Now You See Her

by Paul J. Teague

  ‘I'm happy to take Zach more regularly, if that will help?’ he ventured.

  There was an ominous silence from Nadia. Cory figured they’d been doing okay for money before she took the promotion, and Nadia had seemed much happier before she took on the burden of management. He didn't really know why she'd accepted the offer in the first place. Though if he was really honest with himself, he did know the reason. Her parents. As a successful judge, Nadia's father had leaned on her since she was a teenager. Her career in the law was a foregone conclusion. Pressure like that was hard to resist, and it had broken up their marriage.

  Cory didn't want a fight. He never wanted to fight—he'd rather they were a family again. So he didn't rise to the bait, but asked to speak to Zach instead. He was the one remarkable thing to have come out of their marriage; even if they didn't succeed in patching things up, he'd always be proud of the child that they created together.

  ‘Hi, Zach, how's it going?’

  ‘Hi, Dad, can I see you again soon? I miss you.’

  It broke his heart to hear those words coming from the mouth of a five-year-old. He was one year older than Poppy Norman. A chill moved through his body as he realized for the first time what Reece Norman must be experiencing. Even if Poppy had just wandered off somewhere, and was perfectly safe, Reece must be out of her mind with panic.

  ‘I'll be around after soccer practice this week and we'll go out for pizza. Or would you prefer a burger?’

  His relationship with his child was parceled out like portions of a meal, never too much and always too little. An hour here, a half-day there. Why was Nadia being so difficult? He was reluctant to set up a formal arrangement, which might mean him losing out on the precious time they already had together. Cory was still hoping they'd sort it out and get the marriage back on track.

  ‘I don't really mind, Dad, I'm just looking forward to seeing you again. I miss you.’

  Cory felt his eyes welling up with tears. He hated what they were putting their son through. If he'd told Nadia not to take the promotion, would that have made a difference?

  ‘Zach, your meal is ready. Finish the call, please.’

  Nadia's voice could be heard calling from the kitchen. He could picture it in every detail. After all, it had been their house before the separation. The large, metallic fridge from which he'd collect a chilled beer after work. The Bosch dishwasher which held all the plates from their family meals. The granite worktop he didn't really like, but which he'd agreed to have fitted because Nadia loved it so much. All bought with help from her parents. No wonder Nadia felt so imprisoned by her own family.

  ‘Sorry, Dad, I've gotta go.’ Zach said. ‘Love you, Dad, see you soon.’

  ‘Bye, Zach. I love you, too.’

  The call ended. Less than one minute speaking to his own son, the time like a priceless gift, one to be stored away in a secure box and coveted for the rest of his life. He wiped his right eye to remove a tear and got back into the car.

  ‘I'm all good,’ Bianca said, ‘No problems about when I get home. Are you okay?’

  Cory sniffed and wiped his eye again.

  ‘Sure, just an allergic reaction,’ he replied. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

  He fastened his seat belt, placed his hand on the key which he'd left in the ignition, then pressed the start button. There was silence. He tried again.

  ‘Sorry, Bianca. I need a spare part, but I haven't had time to pick it up yet. It shouldn't be a problem, but I'll need to lift the hood and give the starter motor a tap with a wrench.’

  He bent to release the hood and got out. After some fiddling in the engine compartment, he shouted through the window at Bianca.

  ‘Can you turn the key?’

  She leaned over and did as he asked, and the car fired into life. Cory released the hood from its support and shut it firmly, then climbed back into the car.

  ‘Sorry about that. I've been meaning to get over to the junkyard to see if Kelsey Baker has the part I need. I don't think it's anything serious, but I don't want to buy one new if I can avoid it—they're very expensive. Do you drive?’

  ‘I passed my test, but I can't afford a car yet. Sometimes I get to drive Mom's car, but I'm a long way from having my own. It's why I worked in the store, to pay off my lessons.’

  Cory was relieved that the car was now cooperating. If he didn't get the part replaced quickly, it might start causing problems with the job.

