she could make out the majestic suspension bridge leading to Harper’s Point, the peninsula where the Briggses and all the other affluent families lived. She wondered if Willow’s parents were as concerned about the missing girls as she was right now.
“So what happened after the game?”
“I already told you what happened, Karl. Shouldn’t we be out searching for the girls?”
“We’ve got every officer on patrol looking for them. We’ve even put a call into the state police for some backup help.”
“That’s all good and fine, but shouldn’t we be doing something other than sitting here?”
“What you should be doing now is answering my questions.”
“There was a big celebration after the game. We all stood around the field and watched the girls get their trophies. Lots of hugs and pictures. After about thirty minutes passed, I asked Katie if she wanted to go home with us. She said no, that she wanted to stay back with some of her teammates. Supposedly, one of them was going to have a cookout for all the kids.”
“Does Katie drink or do drugs?” Karl asked, his head bent over the notebook.
“How could you even ask me that? She is a straight A student and attends church every Sunday.”
He looked up from his notebook. “You understand I have to ask you these questions, right?”
She crossed her arms and sighed. “No, I’m fairly certain Katie doesn’t drink or do drugs.”
“That you know of?”
“Yes, that I know of.”
“I asked the Briggses the same question, and they said that Willow occasionally has a glass of wine with dinner. They are okay with it as long as she drinks in moderation, but I have a hunch that maybe she likes it a little too much.”
“My kids know that drinking’s unacceptable in our household—except for Ray.” She looked away from him. “I should have never let her hang out with that girl.”
“So you believe that Willow is somehow responsible for this?”
“I could tell something is not quite right with her. Call it mother’s intuition,” she said. “Of course Willow is always nice when we have her over. Despite the big house she lives in, she is always complimenting us on what a nice home we live in.” She wanted to explain how Willow had eventually managed to win her over, despite the warning alarms going off in her head.
“We’re checking with their friends. Maybe they all piled into a car and took off on a road trip down to Portland and decided not to tell anyone.”
“Katie would have definitely called me if she did something impulsive like that.”
“Kids change as they get older. Peer pressure and all.”
“Katie isn’t like that.”
The sound of a truck rumbling up the driveway filled the kitchen. Isla moved to the window to see who had arrived. For a second she thought it might be Ray coming home to check on her, but on closer inspection, she saw that it was Drew, Katie’s boyfriend. She prayed Katie was with him, only to realize a few seconds later that the passenger seat was empty. Drew jumped out of his truck and bounded up the stairs to the kitchen door.
His aggressive knock on the door rattled her. Isla did not have the patience to deal with Drew right now, but she decided to deal with him, anyway. She opened the door and took him in with her eyes. With his sandy blond hair, square face, and blue eyes, he resembled someone who had just walked out of a nineteenth-century Iowan cornfield. He was a year ahead of Katie, and his main goal in life was to one day own and operate his own lobster boat, like his father. And his father before him. Isla didn’t necessarily look down upon this lifestyle, but she wanted more for Katie, the same way she had wanted more for herself those many years ago, when she had dreamed all those big dreams. And with the Gulf of Maine warming because of climate change, and with the lobster catch dropping year after year, she wondered what the future would hold for men like Drew. There weren’t many other good jobs in town for high school graduates.
“Where the hell is Katie?” Drew said, walking past her and into the kitchen.
“We don’t know. That’s why the police are here. We’re trying to find out what happened to her.”
His eyes drifted with suspicion to Karl. “Is it bad enough that you had to get the cops involved?”