“I’m sorry…”
Cam gave his head a little shake. “He made a good jam.”
“Yeah. He did.”
“He was a good dad, you know. Before…”
“He seemed like a good guy,” Erin said. “I only knew him after the accident, but… I know he was trying to make things work and he loved his family.”
“Yeah.” Cam’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “And we all know where that led.”
They were quiet for a minute. Beaver hadn’t met Roger, but Erin assumed that Cam had probably told her details of what had happened to his father. And Beaver probably had access to some of his records through her job.
Beaver buttered a slice of bread and slathered it with the grocery store jam. After a few minutes of silence, Cam seemed to have managed to compartmentalize his feelings about his father.
“I want to know about Mickey,” he said to Beaver, his tone already accusatory. “Haven’t you looked into him with Josh’s disappearance? To see if he has something to do with it?”
Beaver took a large bite of bread and chewed slowly. “You think I don’t know how to do my job?”
“I want to find Josh. I don’t care whether you think it’s part of your job or not. Mickey can rot in jail for the rest of his life, but if he had something to do with Josh, I want to know about it.”
“What makes you think there was anyone else involved in Josh’s disappearance? Other than Josh himself?”
“I know he wouldn’t leave my mom like that.” Campbell scowled. “He’s more responsible than I am. He’s the baby of the family, so he’s closer to her. And I know he wouldn’t leave. We’ve talked about it.”
“He told you he would never leave home?”
“No. We talked about whether he wanted to join me in the city. About getting away from school and life here in Bald Eagle Falls.” Campbell’s eyes went to Erin. “No offense, but it’s smothering. I couldn’t deal with living here anymore. And it wasn’t much easier for Joshua.”
Erin shrugged. She hadn’t lived there for that long. She liked Bald Eagle Falls, but she knew that it wasn’t for everyone. And she knew there were plenty of negatives. It wasn’t all rainbows and roses.
“He could still have changed his mind,” Beaver observed.
“He didn’t write that note.”
“It looks like his handwriting. It’s not a big enough sample to be absolutely sure, but it’s been sent to the experts for their opinion.”
“It might look like his writing, but it’s not. Josh didn’t talk like that. He wouldn’t say that. He wouldn’t leave Mom. If he left, he would leave her a long letter, apologizing and explaining everything. That’s the kind of guy he is. He wouldn’t just leave that little sticky note, accusing Miss Erin…”
Beaver cocked her head like a bird. “What?”
“He likes to write. And he worries about other people’s feelings. He wouldn’t have scribbled that little note. He would have composed a two or three-page letter. Then I would believe it.”
“What did you call Erin?”
Campbell looked confused. He looked over at Erin, not understanding. “Erin?” he echoed.
“Miss Erin,” Erin corrected.
“Is that what you always call her?” Beaver asked.
Campbell considered. “I don’t know. Most of the time. I think.”
Beaver thought about this. “That’s considered polite in these parts. You’re still a kid, and she’s an adult. So even if she’s a family friend, you still refer to her as Miss.”
Campbell nodded.
Erin watched Beaver, wondering where she was going with this. Beaver half-turned in her seat to look at Erin. “Did Joshua call you Miss Erin too?”
“Yes… I think so. Most of the time.”
Beaver turned back to the table and took another bite of her bread. “That’s not what the note said.”
Erin looked at Beaver. She tried to picture the note in her mind—the spiky, messy writing.
“What did it say?”
“It said Erin Price.”
“Well… that’s still right.”
“Calling you Miss Erin suggests that you’re closer to him. Not a formal relationship or stranger. More of a family relationship. Not as close as auntie, but…”
Erin nodded. “Yes… that’s right. I’m friends with Mary Lou, and even though I didn’t know the boys well, I still consider them… close.”
Campbell’s eyes were intent on Beaver. “So, you believe that Josh didn’t write the note?”
“I’m not there yet,” Beaver warned. She took a couple more bites of her bread, polishing it off, and leaned her chair back on two legs. “Using Erin Price is quite formal. It suggests a distance between the writer and the subject. And perhaps between the writer and who is being addressed. Is there another Erin? Someone else that would require a last name to differentiate them?”
They both shook their heads. Erin couldn’t think of any other Erins in Bald Eagle Falls. Maybe there was a younger child by that name, but not someone else that Joshua would have called Miss Erin. There was no reason for him to call her Erin Price instead of Miss Erin, unless he were angry at her for something. That was still a possibility. Had she made some misstep that had upset him? Not wanting to be interviewed about Beryl’s murder?
“Cam… he wasn’t mad at me, was he? I thought we were still on pretty good terms.”
“Mad at you? For what?” Cam shook his head definitively. “No, he wasn’t mad at you for something. He was irritated that Mom was still…” He shrugged, not finishing the sentence.
They were all silent for a few minutes. Erin watched Beaver, waiting to see what conclusion she came to.
“One would think that if he had just left of his own accord, that we might have friends coming forward by now to say that he is fine, even if he didn’t want to announce where he is,” Beaver said eventually.
