“Better hope you get into trouble soon then, hadn’t you?” she says with a wink. “Before Old Faithful runs out of batteries.”
“You are incorrigible.”
“That’s why I get laid and you don’t.”
“I thought it was your magic tits.”
“They are great, aren’t they?” She shoves them together. “Got a lot of free drinks thanks to these bad boys.” She air kisses each in turn. “Never fail me.”
“I know. I’ve seen you shove them in enough bartenders' faces. Slut.”
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, babe.”
I get to my feet. “I’m going to look up the buses.”
“You do that.”
I head through to my room and load my laptop. Five minutes of work later I’ve got the bus schedule on the screen. Next one’s due in an hour. Drops off at a gas station a couple of miles walk from the old Chippewa Falls site.
I’ve got decent hiking boots. Just need to dust them off and pack a bag. Fetch my shovel out of the garden. I get the feeling I’m about to dig something up that will get me the closest I’ve ever been to finding out where my parents are. Hope no one asks me what I’m doing taking the shovel on the bus. How would I even start to explain?
I don’t take long to get ready.
I want to get there before Enzo comes looking for his missing photo. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he won’t even notice it’s gone.
Maybe he won’t come to me to find it. Maybe he’ll just leave town and never come back. That thought should make me feel good but for no reason I can explain, it makes me feel worse.
The thought of never seeing him again makes me feel ill. How can I miss someone I don’t even know?
12
ENZO
* * *
Ipark the car a couple of miles outside of town. I don’t want anyone watching me while I go through her file. I’m at a lookout point with a half-mile of straight road in front and behind me.
From here, I can see any vehicle coming long before trouble might pop up.
Off the side of where I’m parked is a ravine that drops down into a long winding river. Perfect for throwing someone off if they come at me.
I don’t think it’s likely but it pays to plan for such things in my line of work.
I kill the engine and then open the file. Inside, there’s a lot of paper. Most of it is yellowed, some of them copies of copies. There are the posters they put up asking for information about Chloe’s parents. The initial report that got made after she was found. Pleased to see there’s no mention of me there.
I read through the whole thing. I already know most of the story but it fills in a few details that happened after she got found.
There are the transcripts of interviews where they tried to get her to talk but she was two, how much could she really tell them?
Just kept saying bad men took her parents. Bad men. Over and over.
There are photos of the clothes she was found in, including the name label in the pants. I know those clothes. Then there’s a series of images of two people whose faces are seared into my memory.
David and Fiona. Just two people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dumb luck is the only reason Chloe’s an orphan. Nothing more than a twist of fate.
They’re standing together and behind them, there’s a hole in the ground. Fiona is watching David fill in the hole. I know what that hole is. It’s where I need to be. I just need to remember where that is.
Someone’s written on the back of the photos and now I know the name. Chippewa Falls. Jacob’s handwriting. In case he forgot, no doubt.