Emma
I wake just as the morning is shifting from midnight blue to pale, cold gray. For a moment, I’m disoriented. I’m not in my bedroom. The memories of the night before come flooding back to me as I realize the solid warm thing I’m laying against isn’t a thing at all… It’s Marcus. I sit up, and as I do, he stirs and his eyes open slightly.
“Morning,” he says huskily.
“Morning,” I say, feeling my cheeks turn pink.
“How’s your ankle?”
I look down at it. It’s still a little swollen, but not nearly as much as it was last night, and it doesn’t ache quite as bad.
“Better,” I say. “I really do think I just twisted it, and it’s not a full on sprain.”
“Hmm, well, you’re still going to stay off it today.”
“I am?”
“Yes,” he says, eyes twinkling. “You’re a woman of leisure today, and I’m your servant.”
“I like the sound of that,” I say with a grin.
“Well, your highness, before I go see to your animals, where might I find that tooth brush you mentioned last night?”
I want to brush my teeth, too, but I don’t want him to carry me. It’s romantic, but it feels a little silly.
“I’ll show you if you let me walk under my own power.”
“Compromise? You lean on me?”
“Fine,” I sigh playfully. He chuckles, and extends a hand to help me up. I stand and wobble a little as I get used to putting weight on my sore ankle and stiff legs. Marcus holds me, and as much as I want to pull him back on the couch and kiss him, I desperately want to brush my teeth before I do. As we make our way upstairs, I feel a little shy. My bedroom is up here. We could go in there after we brush our teeth… But just as quickly, the events of the day before – the realization that May Anne is missing- come rushing back to me.
“Can you check about May Anne?” I ask him as I pull a new toothbrush out of the linen closet and hand it to him. He nods and we stand side by side, brushing our teeth over the sink. After we brush, he gives me a kiss, but a truncated one, then he helps me back down stairs.
In the kitchen, I take a seat and he calls the state police again. I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing as he speaks to the dispatcher.
“All right, thank you.” He shakes his head at me as he disconnects the call. “I’m so sorry Emma.”
I look outside despondently. There’s easily a foot of snow on the ground, with drifts piling up even higher. Marcus MIGHT be able to get the jeep down the driveway, but there was no way he was going to be able to safely navigate the narrow back roads with snow that deep.
“Ronald lives just off the highway,” Marcus goes on, and he’s already dialing. I hear him ask his deputy to go out and survey the roads, and to keep an eye out for May Anne’s car. “Give me a call after you do a sweep,” Marcus says. He turns back to me as he disconnects again, tucking his phone into his jeans. “Once he gives me an update, we’ll call May Anne’s parents.”
“Maybe she turned up at home,” I say doubtfully.
“I’m sure she will,” Marcus soothes.
“I need to feed the animals,” I say softly, turning to get dressed in some warmer clothes.
“I’m going to go take care of the animals. Anything different for the morning?”
I shake my head, but then I remember the cat he mentioned.
“Just a sec,” I say to him. I rummage in the pantry and find a couple of cans of Tuna. I open one, and drain the excess liquid, pouring it down the drain in the sink before I scoop tuna on to a small saucer. “Would you mind taking this out to the barn in case the cat is still there?”
“Sure,” Marcus says, smiling warmly. He takes the plate, and then I hear him getting on his boots and coat. While he’s in the barn, I make my way back to the living room and take a seat on the couch, watching the front window. The snow has stopped, but the wind is still blowing hard, and every now and then, the windows rattle.
Some time later, I hear Marcus making his way up the front porch, but his steps are slow and deliberate. The front door opened and I press my lips together to keep from bursting out laughing.
Marcus is covered in straw and muck, and his expression is one of sheepish defeat.
“Oh no,” I say, getting up. “What happened?”
“The goats must have knocked their water trough over and I slipped,” he says.
“Are you okay?”
“Nothing’s hurt but my pride.”
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
He pauses, taking off his muddy boots and coat by the door. I lead him up to the bathroom and get him a towel.
“I’m afraid your clothes are…” The muck has a fair amount of animal poop mixed in with it, and it’s pungent.
“You can say I stink,,” he says.
“I’ll find you something to wear.”
“Thanks Emma,” he says gratefully.