Campbell nodded vigorously. “I’ve tried to talk to some of his friends from school. I get it that if he doesn’t want to come forward, they would cover for him and not tell where he was. But they’d probably say to just leave him alone and not look for him. But this… they say they don’t know. That he never said he was thinking of leaving. He’s not the kind to just disappear for a few days at a time like some kids. It’s not the kind of thing Joshua would do.”
Beaver sighed. She snagged a couple of cookies and spoke through a mouthful. “It’s not my case. I’m not involved in any way. But because it’s Joshua… I have an interest in it. I’ll talk to the PD about it. Float some ideas.”
Campbell looked relieved. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Doesn’t mean anyone will listen to me. They have their own ideas. But I can at least give them some thoughts.”
Chapter 18
Terry was not on duty, but Beaver stuck around until he arrived home from his errands to talk with him.
Erin was worried he looked tired. She knew she was fussing over him, which he hated, especially in front of a fellow law enforcement officer, but she couldn’t help herself. He came into the kitchen while she finished making him a sandwich for supper and spoke in a low voice she hoped Beaver wouldn’t overhear from the living room.
“You need to give yourself a chance to recover after that night you were up with Mary Lou,” she told him. “If you keep spending all of your days working and running around doing other things, you’re not going to be able to get caught up, and…” she trailed off. He knew what would happen. He’d finally been able to kick his migraines, and didn’t want to trigger another cluster. She didn’t want to suggest that he was weak or frail, but they both knew it was a danger. If he could just take care of himself and make sure that he got enough sleep and didn’t work too hard, he might be able to stay in good health and not have to take days off due to migraines or other symptoms.
“I’m tired,” he told Erin evenly, “but that’s all. Just normal tired after a normal day of kicking around and running a few errands. I�
�m okay, Erin.”
“I just don’t want you to get sick…”
“I know. And I can take care of myself. I’m telling you, I’m okay. Relax.”
They both looked toward the doorway. Erin couldn’t see Beaver from where she was standing. She looked down at the sandwich as she handed it to him.
“Thank you.” He took it from her.
“Don’t stay up too late with Beaver.”
“Beaver is not going to stay long.” Terry’s voice was firm. “I want to spend time with you, not her. I can talk to her tomorrow if we need more time.”
Erin’s face got warm. “Oh. Okay.”
“I’ll see what she needs and send her on her way.”
Erin nodded. “Okay. I’ll just tidy up in here.”
She didn’t really have much to do in the kitchen, but wanted to be able to listen in on the conversation. Terry gave her a sidelong look.
“Don’t you spend too much time working either. You need a chance to rest just as much as I do.”
“I don’t have much to do.”
He nodded and exited the kitchen. He took his sandwich to the coffee table and sat down on the couch.
“Beaver. What’s up?”
“Been talking to Erin and Campbell about Joshua,” Beaver said succinctly.
“Not your case.”
“No. Not my case. But Campbell is my concern and he was upset about it. He wants me to look into the possibility that Mikhail might have had something to do with Josh’s disappearance.”
“Mikhail?” Terry’s voice was clearly disbelieving. “What would he have to do with someone like Joshua? He’s not exactly a high-value target.”
“It’s always possible that he blamed Joshua and Erin for his arrest, and this was one way of getting back at them.”
“You don’t think that.”
“No,” Beaver agreed.
“The police department thinks that Joshua is probably voluntarily missing. If that’s the case… there’s no point in us investing a lot of resources into it.”
“What are your reasons for believing he’s voluntary?”
Terry took a moment to reply. Erin tidied a few dishes into the dishwasher, waiting for his explanation.
“He’s a high risk after everything his family has been through, especially with Campbell dropping out and taking off like he did. Makes it far more likely that Joshua would be tempted to do exactly the same thing. He’s been having problems with school.”
“But he’s been working on extra credit work to bring his marks up.”
“Yeah. But he might have just found that to be too much. Campbell burned out trying to do everything—working and keeping up with his marks at school, sports teams, home, and family responsibilities. It’s not a stretch that Joshua hoped to do what Campbell couldn’t, but in the end, he decided he just wanted to get out.”
“You’ve interviewed his friends? What do they say?”
“They don’t know where he would have gone. But that doesn’t mean anything. Just that he didn’t tell them what his plans were.”
“What else?”
“What else?” Terry’s breath whistled out. “There’s no indication of break and enter. There’s no sign of violence. No ransom note. The note that was left for Mary Lou wasn’t looking for ransom and appears to be written in Joshua’s own hand. None of that points to abduction.”
“Was there anything about the note that struck you as being off?”
Terry cleared his throat. “Well… I did find it a little surprising.”
“In what way?”
“The fact that he would mention or try to throw suspicion on Erin. Josh is a decent kid. Not the kind I think would try to cause his mother extra worry. And he was on good terms with Erin. There is no reason I can find for him to want to smear her reputation and make Mary Lou angry at her.”
“From what Campbell says, Josh was upset that Mary Lou was angry with Erin.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Mary Lou is someone who doesn’t usually get riled up… I was a little surprised myself that it has lasted this long.”
