Inside the Echo

by Jen Blood

  I paused to greet the dogs, realizing that Minion must be up in the room with Ren. Jack stood at the bar in the kitchen, beer in hand, watching the proceedings with weary bemusement.

  “You didn’t want to go into town for food?” I asked.

  “I thought it might be a good idea for someone to stick around,” he said, looking in Bear’s direction.

  “Thanks.”

  The dogs quieted and returned to their separate corners when they realized my presence didn’t mean something exciting was about to happen. Casper went back to Bear, climbed up on the couch, and settled with his head on the teenager’s lap. Bear’s hand went absently to the dog’s head, but his focus remained on the TV. I sat down on a far corner of the sofa – the only space available.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey,” Bear returned, gaze never leaving the TV. Frown never leaving his lips.

  “We found some of the others in the group. Not everyone, but five others.”

  “I heard.” Monotone. Still not so much as a glance in my direction. A commercial came on the TV; Bear remained fixed on the screen.

  “So, how did things go here?”

  “Fine.”

  Oh, boy. One of the remarkable things about teenage boys: just how much contempt they can load into one-word answers. I continued gamely.

  “What did you eat?”

  “Nothing.”

  That stopped me. “Nothing at all? What do you mean?”

  “There’s nothing to eat here.”

  “There’s a fridge full of food. What happened to the whole, ‘I’m seventeen, Mom – it’d be pretty sad if I couldn’t feed myself.’?”

  No answer.

  I took the remote from him, and turned off the TV. That got his attention.

  “Hey! I was watching that.”

  “You’ve seen that movie a hundred times, and we have it on DVD back home. Talk to me, please. Why didn’t you eat something? And where is Ren?”

  “She went to bed. I stayed up. We didn’t eat anything because there was nothing to eat.” He reached for the remote. I shifted it to my other hand and held it away from him, and Bear groaned. “Mom, just give me the damn thing. Leave me alone, all right?”

  It wasn’t all right, actually, but I knew my son well enough to know nothing would be resolved until he had something in that bottomless teenage belly of his. I stood.

  “Get your boots and coat. There’s a place in town that apparently makes great veggie burgers, and they’re serving them free to searchers.”

  I expected him to argue, but he actually lightened at the mention of free food. He got up and stalked over to the closet, and I left him to dress while I dragged myself up the stairs to the second bedroom on the right – the one Ren had claimed. A sliver of light glowed beneath the door, which I took to mean Ren was still up.

  I knocked lightly on the door, and heard Minion’s answering, soft woof immediately. Ren’s response was a few seconds delayed, and even softer than the dog’s.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “We’re going to get some food in town,” I said through the door. “Would you like to come?”

  “No thanks,” she said. There was a nasal quality to her voice, and my Mom radar was immediately on alert. Had she been crying? “I’m tired, I’m just going to go to sleep.”

  I hesitated. If Ren were my kid, I would be pushier. I would go into the room, and find out just what was going on. She wasn’t my kid, though. She was a mature, intelligent, strong young woman who just happened to have no mother of her own.

  “All right,” I said. “I’ll bring you something back if you want. And we’ll have a good breakfast tomorrow. Just try and get a good night’s sleep.”

  “I will.” She sniffled. Oh, crap. “Goodnight, Jamie.”

  “Goodnight, sweetie. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Chapter 10

  AT TEN TILL MIDNIGHT on a Tuesday night, my bedraggled team, my sullen teen, and my weary, weary self all dragged ourselves out for dinner. Bethel’s trendy main stretch was shut down at that time of night, though twinkling white lights still lit the way along snow-covered streets. The whole scene had a Norman Rockwell feel to it that didn’t mesh with my aching bones, the memory of Brock’s voice, or the blood that still stained my clothes from Heather Wright.

  We took a left on Mechanic Street and then another left onto Summer, where we found a narrow space in the crowded lot outside the Funky Red Barn.