I half hop, half hobble into my dad’s old room. He’s been gone a long time, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to get rid of most of his stuff. We didn’t have a great relationship, but he was the only parent I knew. I barely remember my mother. I open his cedar dresser and pull out a couple of old t-shirts, and a few pairs of sweatpants. Marcus is definitely more in shape than Dad ever was, but the pants have drawstrings. I am thankful that in the early days of their marriage, my mom insisted on cedar furniture in the bedroom. Dad replaced the feminine living room furniture when I was a teenager, but not the bedroom furniture, so at least I wasn’t offering Marcus terribly musty clothes.
I tap on the bathroom door.
“I’ll leave the clothes right out here,” I call.
“Thank you,” he calls back over the sound of the water running. I go to my bedroom and change out of yesterday’s clothes and brush my hair.
By the time I’ve freshened up, Marcus is stepping out of the bathroom, his damp hair falling over his forehead in gentle curls.
“If you point me to your laundry room, I’ll wash these,” he says gesturing to his befouled clothes.
“It’s just off the kitchen,” I say. “Come on, I was thinking about breakfast anyway,” I say, heading down the stairs carefully. My ankle does hurt, but I’m not going to admit that to Marcus. I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of him waiting on me hand and foot. I don’t know why.
Well, that’s not true… The reason starts with a “D” and ends with “Eacon”. He was never what I’d call a hopeless romantic, but in the early days of our courtship, he would turn the charm up to eleven. And then, we’d have a fight, and he’d throw me up against a wall or push me, and then immediately turn sweet and apologetic, saying and doing what I believed to be all the right things.
I push thoughts of Deacon from my mind as I open the door to the utility room, where the washer, dryer, water heater and furnace reside. Marcus puts his clothes in the washer and starts a cycle.
“Thank you,” he says.
“For what? You’re only in this mess because you tried to help me-”
He pulls me close, kissing me again, and this time, it’s not truncated. It’s a deep, searching kiss that makes me forget all the worry about May Anne and all of the past hurts from Deacon for a moment.
“I told you,” he whispers when he eventually pulls aways. “I’m very glad we got to spend this time together, and if a little muck is the price to pay, I’ll pay it a hundred times over.”
I feel a smile spread across my face, and he places his lips against my forehead. My eyes close, and he holds me. The scent of cedar lingers on the clothes, but I breathe him in all the same.
When he releases his grip on me, I move to start breakfast, but he grabs my hand.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he says playfully. “I told you, you’re a lady of leisure today.”
“It’s hardly a chore to toast some bread.”
“Still, I’ll handle it, thank you,” he says. “I still think you should rest your ankle, even if it’s not a sprain.”
I start to protest again, but Marcus’s face is so earnest that I can’t help but smile wider. I sit at the table and he waits for my “order”. I chuckle slightly.
“What?”
“It’s the first time a man’s ever cooked for me.”
“Yeah, I suppose the chili last night didn’t count as cooking,” he says with a smile, but then it fades a fraction. “Oh.”
“No, it’s not sad, I mean… I’m not saying it because I’m sad, I’m saying it because It’s nice,” I try to verbalize the jumble of thoughts in my head. “You being here is nice, it’s keeping me from going nuts worrying about May Anne. I should call her mother. Oh hell,” I say as I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I look around for my phone but Marcus is already headed to the living room to grab it for me.
With shaking hands, I call May Anne’s home number.
“Hello?!” Ms. Opal answers on the first ring. From the tone of her voice, I can tell May Anne is not at home.
“Hi Ms Opal, it’s Emma,” I say. “I was just calling to see if you’ve heard anything.”
“No,” she says tearfully. “I called the Sheriff’s station but they said the Sheriff ain’t been in yet.”
“I spoke to him a little while ago,” I say evasively. “He called the state police barracks last night and this morning to have them get in contact with the guys plowing the roads to be on the lookout for her or her car.”
“Emma, why won’t she just call? Something awful must have happened.”
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation and she’ll turn up as soon as the roads are clear.” I hope she doesn’t hear the lie in my voice.
Ms Opal sobs that she has to go, and the line goes dead. Marcus has his arms around me almost immediately.
“We’ll find her,” he promises, his voice low and husky again. He holds me for a moment longer, but then I hear his phone buzzing inside his pocket.
“This is Pike,” he answers. “Oh good,” he says, but then there’s a long pause as he listens to the caller, a frown settling across his features. “Okay… I got stuck down Chattaroy Road last night. I’ll be along as soon as I can,” he says. “Thanks Ronald.”
