Missing Child (26 page)

TWENTY-SEVEN

T
he sound of a horn honking behind her jolted Caitlin, and she resumed driving down the road toward the lodge. The woman in the car behind her stopped far short of the lodge and let out a pair of boys who looked to be about Travis’s age. Travis, she thought. She had come to talk to Travis, but instead she was processing the shock of the realization she had just made. She had heard the rumors that Alan Needleman lived with a man. She may have even heard it was a fireman. But now all the connections locked together and seemed jarring.

She parked her car near the lodge, got out, and approached the porch. The assembled boys were joking with Jerry and the other Scoutmaster, Bernie, who was several years older than the stocky young fireman. Caitlin did not see Travis anywhere among them. She stood at the foot of the wooden steps, not sure what it was she wanted to ask any longer.

‘Can we help you, ma’am?’ the Scoutmaster named Bernie asked politely.

‘I want to talk to Jerry,’ Caitlin said.

Jerry removed his cap and stuffed it in his back pocket. He looked at her and frowned while the boys erupted into choruses of ‘Woo-Woo.’

‘All right, knock it off,’ Jerry said to the boys. He came down the steps and looked at Caitlin with a puzzled expression on his face. She could see that he was trying to place her.

Caitlin helped him out. ‘You gave me a ride to the search the other day. The search for Geordie,’ she said.

Jerry nodded and then looked more puzzled than ever. ‘I’m sorry, I remember you but I forget your name.’

‘I told you my name was Kate,’ she said.

Jerry grimaced and nodded. ‘What can I do for you, Kate?’ he asked.

‘Actually, my name is Caitlin,’ she said. ‘Caitlin Eckhart. I’m . . . Geordie Eckhart is my boy.’

Jerry was taken aback at first. Then his eyes were filled with sympathy. ‘You never mentioned it,’ he said. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Caitlin looked at him with narrowed eyes. ‘If I had, would you have mentioned our connection?’ she asked.

Jerry frowned. ‘What connection?’

The boys on the porch were all leaning over the railings, trying to listen. Caitlin was tempted to blurt it out in front of them, but she stopped herself. ‘Why don’t we talk over there,’ she said, pointing to the picnic table.

Jerry frowned and then shrugged. ‘OK. I’ll be right back, guys.’

He followed Caitlin, dried leaves crunching under his boots, over to the picnic table. Caitlin turned on him before he could sit down.

‘Alan Needleman is my son’s teacher,’ she said bluntly.

Jerry did not flinch. He didn’t smile either. ‘Yes. I know that.’ He gazed at her steadily. ‘He’s been terribly upset about Geordie’s disappearance.’

‘Well, it seems like quite a coincidence.’

‘Does it?’ he asked, shifting his weight into a more aggressive stance.

‘Frankly, yes,’ she said.

‘Did you see us together just now? Was that you in the car behind us?’

‘Yes, it was,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry you have a problem with that,’ he said coldly.

Caitlin was undaunted. ‘I don’t have a problem with your . . . relationship. I have a problem with secrets,’ she said. ‘I have a problem with hiding your identity.’

‘It’s called a “private life” for a reason,’ said Jerry.

‘Oh, no,’ Caitlin said angrily. ‘My child is missing. I don’t give a damn about your privacy. My child is gone. Whoever took him is living a lie. Pretending to be . . . something they’re not.’

‘I’m sure that’s true. But it’s got nothing to do with me.’

‘Really?’ Caitlin asked. ‘I know for a fact that my nephew, Travis, is afraid of somebody or something. He never wants to come to Scouts. Is that because of you?’

Jerry gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Travis does tend to be . . . reluctant. I think it’s because we insist that he get off his butt.’

‘This isn’t funny,’ she said.

‘All right. Do you want to talk about Travis? The kid has problems. No doubt. He’s . . . angry. I try not to be too hard on him. He’s suffered a huge loss. I know. I was in Iraq with his Dad,’ said Jerry.

Caitlin nodded. ‘I wondered about that.’ She thought about Naomi, suggesting Alan Needleman might be to blame for Geordie’s disappearance. She must have no idea that this Scoutmaster, whom she had encouraged Travis to emulate, was Alan Needleman’s partner. ‘Does Naomi know . . .?’

‘That I’m gay? What do you think?’

‘I think she doesn’t,’ said Caitlin. ‘I know she doesn’t. For one thing, you could never be a Scoutmaster if they knew you were gay.’

‘They?’

‘The Boy Scouts.’

