First Girl Gone(42)

“I guess so,” Charlie said.

“You don’t have to guess. It’s the truth. Every cop worth a damn will tell you that the first seventy-two hours is the most critical period in a missing persons case. It’s the best chance they have at finding a lead, in part because people have short memories. And you were the one out there, gathering that evidence before it faded, while the cops sat around with their thumbs in their asses. So don’t give me any of that ‘I guess so’ garbage.”

Charlie couldn’t help but smile at his passion.

“Any advice, oh wise one?”

“I assume you’re looking at ways they might be connected somehow?”

“Yeah, but so far, I haven’t found much to link the two girls. Kara’s seventeen. Still in high school. Amber is twenty and in college.”

“Do they look alike?”

“Not really. Kara is blonde. Amber is a brunette,” Charlie said. “They’re both pretty, though.”

“What about the families?”

“Both sets of parents are divorced, but that’s about where the similarities end. Misty and her husband live over in the Mill Creek subdivision. The Ritters have a house on Outer Drive.”

“Ah. So the new girl is a cake-eater.”

It was an old name the locals used for the rich city people who owned vacation homes on Salem Island. Charlie thought it had something to do with Marie Antoinette, but she wasn’t sure.

“Yes, but they do actually live on the island.”

“What’d you get from the family?”

“A whole lot of drama.”

“Oh yeah? Who with?”

“There was major tension between Amber’s mom and dad.” Though now that Charlie thought about it, Sharon Ritter had sniped at everyone during the interview. “Actually, the mom is just generally kind of a pain in the ass.”

Frank nodded.

“At one point, the parents started bickering, and Amber’s brother totally blew up,” Charlie explained. “Screamed at them and then walked out.”

“That’s interesting.” Frank stroked the stubble along his jawline. “I’d start there, then. Give them a real good look, find out what they’re hiding. But be… discreet.”

“You think the family is involved?”

“Not necessarily. But with the level of turmoil you described, I’d want to know more. If they carry on like that in public, then what goes on behind closed doors?” Frank asked, bobbing his head up and down. “The secrets. The family secrets often lead you where you need to go. Someone has to know something.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Nanny cams.”

Charlie blinked.

“You want me to spy on my own client?”

“There are two girls missing,” Frank said, and she thought he had a point. He went on. “Besides, it’s in the contract.”

“It is?”

“I set up hidden cameras all the time in divorce cases. If anything, this is much more serious than that, isn’t it?”

He was right. There were two girls missing. Amber’s parents had hired Charlie to find their daughter, and she intended to do it, by whatever means necessary.





Chapter Thirty





After bidding farewell to Frank and making him promise to call if he needed anything, Charlie headed back to town for her meeting with Amber’s brunch posse. Starving now, she unfolded the paper swathing her sub, the sandwich perched in her lap like a swaddled baby. It was cold. Probably going to be horrid, but she was starving. She took a bite.

“Good God. First you eat a whole pizza alone in your car, now a cold sub? This situation is declining rapidly.”

“It wasn’t a whole pizza,” Charlie said, chewing. “And the sub’s not so bad, actually.”

“Will you listen to yourself? This is just pathetic.”

“I didn’t want to eat it in front of Frank when he’s not feeling well. What was I supposed to do?”

Allie scoffed.

“You’re supposed to, I don’t know… have a life? Some friends? Someone to talk to other than your dead sister.”

Charlie ignored her, finishing the sub just as she arrived outside Cafe Fina. She wadded up the wrapper and tossed it back in the paper bag the sub had come in. She hoped Frank would manage to eat something today. She hated seeing him with no appetite. It was very un-Frank.

As she climbed out of her car, she caught sight of the soup bench across the park. She thought back to when she’d talked to Kara’s friend Maggie. It had been just a couple days ago, but it seemed longer now. She’d still been holding out hope that Kara had run away back then.

A cloud of coffee bean smell hit her as soon as she opened the door. She picked out the group of Amber’s friends and went over to their table.

“Sarah?”

One of the girls raised her hand. She was very pregnant—probably seven or eight months, judging by her girth.

As Charlie slid into a chair, a waitress came to take her order.

“I’ll have a chai latte, please.”

When the waitress left, Sarah introduced the other two girls, Sophie and Jennifer.

“We were just talking about how we’re so blown away by all of this,” Sarah said. “I mean, we saw Amber last week. How can she be missing? I can’t wrap my head around it.”