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Authors: Karen Rose Smith
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the
front door? Are you sure you didn't hear anything? What time frame are we
dealing with? What was the time you saw her last night? You didn't check on
her before you called for her this morning? Tell me exactly what's
missing."
"I
don't know how she left. I checked on her last night around ten. This morning
I called her for breakfast and when she didn't come—" Clare's voice cracked.
Her
father canvassed Shara's room as if he were searching for that one important
clue...as if Clare hadn't done that already.
"And
you really have no idea where she went?"
"Her
friends are in school. I can't talk to them until they're out. I didn't call
you over here to give me the third degree. I thought you'd know the next best
thing to do. Maybe I should have called Mom."
"I'm
just trying to get to the bottom of what happened here," Max snapped, his
voice gruff.
"No,
what you're doing is remembering, and you're blaming me for Shara running away
just like you blamed me for Lynnie running away."
Max
looked stunned...as if she'd slapped him. Maybe she'd intended her
words to be a shock. Maybe she'd finally intended to get it all out in the
open. Yet she could see from his closed face that that wasn't going to
happen. Although her father was a lawyer, he talked to people rather than
listening to them. Maybe that wasn't true with his clients and their parents,
but it was true with his family.
Max cut
a glance to Joe. "This isn't a conversation for right now."
"It
hasn't been a conversation at all for the past twenty-seven years, but we can
move on. I know the first few hours are important…so important."
Her
father didn't come closer to comfort her. He didn't fling his arm around her
neck, something he'd never done again after Lynnie was abducted. But he did
gentle his voice. "I'm going to contact a veteran on the police force who
was a rookie and there when Lynnie was abducted. We will get to the
bottom of this, Clare. We'll find Shara. Now why don't you call your mom.
She'll be horribly upset if we don't let her know what's happened."
Her
mother was going to be horribly upset. But Clare went to the phone
anyway, knowing she had no choice but to call and give her mother bad news.
****
As
Amanda let herself into Clare's house, she was somewhere between stunned horror
and tears. Yet she knew Max hated the tears. Shara was missing. Missing.
Yet
this was different from what had happened to Lynnie, she told herself. So
different. Shara had probably left of her own accord.
However,
when Amanda saw the expression on her daughter's face, she knew Clare was
feeling everything she herself had felt so many years ago. Her daughter was
stiff, resisting, holding herself tightly together, just like Amanda had done.
Clare motioned
to Joe. "I called him because I didn't know what else to do. He
suggested I call you and dad...since you'd been through it before."
In
spite of the turmoil Amanda felt at the thought of Shara being out in the world
alone, she knew it was telling that Clare had called Joe. Did she depend on
him? Might they be involved?
Amanda
found herself hoping they were, though Clare had never given any indication of
that. Her daughter needed something special in her life... someone special.
There
was another man in the room, too, dressed in a suit. Amanda suspected who he was.
Max took
over the introductions this time. "This is Detective Sergeant
Hobart."
Amanda
extended her hand, thinking the detective appeared a bit familiar. She guessed
he was in his late forties, with sandy blond hair and a midriff that might be
proof he'd eaten too many donuts. He had a round face and blue eyes and
tortoise shell glasses. Those glasses rang a bell, too.
"We
met a long time ago," he said to Amanda. "I was a rookie working on
your daughter's case."
"You
worked with Detective Grove?"
"Yes,
I did. Not his right-hand man or anything. Mostly ran
front door? Are you sure you didn't hear anything? What time frame are we
dealing with? What was the time you saw her last night? You didn't check on
her before you called for her this morning? Tell me exactly what's
missing."
"I
don't know how she left. I checked on her last night around ten. This morning
I called her for breakfast and when she didn't come—" Clare's voice cracked.
Her
father canvassed Shara's room as if he were searching for that one important
clue...as if Clare hadn't done that already.
"And
you really have no idea where she went?"
"Her
friends are in school. I can't talk to them until they're out. I didn't call
you over here to give me the third degree. I thought you'd know the next best
thing to do. Maybe I should have called Mom."
"I'm
just trying to get to the bottom of what happened here," Max snapped, his
voice gruff.
"No,
what you're doing is remembering, and you're blaming me for Shara running away
just like you blamed me for Lynnie running away."
Max
looked stunned...as if she'd slapped him. Maybe she'd intended her
words to be a shock. Maybe she'd finally intended to get it all out in the
open. Yet she could see from his closed face that that wasn't going to
happen. Although her father was a lawyer, he talked to people rather than
listening to them. Maybe that wasn't true with his clients and their parents,
but it was true with his family.
Max cut
a glance to Joe. "This isn't a conversation for right now."
"It
hasn't been a conversation at all for the past twenty-seven years, but we can
move on. I know the first few hours are important…so important."
Her
father didn't come closer to comfort her. He didn't fling his arm around her
neck, something he'd never done again after Lynnie was abducted. But he did
gentle his voice. "I'm going to contact a veteran on the police force who
was a rookie and there when Lynnie was abducted. We will get to the
bottom of this, Clare. We'll find Shara. Now why don't you call your mom.
She'll be horribly upset if we don't let her know what's happened."
Her
mother was going to be horribly upset. But Clare went to the phone
anyway, knowing she had no choice but to call and give her mother bad news.
****
As
Amanda let herself into Clare's house, she was somewhere between stunned horror
and tears. Yet she knew Max hated the tears. Shara was missing. Missing.
Yet
this was different from what had happened to Lynnie, she told herself. So
different. Shara had probably left of her own accord.
However,
when Amanda saw the expression on her daughter's face, she knew Clare was
feeling everything she herself had felt so many years ago. Her daughter was
stiff, resisting, holding herself tightly together, just like Amanda had done.
Clare motioned
to Joe. "I called him because I didn't know what else to do. He
suggested I call you and dad...since you'd been through it before."
In
spite of the turmoil Amanda felt at the thought of Shara being out in the world
alone, she knew it was telling that Clare had called Joe. Did she depend on
him? Might they be involved?
Amanda
found herself hoping they were, though Clare had never given any indication of
that. Her daughter needed something special in her life... someone special.
There
was another man in the room, too, dressed in a suit. Amanda suspected who he was.
Max took
over the introductions this time. "This is Detective Sergeant
Hobart."
Amanda
extended her hand, thinking the detective appeared a bit familiar. She guessed
he was in his late forties, with sandy blond hair and a midriff that might be
proof he'd eaten too many donuts. He had a round face and blue eyes and
tortoise shell glasses. Those glasses rang a bell, too.
"We
met a long time ago," he said to Amanda. "I was a rookie working on
your daughter's case."
"You
worked with Detective Grove?"
"Yes,
I did. Not his right-hand man or anything. Mostly ran
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