exposed (Twisted Cedar Mysteries Book 3) (4 page)

The other was this place.

He stopped in front of the small A-frame, tucked into the forest like a natural part of the landscape. On the front porch were two wicker chairs, which even now, invited him to linger.

“I don’t see Chester’s bike.”

“He could have hidden it somewhere.” Dougal sprang out of the car and bounded up the path to the front door. He rarely locked the place. Chester could have walked right in.

“Chester? You in here? Don’t worry, buddy. No one’s upset with you.”

The only answer came from his cat, Borden, who jumped off her favorite perch on the back of an arm chair and wound her way between his legs.

“Not now Borden. I’ve got things to do.” Gently he dislodged the cat, who was making the transition from a New York City apartment to a cottage in the middle of a forest, rather nervously.

The place was small, it was quick to search, and he was thorough, not just looking under the bed and in both closets, but even pulling down the ladder to the attic and making a clean sweep of that, as well.

Within ten minutes he was done. After putting Borden in her travel crate and grabbing a bag packed with her essentials and his, Dougal went outside to deliver the disappointing news. He found Jamie studying the dirt driveway.

“Searching for clues, Sherlock? Want a magnifying glass?”

“Don’t mock me. I’m looking for bicycle tracks. I’ve already checked the old shed. But there are so many great hiding spots in these woods. We’ll
never
find him if he’s decided to camp out.”

“The sheriff’s office will have tracking dogs if it comes to that. Come on, let’s get going. I’m anxious to talk to Wade and find out what they’ve done so far.”

* * *

It was seven P.M. Chester Quinpool had been missing three and a half hours. Sheriff Wade MacKay glanced around Charlotte Hammond’s kitchen, noting the slight clutter that children brought to a home, clutter that hadn’t been here the last time he visited.

Drawings had been stuck to the refrigerator door, as well as a school calendar. Strewn over one side of the island were craft supplies—markers, children’s scissors, a stack of construction paper. Under the table was a pair of white sports socks—probably Chester’s. A football and a baseball mitt were both on one of the chairs.

This year had already been one of the worst for major crimes in Curry County, even before Chester Quinpool went missing. Wade didn’t know how much more his team—or this town—could take.

The trouble had started in the spring when Dougal Lachlan found a body buried in the woods around the Librarian Cottage—a body which was soon identified as being Daisy Hammond, divorced wife of Kyle Quinpool, mother of his twins, and Charlotte’s sister.

Then this summer Joelle Carruthers—who turned out to be Dougal and Jamie’s half-sister—had died in the basement of the library. The earlier drowning of her baby daughter, Josephine, was one crime at least that hadn’t occurred in his county.

And now Chester had gone missing.

Wade took the safety of the citizens of Curry County personally. So having a kid go missing on his watch was an affront to everything he believed in.

He was going to find this kid. And bring him home safely.

There was no other option.

“S-sorry Wade.” Charlotte had just finished supplying him with the numbers for Chester’s doctor and dentist, when it had suddenly occurred to her what these things might be needed for and she’d burst into tears.

“Take your time.”

She was standing with her back to him, at the sink on the pretense of pouring herself a glass of water, which Wade knew she wouldn’t drink. So far she’d spurned every offer of tea, coffee or water that he’d made.

No doubt she felt too nauseous to put anything in her stomach. In her shoes, Wade would probably feel the same. Even though this wasn’t her fault, she’d feel like it was. Charlotte was that sort of person.

And Wade knew this, because he’d dated her, and had even asked her to marry him.

Thankfully she’d been wise enough to turn him down.

She’d sensed that while he longed for a home, a family and kids, he hadn’t really loved
her
. It had taken Wade some time to figure that out himself.

But while he didn’t love Charlotte, he did like her. Very much.

Charlotte was not a woman to draw attention to herself. Her temper was mild and she would offer her opinion on a matter only when pressed. Despite being pretty, tall and graceful, she somehow managed to make even her physical appearance understated. A lot had to do with the way she dressed, in the very stereotype of a librarian, in skirts that were too long, and baggy blouses and sweaters.