  “Are you sure they’re still serving food?” I asked Michelle, seated beside me in the passenger’s seat.

  “Till midnight,” she said. “If you had any doubt whether people really liked Megan and Heather, this should put it to rest. Restaurants don’t keep their doors open past closing and supply food for the masses for free for just anyone.”

  No doubt about that. With just minutes to spare before the kitchen closed, Jack, Bear, and I staggered over the threshold. A weathered Christmas tree still stood in one corner, an American flag on the opposite wall, while a Bud Light poster featuring two large-breasted blonds in white bikinis dominated the space above the pool tables. A generously proportioned platinum blond met us at the door.

  “You with the search?” she asked.

  “K-9 unit,” I said.

  “And you didn’t bring the dogs?”

  “They’re home, resting up for tomorrow.”

  She harrumphed at that. “Next time, bring them too. They deserve a home-cooked meal as much as anybody. We’ve got a couple of ’em already here, had more earlier.”

  I looked around and saw that, indeed, another handler was at a table in the corner with his dog asleep on the floor at his feet, another couple of searchers from the team seated next to him. I recognized almost everyone in the place, including wardens at the pool tables in the next room and members of the snowmobile club with pints at the bar. The state police who had been brought in this evening after Heather’s discovery were conspicuously absent, however.

  “Go on over and sit down wherever you can find space,” the waitress said, nodding toward a couple of tables in the back. “I’ll bring you over some menus. You want beer?” She directed the question at the group. I declined, but Michelle, Charlie, and Jack all ordered. Bear looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t push it beyond that.

  Hogan was already at a table in the corner with an untouched burger in front of him, flanked by the senator and his wife. Despite having managed to find six of the ten women missing today, the fact that the senator’s daughter wasn’t among them was not lost on me. Any feeling of celebration I may have been feeling disappeared the moment I saw their faces.

  “You mind if we join you?” I asked him as we approached.

  “No,” he said. “Have a seat. You remember Senator and Mrs. Price?”

  “Of course,” I said. I introduced them to the others in our party, and we all sat. I ended up next to Sally Price, who looked utterly exhausted.

  “You were there when they found the others, weren’t you?” she asked, as conversation buzzed around us.

  “That’s right,” I said. “It looks like everyone we found will be just fine.”

  “Violet wasn’t with them.” She faltered, looking embarrassed. “Of course, you know that – you were there. When we got word they’d found everyone, I could scarcely breathe. And then to find out Violet…”

  “It’s still early in the search,” I said. “The fact that we found the women we did is a good thing. Don’t give up hope yet. People are still out there looking. I’ll be going out again first thing myself.”

  She nodded. “Of course. I didn’t mean to imply everyone isn’t doing their best. I just…” Her eyes welled, and she looked away quickly. “She’s such a good girl – always doing things for others. To know she’s out there with someone pursuing her…”

  The senator patted her arm, and for the first time I caught a glimpse of the fear he was hiding so adeptly. “We’ll find her, Sally. I’ll see to it. I prom
ise you that.”

  Unable to cement that promise myself, I fell silent.

  “Any word on how Heather’s doing?” Bear asked.

  “It looks like she’ll be fine,” Hogan said. “They’re keeping her at the hospital overnight for observation, but she got lucky.”

  “And the baby?” Jack asked.

  “Okay so far,” Hogan said. “They’re both strong – the doctors are optimistic at this point.”

  Jack nodded, looking more relieved than seemed natural given he’d never met any of these people before. I knew a lot of this story was probably hitting close to home for Jack, though. Seven years ago, his wife was murdered when she was six months pregnant. The event had changed the trajectory of his life, and I was sure the memories had been replaying themselves when we found Heather in the condition we had.

  “Has she been able to shed any light on what happened?” I asked. “I know the others don’t seem to know who it was, but does she have any theories?”

