The Forgotten Girl

by David Bell

  There was a short pause. Jason wished there were something mundane to discuss—the weather, sports, local politics. But nothing came to his mind. All he saw, all he thought about, was Hayden and Sierra.

  “I heard from Colton Rivers today,” Regan said.

  “Really?”

  “He came by my house this morning and asked me about Logan.”

  “Your house? Are you working from home today?”

  “It’s Saturday, Jason.”

  Jason paused. “It is Saturday, isn’t it? Jesus. I forgot.”

  Regan said, “Your friend Colton asked me if I’d heard from Logan at all over the years, or if I knew his whereabouts.”

  “He’s relentless,” Jason said.

  “He seems that way. I told him I hadn’t heard anything either. He said they’re going to hire an investigator to take a real look into finding him. Did you know they’ve tried that a couple of times before?”

  “Colton told me.”

  “It sounds like they’re getting serious now,” Regan said.

  “What do you remember about Logan and Hayden? Do you remember anything about them spending time together?”

  “Not really. I know if we were all at your house, Hayden would act flirtatious with Logan. They acted that way with each other.” Regan couldn’t hide the disapproval or jealousy in her voice. “Every word they said to each other back then was laced with innuendo, but I never took it seriously. Did you? I thought it was just a game they were playing. It was a game Hayden played with everybody.”

  “You’re right about that,” Jason said.

  “But she was dating Derrick back then, wasn’t she? Wasn’t she almost always dating Derrick, even when she was flirting with other guys?”

  “Yes,” Jason said. “I’m grasping, I guess. It’s just that Colton saw her a couple of nights ago with Jesse Dean. And Jesse Dean and Derrick were friends. I know Hayden was here to try to make amends for something from the past. I don’t know. . . . Could whatever Hayden was here for have to do with Logan?”

  “How could that be?” Regan asked.

  “What if Hayden and Logan weren’t just friends?” Jason asked. “What if it went beyond a flirtation at some point?”

  “We would have known,” Regan said. “We were all so close back then. We knew almost everything about each other’s lives. Could Logan have been mixed up with your sister and you not know about it?”

  “I wonder how much I know about anybody. It’s all strange.”

  “What is?”

  “Her car was found up on the Bluff,” Jason said. “What was she doing?”

  “What if she isn’t the one who put it up there?”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Detective Olsen came by the house as the sun was going down. He didn’t call first, and when he rang the doorbell, Jason and Nora and Sierra were all sitting in the living room, saying little to one another. Despite napping, everyone was still tired—emotionally more than anything else. No one mentioned Hayden’s name, although, Jason suspected, they were all thinking about her. He knew he was.

  When Jason looked outside and saw Olsen, he rushed to the door. Then he slowed down. He wondered why he was hurrying. What could the detective have to say that he would want to hear?

  Olsen looked tired. His jacket was gone, and the cuffs of his pants as well as his shoes were covered with dirt. Jason held the door for him, his hand trembling. He tried to read Olsen’s body for signs. Did he look like a man arriving with the worst news possible?

  Everyone stood. Sierra had her thumbnail in her mouth again, and Jason wanted to rush across the room to her, to cover her ears, to cover and protect her completely so no bad news could reach her. But he couldn’t. He was too far away. And the bad news was going to come whether he was sheltering her or not.

  But Olsen said, pushing the glasses up on his nose, “There’s nothing for me to report right now. We haven’t found anything on the Bluff.” He looked at all of them after he spoke these words, and he clearly intended for his look to be reassuring and comforting. But he just looked tired as well. He looked like he needed reassuring. “No sign of Hayden. No indication of where she might be. It’s starting to get dark, so we had to stop.” He quickly added, “Her car has been taken into custody. We’ll process it further and hold on to it for now.”

  “Is that it, then?” Nora asked.

  “For tonight. We plan on looking some more in the morning.”

  “On Sunday?” Sierra asked.

