Hidden Truth: Missing in a Small Town

Chapter 3

"Shit, shit, shit," I blotted frantically at the spreading stain of coffee moving across my desk. Giving up, I snatched the pictures away before they could get ruined, and stared at her face again. The mess on my desk was completely forgotten. In that moment, all I could think about was her face.

"Ron?" The door cracked and Alyssa's voice drifted into my office, full of concern.

"I'm fine, everything's fine. I just...spilled my coffee."

"Can I get you-"

"No, it's fine. I got it." A moment's hesitation, then the door closed.

Immediately, my eyes flew back to the photographs in my shaking hands.

The initial shock of seeing the photograph was fading, and I realized what I had known all along - this wasn't who I had immediately thought it was.

It was Erica Milner, the missing girl

I had never seen a ghost before, but I imagined it felt something like what I had just experienced. A cold sweat had broken out on the back of my neck, and the goosebumps were just beginning to fade from the surface of my skin. The intensity of my reaction shocked me. I was a detective, for Christ's sake. In usual circumstances, I prided myself on being unflappable. Over the years, I had seen things that would reduce most grown men to a blubbering mess on the floor, and had kept my shit together. Maybe the stress was finally getting to me...

Get it together, Hoff.

The temptation of another cigarette was becoming more pronounced by the second. Just as I was about to reach for the bottom drawer, my cell phone rang. The name on the caller-ID sent another shiver down my spine.

Speak of the devil...

"Hey."

"Hey, Ron, sorry to call so late in the evening, but I have a favor to ask you," Claire replied.

"It's fine. I'm actually still at the office."

"Of course you are." The bitter tone in her voice would have been undetectable to someone who didn't know her like I did, after all, we had been married for eight years. "Do you have the girls' passports? We're going on a cruise soon, and I just realized I don't have them."

We. I clenched my teeth. We consisted of my ex-wife, Claire, my eight year old daughter, Christine, my six year old daughter, Emily, and Claire's new fiance, David. One big happy family.

The burning in my chest threatened to overflow into outright hostility, but this wasn't Claire's fault. I had no one to blame but myself. "I have them. They're in the safe."

"Oh, thank God," Claire breathed. "I thought they got lost in the move, and we don't have time to order new ones." The relief in her voice eased some of the tension around my heart.

"I can overnight them first thing in the morning... So, a cruise, huh?" I asked, trying to keep my voice light.

I could feel Claire hesitating on the other end of the phone. Always the considerate one, I knew she was trying to spare me from their happiness as I wallowed in my self-inflicted solitude.

"Yeah, we thought it would be fun to take the girls for a surprise Disney cruise," she replied. There was no accusation in her voice, but I heard it just the same.

A Disney cruise had been our dream family vacation, something we had always wanted to do for the girls. Tied down by my difficult hours and my meager salary, it had never happened, and now it never would.

For me, at least.

Now Claire had married David Visser, owner of numerous lucrative businesses, and they were building the life we had always planned on with my daughters.