‘That’s true. I don’t deny it. It’s a homophobic organization.’

‘So, why are you here?’

Jerry folded his arms across his chest and glanced back at the boys who were goofing around at the lodge. ‘Look, Mrs Eckhart. My son is in this troop.’

Caitlin was taken aback. ‘Your son?’

‘Yes. I encouraged him to join the Scouts because I always loved being a Scout when I was a kid. I loved the camping and the outdoor activities. I thought it would be good for my son, too. The troop needed another leader and I volunteered.’

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I . . . didn’t realize . . .’

‘Between my divorce and my ex-wife’s anger toward me, he’s had to put up with a lot already. He doesn’t say it, but I know he’d rather all these kids in his Scout troop didn’t know about his Dad and Mr Needleman. I can’t tell you what to do, but my son didn’t do anything to deserve that hassle,’ he said.

‘No, of course not,’ she said. Caitlin realized, sheepishly, and too late, that she was being as bigoted in her thinking as the Boy Scout hierarchy.

Jerry’s tone had an edge. ‘These boys are in no danger from me,’ he said. ‘The kids at school are in no danger from Alan. We’re just trying to help out, set a good example, and live our lives.’

‘You’re right. I shouldn’t have suggested . . .’ she said.

‘What are you doing here anyway?’ Jerry asked.

Caitlin sighed. ‘I came to talk to Travis,’ she said. ‘Is he here?’

Jerry frowned and looked at the gaggle of boys on the porch. ‘I don’t see him. Let me check.’

Jerry walked back through the leaves in the direction of the lodge. ‘Hey Bernie,’ he called out. He gestured for the other Scoutmaster to come down the stairs and join him. As Bernie arrived where they were standing, Jerry asked, ‘Is Travis Pelletier here today?’

Bernie shook his head. ‘His mother called. It seems he lost his dog and he was too upset to come today.’

‘This is Mrs Eckhart,’ Jerry said to his fellow Scoutmaster. ‘Her boy is the one who disappeared from the elementary school.’

Bernie looked at her sadly. ‘Oh, sure. We’ve met before. That’s so terrible.’

‘Thank you. You say that Travis lost his dog?’ Caitlin asked. ‘When?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Bernie.

Caitlin instantly felt uneasy. Travis never let that dog out of his sight. The two of them seemed glued together. That dog would not just run away. ‘I have to go,’ said Caitlin abruptly. She turned and started back to her car. Then she stopped and spoke again to Jerry, who was heading back to the troop. ‘I’m sorry about this. About what I said to you. I was unfair,’ she said.

‘I’m used to it,’ Jerry said.

Caitlin thought about the police, initially seeing her as a suspect in Geordie’s disappearance just because she was his stepmother, rather than his birth mother. She thought about Noah, accusing her of being complicit in Geordie’s disappearance, because she had kept that secret about her brother. She had been pained and outraged by those assumptions. And yet, though she knew better, she had succumbed to the exact same sort of thinking. Of course she was frightened for Geordie. But that was no excuse. She had been critical of Naomi for jumping to conclusions. And then she did it herself. It was instructive, she thought, to realize how quickly one’s convictions could vanish in the face of fear.

‘I never thought of myself that way,’ she said.

‘What way?’

‘Biased,’ she said.

Jerry’s expression softened. ‘Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. I wouldn’t trust anyone either,’ he said, ‘if I was in your shoes.’

On the way to Naomi’s house, Caitlin wondered how in the world she was going to convince Travis to talk to her. Even if Naomi was at the free bookstore today, she was pretty sure that Martha had been warned to keep Caitlin away from Travis. She thought about what she had heard at the Boy Scout camp. Champ had disappeared. She couldn’t imagine how that could have happened. Dogs were faithful creatures and she had rarely seen an owner and pup more attached than Champ and Travis. She parked in a side street just across from Naomi’s house. She could see the house and she noticed that Naomi’s Volvo was gone from the driveway. That made things easier. Now, she thought, what to say. Finally, she had an idea.

She crossed the street, walked up to the front door and knocked. Martha hollered out that she was coming and Caitlin waited as Martha made her way to the front door and opened it. She squinted out at the figure on the step. ‘Yes.’

‘Martha, it’s me. It’s Caitlin.’

‘Caitlin,’ she exclaimed. ‘Have they let Noah go yet?’

‘Not yet,’ said Caitlin. ‘They’re still looking for the biker who stopped to help Noah with his car. Detective Mathis went down to Washington to see if he could get a line on the guy.’

