Cottage on Gooseberry Bay: Charmed Summer by Kathi Daley (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

“Didn’t she start to worry when he didn’t come home Sunday evening?” I asked.

Parker shook her head. “She told Todd that Kalen sometimes crashes with a friend Sunday nights, but until this week, he’s always managed to get himself to school Monday.”

“Did she know he was absent today?” Jemma asked.

“Not until she heard about Zane and called the school to check on him. When she found out that he hadn’t made it to school today, she called Deputy Todd.”

“Okay,” I said. “So Kalen was last seen Saturday morning, and Zane was last seen last Sunday afternoon when he told his mother he was heading out to go paddleboarding.”

“That’s correct. When I spoke to Todd earlier, he didn’t think the two cases were related despite the fact that both missing boys are fifteen-year-olds who attend the local high school, but then shortly before I left the office to come over here, I found out that a third boy, Trevor Wilson, never made it home from school today.”

“So does it look as if he was abducted?” Josie asked.

“Todd didn’t know. Trevor was last seen leaving school on his bike at three o’clock. He was grounded after getting in trouble for breaking curfew over the weekend and told to come straight home after school let out. When he didn’t show up at home, his father went looking for him, but so far, he’s been unable to find him.”

“So now we have three missing kids,” Jemma said. “All boys, all fifteen, all students at Gooseberry High. This can’t be a coincidence.”

“At this point, Deputy Todd is beginning to suspect that all three boys have been abducted,” Parker confirmed.

“Were they friends?” I asked.

“Not really,” Parker replied. “Zane is an athlete and tended to hang out with the jocks, Kalen played sports in the past but wasn’t nearly as committed as Zane, and it appears he dropped off the teams he’d participated with last year. Based on what I’ve been able to find out, once Kalen’s father left, Kalen began hanging out with the gang at the auto shop. And Trevor is a genius of sorts who hung out with an academic crowd.”

“So, is there any way we can help?” I asked.

Parker hesitated. “You know how I like to be in the middle of things, but Todd is talking about bringing in the FBI. We are, after all, talking about three missing kids. If the FBI does get involved, I seriously doubt that they would tolerate any outside interference the way Todd can usually be convinced to.”

“So you aren’t going to investigate?” Josie asked Parker.

“I didn’t say that. But if we are going to poke around, we’ll need to be discrete. And careful. Even more careful than usual.”

Josie, Jemma, and I all agreed we were there for Parker if she needed us.

After Parker finished her meal and left, Jemma asked me about the charms I’d come by to show them in the first place. I shared the story of my new client and her quest to find her biological parents. There wasn’t a lot to go on at this point, but she did have the charm bracelet and the blanket, which I described in detail.

“I took photos of the charms on the bracelet. Do any of them mean anything to you? Keep in mind that the date on the shoe is ninety-six, so it might be possible that all the charms were collected around that time.”

“Some charm bracelets take years to complete,” Josie pointed out.

“That’s true, but Ellery was born in nineteen ninety-seven, and the shoe has ninety-six stamped beneath B2B, so at this point, we’re assuming the person who owned the bracelet was involved in the Bay to Boardwalk Run in nineteen ninety-six. Of course, we don’t know that with any degree of certainty. There are other runs that would work with B2B, and I suppose it’s even possible that the ninety-six means something else entirely.”

“How exactly does your client think that this charm bracelet is going to help her find her biological parents?” Jemma asked. “Does she have a theory?”

“I’m not sure. My client told me that she was left in a small community church just hours after her birth in April of nineteen ninety-seven. She was wrapped in a white blanket with red roses stitched along the hem but was otherwise naked. The charm bracelet was tucked into the blanket, so I guess she figures that if her biological mother went to all the trouble to leave the charm bracelet behind, it must be significant. I think my client realizes that finding her biological mother based on clues provided in a charm bracelet is a longshot, but I also think she realizes that other than the blanket, the bracelet is the only clue she has.”

“Maybe your client’s biological mother had a summer romance in nineteen ninety-six which led to her becoming pregnant with your client. What’s her name?” Josie asked.

“Ellery.”

“Maybe Ellery hopes that she can use the charms as clues to recreate her mother’s movements that summer,” Josie continued. “Maybe she hopes that someone will recognize the bracelet and remember her mother.”

“I guess it’s possible,” Jemma admitted. She looked at me. “You know, if Ellery’s mother participated in the Bay to Boardwalk Run in nineteen ninety-six, we might be able to get a list of participants for that year. I’m assuming one existed at the time, and if it was digitized, which I would assume by that point it would have been, it may still exist.”

“It could provide a starting point,” I agreed. “Assuming, of course, that the shoe represents that specific run and that the bracelet did, in fact, belong to Ellery’s mother. Can you access the list?”

Jemma shrugged. “I can try.” She got up, crossed the room, and picked up her laptop. She returned to the sofa, tucking