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

“That’s horrible.”

“It was. I felt so bad for Zane. I knew his punishment wouldn’t kill him, but it wasn’t going to be pleasant either. I wanted to help, so I borrowed a small handsaw from a friend and cut a hole through the wall in my closet, which I knew was a shared wall to Zane’s closet.”

“So you could enter his room without your dad knowing.”

“Exactly. We used that opening to go back and forth all the time when we were growing up. Dad rarely went into our rooms. He didn’t clean or put laundry away, so he never found out about our secret passage. I think Mom knew, but she never let on.”

“Okay. Go on. You and Zane were allies while growing up. How does this help us find him now?”

“I’m not exactly sure it will, but I thought it was important that you understand how hard it was for Zane when I left for college last fall. Zane can take care of himself now. It’s been a long time since he was a terrified seven-year-old trying to figure out how to deal with an ogre of a father, but I think my leaving was hard on him all the same. Harder than I thought it would be. Not that he said as much. Zane wanted me to get out of that house, so he supported my leaving, but I did notice a personality change once I’d left. I’m not sure exactly how, but I believe that his disappearance is linked to the changes I’ve noticed when we’ve spoken lately.”

Okay, the theme of personality change in all three boys had come up before. I picked up my pen and tapped it against the notebook on my desk. “Tell me about this personality change. What specifically did you notice?”

She shifted in her chair as if trying to find a comfortable position. “I was hesitant to go to college and leave Zane behind, but he assured me that he’d be fine, and at first, it seemed like he was. He made the varsity football team, which made our father happy. He was doing okay in school and staying out of trouble. I spoke to him every week at first and came home at Christmas. Things seemed good, so I began to relax. Our communications with each other significantly lessened after I returned to school after Christmas break. He was busy; I was busy. Life got in the way, and the weekly calls became more and more sporadic. Still, Zane seemed to be doing fine, and then about six weeks ago, he started making comments about meeting someone who was really helping him work through his issues with our father. At first, I didn’t think anything about it. The things Zane said seemed to be positive and life-affirming. He talked about finding his own power and personal growth. He talked about figuring out what he wanted out of life instead of making every decision based on what he thought would lead to the least amount of resistance from our father. It sounded good to me. It sounded like he was growing up and taking charge of his own life. But then, Mom called me in tears a few weeks ago. Zane had quit the baseball team and was failing half his classes. The harder our father tried to bring him into line, the more he resisted. Mom told me that things were becoming tense. She was afraid that things would get physical. I told her I’d come home as soon as school let out for the summer, and I assured her that I planned to spend the entire summer in Gooseberry Bay. That seemed to help a bit. At least it helped her.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked. “Do you think Zane simply took off?”

“No. I don’t think Zane took off. If he had decided to run away, he would have let me know. He knew I’d be worried, and I really don’t think he would intentionally do anything to cause me the amount of duress his disappearance has caused.”

“Did Zane ever use the phrase one life?” I asked.

She frowned. “Actually, Zane did use that phrase when we last spoke. He said something about only having one life to live and making sure that the one life he had to live was a life of his choosing. Do you think that whatever sort of personal growth thing he was into is related to all of this?”

“Maybe. I spoke to a woman named Silvia Cromwell while investigating another case I’m working on. Silvia is a counselor at the high school.”

“I know Ms. Cromwell. She was my counselor as well. Did she have an opinion as to what happened to Zane?”

“Not specifically, but during the course of our discussion, she mentioned the missing boys. She said that she first noticed a strong personality change in Kalen West. She specifically said that he began using terms such as personal power and one life about the same time he began cutting classes and acting out at home. I’m not sure if you know Kalen, but his parents recently split up, and he’s been taking it hard. Ms. Cromwell suspected that it was his parent’s divorce that led to his deviant behavior.”

“I don’t know Kalen well since he’s much younger than me, but he was friends with Zane, so I know who he is.” She sat forward. “So maybe all three boys met someone who put them on the path to personal power. Maybe their relationship with this person led to their disappearance.” She paused. “Do you think Zane got mixed up in some sort of a cult?”

“Maybe. It does seem that the link between the three missing boys is their new commitment to personal power and making sure the one life they have