They hesitate again.
“Maybe we went there earlier in the day,” Allison says. “I really can’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
“Five years isn’t that long,” I say. “Not long enough for you to forget something like that on a day that affected you so much. And, again, the picture he posted is at night. And if you look closely enough, there are shadows in the picture. Now, we can’t prove who those shadows are, of course. But we can make a pretty good guess. This would be the time when both of you need to stop lying and start telling me what actually happened. Because both of you look incredibly suspicious right now. I don’t know what you’re trying to hide, but it’s getting worse the more I look into this.”
“We are not trying to hide anything,” Vivian protests. “He posted a picture of a place we hung out sometimes. That’s it. You can’t prove when he took the picture or if we were even there. We told you we were at Sherando Ridge. And that’s where we were.”
“What are you thinking?” Dean asks when we close the computer screen.
“That they are nowhere near as innocent as they want people to think,” I say.
I lean back on the couch, the image of the three girls from a picture hung in Ashley’s room stuck in my mind.
Could her two best friends know more about what happened to her than they’re saying?
And could they be the reason she’s gone?
Twenty-Five
The next morning, we get to the hospital just as Eric is finishing getting the baby dressed. He settles her into Bellamy’s arms and comes to give us hugs.
“How was the first night?” I ask.
“Not too bad, actually,” Bellamy says. “She woke up for feedings pretty much on the hour, like clockwork. Eric is already a diaper changing champion.”
“That’s great,” I smile. “When do you get to go home?”
“Well, the doctor says we’ll probably have to stay for at least another day. She’s doing really well, except her bilirubin is higher than they like to see. Nothing dangerous at this point, but they just want to monitor it and see if she’s going to need any other intervention.”
“Maybe she’ll get to be a glow-worm,” Xavier says. “That would be fun.”
Bellamy laughs and shakes her head. “I’ll remember to tell her that when she gets older.”
I settle on the side of the mattress and give the baby a nuzzle with my nose. When I look up, I notice Xavier watching us. He has that same look on his face that says something is turning around in his brain.
“What, Xavier?” I ask.
“Oh, I was just noticing something,” he says.
“What?” Eric asks.
He sounds a little nervous, which I can’t really blame him for, but Xavier doesn’t look worried. There’s a hint of an amused smile on his lips.
“When they sit like that,” Xavier explains, pointing to each of us in turn. “B - EB - E. Bellamy, Emmabelle, Emma. Bebe. Like ‘baby’ in French.”
Bellamy grins and kisses the tiny head snuggled up in the curve of her neck.
“Bebe,” she says. “I like it.”
And just like that, Xavier has given Emmabelle her nickname.
We tell Bellamy and Eric about our plans to go explore the location we finally identified and then take Xavier for his birthday celebration at a local theme park we found. I feel bad about leaving again, but Bellamy shakes her head.
“Don’t worry about it,” she says. “We’re going to be here in the hospital for at least another day, and then my mom’s coming into town to help when we first get home. Everything’s going to be fine. Take advantage of time away while you have it. I’m absolutely going to be milking the Auntie Emma card as much as humanly possible when you get back.”
I laugh and lean down to hug her. “Deal.”
We leave the hospital and head out for Sherando Ridge and Ashley’s former stomping grounds. Now that we know what we’re looking for, it doesn’t take long for us to find the abandoned old elementary school. Sam and Dean did some research and found out that this school shut down decades ago. It was meant to be repurposed, but the community never got around to it.
That left the building and the schoolyard around it empty and unattended. The perfect place for teenagers wanting to get away from the watchful eyes of adults. We park out in front of the building and walk around to the back.
“Can you see it?” I ask Sam.
More specifically, I ask Sam’s face on the screen of my phone. He headed back to Sherwood this morning after we visited Bellamy in the hospital. But he’s curious about this location and what it has to do with Ashley’s disappearance. I agreed to do a video call with him while we were here, but now I’m realizing how difficult it is to try to show him what I’m seeing just by moving the phone around.
“Sort of,” he says. “Tilt me down a little bit.”
The three of us split up and each head out in our own directions to roam around the old playground. What I can imagine used to be a grassy field with playground equipment and tall trees is now dry and brown. The frame of a metal swing set stands a few yards away from me. The swings are long gone, but a single chain hangs down from the top of the metal frame.
A rusted merry-go-round is off to the other side. I can’t even imagine how many children were hurt trying to push that thing around in circles, then jump onto it without losing their balance. And how many more ended up getting slung off by the force of the spinning.
I orient myself and look around.
“This is definitely the same place,” I observe. “And by the looks of some of this trash, it hasn’t been forgotten as a hangout. I wonder if the local police even have