  Shallow Falls Elementary School was just a short distance away. It was clear when they arrived that something very serious was happening. For a start, they couldn't park anywhere near the school gate, and the surrounding streets were jammed with police vehicles and other cars.

  There was no sign of any TV crews, which suggested this was still a local story. Chief Tarrant and his team clearly believed this was lost child territory, rather than a missing child.

  Cory parked as close as he could get to the school, locked up, and led Bianca to the main entrance. Police tape had been used to create four areas within the playground. Deputy Freddie Cabera was clearly the officer in charge, coordinating events and making sure everybody knew what they were doing.

  ‘Hey, Freddie, how's it going?’ Cory asked, shaking Cabera's hand warmly. The two men had a good working relationship.

  ‘This is Bianca Williams—she's just started working with me as an intern. What can I report?’

  ‘We're just about to organize the officers and volunteers into search parties,’ Cabera began.

  ‘There's been no search yet?’ Cory questioned.

  ‘That’s right. We've had officers working the streets, but they haven’t come up with anything. Confidentially, we're on the verge of saying she's missing—we'll know that in the next hour. Can you get something out on the paper's social media channels, Cory? We need people down here—the more the better. I want us to scour every inch of this town to find the child.’

  ‘Can you confirm the name of the child yet?’ Cory asked. ‘Is it Poppy Norman?’

  ‘How'd you know that? I just confirmed that information two minutes ago to the chief.’

  Cory gave Bianca a small smile; she looked rightly pleased with herself.

  ‘I know you need to get reporting the story,’ Cabera continued, ‘but we could do with all hands on deck here. Would you and Bianca be willing to join the search parties?’

  ‘No problem,’ said Cory. ‘I'll get the word out on social media, file the name of the missing child, and we'll be happy to help you find her.’

  Chapter Five

  The briefing was over, and Cory and Bianca were assigned to the search party covering the east side of the town. A decent number of local residents had already gathered to join the hunt for Poppy. Word had gotten around quickly. If she'd wandered off, they'd locate her quickly.

  ‘I suggest we stay close, Bianca,’ Cory advised. ‘If you pick up any useful info as we're going along, let me know, and I'll tweet it out.’

  They'd done as much as they could to get the story reported. Nate O'Brien had been taking pictures since well before Cory arrived on the scene, and Mitchell Kane had told them to prepare for a big splash in that week's edition. If Poppy Norman was missing, the newspaper would be all over it.

  Cory had updated the social channels and shared every scrap of information that he'd managed to confirm with the police department. Truth was, from a reporting point of view, there still wasn't much to say. Poppy was missing, but probably lost. Nothing had been unearthed by calls to the hospital, so she hadn't been in an accident. Nobody had reported seeing anything, so it didn't appear to be a snatch or anything like that. The simple truth was, less than two hours after she'd disappeared, it was still most likely that Poppy Norman would turn up safe—even though the Shallow Falls Police Department had to treat it like a chase scene in The Fugitive.

  ‘Any chance I can speak to Reece Norman or one of the teachers?’ Cory asked.

  ‘Come on, Cory, you know how it is. The mother is ou
t of her mind with worry and being comforted by a female officer. The teachers are being questioned as I speak, to see if we can get a sense of what happened after Poppy left her classroom. The earliest you're getting a full briefing is tomorrow morning, and that's if the child doesn't turn up. Sorry, but the most important thing right now is to search the town top to bottom to see if we can find this poor kid.’

  Cory knew that's how the land would lie, but it was always worth a try.

  ‘Okay, Bianca, you heard what the deputy said. I suggest you and I keep up with our group. We're on the lookout for Poppy and for anything that can give us a clue to where she's gone. Did you get one of those photos they were handing out?’

