Visions (Forest Secrets Book 1)

Chapter 9

It was really late when I’d started home, which probably wasn’t my smartest idea. The moon, at least, was bright, so that helped. We left the STOP HERE well before closing time because it had been getting too empty and in a moment of wisdom, we’d decided that it would have been too easy to be overheard. Too bad we hadn’t thought of it earlier, but at least we weren’t caught a second time. Or maybe we just weren’t approached. I really hope it wasn’t the latter.

            There was a deserted park not far from the restaurant and we went there instead. In hushed tones, we’d discussed some of the important things for the moment, and other important long term aspects. Obviously, we had to have a code name for what we were doing so we could talk about it without worrying too much for those with prying ears. Since Emily had already given the Knitting Club excuse, we thought it best not to change our story and start learning how to knit. Or at least to carry the supplies around.

Emily said she’d supply some partially made projects to make it seem a bit more real. I’d had some suspicions about her to be honest. I mean, she wasn’t worried about being out alone, but I guess that was because she hadn’t heard the news report. So that made sense, but now she has a story that makes me completely innocent, she’s calm while she says it, and she’s not only helped with a lot of ideas for finding Carter, but is gung-ho for teaming up with us under the radar. Not that I didn’t appreciate the help, and not that anyone wouldn’t want to find Carter, it was just that I’d only talked to Emily a few times when school was around, and we’d never really hung out.

I tried to think of reasons why she’d want to be in on the investigation. Maybe she had been the one to kidnap him. I thought back to how they’d been around each other, trying to see a reason for her to get angry…and that’s when it hit me. I stopped my bike as I realized that not only had I seen Emily before I ran out of the party, but the reason Emily wanted a part of our “team”.

When she’d talked to Carter, she hadn’t been so distracted; there hadn’t been as many pauses. When they talked, she’d always been focused…on him. She didn’t love Carter, but she probably really liked him, which is why she followed him and Carly, because she was hoping that they wouldn’t do what they’d done.

Now that I knew I could trust her, our meet place seemed all the more safe. Emily told us that it’d be better to meet somewhere enclosed. Her reasoning for this was that the person or people who took Carter had used the forest behind his house as an escape, not a car. They must be familiar with the territory, with good outdoor skills. If we met somewhere secluded in the wood or near them, we’d be giving the culprit(s) leverage. I guess it might be a tad egotistical for us to think they would keep tabs or consider us a threat when it was only our first day, and the fact that we didn’t look like we could do much damage, but you never know. It was better to be safe than sorry, and besides, this was a long term plan. You never know; we might end up being the best investigators for the job.

I smiled, thinking about that. Imagine the look on Detective Reeve’s face if Christine, Emily and I were the ones to find Carter while all he’d been doing was targeting us.

I started the petals slowly again and frowned, horrified at myself. Carter, who’d sat next to me in science; Carter, who was actually kind of a good guy once he was past the whole trying-to-get-with-as-many-girls-as-he-could phase and just talked with you, was missing, and I was making a game—a contest—out of it.

I busied myself with thoughts of what we might find out after talking to Carly.

Tomorrow, June 1, was a Tuesday, and we knew that not only would she be at home, but her parents wouldn’t. Emily said that on Tuesdays Carly had piano lessons, because she’d always brag about it. Her parents, on Tuesdays went out to the sporting goods store that they owned. I think it was called “Hunter’s Supply” or something generic like that. We weren’t really a poor small town, since we catered to quite a few big businesses, most of them locally owned, with catalog shipments out of state and online purchasing. Everyone had at least some money to spare.