“What?” I say anxiously as he turns to me. “Tell me.”
“They found May Anne’s car,” he says.
“They found her? Is she okay?”
“I’m sorry Emma, it’s just her car. No sign of May Anne.”
“What?”
“The car was found by one of the folks plowing the roads.” He looks terribly sad. “May Anne wasn’t with the car.”
For a moment, it sounds like I’m under water, maybe at the swimming pond, and Marcus is talking to me from above the surface. It’s distorted and doesn’t feel real. My stomach lurches and I feel weightless for a moment..
That’s the last thing I remember.
Marcus
I see Emma pitch forward, her eyes rolling back in her head, and I grab her around the waist. I scope her up into my arms yet again, but this time she’s totally dead weight, unconscious.
“Fuck,” I grunt, struggling to get a better grip on her. I managed to get her to the couch in her living room and try to wake her. After a moment, she blinks. “There she is,” I whisper.
“What…”
“Easy,” I say. “You fainted.”
“I fainted.” She sits up slowly. “May Anne.” Tears are sliding down her cheeks. I reach up and brush one away with my thumb, cupping her face in my hand.
“Where was her car?”
“Old Tarrytown Road,” I say.
“Why would she be way out there?” Emma said. “There’s nothing out there, except the trailer park, and there’s no reason for her to go there.” More tears spill down her cheeks.
“The car doesn’t look stuck, might have been engine trouble,” I say. “I’m sure she walked to the trailer park or back out to the highway.”
“Then why hasn’t she called?” Emma sobs.
I sit there with her for a long time, letting her cry it out.
“I’m going to try to get to town,” I tell her. “I’m gonna look for her.”
“What about the roads?”
“The main roads are plowed. If I can get down your driveway, I can get to town,” I assure her, though I’m not sure of it myself.
“I’m going with you.”
“Emma, you’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” she says.
“Sure, but you’re also not an officer of the law, you can’t be involved in the investigation.”
“Marcus, I can’t just sit here. I have to… I have to do something.”
“Okay… I’ll take you with me, but you can’t talk to anyone I’m questioning, you can’t touch anything. I’m not saying that to be mean. If things… If things turn out for the worst, I don’t want whoever is responsible to be able to get out on a technicality.”
“I’ll behave,” she says. “Do you want to wait for your clothes?”
“No, I’ll either stop by my place or the Sheriff’s station and change.”
“I’ll get my shoes on.”
She disappears into the deeper recesses of the house, which she hasn’t offered to show me, and I haven’t been brave enough to ask to see. She returns a short time later with an armful of winter clothes for herself. I watch her bundle up, and after a moment, I get up, and get my boots and coat on. The wind has a ferocious bite to it as we step onto the porch. I hold Emma steady as we make our way over to the jeep. I was thankful for the snow tires and lift kit Sheriff Roy had recommended.
“You ever drive in snow like this?” Emma says as I unlock the door for her.
“No,” I admit.
“Let me drive,” she says. “I’ve been driving these roads in snow all my life.”
“Can you drive a stick?”
“Yeah,” she rolls her eyes.
“All right, all right,” I say lightly. “But just til we get to town.”
“Embarrassed?”
Despite everything, I’m glad to hear the teasing tone in her voice.
“I wouldn’t want my deputies to know I can’t drive in the snow,” I admit. “And you probably shouldn’t be seen driving my jeep, it’s county issued.”
“Before we go… You and me… Being seen together… People are going to talk.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure you know there’s not much going on in Culver Creek,” she says. “They’re going to gossip about you and I.”
“Oh,” I say, a smile tugging the corners of my mouth. “I don’t care about that. I’m okay with it… Are you?”
“I am,” she says, and her expression brightens slightly. She climbs into the driver’s side of the jeep and deftly maneuvers us down the driveway, up the road. There’s a look of concentration on her face as she drives, and it’s pretty cute. We finally get on to one of the main roads, and she comes to a stop at a four way intersection. The road is plowed, so we swap seats.
“Very impressive,” I compliment her as I urge the jeep forward slightly.
“The day I got my learner’s permit, it snowed almost a foot. Dad had me out driving in it practically before the ink was dry on my permit,” she says with a grin. I chuckle. I pull up to the sheriff’s station and Emma and I head inside. I lead her to my office and tell her to make herself comfortable, and I head down to the locker room to change. The station is empty, as everyone is home except for poor Roland.