‘I’m so disgusted with that police department,’ Martha said. ‘They couldn’t find their nose on their face. What about Geordie? Anything?’

‘Nothing,’ said Caitlin.

‘Lord,’ said Martha with a sigh.

‘Look, Martha, I had a little misunderstanding last night with Travis. I’m really sorry about that . . .’

Martha shook her head. ‘He deserved to get in trouble. He knows not to take a dog into a restaurant,’ she said.

‘Well, I just came to apologize. And then I heard about Champ running away. What happened? Did he get out the back door or something?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Martha. ‘I didn’t even know he was gone until Travis mentioned it.’

Mentioned it? Caitlin thought. She would have expected Travis to be nearly hysterical to find his dog gone. Then again, she remembered his mother saying that he was the only one who didn’t react when Emily died. ‘Well, I wanted to offer to help him look for Champ. Do you think he’d like some help? We can cover a lot more territory in the car than he could on foot.’

‘That’s nice, dear. I’ll tell him you came by,’ Martha said. Caitlin noticed that she was not invited into the house.

‘Is he out looking for Champ now?’

Martha frowned and looked back into the dark house. ‘No. The last time I checked on him he said he was playing a video game.’

‘Really?’ Caitlin said, taken aback.

‘I told him to get busy making some posters with Champ’s picture. He can go hang ’em up around the neighborhood. If it was my dog I’d be out there looking high and low. But he’s addicted to those games.’

‘I could take him around in the car to hang the posters up,’ Caitlin offered.

‘Never mind. He’s better off walking. It would do that boy good. I will tell him you were here though,’ Martha said firmly, closing the door with a little wave.

Caitlin walked back across the street to her car and sat down in the driver’s seat. She had been surprised to hear that Champ had run away in the first place. Champ and Travis seemed to be almost inseparable. But the thought that Travis wasn’t even out looking for his beloved dog made no sense at all. She would have sworn that Travis loved that dog more than anything. Obviously, she had been mistaken.

Caitlin sat staring at the little house across the way. Whatever Travis knew, she was not going to get close to it. Clearly, she wasn’t welcome in that house. She knew she should turn on the engine and leave but she felt completely tapped out. Where was there to go? She called David Alvarez to ask about Noah, but got his voicemail. She could check with the hospital again, to see if Dan was conscious and able to speak, but even as she thought it she knew they would never tell her that over the phone. She wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the patient, and Haley had made it clear that she was no longer a fan of Caitlin’s.

Geordie, she thought. I’ve done you no good at all. I’ve alienated everyone and I am no closer to finding you now than I ever was.

As she sat slumped in the driver’s seat, feeling defeated and trying to think of what to do next, she saw the front door of Naomi’s house open. Instantly, she was alert. Travis stepped out onto the front steps with a small backpack slung over his shoulder. He looked around furtively and then stepped off into the yard. He walked out to the sidewalk, reached into the backpack, and pulled out a flyer. He thumb-tacked the flyer to the nearest telephone pole. Then he started to lumber down toward the end of the street. Caitlin watched him, wondering how she could approach him without him running away from her, calling for help.

He was a puzzling child, she thought. He did not look distraught. He looked almost – pleased with himself. She watched him as he walked down the block. When he got to the end of the street, instead of turning right or left, he looked all around him once again. Obviously, he did not recognize Caitlin’s parked car around the corner from his house, or the driver crouched there, peering over the wheel.

Once he seemed certain that he was not being watched, Travis sneaked behind the boarded-up deli at the corner. Caitlin had to crane her neck to see him. He was crouched down by the boarded-up back door. Then, suddenly, backpack and all, he disappeared from view.

TWENTY-EIGHT

C
aitlin got out of her car and hurried across the street and down the block. Her heart was beating out of proportion to the exertion. Suddenly that boarded-up deli was presenting her with a thought too staggering to take in.

Was it possible? Was Geordie there, inside that store? Was this the secret that Travis was hiding? Had Dan somehow enlisted Travis’s help? Could Travis be that cruel and evil a child? He hadn’t seemed to care that his dog ran away. He had asked for more macaroni upon learning that his Aunt Emily was killed in an accident. Maybe he was some sort of incipient psychopath who was helping Dan for some promised reward. She had read that there were children like that. As awful as it seemed, everything inside of Caitlin was praying that this was the answer – that Geordie was in that abandoned store and still alive. If she could only find him, if it was not too late, she knew she could summon help and protect him until that help arrived.