  “No rest for the wicked,” Olsen said. “We also have her description out to all of our units. We’re casting a net.” He cleared his throat. He looked at Jason and Nora and then at Sierra. He seemed to be considering if he wanted to say more in front of her. Jason nodded, trying to let Olsen know that he should go on, that there was nothing he needed to worry about hiding from Sierra. Jason didn’t know if Olsen got the hint, or if he just decided to go on himself. “You know, there’s a limit to what we can do or think here. We don’t know if Hayden is in any danger. We don’t know if she’s been hurt.”

  “The blood—” Sierra said.

  “I know,” Olsen said. “But people get blood in their cars for a variety of reasons. She could have cut her hand. She could be menstruating.”

  “On the backseat?” Jason asked.

  “I get it,” Olsen said. “I know you’re worried. We’ll test it, don’t worry. We’ll see if we can get a match.” He turned to Sierra. “You don’t know your mother’s blood type, do you?”

  “A positive. We’re both A positive.”

  Olsen looked impressed with Sierra’s knowledge. “Okay, we’ll check. But Hayden’s an adult. If she left, if she abandoned her car, or if she’s just spending time somewhere, those are all her choices. The only thing she’s done wrong, in the eyes of the law, is leave her car overnight in a park. That’s a twenty-five-dollar fine.”

  “You’re saying the next move is up to her,” Jason said.

  “I’m saying we’re going to look a little more tomorrow,” Olsen said. “But we can’t have a bunch of manpower searching for an adult who hasn’t committed a crime and who hasn’t given any indication she’s in danger.” He sighed and looked down at his dirty shoes. “It’s been a long day, and I’m just trying to be forthright with all of you. There are limits to what we can accomplish.”

  None of them said anything, but Olsen’s words hit Jason like a splash of cold water. What did he expect to happen if Hayden wasn’t up there on the Bluff, alive or dead? Was Olsen going to devote his professional life to finding his sister? She had run off before and abandoned her responsibilities only to resurface at some later date, expecting that she could seamlessly return to whatever she had left behind. Was that what she was doing now? Was she having a last round of partying with Jesse Dean and company before coming back to pick her daughter up? Olsen was right. Blood showed up for a lot of reasons. Especially in the car of someone who had just fallen off the wagon . . .

  Sierra sat down. She turned her face away from the three adults in the room. The only noise she made was a low sniffle. Nora walked over to her, and Jason took a step that way as well, the emotion Sierra displayed catching hold of him. He felt his eyes burn from tears, but when he moved, Olsen placed his hand gently on Jason’s arm. When Jason looked at the detective, he motioned toward the door with his head, indicating he wanted to talk to Jason alone.

  The two men stepped outside. The sky was turning red in the distance. The days were getting longer, and Jason knew they would, in just a few weeks, reach the longest of the year. Summer made him nostalgic—for childhood, for his teenage years with Regan and Logan, for a time when he didn’t have to think about or deal with the things he was dealing with as an adult. He knew he couldn’t and shouldn’t remain untouched by such things. He had already lost both of his parents, after all, but he didn’t like to thi
nk of Sierra getting hammered by those things when she was just seventeen. Instead of gearing up for a summer of friends, boys, swimming pools, and late nights, she was inside, absorbing the reality of her mother’s disappearance. Jason wasn’t sure which would be worse—the news that Hayden had met with foul play, or the news that she hadn’t, leaving everything up in the air for who knew how much longer.

  Olsen placed his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the porch railing. He let out a long, slow breath. A flock of birds passed overhead, a scattering of black dots against the darkening clouds. “I am sorry I don’t have more information. But it’s only been one day. Less than a day, really.”

  “I understand,” Jason said.

  “I wanted to talk to you a little more. This is about your niece.”

  “Okay. What about her?”

  “We still have the matter of the car and the drugs. I didn’t want to push her on it in there, but those things have to be addressed.”

