Snow fell hard as Helen and I arrived at the search-and-rescue camp. We jumped out of my car and ran to the bonfire where Matt was talking to a group of searchers.
As I reached Matt, my heels slipped in the snow, and he grabbed me just before I fell. That was the second time I’d ended up in Matt’s arms that evening. “I told you to stay out of my camp,” he said.
I smiled weakly at the volunteers around us. I saw them whispering to each other and eyeing my short skirt and heels. They were all in full winter gear.
“Can I have a moment?” I asked Matt. “In private?”
He shook his head. “I want you out of here, now.” Matt turned to Helen. “What has Claire been telling you?”
Helen put a hand on his arm. “Listen to what she has to say, Matt. She can help us.”
“I know why you can’t find Amber on the trails,” I told him.
“And why is that?”
I looked again at the volunteers and stepped away, waving for Matt to join me. I didn’t want the rest of the crowd to hear what I had to say. Helen followed us.
“All right,” Matt said. “You got your privacy. Now, what is it?”
I hesitated. I was about to accuse a teen of a serious crime, without proof. “Amber is in Doug Conner’s van,” I said. “I think he’s moving her from place to place so you won’t find her.”
“We’re back to your kidnapper story, are we? I suppose you saw this in one of your visions?”
“I did.”
“I believe her, Matt,” said Helen.
Matt’s voice softened as he talked to her. “Helen, you’re tired. Your daughter is missing. That kind of stress will mess with your mind. We have no reason to believe Doug took Amber.”
“Claire saw the inside of Doug’s van in her vision,” Helen told him. “She described the shag carpet on the walls.”
Matt shook his head. “How long has Doug had that van?”
“About five months.”
“Isn’t it more likely Claire just saw him driving around town?”
“I’ve never seen Doug’s van,” I said.
“You may not remember—”
“We’re wasting time arguing,” I said. “I think Doug hurt her, Matt. I don’t know how badly.”
“Do you hear yourself ?” Matt asked me. “You’ve just accused an innocent kid of assault and kidnapping.” Matt turned to Helen. “You can’t possibly believe this woman.”
At that moment, I heard my mother’s voice. “And why the hell not?” I turned to find my mother marching toward us. “If I were you, I’d be hunting for that van right now,” she said to Matt.
“Oh, here we go,” said Matt. He already thought Mom was loony. Her bright pink earmuffs and silver puffy jacket only added to that image. In her yellow snow boots, she looked like an overdressed duck.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” I said.
She waved a hand at Matt. “I’m here to make sure this fool listens to you.”
“Your help is the last thing I need right now,” I said.
Matt pointed a finger at me. “And I don’t want your help either,” he told me.
“But I do,” said Helen. “Matt, please. You haven’t found Amber. I’m willing to try anything at this point. Maybe Claire can lead us to my daughter. Maybe not. But isn’t it at least worth a try?”
“Let me tell you something, Helen,” Matt said. “Nearly every time someone goes missing, Claire’s mom phones us, claiming she knows where that person is. She’s got a ‘feeling.’” He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
Mom poked him in the chest. “If you’d just listen once or twice, you would come to believe me,” she said.
“I did listen to you at first,” said Matt. “You always ended up wasting our volunteers’ time. That’s precious time we could have used to track down those missing people.”
“I told you exactly where that Evans kid was hiding last month.”
“In the old Sterling mansion, I know,” said Matt. “Except we found him in the Johnsons’ barn.”
“He was in that mansion when I told you he was there. He hid in the root cellar when he heard everyone looking for him. Then he left.”
“I questioned him later,” said Matt. “He was never there.”
“He was lying,” said Mom. “He broke into the Sterling mansion. He figured he’d catch shit if he told you that.”
I raised my eyebrows at my mom, surprised that she had sworn. “Catch hell,” she corrected herself.
Helen took a step closer to me. “Claire knew about the new charm I just gave Amber,” she said. “The little boat. How could she have known that? I just gave it to my daughter this week.”
“I imagine Amber wore that bracelet to school,” said Matt.
“Yes, I guess she did.”
“Isn’t it possible Claire saw it then? She’s often up at the school taking pictures.”
“I haven’t been up to the school this week,” I told him.
“So you claim.”
“I suppose Claire could have seen the bracelet and forgotten,” Helen said.
Ah hell, I thought. Now Helen doubted my story too.
“Matt, please,” I begged. “At least have the volunteers and cops search for that van. I’m sure Amber and Doug are still in the wilderness area. I saw blood on Amber’s head, and she was unconscious. She clearly needs medical care. We’ve got to find that van before it’s too late!”
Helen covered her mouth and sobbed when she heard me say that. Matt wrapped an arm around her. “I want you two out of here—now,” he told Mom and me. “Don’t make me call the cops.”
He turned his back on us and led Helen to the coffee tent.
I was nearly in tears too. I thought I could help Matt find Amber, but he wouldn’t let me. He clearly thought I was nuts.
Worse, I was starting to doubt myself. Maybe I was just seeing things. Maybe I was as loopy as my mother.
“I’m so sorry,” Mom said. “I made matters worse, didn’t I? I should have kept my nose out of this.”
“You were only trying to help.”
“We should call the cops ourselves,” she said. “Make them hunt for Doug’s van.”
“And when they ask why, what do I tell them? That I had visions? If Matt doesn’t believe me, the cops sure as hell won’t.”
Mom shook her head. “You’re right. They’ve never believed me either.”
We both stared into the bonfire for a time. The warmth and crackle of the fire relaxed me a little. I put my hands in my pocket to warm them and felt Amber’s necklace there. Almost immediately, I had another vision.
I saw Amber lying in the back of the moving van. Beyond her, I could see the front windshield and the back of a man’s head. He turned to his right, and I saw his face. Yes, it was definitely Doug Conner.
Beyond, I saw a rough logging road in the dusky light. They were still on that mountain. I was absolutely sure of it.
“I just don’t know what else to suggest,” said Mom, and my vision ended. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I do,” I said. I dangled Amber’s necklace in front of her. Then I nodded at the mountain above us. “We go up there and find Amber ourselves.”