Samantha Sanderson Without a Trace

by Robin Caroll

  “This is Darby French, Sam. She’s most upset, you see.” Mrs. Trees looked at the girl, who had clearly been crying. “Why don’t you explain, Darby?”

  “Look, I know you know I was supposed to meet with Tam the day he disappeared because Marcus told me that he told you.” Darby French sounded angry.

  “Um, okay.” Sam didn’t see her point.

  “So why would you post that article? I’ve already told the police everything I know, and you know it. Marcus said you called him and he told you everything.” Darby’s bottom lip protruded a little. If she wasn’t pouting, she was missing a perfect opportunity.

  “You think the article was about you?” Sam shook her head.

  “Who else could it be about? Everybody keeps telling me I need to come clean, but I already have.”

  “Darby, the meeting I mentioned wasn’t about you at all,” Sam said.

  “Then who?” Mrs. Trees asked.

  Uh-oh. Now she had to tell the principal she’d been referring to the note, and Mrs. Trees was apt to, as Makayla put it, have a hissy fit.

  “Well, Sam, if you weren’t referring to Darby, what were you referring to?” Mrs. Trees probed.

  “I have it on good authority that it’s possible Tam had something else planned the morning he disappeared.” There, she could say that much.

  “You’re sure you weren’t implying me?” Darby asked.

  “I’m positive.”

  “Darby, go on back to the cafeteria now,” Mrs. Trees said.

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” Darby shot Sam a quick look before disappearing out of the office.

  “Okay, Sam, tell me what you meant,” Mrs. Trees said.

  Well, the principal would find out eventually. “I was referring to the note found in Tam’s locker.”

  “What note?” Ms. Pape sat up straight in her chair.

  “Yes, Sam, what note?” Mrs. Trees asked, but her eyes reflected that she knew exactly what note Sam was talking about. Was she asking to see if Sam would lie to her? Sam had never lied to Mrs. Trees.

  Misled, possibly. Avoided answering, most definitely.

  “Sam?” The principal wasn’t going to let her slip out of this one.

  “The note found in Tam’s locker. The one that said everything was set for in the morning. The note signed by someone named J.T.” Sam blurted it all out so fast that her words almost tumbled on top of each other.

  “How do you know about the note?” Mrs. Trees asked.

  “I saw it. It was lying on the table in the conference room before Deputy Jameson picked it up.”

  “You were snooping?” Mrs. Trees took off her reading glasses and set them on her desk.

  “It was lying on the table, right out in the open. I didn’t go looking for it.” True. She was already where it was, she’d just had to work to get a better view of it. “It wasn’t like I was digging through drawers or something.”

  “Because it was lying in the office, you thought it would be okay to read and use the information as you saw fit?” Clearly, the principal was not amused.

  “I just . . .” Sam shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Trees. I saw the note, couldn’t help but read it, and since I’m worried about Tam, I posted the article. I thought it would be okay because I don’t actually mention the note itself, or who it’s signed by. I wasn’t revealing anything that would hinder the investigation in any way.” She let out a breath.

  Everything she’d said was true. This was probably the first time she’d gone out of her way to keep so many facts secret. Usually she posted everything in her articles, but this time . . . well, she was more worried about Tam than anything else.

  Mrs. Trees stared at her. Sam remained silent, holding the principal’s gaze. She’d done the best she could, but she couldn’t help thinking if the police had acted faster . . .

  The tardy bell rang loudly, signaling the beginning of the school day.

  “I can appreciate your concerns for your friend, Sam, and I do appreciate how you didn’t actually mention the note or the name.” Mrs. Trees lifted her reading glasses and tapped the end of the earpiece against her chin. “Ms. Pape, what are your thoughts?”

  Ms. Pape visibly jumped in her seat. “What?”

  “Your thoughts?”

  “Oh. Well, I believe that Sam, acting as a journalist, used the information she believed to be reliable. She used it in a manner that didn’t reveal too much, nor did she mislead the public. She requested anyone with information to contact the authorities. In my opinion, her intent was clear and she should be commended for her reporting.”