  Bianca had two of them. The school had allowed the police to use their photocopier to hastily print out a pile of pictures of Poppy from her class photo. The ink cartridges looked like they were on their last legs, but the picture gave a sense of who they were looking for. A blonde girl, wearing pink glasses, a shy smile on her face and with gaps between her teeth. Cory was just able to see the hearing aid in the ear. He wouldn't have noticed if he wasn't looking for it specifically.

  He and Bianca walked fast to catch up with their group. The numbers were growing all the time, with dog-walkers and people heading home from work asking if they could help and joining in. It seemed that word had gotten around already, one of the many reasons Cory loved Shallow Falls and would love to bring Zach up here. Pennsylvania had always been the state to beat as far as he was concerned, and the town had a strong sense of history and community. Why else would they all be turning out like this to support Reece Norman?

  ‘Have you heard? It's the trailer girl's kid,’ Jed Walters muttered as Cory and Bianca caught up to him. ‘That ugly shack’s been blighting the entrance to the town for years. High time somebody pulled it down, if ya ask me.’

  Cory knew better than to venture an opinion on a topic like this. The newspaper boasted on its masthead that it was Proudly independent since 1920 and he firmly believed in those values. It was his job to report the facts, not the gossip. If gossip were sufficient, Shallow Falls could have disposed of its local paper many decades ago. In the meantime, idle chatter flourished, the townsfolk felt free to express their opinions—whether based upon fact or not—and they all turned to the website or newspaper to get the truth.

  ‘Reece Norman is missing one of her children, Mr. Walters,’ Bianca interjected. ‘I'd have thought you'd be more concerned about that than the state of her trailer.’

  Cory stopped for a moment and looked at Bianca. Sure, that's what he was thinking, but he hadn't said it out loud.

  Jed Walters was immediately chastened by her remark.

  ‘You're right, Bianca. I'm just an old man moaning about something that doesn't really matter. If that was my kid, I'd be going crazy right now. Forget I ever said it—it's just me and my big mouth shooting off again.’

  Jed sped up and moved away from Cory and Bianca.

  ‘That was a surprise,’ Cory said. ‘I hadn't expected you to say that.’

  ‘I've known Jed Walters for a while,’ Bianca replied. ‘I've told him off before; it's like he can't help himself sometimes. He's not a bad man, but his default is to moan and bitch. He soon sees sense if you give him a little push in the right direction.’

  ‘Well, you certainly did that,’ Cory laughed. ‘Good for you, sticking up for Reece and her family.’

  ‘I should learn to do it for myself sometimes…’ Bianca began.

  ‘That sounds ominous.’

  ‘Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking aloud. We're here now. I'd have thought the main street was a good place to look for her. I hope we find her.’

  Shallow Falls’ Main Street looked like it had been built for a cowboy film. If it had boasted a saloon and a casino, visitors to the town might have expected Clint Eastwood or Yul Brynner to step outside at any moment, six-shooter in hand, on the hunt for some bad guy from a Wanted poster. Straight rows of shops lined either side of the street, many of them of wood and brick construction. Their signage was traditional in nature, mainly hand-painted. The neon variety had been resisted by the town council, but the residents knew it was only a matter of time.

  Shallow Falls had its bank, a hardware store, two family-run food stores, and an array of other services: a florist, a stationery and card shop, a small toy shop, a bakery, and a candy store. It was like any other American small-town main street, except for the cowboy bit. Even the asphalt-covered road and beautifully planted plant pots couldn't hide it. If John Wayne himself had stepped out of the bank, Cory truly believed he wouldn't have looked out of place.

  Many of the shops were already closed or closing for the evening. Poppy had gone missing at an awkward time of day for the police investigation. The owner of the candy store was just locking up. Cory walked over to her to ask if she'd seen anything.

  ‘Hi, are you the proprietor of the store?’ he asked. ‘I'm Cory Miles. Have you heard about the child who's gone missing?’

  Cory didn't know the woman, though he was certain he'd seen her around somewhere. It was hard not to recognize people in a community like this, but it was still sizable enough not to know everybody, even in his line of work.

