”
“And I would like to state for the record, sir, that I strongly protest their involvement,” Harrison said, and I was shocked by his lack of diplomacy.
Gaston merely waved a hand in Harrison’s direction and said, “Yes, Agent Harrison, your objection is again noted. Now let’s brief our guests on the facts we have at hand. I am anxious to hear Ms. Cooper’s impressions on the evidence gathered so far. Agent Albright, if you would be so kind as to detail the facts.”
A man I’d put in his late twenties stood up and began to pass out folders. “What we know is contained within these files,” he began. “On May eleventh of this year Bianca Lovelace, of Battle Creek, Michigan, left her dorm room at Michigan State University to attend a study group sometime before eight p.m. She never arrived at the study group and no one has seen or heard from her since.”
I opened the folder and pulled out an eight-by-ten glossy photo of a beautiful girl with shiny brown hair and a gorgeous smile. My heart immediately sank. Bianca’s image appeared flat to my eye—like a deflated balloon—and I knew the poor girl was dead. I swirled my fingers over the photo when I felt a little nudge from Candice. Looking up into her eyes, I knew she was asking me if I thought Bianca was alive. I shook my head and set the picture on the tabletop.
Agent Albright was continuing with the details. He’d already moved on to the second missing student, a young man named Kyle Newhouse, from Ohio, who had vanished exactly one week after Bianca. “This one is a similar scenario; according to his classmates, Newhouse had attended his last class and was heading to the library to study for finals and was never seen again. Security cameras posted at the front entrance of the library do not indicate Kyle ever entered the building. His father is a state senator.”
I sifted through my folder until I found Kyle’s photo. He was a great-looking kid, robust and muscular, and I couldn’t imagine him being overpowered by anyone easily. But his picture told me that Kyle had definitely breathed his last. Again I could feel Candice’s eyes on me. I shot her a side glance and gave another small headshake.
“Five days after Newhouse goes missing, our final victim disappeared,” Albright continued. “Leslie Coyle, a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, had just finished her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin and was heading home. Her roommate was there as she took the last load down to her car, and they said good-bye. Coyle never reached home and her car has never been found.”
Again I flipped through the folder to a blurry photo of Leslie. The picture was of such poor quality that I couldn’t really tell if she was dead or alive, but I had a strong sense that she was still with us. I set that photo to the side—separating her from the other two—and looked up again.
I caught Gaston noting that I had set Bianca’s and Kyle’s photos on my right, and Leslie’s photo on my left, but he didn’t interrupt Albright, allowing him to finish giving us the facts. “Here’s why we think all three disappearances might be linked: They are all of college age and in their freshman year of school. Each student held a two-point-five or better GPA. All three have at least one parent employed within their home state’s legislature. All three had close family ties and were on good terms with both their parents and their classmates. None has a history of mental illness. And as far as we know, none of the missing kids knew one another or has ever made contact. We’ve checked out their blogs and MySpace pages and there’s no mention of anything out of the ordinary or of one another. We’ve done extensive interviews with each kid’s family and their friends, roommates, professors, etc., and no one noticed anything unusual in manner or behavior before these kids disappeared.”
My radar buzzed
“And I would like to state for the record, sir, that I strongly protest their involvement,” Harrison said, and I was shocked by his lack of diplomacy.
Gaston merely waved a hand in Harrison’s direction and said, “Yes, Agent Harrison, your objection is again noted. Now let’s brief our guests on the facts we have at hand. I am anxious to hear Ms. Cooper’s impressions on the evidence gathered so far. Agent Albright, if you would be so kind as to detail the facts.”
A man I’d put in his late twenties stood up and began to pass out folders. “What we know is contained within these files,” he began. “On May eleventh of this year Bianca Lovelace, of Battle Creek, Michigan, left her dorm room at Michigan State University to attend a study group sometime before eight p.m. She never arrived at the study group and no one has seen or heard from her since.”
I opened the folder and pulled out an eight-by-ten glossy photo of a beautiful girl with shiny brown hair and a gorgeous smile. My heart immediately sank. Bianca’s image appeared flat to my eye—like a deflated balloon—and I knew the poor girl was dead. I swirled my fingers over the photo when I felt a little nudge from Candice. Looking up into her eyes, I knew she was asking me if I thought Bianca was alive. I shook my head and set the picture on the tabletop.
Agent Albright was continuing with the details. He’d already moved on to the second missing student, a young man named Kyle Newhouse, from Ohio, who had vanished exactly one week after Bianca. “This one is a similar scenario; according to his classmates, Newhouse had attended his last class and was heading to the library to study for finals and was never seen again. Security cameras posted at the front entrance of the library do not indicate Kyle ever entered the building. His father is a state senator.”
I sifted through my folder until I found Kyle’s photo. He was a great-looking kid, robust and muscular, and I couldn’t imagine him being overpowered by anyone easily. But his picture told me that Kyle had definitely breathed his last. Again I could feel Candice’s eyes on me. I shot her a side glance and gave another small headshake.
“Five days after Newhouse goes missing, our final victim disappeared,” Albright continued. “Leslie Coyle, a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, had just finished her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin and was heading home. Her roommate was there as she took the last load down to her car, and they said good-bye. Coyle never reached home and her car has never been found.”
Again I flipped through the folder to a blurry photo of Leslie. The picture was of such poor quality that I couldn’t really tell if she was dead or alive, but I had a strong sense that she was still with us. I set that photo to the side—separating her from the other two—and looked up again.
I caught Gaston noting that I had set Bianca’s and Kyle’s photos on my right, and Leslie’s photo on my left, but he didn’t interrupt Albright, allowing him to finish giving us the facts. “Here’s why we think all three disappearances might be linked: They are all of college age and in their freshman year of school. Each student held a two-point-five or better GPA. All three have at least one parent employed within their home state’s legislature. All three had close family ties and were on good terms with both their parents and their classmates. None has a history of mental illness. And as far as we know, none of the missing kids knew one another or has ever made contact. We’ve checked out their blogs and MySpace pages and there’s no mention of anything out of the ordinary or of one another. We’ve done extensive interviews with each kid’s family and their friends, roommates, professors, etc., and no one noticed anything unusual in manner or behavior before these kids disappeared.”
My radar buzzed
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