Underneath, sitting on more velvet, was a folded envelope.
Alan removed it and handed it to Logan.
Carefully, Logan pulled out the letter and read it. Nothing in it seemed to shed any new light on the situation.
“This was the only thing left in the car?”
Alan was looking wistfully at the letter. “Yes. Everything else was gone.”
“Callie told me about the missing pictures.”
Alan’s face dropped. “You saw the hallway.”
“Yeah.”
“She cleaned out the photo albums, too. Even the computers.”
“I assume they weren’t gone before you left on your trip.”
“No. At least not the ones on the wall. The photos in the albums could have already been gone, and maybe the ones on the computer, too. I didn’t regularly check those.”
Someone had come into the house while Alan and Sara were gone. The same person who’d taken Sara’s luggage? Or were there more than one other person involved?
“So everything she was in?”
“All but one with Sara in the background. It isn’t great, but…”
“Callie mentioned that.”
“It wasn’t mine. It was my sister’s. I had her email it to me after Sara left.”
“Could you forward it to me?”
“Of course.”
“Besides the photos, what else did she take?”
Alan absently glanced at the closet. “Not much. She left most of her things here.”
“Really?” Logan asked, surprised. “What about the stuff from the place where she lived before moving in with you?”
“She was in a furnished apartment. None of it was hers.” They were both quiet for a moment, then Alan said, “Yeah, I know. I guess that should have been a red flag, huh? But she said she was new to the area, and didn’t have any stuff yet.”
A red flag, yes, but… “Don’t beat yourself up about it. I don’t think anyone would have thought twice about it. I wouldn’t have. Where did she say she’d moved from?”
“Back east. Philadelphia.”
“Did you meet any of her family? Old friends?”
Alan shook his head. “Said she was an only child, and that her mother had died a few months earlier. That was the reason she’d moved out here, you know, to start fresh.”
“What about her father?”
“She said he left when she was young, never really knew him. So it was just her and Emily.”
“Well, then, what about Emily’s father?”
“Sara told me he was a guy she’d gone out with a few times, but it didn’t work out. She never even told him about Emily.”
All nice and neat and packaged so that it sounded believable while being extremely difficult to disprove.
Logan handed back the note. “Thanks for letting me see this.”
Alan returned it to the bottom of the jewelry box, and put the box back into the closet. When he came out, he hesitated in the doorway. “There was something else she left.”
“What?”
Looking like he really didn’t wand to discuss it, Alan said, “It’s…in Emily’s room.”
Without another word, he headed into the hallway.
Emily’s room was near the top of the staircase. There was a dresser and a toy chest and a kid-sized bed, but the star was the walls. They had been turned into a giant mural of rolling hills and rivers and castles. There were knights on horses, a prince and princess in a carriage, and kids playing in a field. This wasn’t some amateur job done by a person with limited skill. This was a beautiful, detailed work of art.
“Sara painted it,” Alan said, as if reading the question on Logan’s mind. “Took her three months to finish.”
“It’s amazing.”
“It is, isn’t it?” For a few seconds it seemed that Alan had forgotten about everything else, and was simply enjoying what his wife had created.
To Logan it was more than just a mural on a child’s wall. It was an attempt by a mother who knew she wouldn’t be around for long to leave something lasting for her little girl.
About two feet down from the ceiling, a narrow shelf ringed the room. On it were dozens of small stuffed animals. Dragons and bunnies and bears and turtles and several other creatures looked down into the room, guarding it from some imaginary evil. Alan used the frame of Emily’s bed to step up and reach between two of the animals. When he came back down, he was holding a small, square box.
“This was at the foot of the bed when I got home,” he said.
He opened it. The first thing Logan saw was a photograph of Alan holding a younger Emily in his lap. They both appeared to be laughing. Alan pulled the picture out, revealing a ring underneath. Turning the photo over, he held it so Logan could read the message scrawled on the back.
Logan didn’t want to ask, but he knew he had to. “Her wedding ring?”
Alan nodded. “This is the picture she used to keep in her wallet. It was right in front so anytime she opened it, she’d see us. Why would she leave this here?”
Logan didn’t immediately reply. Some definite ideas were running through his mind, but he wasn’t sure how much he should say because there was no way to know if he was even close to being right. He realized, though, he had to say something.
“If you ask me, I’d say she didn’t leave you.”
Alan stared at him. “She’s been gone for a month and a half. It sure looks that way to me.”
“What I mean is she didn’t leave
Alan seemed unsure.
“Look at it this way. When people go on the run, the thing they fear even more than getting caught is for anything to happen to those important to them.” Logan moved his gaze to the mural. “Look at the wall. That’s the work of a parent who truly loves her child, and wanted to give her something special. The woman who painted this, if she was leaving her husband because she wasn’t happy…” He pointed at the wall again. “This woman would have taken her daughter with her. She left Emily with you because she knew Emily would be safe here.”
“I…want to believe that,” Alan admitted. Logan could tell he’d been hoping that was the case.
Logan touched the photo still in Alan’s hand. “Believe it.”
Ten minutes later, Logan, Harp, and Barney climbed back into the El Camino. Logan started the engine, but didn’t put the car in gear.
“Well?” Harp said.
Logan eyed the house, saying nothing.
“Are you going to help him?” his dad asked.
Logan remained motionless for several more seconds, then he put the car in reverse.
“Yeah. I’m going to help him.”
