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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"What are you guys doing?" I asked when I walked into the living room of Austin and Alex's home and found them on the floor amongst papers, calendars, and notebooks. Alex had had a laptop in his lap, which his fingers flew over.
Bear was the only one that got up and seemed excited to see me. I petted him on the head and got a couple of licks on my hand as a thank you.
"Are they ignoring you too, buddy?" I asked him.
Alex heard me and snorted out some kind of response while Austin said, "I'm not ignoring you, babe. We're just trying to figure out where this treasure is."
I sighed and sat down on the floor next to him. They'd been doing a lot of that over the last month. Ever since we got back from Austin getting shot.
The Police and the Federal government had conducted investigations into Michael Wallace and determined that he'd been working on his own ever since his father was sent to jail. But his initial obsession with the supposed treasure came from his father, Dion, and that was extra upsetting to Austin and Alex.
Dion had been their father's best friend and one of the few people he'd trusted. Dion had been there from the beginning and knew what had happened and what they'd been forced to do. He was also the only one who was not part of any kind of authority that knew where they went after they changed identities. It was no wonder Michael had been able to find them. I was kind of surprised it took him this long.
Alex and Austin didn't come out and admit that they felt betrayed and let down that Dion and Michael were the ones that messed up their lives, but I couldn't tell. I also knew how disappointed they felt that the authorities made to protect them had missed it.
Lloyd had apologized about a million times and while they'd accepted his apology, it didn't make up for all the years they had to hide and live in fear.
We'd all been required to see a therapist to deal with the outcome. She had been patient, kind, and encouraging to all of us. What had happened to Austin and Alex had made a profound impression on me as well, and I'd needed those meetings.
I realized during those sessions that their sudden disappearance from my life had influenced many of the choices I'd made after that. I'd let fear and the risk of potential heartbreak discourage me from trying new things. It was safer to spend my time with my niece or date people I really didn't care about. That way, there was no risk of getting hurt, because I didn't expect to get much out of it.
I believed that Austin and Alex's determination to solve the riddle about the hiding place for the alleged treasure helped them in their healing process, so I let them keep at it, even though it seemed like a waste at times.
Nobody even knew exactly what this supposed treasure was, other than it contained money. How much it was and if there were other valuables were to be seen. Austin seemed to think there would be jewelry, and Alex thought there might be gold bars.