As she swung around to face him, her red-rimmed eyes betrayed her inner anguish. “Do you think someone took him? But who? And why?”

He went to her, offering a friendly, hopefully reassuring hug. “Don’t go there, Charlotte. Chances are still good that he went out for a little adventure and lost track of time. Or maybe, given all the pressure he’s been under lately, he’s run away from home. If that’s the case, he can’t be far away. We’ll find him soon.”

“But the dental records...” She shuddered.

“We have to be prepared for the worst, as officers of the law. But you don’t. In fact, you should try—”

The side door slammed and Cory ran into the room. She’d been out on the front porch, waiting for her step-mother Jamie and Dougal. Though Jamie and Kyle had only lived together as husband and wife for about a month, it had been long enough for Cory and Jamie to bond.

In fact, if not for the court’s decided favoring of blood ties over legal, Jamie might have ended up as the twins’ guardian.

“They’re here!” Cory announced, betraying a heart-breaking faith in the ability of those she loved to magically solve any situation.

Given all the nine-year-old had been through, this naivety struck Wade as particularly poignant. He was afraid Chester’s disappearance might have the power to destroy, once and for all, every trace of Cory’s childhood faith in adults.

Jamie and Dougal were on Cory’s heels. Dougal went straight to Charlotte, enveloping her in a hug that was much more intense than the one Wade had just offered her.

Jamie planted herself in front of him, pushing back her thick hair with both hands. “Any news?”

“We haven’t found him yet.” Wade hated to admit. “But we’ve got the entire team working on this, and I’ve called on the state police as well.”

“Has anyone been out to the Librarian Cottage yet?” Dougal asked. “We just swung by on our way. No sign of Chester that we could find, but he knows the place. He could be hiding in the woods. A tracking dog might be a good idea.”

Charlotte looked stricken. “I never thought of the cottage. It isn’t too far for him to reach on his bike. He could have been there before anyone even started looking for him.”

“Good tip,” Wade said. “I’ll get a team on it right away.”

Turning his back on the group, he called one of his top deputies, Frank Dunne. Short, muscular Frank was a bit of a plodder, but he was thorough and Wade had put him in charge of setting up a command post at the school.

“Sheriff?”

“We need a K-9 unit out at the Librarian Cottage. You’ll find clothing items belonging to the missing boy at the station.”

“Is this a place Chester has been to before?” Dunne asked.

“Yup. And it’s only five miles away. He could have cycled there in the time it took for us to find out he’d gone missing.”

“Right. Should I call on Search and Rescue, as well? Get a full crew out there.”

“Good idea. Anything turn up at the school so far?”

“Afraid not. We’re going door-to-door, hoping a neighbor might have noticed something. We’ve talked to all the kids from his class already—and their parents. None of them were aware that Chester had any special after-school plans.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” Finding Chester at a friend’s house would have been a best-case conclusion, for all concerned.

Wade had just disconnected from the call with Dunne, when Tanya Field, his newest deputy, came through the hall with the team of I-dent men who’d been collecting evidence from Chester’s room.

Tanya, in her late twenties already showing signs of maturity and level-headedness that gave him great hopes for her future, waved him over.

“We found nothing helpful in the bedroom, and all we saw in the family room was a gaming station.”

“No sign of the iPad?” Charlotte had explained that her computer was off limits to the kids and that they didn’t have phones.

“We found the sister’s where she said it was. No sign of her brother’s.”

Wade held up his hand for Tanya to wait, then turned back to the gathering in the kitchen. Charlotte was sitting now, with Dougal standing beside her, his hand on her shoulder. Jamie was at the fridge, probably trying to find something to prepare for dinner, while Cory stood next to her, looking lost.

“Charlotte, we can’t find Chester’s iPad.”

“It wasn’t in his room? He always leaves it there, usually under his pillow, or sometimes in the bathroom, on the counter. Did you check the bathroom?”

“We’ve looked
everywhere
, ma’am.” Tanya nodded. “Unless your house has a secret hiding place somewhere?”

“Not that I know of. And I’ve lived here all my life.”

Cory spoke then, her voice so quiet Wade could hardly hear her.

“He took it to school.”

