Like I said, Reed was smart. And tough. But he wasn’t going to let anyone’s feelings get in the way of what he had to do. When I listened to him talk, I could hear an unwanted visitor stampeding through the china shop, with dishes crashing to the floor in his wake.
We arrived at the Sloan house. Before we got out of the cruiser, Reed opened the glove compartment and grabbed a listing of the vehicle’s mechanical specs in a plastic slip cover. He shoved the plastic case inside his suit coat pocket.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “What’s that for?”
“Visual aid,” he replied without further explanation.
Ellen and Dennis met us at the door. Their faces were drawn, and their eyes were red with tears and exhaustion. There were others inside the house with them, just as there had been the previous day. Relatives. Friends. Kids from Adrian’s school. Trina must have finally gone home, because I didn’t see her. Everyone looked fragile, as if tensing for the moment when the phone would ring and they would find out whether the news was good or bad. The teenagers clustered around Adrian. The men clustered around Dennis. The women fussed and looked busy and left Ellen alone. She was independent and needed her space.
Agent Reed introduced himself with firm handshakes for both parents. He was an entirely different man in front of the Sloans. His hostile impatience vanished. He radiated compassion. And yet I watched his eyes and knew he was registering everything in the room and taking the measure of all the people who were gathered there.
“Is there a place we can talk?” he asked. “Somewhere private?”
Dennis nodded and led us downstairs. The walk-out basement was a man cave, built with log beams and stuffed with toys. Large-screen television. Pool table. An old-style slot machine from a Vegas casino. It was just the five of us. Ellen, Dennis, Adrian, Agent Reed, and me. The adults sat on a leather sofa near the television, and Adrian staked out a high-top chair at the wet bar. I kept an eye on him. The boy squirmed like a caterpillar on a hot sidewalk.
Reed took them through a long checklist of everything that was being done. The sheer length of the list made it sound like the whole world was looking for Jeremiah. I could see visible relief on Ellen’s face, and she shot me a quick I-told-you-so look. That was fine. Anything that gave her a moment’s comfort was fine with me.
Then Reed shifted gears.
“One thing I need from you right away, Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, is a list of all the adults in Jeremiah’s life.”
Ellen took a moment to focus. “What?”
“Teachers, doctors, friends, coworkers, neighbors, any adults that Jeremiah would see on a regular basis.”
“Why do you need that?”
“We want to talk to all of them.”
“Oh. Well, of course, we can do that. Dennis and I will sit down and come up with names.”
“Thank you.”
The real meaning of Reed’s question only dawned on Ellen slowly, and I watched a horrified realization grow on her face. What he was saying was: Someone close to you could have done this. You can’t trust anyone. Your friends are all suspects.
“Mr. Sloan, how did you find out that Jeremiah was missing?” Reed asked.
“I was at the ranger’s office when Adrian came running in.”
“Who else was there?”
“Two other rangers were with me. There were a few tourists, too. A married couple from Iowa, I think. And two twentysomethings with backpacks.”
“Were these other rangers in the office with you all day?”
“Yeah, they were.”
“And do you have a registry of people who were camping on the national forest grounds on Friday?”
“Sure. We have that.”
“I’ll need a copy.”
“Yeah, of course. You bet.”
“Mrs. Sloan, what about you? How did you find out about Jeremiah?”
Ellen had been watching the back-and-forth with her husband carefully. “Dennis called me. I was at the mini-mart. And yes, Agent Reed, I can give you the names of any number of customers who can verify that I was there all day.”
Reed offered her a sympathetic smile. He knew she’d figured it out. First, make sure the parents weren’t involved. “I appreciate that. Please understand that this kind of information is necessary as part of our routine background in a case like this.”
Then he swung around to face the teenager in the high-top chair. “It’s Adrian, right? Come on over here and join us.”
His tone made it clear that this wasn’t just a suggestion. Adrian slid off the chair and took a seat on the sofa far from his mother and father. He stared at his feet and ran both hands through his hair, leaving it messy. He had the same thick black hair as his father.
“You a football player?” Reed asked with a friendly smile. “You’ve got the build for it.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“So was I. High school, and college, too. What do you play? Tackle?”
“Yeah.”
“I figured. Okay, Adrian, I know you’re worried about your brother. We all are. I know you want to help us find him. So I need you to answer some questions. It’s very important that you be honest with me.”
The boy shrugged. “Sure.”
“First of all, do you know two brothers named Will and Vince Gruder?”
Adrian looked up sharply and realized that Reed’s pleasant smile had vanished. The whites in the boy’s eyes grew three times larger. His reaction told me I’d been right about Adrian not being alone in the national forest. I knew it told Agent Reed the same thing.
“The Gruders?” Dennis interrupted with a puzzled expression. “What do they have to do with this?”
“Adrian?” Reed asked quietly.
“Yeah, sure, I know them. Everybody does.”
“Are they friends of yours?”
“No. I just know them. That’s all.”
“I hear they sell drugs.”
“Maybe. I guess. I don’t know.”
“When did you last see them?”
The boy shifted nervously on the sofa. “I don’t remember.”
“Were they in the campground with you yesterday?”
Adrian didn’t answer, and Reed leaned forward. His stare made the boy wilt.
“I’m asking you a question, son. Were you with Will and Vince Gruder yesterday before your brother disappeared?”
The Sloans looked back and forth between Adrian and Agent Reed, and they began to realize that their son had been lying to all of us.
“Adrian,” Dennis interjected like the snap of a whip. “Answer the man’s question. Were you with those two assholes?”
“No! No way. I was alone. I told the sheriff that.”
Reed slid the plastic case with my cruiser’s mechanical specs partly out of his coat pocket. “Adrian, do you know what this is? It’s a search warrant that gives me the right to search your bedroom. See, I think you did some business with the Gruders yesterday, and I think we’re going to find evidence of whatever you bought in your room. Now we can all wait until I finish my search, or you can save us the time and tell us what I’m going to find in there.”
The silence ticked away for a few seconds, but to Adrian, it must have felt like hours.
Finally, he murmured, as if speaking in a whisper would hide the truth from his parents. “Meth.”
“Meth?” Ellen screamed and shot to her feet. “Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? What are you doing with something like that? Why would you have anything like that in your room? Adrian, say something!”
Agent Reed stood up, too, and he put up his hands for calm. “Mrs. Sloan, I know this is upsetting, but right now, let’s keep the focus on Jeremiah. For the moment, this isn’t about drugs, it’s about finding your son. Adrian, I’m going to ask you again. Did you meet Will and Vince Gruder yesterday while you were out with your brother?”