  Sam’s breath caught. Never before had the paper’s faculty sponsor shown such out-and-out support for Sam.

  Mrs. Trees paused for what seemed like a handful of minutes, again tapping the earpiece on her chin to some erratic beat no one else could hear, then shoved the glasses back on her face. “Very well, then. You are free to go to class, Sam. Mrs. Darrington will give you a pass.”

  Sam retrieved her pass from the school secretary, rushed to her locker, and headed toward her first period, English. She handed the pass to Mrs. Beach and took her seat, right behind Grace Brannon.

  A few minutes after Mrs. Beach started the lesson, Grace turned to Sam. “Hey, Sam?”

  “Hey.” Sam looked at her friend and fellow cheerleader.

  Grace glanced over her shoulder to the teacher then leaned down closer to Sam’s desk. “Did you know my uncle does freelance work for local law enforcement?” she asked.

  “No.” Interesting, but Sam couldn’t imagine why Grace was telling her this.

  “He was over for dinner last night and told my mom about an interesting case he’s been working on this week.”

  Sam didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded and listened with half an ear, the other half trying to pay attention to Mrs. Beach’s instructions for their classwork for the day, a worksheet on sentence diagramming.

  “He told Mom that he’d been going through the cell phone of a kid the police thought had run away. He was going through the phone to report text messages and history of the browser and stuff, apparently because he could do it so much quicker than the regular IT group with the sheriff’s office.”

  That got Sam’s undivided attention. “Tam’s?” Sam leaned forward in her seat.

  “He didn’t know whose it was, and I didn’t want him and my mom to realize I was listening to their conversation when I was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen, but it sounded like it.”

  Sam glanced at Mrs. Beach as the teacher handed the front row students stacks of handouts to take one and pass back, then whispered to Grace, “Why did you think it was Tam’s?”

  “Because my uncle said he was surprised that there were a lot of security codes and stuff installed on a junior high kid’s phone. But more importantly, he said he found a deleted text message conversation between the phone’s owner and someone named Lin where he told her not to worry if she heard something about him. He said everything was okay and she’d understand later.” Grace turned and took the last two papers. She set one on her desk and handed the other to Sam.

  Sam’s mind reeled as she took the worksheet.

  “I knew right away it was Tam’s because he and Lin have been getting to know each other. At least, that’s what Lin told me when we had our cheerleading pictures taken.”

  And he’d given Lin a flower in her locker. It had to be Tam’s phone! “Are you sure he told Lin not to worry? That everything was okay and she’d understand later?”

  Grace nodded. “That’s exactly what my uncle said.”

  “What else did he say?”

  “Nothing that I heard. He and my mom went to sit out on the porch, so I couldn’t hear any more of their conversation.”

  “Did your uncle happen to say what the dates were of the text messages?” Sam asked. Man, would she like to talk to Grace’s uncle.

  Grace shook her head. “He didn’t say exactly, but he said he’d been pulling the info
rmation off the phone from the past two weeks, so it had to be during that time. At least, I would think.”

  “Thanks.” Sam sat back in her seat, staring at the worksheet but not seeing it at all.

  Why hadn’t Lin come forward? The assembly . . . the article . . . surely she had to know everyone was worried sick about Tam. Why hadn’t she said anything? What else did she know that she hadn’t told anyone?

  The cafeteria was packed to capacity as Sam wormed her way through all the students in line for hot lunches. She looked around until she found Makayla sitting with Felicia. She joined them, dropping her lunch bag on the table. “What a crazy day it’s been.”

  “Started early too,” Makayla said. “Hurry up and bless the food so you can tell me what happened with Mrs. Trees this morning.”

  “Dear Lord, thank you for the food we’re about to eat. Please use it for the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to bring honor and glory to You. Amen.” Sam opened her bag and pulled out her bottle of water. “It’s all good. I’m still in shock that Ms. Pape stood up for me, though.” She took a sip then proceeded to tell them about her morning in the office.

