as he read, worked on his computer, or watched television.
He saw Liz regularly, often taking care of her kids when she said she had to work at night. There was nothing about Liz that indicated anything out of the ordinary was occurring that November 2012. Sometimes she appeared stressed, but that was often the case for the single mother who seemed to work so hard. He continued to help out as much as he could, giving her cash, paying some of her bills, and taking her to lunch.
He would one day look back on that November in astonishment, wondering what he’d been doing when Cari vanished and why he hadn’t noticed that anything was wrong as Liz carried the burden of a secret so heavy it would have crushed a normal human being. She didn’t tell Garret her secret and said nothing to him about vandalism in her garage, stolen checks, or the fact she’d reported to police that someone was threatening to kill her.
Though Garret saw no evidence that Liz was upset, he does remember a peculiar incident that may or may not be significant to whatever was going on with his girlfriend. He can’t be certain of the exact day, week, or month, and he can estimate only that it occurred in the fall or winter of 2012. He discovered it by accident, on one of his rare visits to Liz’s home when he noticed a distinctive burning odor and commented on it. She quickly explained that she had had a get-together with a few friends, and some of them had lit cigarettes. They had put them out as soon as Liz asked them not to smoke in her house, but the smell still lingered.
His feelings weren’t hurt that she’d had a party and not invited him, but two things struck him as strange. Liz didn’t have friends as far as Garret knew. At least, he’d never met them, and she had not mentioned them to him. There was her sister Marcy and the guy they’d brought to his pool, but other than that, he didn’t think she had enough friends for a party. He couldn’t figure out why she would lie about the source of the odor, but it didn’t smell like cigarettes. Something had definitely burned, but it wasn’t tobacco. There was no reason at the time for Garret to suspect something sinister had occurred. It didn’t seem important, and he put it out of his mind.
The winter of 2012 swept upon Council Bluffs with frigid winds blowing as Garret and his family celebrated the holidays together. He often invited Liz to join them for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but she didn’t seem interested in fraternizing with his relatives. Even so, Garret included Liz and her kids on his Christmas shopping list. Liz was easy to shop for because she was a gamer, so he usually got her video games for Christmas and her birthday. She rarely reciprocated, though one year she gave him “a cheap ring,” for Christmas, and he remembers that “she got me a card once for my birthday.” Garret didn’t expect Liz to give him gifts, and he wasn’t offended when she didn’t. He knew she had to shop for her kids, and he preferred she spent her money on presents for them. For the most part, it seemed like an ordinary December, and before he knew it, the holidays were over, a new year had begun, and he had made a strange new friend.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, 2013, a text from an unfamiliar number popped up in Garret’s phone. It was a friendly greeting, but he was confused. “Who is this?” he asked. The texter explained that she was a friend of Liz’s, and that Liz had given her his number as a backup in case she needed to get a hold of her and couldn’t reach her. He texted Liz. “Do you know a Cari? She just contacted me, looking for you. She said you gave her my number.”
Liz replied, All my friends have your number. If I’m not working or with them, then I’m with you.
Okay. Well, she is looking for you I guess.
Okay, thanks! I will call her soon!
K, hon, Garret texted. She asked me when we started dating. Hope it’s okay. I told her we met a couple of years ago.
LOL, Liz replied. You don’t have to tell me everything. I trust you.
“Cari” began to text Garret regularly. Over two hundred texts were exchanged between them in