I’ll call him after I get changed.
My spare uniform is a little loose, and I realize I’ve slimmed down a little since it was issued. That makes me feel good. It’s not easy to stay in shape at my age… especially when you’re eating at Emma’s Cafe every other morning.
I’m lacing my boots back up when my phone rings. It’s Roland.
“Hey Sheriff, I need to head home for a bit, my wife’s sick and the baby-”
“Yeah, absolutely,” I tell him. “I was about to call you and tell you to beat it, anyway. I’m in town so I’ll pick up looking for May Anne Collins.” We chat a few minutes longer and he gives me the rundown of what’s plowed and where he’s already looked.
I find Emma in my office, looking at the framed pictures on my wall.
“Are these your siblings?” she says, pointing.
“Yeah, a couple Christmases ago.” I put my arms around her and kiss her forehead. It feels so good to do that with her. It feels good for the first time in a long time to hold someone, to know that I’m going to give it the opportunity to go somewhere… The timing, though…
“Ready to hit the road and look for May Anne?”
“Yeah,” she says, but I feel her shiver slightly.
“Cold?”
“No, I’m worried,” she says.
Of course she’s worried. I feel a steely level of resolve wash over me again. I’ll find May Anne if it’s the last thing I do.
“Come on,” I tell her, and I lead her back to the Jeep. The snow crunches under the tires as we head out towards Old Tarrytown road. We spot May Anne’s car, headed back towards town. It’s covered in snow, except for a spot on the windshield Roland told me he brushed off to see if anyone was in the car.. I get out and look around, carefully brushing snow off the driver side window. The keys are still in the ignition. I swallow hard.
“Don’t touch anything, please,” I remind Emma as I look around. The only footprints I see are fresh, probably Roland’s. I grab the camera out of the kit in my jeep and take pictures of them just to be safe. Emma hangs back as I work, but I sense her anxiousness, and it breaks my heart. What would I do if something happened to my brother or sister? I try not to think about how Mr. and Mrs. Collins must be feeling.
My cold hands don’t want to slide into the blue latex gloves, but slowly I wiggle my numb fingers into place and open the driver’s side door. It smells like baked goods inside; like Emma, but with an undercurrent of some perfume, something heady and musky. The car is neat, not what I would expect from a teenage girl. No make up strewn about, no clothes, not even any school books. The car is meticulous, as if it had just come from being detailed.
“May Anne’s neat?” I call over my shoulder to Emma.
“Incredibly,” she replies, stepping closer to me. Her eyes travel over the faded upholstery and then she points. I barely see it, a scrap of paper stuck between the seats.
“Looks like a receipt,” I say.
Zip Ties 9.99
Electrical Tape 1.99
Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey 25.99
There’s no indication of where it came from, but the time and date show that it’s from the morning May Anne disappeared.
“That looks like a receipt from IGA,” Emma says. “They wouldn’t sell May Anne Whiskey though.” I put the receipt in a small evidence bag, and label it.
“Maybe she gave someone a lift, a drifter or something.”
“A drifter?”
“Hobo?” I say, trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work. Emma looks more concerned than ever.
“We don’t see too many folks like that out this way.”
Snow has started to lightly fall again, catching on her golden hair.
What I wouldn’t give to have a snow day with her under any other circumstances, I think glumly. I look around May Anne’s car a little longer and find one of those vape pens people are so fond of these days and bag it up.
“That’s definitely not May Anne’s,” Emma says.
“Are you sure?”
“I keep telling you, I know her, Marcus, she might not be my blood, but she’s my family.”
“All right,” I say lightly. I pull out my phone and call the IGA. Lucy answers and I describe the receipt to her.
“Yeah, Deacon Crocker was in here early yesterday morning. Pitched a fit for me to sell him the whiskey even though I generally doubt open that side of the store til noon. Bought the tape and cable ties, too.”
My heart sinks.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I can pull the security tape if you want.”
“No, that’s fine. Thanks Lucy.”
Fuck.
“Any luck?”
“Yeah, but… I’m not sure what to make of it yet. Emma… Is there any reason Deacon would have to be in May Anne’s car?”
“Deacon?” She laughs in disbelief. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“Because Lucy said that this is Deacon’s receipt.”