“Josh didn’t discuss that with you?”
“No. But he was by to see Erin more than once. If he agreed with his mother and thought that she was responsible for the police department’s investigation of him back in December, why would he visit her? As far as I know, he was expressly forbidden from seeing Erin, but did it anyway.”
“So why would he put her back into the crosshairs by implicating her in a note?”
Terry grunted. “Exactly.”
“Did it surprise you that he referred to her as Erin Price in the note?”
“No… why?”
“Was that how he usually referred to her? Addressed her?”
“No, but it is her name.”
“You don’t think it would have been more natural for him to refer to her as Miss Erin or just Erin?”
“I guess so. But if he was trying to make it sound like a third party had written the note, then it would be normal to refer to her as Erin Price. A stranger wouldn’t refer to her familiarly.”
Beaver readjusted her position. Erin could see her through the doorway. She had put her feet up against the edge of the coffee table. “So, what would your instinct be? Written by Joshua to sound like it was a third party, or written by an actual third party?”
“It is similar to his handwriting.”
“Similar doesn’t establish that it’s the same writer. Even with expert analysis, which you don’t have yet. Could it be someone trying to imitate his handwriting, or who just happened to have similar handwriting?”
“Of course,” Terry admitted. “In fact, I wondered whether the brothers had similar writing styles.”
Beaver made a sucking noise, considering this. She pulled a package of gum out of her pocket and folded several pieces into her mouth at once. She chomped for a few minutes before responding to this.
“What is your scenario if it was Campbell who wrote the note? He came to rescue his brother? To take him out for a drink? And then what happened? It went sideways. Something happened to Josh and Campbell doesn’t want anyone to know? Or Josh truly wanted to disappear to where no one could find him?”
“Hmm. I don’t really like any of those.”
“Then you still think Joshua wrote the note.”
“Yes… I think the simplest solution is the most likely.”
“And that Campbell didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“That no one else had anything to do with it. Just one teen who didn’t realize what kind of trouble he was going to cause.”
“And who still doesn’t know what trouble he’s caused? Or who is afraid to come forward and straighten it out?”
“Probably doesn’t even know. It’s not like it’s been in the papers or on TV.”
Beaver cracked her gum. “I’m going to talk to the sheriff tomorrow. Ask him to consider the possibility that it was a kidnapping.”
“Well… that’s your right. Do you really think he was kidnapped? Or you’re just letting Campbell talk you into it?”
“There are inconsistencies. I don’t like them. The more I hear, the less I like them.”
“If it was an abduction… we’re in trouble. We’re already past the first forty-eight hours.”
“Yes,” Beaver agreed grimly.
“You think that Mikhail’s syndicate was involved?”
“It’s not the Russians’ style, but I think I need to look into it anyway. It’s an open loop that needs to be closed.”
“Okay. Well… if I’m going to get called in tomorrow, I’d better get to bed in good time tonight.” Erin heard Terry get to his feet.
Beaver pulled her feet back from the coffee table, letting each of them fall to the floor with a thump. “A pleasure as always, Officer Piper.”
Erin moved to the doorway of the kitchen as they shook hands, and Beaver headed to the door.
“Thank you for the cookies, Miss Eri
n.”
“Any time.”
As Beaver walked out of the house, Terry turned back to Erin. “There are cookies?”
Erin laughed. “There are always cookies.”
She went to the freezer to get a couple out for him.
Chapter 19
Joshua was growing accustomed to his imprisonment. He didn’t wake up expecting to be free. He remembered from one awakening to the next that he needed to be quiet and still and speak respectfully to his captor.
This time there was a smell. Not the rank smell of the room he was being kept in or his own body. Something that smelled warm and enticing. His stomach, previously fallen into a sort of a dormant state, growled and made itself known.
Food. There was food somewhere close by.
He wasn’t able to see where his captor came in from, but could sense him getting closer. Josh pressed his lips together, not wanting to make any extra noise because of the smell, but it was so entrancing, it took all of his willpower not to moan out loud.
The shadows of the figure separated from the surrounding darkness. Joshua’s world shifted as the figure sat close to him. He tried to grab something to prevent himself from falling, before realizing that he was still bound and unable to grasp anything, even if he could see it. As the world stabilized, he realized that he must be on a bed, and the dark figure had sat down on the bed, making it sink under his weight.
Joshua remained frozen for a few minutes until he was sure that nothing else was going to move and that he was not going to fall.
“Something for you to eat,” the familiar whisper informed him.
Joshua blinked, trying to see through the darkness to see what it was. The figure was making small movements. Joshua heard a spoon scrape across the bottom of a bowl. He started salivating in response, even though he’d thought he didn’t have any more spit left in him.
The figure brought a spoon up slowly to Joshua’s mouth, perhaps remembering how he’d misjudged distance with the water. Joshua opened his mouth early to make sure that none of the precious food would be wasted.
It was soup. Warm, nourishing chicken soup. Joshua couldn’t close his lips properly, they were so cracked and swollen. He slurped, trying to get every last drop without any spilling. The spoon returned to the bowl for another spoonful.
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