  “Like I said, we don’t want to press any charges about the car. It’s fine.”

  “But she hit another car. It’s been reported to the police. She has to face the music about that.”

  “You said no one in the other car was hurt, right?”

  “That’s right. But there’s damage to the other vehicle. It’s not a lot, but someone has to pay for it. Either your insurance will, or you will.”

  “We’ll take care of it.”

  “Really?”

  “We’ll find a way.”

  “Okay,” Olsen said. “What about the drugs? That’s not something I can just make go away. That’s possession by a minor.”

  “It’s not hers. She’s holding them for a friend.”

  “It’s not really relevant,” Olsen said. “Do you think she’s holding them for her mother?”

  “I don’t know. I doubt it. Hayden never did a lot of drugs. Some, I know. Give me a chance to get the story out of Sierra. I don’t want her to face some kind of legal issue that will follow her the rest of her life.”

  “She’s a minor,” Olsen said. “There are programs.” Olsen cleared his throat. “I know she’s already been in trouble before, over in Redman County. The stolen car. If she’s starting down the road her mother went down, it might be good to get her help now.”

  “She’s not on that road,” Jason said. He wished his voice carried more conviction. He believed it, yes, but he also knew how empty promises and vows could sound when spoken with a great deal of force. “Can we just wait until we know more about Hayden? I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to be sensitive. Can you just hold on to that for a little while longer?”

  Olsen didn’t give his word one way or the other. He moved his foot and kicked at a small pebble, sending it into the yard. “We’re going to get in touch with Sierra’s father.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Because he’s her father.” He took his glasses off and polished them with a tissue he drew from his pocket. “His child’s mother is missing. The girl may be left here for a long time. We have to tell the other parent. He may want to come and be with his daughter, or he may want her to stay with him until this is resolved.”

  “Stay with him,” Jason said, almost under his breath.

  “He might,” Olsen said. “I don’t know what he’s going to want to do. But he has to be informed about any situation involving his child. Don’t you agree?”

  “I guess.”

  “Is there something wrong with her father? Something we should know about?”

  Jason didn’t want Derrick out of Sierra’s life. He wanted Sierra in his. The feeling had been slow to come over him, but he didn’t want her to leave the house with someone else. He didn’t want to think of her facing everything without his and Nora’s help.

  “He’s always treated Sierra well,” Jason said. “In some ways, I guess he’s been more reliable than Hayden.”

  “But?” Olsen squinted as he asked the one-word question.

  Jason paused. “He’s had some trouble with the law. It’s been a few years, but that’s part of the record. He’s been a troublemaker.”

  “Lots of people break the law and have children.”

  “Well, it’s something to consider,” Jason said, aware that he was trying hard to throw his ex-brother-in-law under the bus. “You should look into it.”

  “I will.”

  “Sierra hasn’t seen him in a couple of years, and she’s safe with us now.”

  “Maybe I’m just tired, Mr. Danvers, but if the matter of Sierra’s custody went to court . . . let’s just say the car accident and the drugs wouldn’t be used to bolster your claim.” Jason started to object, but Olsen said, “We’ll notify the father. If he wants to come and see his daughter, he can. If he wants to ignore the problem and hope it goes away, he can do that as well. You all probably just want to do what’s best for the girl right now. She’s in the middle of a brutal time. Right?”

  Jason nodded.

  Olsen tried to smile. “Look, no one doubts you care about the kid. Keep her safe. But if the father decides he wants to play a role, she doesn’t need to see a bunch of adults fighting over her. It’s better if everybody joins hands, you know?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good night,” Olsen said.

  “How early are you going to start looking tomorrow?” Jason asked.

  “Early.”

  “Do you think you’ll find anything up there? Anything that will tell us where Hayden is?”

  Olsen considered the question, then said, “As long as we’re looking, we’re hoping.”

