“Hello, Shelby.”
“Congresswoman.”
That had been Ellen’s title for the last three years. After Jeremiah’s disappearance, she launched a nonprofit organization focused on missing children, and built a statewide reputation lobbying for improvements in child safety laws. When the eighty-year-old Congressman representing our district had finally retired, local leaders — especially Violet — had encouraged Ellen to run for the seat. She had, and she’d won. She’d spent the last three years shuttling back and forth between Everywhere and Washington, DC. Violet was her chief of staff and legislative director.
“Your husband is already up at the resort with Sheriff Twilley,” I informed her.
Ellen’s face barely moved. “Ex-husband.”
“Yes, of course. Sorry. Adrian’s there, too.”
“How is he doing?”
“Adrian’s a fine officer. You should be proud.”
She looked over her shoulder at the press to make sure they were a safe distance away. It had to be a strange life, always making sure that no one was listening to what you said. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Adrian took Jeremiah’s disappearance very hard, and I was worried about how he would grow up. I was horrified when he was involved in setting the fire at Keith Whalen’s house, but it proved to be a turning point for him. He did the wrong thing, he got it out of his system, and he was punished for it. It helped him move on and get his life together.”
“I think you’re right.”
“He says good things about you, too, by the way. He says he’s learned a lot from you, Shelby.”
“I’m glad.”
“How is your father?” I didn’t know if Ellen was asking out of genuine concern, or whether that was simply what politicians did with constituents.
“He’s declining.”
“I’m very sorry. It’s a terrible disease.”
“Yes, it is.”
She put her hands on her hips and looked up the road toward the resort. I could see journalists taking photographs behind us. The news was already online and would be the lead story throughout the state and probably across the country by morning.
“I’m glad I was in the county when this happened. I was able to drop everything to get over here.”
“Of course.”
“So you really think Jeremiah was taken here?”
“It looks that way, although we can’t be totally certain yet.”
Ellen shook her head. “Why this place? It’s so remote.”
“I don’t know.”
“What about Keith Whalen? Does he have any ties to the resort?”
“Not that we’re aware of. But we’ll talk to him and see what he says.”
Ellen nodded. Her lips were pursed together.
“What about you, Congresswoman?” I asked.
“Me?”
“Do you have any family connections to the resort? Would this place have had any special meaning for Jeremiah?”
Ellen shook her head. “He wasn’t even born when it closed. Dennis and I took Adrian up here a couple of times when he was a boy. That’s all.”
Violet joined us, leaving the gaggle of media behind her. Nothing had changed between us in a decade. Violet was always moving forward, and I was standing still. I probably didn’t look much different, wearing the same deputy’s uniform, with nothing but a few lines around my eyes and mouth to mark the passage of time. Violet now looked more like Washington than Mittel County, with a cell phone glued to her ear, a Congressional ID on a chain around her neck, and a few streaks of premature silver running through her bobbed hair. She was a Very Important Woman doing Very Important Things. I didn’t doubt that she’d run for office herself someday.
“The press want to go up and take pictures,” Violet said without even a hello.
“Adam doesn’t want anyone there. We’ve taped off the whole resort as a potential crime scene.”
“Well, I know these media people. If you don’t give them something, they’ll sneak in. Let one person go up there and shoot some footage and share it with the pool.”
“I’ll run that by Adam and let you know.”
“Congresswoman, they’re going to want some kind of statement from you,” Violet added. “A short press conference with the sheriff would be best.”
“We’ll discuss that after I’ve talked to him,” Ellen replied.
“Yes, ma’am. Oh, and I talked to the FBI. Special Agent Reed is in Nebraska working on another matter, but he agreed to be pulled away so that he could supervise this investigation again. He was pleased that there might finally be a break in Jeremiah’s case. He’ll be here tomorrow.”
Ellen nodded. “Excellent.”
I was certain that Violet hadn’t talked to Adam before calling in the Feds. I was equally certain that Adam wasn’t going to be happy about having this case snatched out from under his nose again. The bad blood between Adam and Agent Reed hadn’t gone away.
Violet looked at me with the assurance of someone who was used to giving orders. “Agent Reed asked that the local authorities keep the scene secure and not disrupt anything on-site until he arrives with his forensics team. Please convey that message to Sheriff Twilley.”
“I will.”
“Thank you, Deputy,” Violet said, as if we’d just met.
“Of course, Ms. Roka.”
I admit there was a little sarcasm in my voice, but Violet let it roll off her back without any change in expression. She headed back to the reporters.
“I’ll take you up there now if you’d like, Congresswoman.”
“Yes, thank you.” Then she added with a smile, “You can call me Ellen, you know. I’m not here because I’m in Congress. I’m here because I’m a mother trying to find my son.”
I unhooked the chain from the driveway and let her walk through into the snow. “I appreciate that, Congresswoman.”
The two of us walked side by side up the road and across the bridge toward the abandoned resort. Ellen looked at everything around us with a kind of wonder, as if she could feel Jeremiah’s presence if she tried hard enough. I understood. This was as close to her son as she’d been in ten years. If we were right, he’d been here after he disappeared and after the fruitless search began. We’d finally found the next link in the chain that we’d missed so long ago.
When we arrived at the ruins, Adrian hurried over and wrapped up Ellen in a tight hug. He was a tough, strong cop, but at that moment, he was just a boy with his mother. I gave them space. Not far away, I saw Dennis Sloan talking to Adam, and I joined them. I passed along Violet’s message about the FBI, and I saw the flash of anger in Adam’s face that I expected. Just for a moment, he was a twenty-eight-year-old hothead again, leaving a drunken message on Agent Reed’s phone. Then, with a resigned sigh, he became the sheriff and began barking orders to shut everything down.
Meanwhile, Dennis stared across the overgrown field at his son and his ex-wife. It had been five, maybe six years since he and Ellen finally acknowledged that the split between them was irrevocable and filed for divorce.
I could see regret in his eyes. It was obvious that he still loved her. I guess most cheating husbands don’t realize that until it’s too late. He was almost fifty now, with his handsome, athletic days behind him. The rumor mill said that he still hung out in the local bars and made passes at the young girls, but his come-ons were mostly pathetic now. He’d quit his job in the national forest years earlier, because he couldn’t keep passing the spot where Jeremiah had vanished day after day. Now he ran a landscaping business in the warm season, and he did snow removal during the winters.