  “She’s been pretty out of it from what I’ve heard,” Hogan said. He stared disconsolately at his beer. “She knows Meg got hit, though – no question of that. Shot in the side, she thinks.”

  “If we haven’t found her yet, she must not have been hit too bad,” I said. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to travel so far.”

  “Unless he took her,” Hogan said. “Whoever the hell ‘he’ is.”

  I noted again how weary he looked; how broken.

  “How well do you know Heather and Megan?” Jack asked him. Hogan shrugged, eyes downcast.

  “They’re friends of mine,” he said. “Good friends. Megan and I worked together on a commission investigating the oil pipeline not far from here. She cares a lot about this area. We got to know each other then.”

  “From everything I’ve heard, they sound like amazing women,” Jack said. “I can understand being worried.”

  “They’re pretty great,” Bear agreed. “I don’t get how something like this could’ve happened on their watch. They’re always so careful out in the field, all these protocols in place.”

  I looked up as a cold wind swept through the bar when the front door opened. Chase Carter stepped inside, accompanied by three reporters I recognized from earlier in the day. Beside me, Sally Price frowned.

  The hostess at the front of the bar swept in before anyone else had to and booted the reporters before they’d gotten more than a few feet inside. She gave Chase a dressing down for inviting them in in the first place, and I saw a small, vindictive smile from Sally before her son-in-law approached the table.

  “Lieutenant Hogan,” he said to Hogan, surprisingly at ease given the circumstances. “Do you mind if I join you all? It’s been a long day.”

  “Of course,” Hogan said. “Take a seat wherever you can find one. I’m not sure they’re still serving anything in the kitchen, though.”

  “That’s fine,” Chase said. He sighed. “I don’t think I could eat anyway. I just wanted the company.”

  “You’ve been doing a wonderful job managing the press,” the senator told him. “You’ve earned a break. You should eat, though. I’ll see if I can’t convince the kitchen to stay on a few minutes more.”

  “We don’t want to bother them any more than we need to,” Sally said. “They’ve been up working hard—”

  “It won’t kill them to take a few more minutes to make a burger for our son,” the senator interrupted, his tone biting. “It’s not as though they have somewhere important they need to be. He needs his strength.”

  “Thank you, Robert,” Chase said to the senator. “I suppose I should force something down.”

  Sally stared down at the table without arguing the point any further, but I could feel the anger bubbling beneath the surface. I didn’t blame her, personally. Chase may have won over the masses, but so far I was less than impressed.

  Chase extended his hand toward me and introduced himself then, his gaze fixed on mine. I had the uncomfortable feeling that he’d somehow read my thoughts.

  “I saw you briefly earlier,” he said. “But I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Jamie Flint,” I said, offering a reluctant handshake before I introduced him to Jack and Bear.

  When our hands touched, a shiver of cold ran through me – a reaction that I couldn’t shake, particularly when our eyes met. He was even better looking than I’d thought based on our first meeting, with a strong jaw and striking blue eyes. There was a coolness to those blue eyes that chilled me, though the pained smile he offered seemed genuine enough. I withdrew my hand, inexplicably eager to get away from him.

  The waitress came and took our orders, and there was polite chitchat around the table before Chase refocused on me while the others continued their conversations.

  “Did Lieutenant Hogan explain to you the circumstances for Violet being on the expedition?” he asked, directing the question to me.

  “About her dissertation?” I said. “He did. It’s an important topic. It sounds like your wife is doing good work.”

  “She is,” Chase said. “She really is remarkable. If something happens to her…” He fell off, eyes brimming with tears, and looked away abruptly.

  “I’ll tell you what I’ve told Sally,” the senator said, his own brow furrowed at his son-in-law’s evident pain. “We’re going to find her, Chase. We’re bringing her home. You’ve got my word on that.”

  Chase nodded, but seemed too emotional to say anything further.

  Jack sat across the table from me. I caught a glimpse of skepticism as he studied the distraught man, but he looked away from me when our eyes met. I made a mental note to check in with him later for his impressions on Chase Carter’s theatrics.

