A week before their high school graduation, Ellie's boyfriend walked her to her door and kissed her goodnight, just like any other night. But there was nothing ordinary about what followed. Austin disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again...
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Bear bolted my way as soon as I slid the glass door open and stepped out into the small, enclosed backyard of the property I shared with my brother. A fenced-in yard had been another one of the requirements we'd given the realtor when we searched for a house to rent. She had delivered. There was a six-foot privacy fence surrounding the entire backyard.
"Hey buddy, what are you doing?" I asked Bear. He nudged me with his big nose, which usually meant he wanted to play fetch. "Go get your ball and I'll play with you," I instructed him. He took off and returned a few seconds later with a worn-out tennis ball in his mouth which he dropped by my feet and looked up at me with his large, brown eyes and the tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.
I smiled as I picked up the ball and threw it as far as I could within our yard. Bear took off the second the ball left my hand and caught it out of the air, in what looked like both an impressive and effortless move.
"Hey, bro." My brother stepped out onto the small covered patio and slid the patio door shut behind him.
"Hey, sport, what's going on?" I asked.
He did a half-shrug with his shoulder, but together with the serious look on his face, it put me on alert.
"What...?"
"Let's talk about that later," he cut me off before I got a chance to ask what was wrong. "What do you want to do for dinner?"
I threw the ball to Bear again and turned my focus back on my brother. He had a serious expression on his face and stood with his hands in his jeans pockets as he rocked back on his heels. The stance, together with the intense expression on his face, told me something had happened. That something was wrong. But also that we weren't going to have the discussion about whatever it was outside. At least not yet. And I knew better than to push him.
"How about burgers on the grill?" I suggested. I knew we had them since I'd picked them up when I stopped at the supermarket on my way home the night before, and it was easy and quick to make.
"Okay."
I threw the ball with Bear a few more times while my brother started the grill.
"Play with Sport," I told Bear when he returned the ball all full of slobber.
"Eh, thanks..." my brother said when Bear dropped the ball at his feet and barked.
"I'm going to change out of my work clothes," I told him and went inside.
When I walked back outside a couple of minutes later in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, Bear laid panting underneath the awning next to his bowl of water. My brother had cracked open a couple of bottles of beer and turned on some music. It was soft rock, but the volume was loud enough to drain out whatever it was we were going to talk about.
I accepted the beer he handed me with a nod and took over by the grill.
"So," I started as I put the beef patties on the grill, and there was an instant hissing sound. "I'll go first." He clearly had something to tell me, but we had more than just that to talk about. "I got a couple of calls at work today."
