Before Zach left with his mom, Adam and Mitch jumped off the bus. They high-fived him. “Glad you made it back!” Adam shouted.
“Yeah, everyone was freakin’ out,” Mitch added.
Mr. Foster put his arm around him and asked, “You okay?”
Mr. Pliska and all the other teachers also said their goodbyes. Even Mrs. Lomeier gave him a hug. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said, squeezing him tightly.
And just before Zach got into the car, Miranda came out of the cafeteria. He saw her through the trees. She stood right outside the door, holding up her hand. A wave.
Zach waved back, wondering if he would see her again.
Zach sat in the front seat of his mom’s Honda Accord. He stared out the window watching the trees go by. They had been driving for twenty minutes in silence. Unusual for his mom.
He finally broke the silence. “What were you and Dad talking about back there?”
His mom stared straight ahead, not concentrating on the road, but on something else.
“Mom?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“I asked you what you and Dad were talking about back at Pine Ridge, before you hugged him.”
“Oh, uh … we were just really happy you were safe. We were both so worried.”
“That’s all?”
She paused. “Well, he did say something else.”
“What was it?” Zach wondered how much she knew about Victor Leppla, if anything.
“He told me he found you in the woods.”
“Yeah, he did.”
His mom nodded. “But then he said you two were separated.”
“We were.”
“I asked your father how that happened.”
“Wh … What did he say?” asked Zach.
“All he said was that he would explain some other time.” Zach’s mom looked puzzled. “But then he did say one other thing.”
“What was it?”
“Chris. He said he thinks there’s still a chance to find Chris. But he wouldn’t tell me anymore than that.”
Zach faced straight ahead, staring at the painted yellow lines on the highway as they marked the car’s progress.
“Do you know anything about this, Zach? What happened out there? What happened in those woods? Do you know something about Chris’s disappearance?”
Zach was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. Why didn’t his dad tell her the truth? Why has he kept this from her for so long? Finally, he spoke. “Mom, if I tell you something, will you promise to believe me?”
“Of course I’ll believe you, honey. What is it? You can tell me. Do you know something about Chris?”
Zach breathed deeply through his nose. Then he began. “A long time ago there was this guy named Victor Leppla …”