  “How did you and Violet meet?” Jack asked Chase.

  “Megan introduced us, actually,” he said.

  “Megan’s husband,” Sally corrected him, her frown firmly back in place.

  Hogan looked up sharply. “You know Justin?”

  “Do you?” Chase countered. A trace of something ugly flickered in his eyes, his voice, as he turned the question around on Hogan.

  “Only by reputation,” Hogan said. “My understanding is that he’s still in prison.”

  Chase nodded, his expression darkening. “That’s right.”

  “But you knew him,” Hogan pressed.

  “They were best friends,” Sally replied for him, when Chase didn’t answer the question himself. “And of course Violet and Megan had been friends for years at that point. Justin was the one who suggested Chase would be a perfect fit for Violet.”

  “We weren’t best friends,” Chase said quickly. “We went to high school together. Our families traveled together sometimes, and we had similar interests.”

  Which sounded a lot like best friends, but I wasn’t going to get into semantics with the man.

  “I had no idea he would turn out to be…what he was,” he finished lamely. “He showed no signs of it when we were young.”

  Bear was listening intently by now. I fought the urge to shield him from the direction the conversation was turning. At seventeen, I had to stop feeling like I had to protect him from the uglier things in the world. Particularly given all that he’d seen firsthand between Brock and me.

  “What’s he in prison for?” Bear asked.

  Both the senator and his wife looked flustered, staring intently down at their half-finished plates.

  “He tried to hurt Megan a few years ago,” Hogan said quietly. He kept his focus entirely on Bear. I thought of the soothing presence he had been for my son in those last weeks before Brock died, and was grateful that he didn’t try to sugarcoat things now. “But he’s safely behind bars now. There’s no reason to worry.”

  “You’re sure about that?” Jack said, his FBI experience showing. “Have you checked into it?”

  “The police are on it,” Hogan said. “They’re checking into the whereabouts of the partner of everyone on the course.”

  “Good,” C
hase said. “I’ve made a couple of calls myself, just to make sure. Someone would have let Megan know if he was out for any reason, though. Trust me: Justin is still safely doing time at the Maine State Prison. He’s not going anywhere.”

  Silence fell over the table as the waitress delivered food to our party and cleared plates for Hogan, the senator, and Sally. I watched with no small measure of annoyance as the senator plead the case for his son-in-law, and the waitress ultimately agreed that they could reopen the kitchen long enough to make him a burger. Sally said nothing further on the subject, but there was no mistaking the fact that she wasn’t on Chase’s side.

  Shortly after the waitress left and conversation had resumed, I noticed that Sally had effectively faded beside me.

  “Why don’t you get back to your room and try to get some sleep?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure I could,” she said. “Not knowing Violet is still out there.”

  The senator had been deep in conversation, but refocused on his wife the moment she spoke. There were unquestionably things I didn’t care for about this man, chief among them the way he just seemed to assume the rest of the world was here to serve him. The way he looked at Sally softened my opinion, however.

  “She’s right, Sal,” he said quietly, and stood. He got his wallet and withdrew a couple of twenties, and tossed them on the table. “That’s for the waitress,” he said quietly to Hogan. “Tell her we appreciate everything they’ve done for the search.” Then, he pulled Sally’s chair back gently and helped her to her feet. “I assume you’ll be in touch if there are any developments, Lieutenant?”

  “Of course,” Hogan assured him, then stood himself. “I’m going to get going myself. I need to get a couple hours’ sleep before I head back out. I’ll walk with you.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Sally said.

  Hogan tossed a few bills on the table after the senator’s twenties, and addressed the crew.

  “When are you guys back on?” he asked, directing the question to Michelle and Charlie.

  “They want us back out at o-three-hundred,” Charlie said. “I wish we didn’t have to wait. I’m way too juiced to sleep.”