  ‘Yes, it's terrible what happened to that poor child,’ she began. ‘I'm going to join the search myself once I've had something to eat. It's a terrible business. Have they said who it is yet?’

  Bianca answered.

  ‘It's Poppy Norman, Reece Norman's youngest child.’

  Cory wondered if there was anybody Bianca hadn't met while working at the store. They all seemed to like her; she had that quality about her.

  ‘Reece Norman, you say?’

  Cory and Bianca nodded.

  ‘Isn't she the one who has men coming and going like they're passing through a revolving door?’

  Bianca looked at Cory, obviously horrified by what she’d just heard.

  The candy store owner didn’t let it go. ‘She's got three children by just as many fathers. That's no way to raise a decent family. Those poor children of hers must be confused. And that last man she had—what was he, a soldier or something? He stuck at that as long as he did caring for his kid.’

  Cory had taken an instant dislike to this woman, but his journalistic antennae had just started twitching, like a water diviner suddenly surprised by the jolt of a Y-shaped twig. He hoped Bianca would resist admonishing her in the way she’d tackled Jed Walters. Instead, she appeared to be distracted by something she'd seen in the road and she was going over to investigate.

  ‘What's that about Reece's partner?’ Cory asked. ‘Is he still on the scene?’

  ‘Depends who you ask,’ the woman replied. ‘He's a new recruit in the Army, just upped and left Reece, by all accounts. Only he went AWOL. Not a trace of him. If the Army can't find him, nobody else is likely to be able to. But that's Reece Norman for you. Terrible taste in men.’

  Cory was intrigued by what she was saying, but became distracted by Bianca, who seemed very excited at something that she'd found at the roadside.

  ‘Is that all confirmed to be true, or just town gossip?’ Cory asked.

  ‘I'm sure it's true, but I can't confirm it,’ the shopkeeper replied.

  Bianca was running towards them. It was time to finish off the conversation.

  ‘Well, thanks so much for your help. Be sure to let Deputy Cabera know if you see anything that might help.’

  The candy store owner was on her way, keen to get her priorities right. Evening meal first, then a lost child.

  ‘What is it, Bianca? You look like you just won twenty dollars on a scratch card.’

  She held up a pink rabbit with a dirty brown tire mark running straight across it.

  ‘This is Poppy Norman's’ she said, holding it up so that Cory could take a closer look. ‘She carried it with her wherever she went.’

  ‘Are you certain, Bianca?’ Cory asked. This was important; Cabera would need to know as soon as pos
sible. They couldn't mess it up.

  ‘Totally sure,’ Bianca replied. ‘She had it every time they came in the store. She was always dropping it—I had to shout after them down the street more than once. Besides, look…’

  She held up the white tab on which the washing instructions were printed. Written there in black ink were the words Poppy Norman.

  Chapter Six

  ‘I have to get this story update filed, or I'll have Mitchell Kane breathing down my neck,’ said Cory as the search volunteers were called back to the schoolyard. ‘Do you want to take off, or can I buy you something at the diner? It's the least I can do after such a long day.’

  ‘I'm good,’ Bianca replied. ‘I'd like to see how you do it. I don't mind the long day—I'm here to learn, after all.’

  Deputy Cabera had been delighted with Bianca's find. Cory felt sorry for him, now the light was failing and the search parties had returned empty-handed. Poppy was no longer regarded as lost; she was now confirmed as missing. That meant she hadn't wandered off on her own, she hadn't walked home alone, she hadn't gone to play with a friend, and she wasn't curled up fast asleep in the classroom in some hidden alcove.

  The seriousness of the situation—if it wasn't bad enough—was now ramped up considerably. Poppy had either been snatched by somebody or was hurt after wandering off and having a fall or some other accident. The scenarios became graver, not helped by the impending darkness.

  It looked like Cabera was ready to kiss Cory when he handed over the toy rabbit that Bianca had found. He'd taken plenty of pictures with his own smartphone first. If this became a crucial piece of evidence, it would be a massive scoop for the paper.