  “Wow, that’s cool, do-gooder,” Felicia said. “It’s about time she stood up for you instead of always backing you-know-who every time we turn around.”

  “That is cool, unlike last night.” Makayla chomped on the Cheetos Sam’s mom had gotten especially for Makayla to make her lunch. “Think your dad is going to ground you?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “What’d you do?” Felicia asked.

  While Makayla explained, Sam searched the lunch tables. It was possible Lin had first lunch, but maybe not. Although, at the moment, Sam didn’t see—wait, there she was. Sam took a gulp from her water bottle. “I’ll be right back,” she said to no one in particular and headed toward Lin.

  Lin sat with Remy Tucker, another cheerleader, and Thomas Murphy. She smiled as Sam approached. “Hi, Sam.”

  “Hey. Can I talk to you for a second, Lin?”

  “Sure.” Lin stood. She and Sam stood off by the wall. “What’s up?”

  “I’m not trying to be nosy, but I’m worried about Tam. Are you?” Sam studied every blink of Lin’s eye and every muscle movement of her face.

  “I’m very worried. It’s not like Tam at all. I know the police think he’s run away, but I just can’t believe that.” Nothing showed on Lin’s face except worry.

  “Do you think the police still believe he just ran away?” Sam pushed.

  Lin nodded, then moved closer to Sam. “I’m not supposed to say anything, but the police came by to talk to me yesterday after school.”

  “They did?” Sam hadn’t heard anything about this. Then again, why would she? She truly detested that the case wasn’t in her father’s jurisdiction.

  “They had somebody go through Tam’s phone and found a conversation he and I had a week ago. Because of how it sounded, they wanted to know what it was about.”

  Sam glanced over to where Makayla and Felicia stared at her from across the cafeteria. “Was it suspicious or something?”

  “Nothing like that. He just wanted to tell me that if I heard something about him, not to worry.”

  Just as Grace said her uncle had said. Sam crossed her arms over her chest. “That does sound a bit like he was telling you not to worry if his missing was made public.”

  Lin nodded. “That’s what the police thought, but once I explained everything, they realized they were wrong.”

  Curiosity nearly choked Sam. “What was that?”

  “Well . . .” Lin’s cheeks turned bright pink. “I know you know that I’ve had a crush on Tam and that we’d started talking to get to know each other better. Right?”

  Sam nodded. But that had happened like a month or so ago.

  “A couple of weeks ago, Tam started tutoring a girl in math. She’s really pretty and sweet, and some of the guys saw Tam tutoring her during activity period.”

  Right. Darby French. She was really pretty.

  Lin continued, “They started picking on him about having a crush on her and that’s why he was tutoring her. It isn’t true, of course, but you know how guys can be.”

  “Childish,” Sam said.

  Lin grinned. “Exactly. Anyway, Tam had texted me one afternoon because some of the eighth grade boys had told a lot of people that Tam had a crush on her.” The pinkness deepened and brightened in her cheeks. “Tam didn’t want it to get back to me and hurt my feelings. I mean, we’re just friends and everything, but . . . yeah.”

  It did make sense now. “Oh. I get it.”

  “Yeah, when one or two of the guys really made a point of picking on him right in front of me when we were walking to newspaper together, he felt so bad that the next day, he put a flower in my locker.” Lin smiled, and blushed even more. “How sweet is that, right?”

  Sam grinned. “Very sweet.”

  “So, have you heard anything about him being missing? I’ve been worried sick, but right now, I don’t think there’s much we can do except pray for him.” The blush had disappeared from Lin’s face, replaced with an expression of worry.

  “I know. I’m hoping that now that the AMBER Alert is issued, there will be more action to look for him.”

  “I heard that a couple of churches were getting together to make meals for Mr. and Mrs. Lee and do some chores for them. My mom is one of the organizers. She says that Mr. Lee has had to keep going to work even though Tam is missing, because he’s a surgeon and he saves lives.”

  “That has to be hard: saving other children’s lives when your own kid is missing.” Sam couldn’t even begin to imagine how she’d feel if she were Mr. Lee. Oh, the irony.