“Did you say Chester took his iPad to school, Cory?” Wade repeated, to be sure.

“Yes.”

“Really?” Charlotte sounded surprised, so Wade inferred Chester wasn’t in the habit of disobeying her rules.

To test this theory he asked, “Had Chester done this before? Taken the iPad when he wasn’t supposed to?”

Her expression solemn, Cory gave a negative head shake. “This was the first time. And he made me promise not to tell.”

Wade and Charlotte had already quizzed Cory on her brother’s disappearance, and she hadn’t said a word about the iPad. Wade had to make sure she understood this was no time to put loyalty to her brother ahead of his safety.

“We need to find your brother, so it’s important you tell us everything you know. Was there anything else your brother asked you to keep secret today?”

Cory glanced from him, to Charlotte, and then to Jamie, before saying, in the same quiet voice, “No.”

Jamie put down the head of lettuce she’d removed from the fridge, and then took Cory’s hand. “Are you sure, honey? Try to think of anything that was unusual about today. You never know what little thing might help us find your brother.”

“Does it have to be today?”

Jamie glanced up at Wade, her eyes quickening with hope, then back at Cory. “It can be anything Chester told you, at any time.”

Cory swallowed then said, “After our first day at school, Chester was really mad. The kids in our class kept calling Dad a jailbird.” She ducked her head shyly.

“That was mean.” Jamie gave her a hug. “You must have been upset.”

“I tried to ignore them. But Chester got mad. That night he told me...he said...”

Cory paused long enough to glance up at her audience. Seeing everyone in the room focused intently on her, she dropped her gaze again, then whispered in Jamie’s ear.

Jamie gave her another hug. “You did the right thing to tell me this, honey.”

Then Jamie turned to the others. “He told Cory he wanted to run away.”

* * *

At nine p.m. Wade was back at the sheriff’s office, setting up the conference room as a central command post for the investigation. So far they’d come up with not a shred of evidence—not one single witness, either—to suggest where Chester had gone after school let out.

Thanks to his sister’s sudden forthcoming attitude, they knew there was a high probability the boy was a voluntary runaway, which, for many reasons was reassuring. But not totally.

Twisted Cedars was a town locked between the powerful Pacific Ocean on one side, and the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains on the other. There were plenty of dangers inherent to both to keep Wade up all night.

Say the boy was hiding in the forest around the Librarian Cottage, for instance. Bears, wolves, cougars...all of those presented dangers. If the boy stayed away from the rivers, he’d risk dehydration. If he didn’t, he could unknowingly infect himself with dangerous bacteria that would cause vomiting and diarrhea, which would hasten the process of dehydration.

Or he could be swept away by the current, which in many cases was much more powerful underneath the water than it appeared on the surface.

One wall of the conference room was covered with a huge bulletin board, and on this Wade pinned a photograph of Chester above the map of Curry County. Marnie Philips, his office manager, had already placed pins in the areas where searchers were currently operating.

Carter, Wade’s marathon-running deputy, was out with the K-9 unit at the Librarian Cottage. Dunne was still at the school, coordinating volunteers as they swept through the town. Field would remain at the Hammond residence at least until morning. With any luck Chester would sneak home in the wee hours and put this nightmare to rest for all of them.

Wade had called in other off-duty officers to check other potential danger zones. New constructions sites, nearby parks and camping grounds, and the other beaches within reach of a nine-year-old boy on a bicycle.

“Planning to stay here all night?” Marnie placed a to-go cup from the Buttermilk Cafe on the table. “Largest latte they make. Triple shot.”

Wade liked to see himself as a simple man, with simple pleasures. As such, his fondness for specialty coffees was something he tried to suppress. But Marnie was on to him. He took a sip, then raised his eyebrows.

“I asked them to add a vanilla shot and whipped cream,” Marnie said. “I figured you could use the sugar rush.” She perched on the arm of a chair, dangling one of her legs so he couldn’t help but notice the purple polish on her sandal-clad toes.

Quickly he glanced away.

Marnie was a force of nature, unstoppable energy, super-organized, great at anticipating what needed to be done before he had a chance to ask.