  * * *

  Before going to bed, Jason stopped in Sierra’s room. She had the light on, the door open. She sat up, her back propped against several pillows, and she held a history textbook. Despite the door standing open, Jason knocked anyway, and Sierra looked over. Her eyes looked tired, the lids heavy. Jason couldn’t tell if the redness in her eyes came from crying or the accumulation of the emotion of the past couple of days. Nevertheless, when she saw Jason in the doorway, she tried to smile.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

  “That’s okay,” she said. “I’m not really reading. The words are just going past my eyes, and I’m turning the pages, but none of it is sinking in. I’ll get through a few pages and then realize I didn’t understand a thing I just read.”

  “I wanted to say good night and see if you needed anything.”

  “I’m okay. Aunt Nora has been checking on me every few minutes. I’m glad we heard from the police earlier. At least we know they’re going to look more in the morning.”

  “It’s something,” Jason said. “You’re right.” Jason came in and sat on the bed. Sierra scooted over, her legs moving beneath the covers. She laid the book aside. Jason said, “I’ve been thinking about your mom a lot. Of course. And I realized something about her.”

  “What?” Sierra looked curious.

  “I know I complain a lot, and have complained a lot, about her being untrustworthy. All those years she told us she’d quit drinking and then she’d start again. Or she’d be drinking on the side. Those things made her untrustworthy, right?”

  “I guess so.”

  “That’s different from being dishonest,” Jason said. “I realize that, at least when it comes to a personal relationship, your mother is the most honest person I’ve ever known. The drinking could mess her up, and she’d lie about whether she was drinking or not. But she always told me what she was really thinking. And she always told me what I needed to hear, whether I wanted to hear it or not.”

  “That’s true,” Sierra said.

  “I have a feeling that whatever she came back for was motivated by that. A desire for honesty. For telling the truth to someone or about someone. It might have gotten her in trouble, but—”

  “That wouldn’t stop her,”
Sierra said, finishing the thought.

  “No, it wouldn’t.” The words Hayden spoke about Regan on the night she dropped Sierra off came back to him. Jason understood the real message his sister was delivering when she asked him about Regan—she was saying, Are you happy, big brother? Are you really happy?

  Sierra was fingering the edge of her blanket, and her cuticles were chewed and raw. She needed peace and rest.

  “Anyway,” Jason said, “I wanted you to know that’s the way I think about her. The other stuff . . . the problems she may have had, they’re not important to me.”

  “Thanks,” Sierra said. “I’ll remember that too.”

  He reached out and clasped her hand. Sierra squeezed back, and then he left the room to try to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Jason stepped out onto the porch the next morning, searching for the Sunday paper. He had slept off and on the previous night, finally waking around seven thirty. The rest of the house slept, even Sierra. She left her bedroom door open—for transparency’s sake, Jason assumed—and when he walked by on his way downstairs, Jason heard her soft breathing. The history textbook lay on the floor next to the bed.

  The morning was clear as he retrieved the newspaper, a late spring day full of promise. The sky looked like a clean slate, one that the events of the coming day could still be written across. The neighborhood was quiet, no human voices to be heard. A sprinkler up the block made a repetitious chittering noise, but nothing else stirred. He rolled the paper open, searching for any news about Hayden. A quick scan revealed nothing. He was turning to go inside when he saw someone walking toward the house.

  He recognized the bulky, slow-moving figure. Jason wondered if Colton ever slept, or was he constantly on the move around the town, checking in with people, asking them questions, tending to their needs? Johnny-on-the-spot, Nora called him, even on a Sunday.

  But Colton’s face looked troubled as he came up the walk. His forehead was creased, the corners of his mouth turned down. Jason still held the open paper in his hands. He wanted to lift it up between his body and Colton’s, use it as a screen of some kind. But Colton had already seen him, had already reached the bottom of the stairs that led to the porch. He stopped there, one foot on the bottom step. He rested his arm on the banister and huffed a little as though he had exerted himself hustling to Jason’s house.