  “Well, I’d better get back to lunch before the bell rings,” Lin said.

  “Yeah. Me too. Thanks, Lin.” Sam rushed back to her table. She’d barely had enough time, in between bites of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, to tell Makayla and Felicia about the text messages and what Lin told her, before the bell rang.

  As she headed to her locker, Sam couldn’t help but think that no matter what she did or which way she turned, every lead was a dead end.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Sam sat at a table in newspaper. Aubrey had already flitted by several times, hinting that she’d finished the design for the paper’s new masthead. She went out of her way to be obvious, making a point to “secretly” show only certain people the new design—people in her clique that she liked.

  As if Sam cared. She sat in front of her monitor, staring at the blinking cursor, listening to Felicia and Lana on either side of her chat as they wrote their articles to turn in to the she-beast. Sam knew she needed to write a new article, but so far, all she had was the news that Tam’s disappearance had apparently been upgraded enough for an AMBER Alert to be issued.

  Such dire news.

  “Hey, Sam.” Jared Hopkins slowly approached the girls’ table as if they would pounce on him at any given moment. He’d hit his growth spurt early, so stood almost six feet tall, even though he was in the seventh grade too. He had dark brown hair and eyes, and mainly kept to himself. Jared seemed like a textbook introvert, so Sam had always wondered a bit why he was on the newspaper staff.

  “Hi, Jared.”

  He kept his head ducked. “Uh, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone, maybe?”

  “Sure.” Sam stood and moved away from the girls, standing almost in the corner of the room.

  Jared faced her, standing close. “I know where Tam went Wednesday morning. His secret meeting.”

  “What?” Every muscle in Sam’s body went rigid.

  Jared’s face turned red. “He left school after his mom dropped him off and came to my house.”

  Shut up! “What?” Sam knew she sounded like a parrot, unable to speak except to repeat the same word again, but it was all her mind could force out. “I didn’t know you two were close friends.” Questions jumbled in her mind, and none of them was making sense.
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br />   “We aren’t. Not really. We hang out here and in science, but that’s about it. Look, he came to me and said he just needed to place to hang out for a day, during school hours, and he knew I lived close by and my parents work all day.” Jared shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal, so I told him he could hang at my house.”

  “Let me get this straight . . .” Sam’s mind couldn’t process what she was hearing. “Tam planned to skip school and went to your house? To just hang out?” This was crazy. Jared had to just be messing with her. Aubrey probably put him up to leading her on. She glanced over to where Aubrey stayed in her idea of paradise, holding court with Kevin Haynes’ full attention.

  Jared nodded. “I live right on Chalamont Drive, just behind the school’s baseball field, so we just met on the blacktop of the school at eight o’clock that morning, walked to the house, and I let him in. Then I came back to school.”

  “This was all planned?” She couldn’t swallow that. “You’re kidding, right?” She glanced over to where Nikki Cole had joined Aubrey and Kevin Haynes, as well as some of the other eighth graders on the paper’s staff. All of them were totally ignoring Jared and Sam.

  “About two weeks ago, Tam and I were talking, and he asked if I knew a place where he could hide out for just one school day. I could tell he was hinting, so I offered my house.” Jared shrugged. “I’ve let friends do it before.”

  “Y’all talked about this two weeks ago?” Sam couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What was Tam up to?

  “About then, give or take a day or so. Then, he put a note in my locker on Tuesday to reply with a note in his locker if it was all still okay for him to come over on Wednesday morning, so I did.”

  The mysterious note. Now its meaning made perfect sense. Sam nodded. “You’re J.T.”

  Jared gave her a funny stare. “How’d you know?”

  “I know about the note.”

  His eyes widened. “Tam told you?”

  “No, I saw the note. The police have it. They’re trying to figure out who J.T. is.” She frowned. “Hold up . . . your last name is Hopkins.”

  He grinned. “Jared Thomas Hopkins, Junior. My mom calls me J.T. since she calls Dad Jared.” He stopped smiling. “Wait a minute. The police have my note?”