Hidden Truth: Missing in a Small Town

Chapter 2

"She told me she was going over to her friend Melissa's house, to stay the night, you know? That was yesterday afternoon."

I noted down the details with diligence, pausing only to adjust the pocket-size recorder I had set up on the battered coffee table. "Okay, and what time was that?" I asked.

Sparing a quick glance to the clock on the wall, Amber Milner seemed to be counting backward, trying to recall the previous day with as much accuracy as possible. She gnawed on her lip, hesitating to answer. "Maybe around two? But I'm really not sure."

I opened my mouth to ask another question when a loud crash sounded from the back of the house. A second later, a man appeared in the doorway of the living room. "What's going on?" he demanded, glancing from me to Decker, then turning his gaze to Mrs. Milner.

She cleared her throat before answering, "I called them because of Erica, because she's, you know, missing..." Her tone held a strong note of uncertainty, as if she feared his response.

"Missing? Ha," he scoffed. I had been in law enforcement long enough to recognize someone with an obvious distaste for cops. The man in question was sneering in our direction, his expression of disgust only impeded by the wad of chewing tobacco that was wedged under his lower lip.

The atmosphere in the room had become charged with tension. It was obvious that Mrs. Milner disagreed, but wasn't inclined to say so. Instead, with a sigh of resignation, she gestured to the man and said, "This is my boyfriend, Curt. Curt, this is Detective Hoffman and Officer Decker."

Curt readjusted his chew in order to smirk more effectively. "You're wasting your time. She ain't missing, she ran away with that loser boyfriend," he said as he disappeared down the hallway and into an adjoining room, slamming the door with a force that reverberated through the walls.

"I'm sorry, he's just..." Lacking a better explanation, Mrs. Milner motioned vaguely toward the room where Curt had disappeared.

"Please, Mrs. Milner, continue with your story."

With a restorative breath, Mrs. Milner began again. It seemed that Erica had left their home in the early afternoon to spend the day with her friend, Melissa. It being the last weekend before the start of the school year, Mrs. Milner had assumed that their group of friends would be getting together to celebrate the end of summer. Erica hadn't been expected home until the next morning, after staying the night with Melissa. However, the next morning had come and gone, and Mrs. Milner hadn't heard from Erica. After calling Melissa, Mrs. Milner had been stunned to discover that Erica hadn't stayed with her after all. According to Melissa, they had some friends over, and there had been some sort of disturbance. Erica left the house on foot, crying and alone, and hadn't been heard from since.

By the end of her story, Mrs. Milner had tears trickling down her cheeks. "And that's all I know. I have tried to call her phone probably a hundred times, but it just goes straight to voicemail. She hasn't returned any of my texts, and none of her friends have talked to her either." After a brief pause, Mrs. Milner blurted, "She's never done anything like this before, I just know something happened."

She didn't say it out loud, but the unspoken word resonated through the room as if she had. I just know something bad happened.

The feeling of unease that had settled in the pit of my stomach was growing more pronounced. Obviously there had been some event at the party that had deeply upset Erica, which would usually point toward the runaway theory. But in this case, it didn't make sense. Erica didn't have a car, and there was no public transport out of Filer.

"Did Melissa say why Erica was upset?" I asked, although I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"She didn't know, but she said she thought it might have something to do with her boyfriend, Paul. He left right after Erica without telling anyone why," Mrs. Milner replied.

Bingo. The boyfriend.

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Milner," I said as I stood and tucked my notebook into my pocket. "Officer Decker is going to get a list of Erica's friends from you, along with their contact information. We will be contacting them all as soon as possible."

With an audible sigh of relief, Mrs. Milner stood and grasped my hands between her own. Startled at the sudden touch, I almost pulled away, but stopped when I saw her expression - fear mixed with a glimmer of hope.

"Thank you so much, Detective." Her hands were trembling, but she managed a tremulous smile. A sharp pang of pity gripped me. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to bring her daughter back to her, but I had been a detective long enough to recognize the beginning of a tragedy when I saw one.

Please, God, let me be wrong.