*****
When they arrived home from the coffee shop, all of the volunteers that had been gathered outside earlier were gone, all probably out in the woods searching for any sign of Ginny. There was one police officer on the front porch, taking with Geoffrey and Sandra. He was taking notes in his notebook, and Gwen wondered if he was questioning them to see if any answers they’d given police had changed. She knew that in disappearances, family was always a likely suspect, but she knew Geoffrey and Sandra would never hurt Ginny.
But the police can’t know that. They’re just doing their job, she reminded herself.
Gabe parked beneath the oak tree and turned off the car, making sure to roll up the windows first in case it began to rain later. For a minute, he sat in the driver’s seat, his head back against the headrest, not moving a muscle. Gwen watched his breathing slow, and she figured he was trying to mentally prepare himself for what was about to happen. They were about to tell the police—in front of both Geoffrey and Sandra—that Ginny had snuck out to do only God knew what, that Ginny had lied about where she was going to be.
They’re going to be crushed.
Gwen was the first one to get out of the car, deciding that she couldn’t wait around any longer. She needed to get this off her chest, and then she needed to join the search. She knew that Ginny would be out there searching for her if their situations were reversed.
She made her way up the porch, and she knew that Geoffrey could tell something was wrong right away. Before he could even ask, Gwen turned to the police officer. “My brother and I have some new information for you.”
The officer was young and probably not particularly experienced, and he looked shocked at her admission. He immediately turned away from Geoffrey and Sandra, and flipped to a new page in his notebook. He rested his pen against the page, waiting patiently for her to begin talking. “Whenever you’re ready, Miss Grady.”
“We just got done meeting with Tiffany, Ginny’s best friend. I guess Gabe had a hunch, and he was right. Tiffany told us that Ginny wasn’t really at her house the night she went missing.” Sandra sucked in a harsh breath and Geoffrey tensed, but Gwen kept going. “She doesn’t know where Ginny really was that night since Ginny wouldn’t tell her, but she definitely wasn’t with Tiffany. She thinks Ginny might have been emailing somebody.”
The officer was furiously scribbling notes, but he stopped and looked up. “We already checked her email for any suspicious activity and came up empty handed.”
“Tiffany said she caught Ginny using a fake email, a secret throwaway account. She didn’t get a glimpse of who she was emailing though.” Gwen looked at Geoffrey and Sandra, who looked positively devastated to hear this new development. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard to hear.”
The officer cleared his throat. “Why didn’t Tiffany tell us the truth from the beginning?”
“Ginny asked her not to tell anyone what she was doing, and Tiffany was just trying to respect her wishes. That and she was worried you guys might not search as hard if you thought she was a lovesick or drug addicted runaway instead of the straight A student she is. She had what she thought was Ginny’s best interests in mind.”
The officer finished his feverish scribbling. If Gwen wasn’t mistaken, he almost looked pleased with the info she had just given him. Figures, he’s probably thinking of a promotion. Typical small town cop.
“I’ll call this new information in,” the officer said, flipping his notebook closed with a flourish. “You have my word it won’t change how we handle the investigation. No one in their right mind would think a girl like Ginevra Grady would ever runaway from home or get involved in drugs. But they do need to know there’s a possibility of a boy being involved, just in case. Teenagers can let their hormones get the best of them from time to time.”
“Not Ginny,” Sandra said, shaking her head firmly. “If she did meet a boy, she would have told us about him. We don’t keep secrets in this family.”
Gwen elbowed Gabe before he could snort, and she glanced up at him. “Don’t,” she mouthed. She turned her attention back to Geoffrey and was unsurprised to find him standing there with a blank mask on his face. It was getting more and more obvious as they spent time here that all of the adults were keeping something from them, and it was getting harder and harder not to get angry and demand any answers. Gwen hated the thought that their family had some dark, hidden secret that had put Ginny in danger.
They should have told us whatever it was. If it got Ginny in trouble, it might do the same with us. It’s pretty irresponsible of them to keep it hidden, especially with her missing now.
When the police officer left, Geoffrey went back in the house, not even bothering to stay and ask Gwen any questions. She watched him go, shoulders tense and back stiff as a board, but her observations were interrupted by Sandra’s painful hug. She pulled Gwen close against her chest, nearly squeezing the life out of her. Gwen struggled to breathe as Sandra began to sob. “Thank you for coming forward with this.”
“Of course,” Gwen said, surprised. “Why wouldn’t I? It might help find her.”
“I know you and Ginny are very close. You could have chosen to respect her privacy like Tiffany did, and we might never have known what was really going on.” Gwen didn’t know what to say. She just let Sandra hold her close until she was done sobbing, and when she pulled away, she looked horrified. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you see that. You’re just a child.”
Gwen couldn’t bring herself to be angry at being called a child. Her aunt looked so lost and lonely, and she was still crying. It would have been impossible to be angry with her at a time like this, when her only child was missing and nobody had any answers. She was probably trying to be strong, but was slowly falling apart as the hours wore by and nobody had any good news.
Sandra went back into the kitchen, and Gwen and Gabe traded uncertain glances. “This is getting weird,” he said. “They’re keeping secrets from us, and now it looks like Ginny was keeping secrets, too. What are we missing?”
“I don’t know, but I’m about to start getting angry if someone doesn’t tell us something,” Gwen said, heading for the door. Gabe followed close behind, and she held the door open for him, pausing in the doorway. Gabe peeked over her shoulder to see why she had stopped, and their eyes both widened.
From where they stood, they could just see into the kitchen. Grant and Geoffrey were in each other’s faces, their nostrils flared and their teeth bared in vicious grimaces. She couldn’t hear what Geoffrey said, but whatever it was, it brought on an explosive reaction from Grant. He shoved his brother’s chest, knocking him back against the fridge, rattling some jars on top and knocking one to the ground. Geoffrey swung back, aiming for Grant’s face. Their father stepped back, but Geoffrey rushed forward, closing the gap between them. The two grappled together, swearing and doing their best to hurt the other.
Gabe and Gwen rushed into the kitchen. “Stop it!” she shouted, startling the two brothers. Despite being much shorter than both Grant and Geoffrey, Gabe shouldered his way between them, forcing their father to back away. He firmly planted his hands on their father’s chest and shoved, putting even more distance between the two brothers. Gwen looked from one to the other, a frown on her face and tears in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine how much the two of them must have hated one another to be fighting over some petty family feud at a time like this.
“What is wrong with you?” Gabe shouted, startling Gwen. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Ginny is missing and you’re in here fighting like punks.” He looked at their father, his eyes narrowing. “You’ve been acting like a sullen jackass since we left, and it’s getting old real fast. Whatever happened between the two of you years ago needs to be laid to rest, at least for the time being. Until Ginny is found, you two need to shape up and act like the united family we should be.”
Gwen almost smiled at her brother’s speech. She felt the weight of his words settle over
her, and she could see the change they brought over Geoffrey. Grant didn’t seem quite as affected by Gabe’s words though. He just shoved Gabe’s hands off his chest and stormed out of the kitchen without another glance at anyone in the room. Gwen felt her spirits deflate again at her father’s inexcusable behavior. How can he act like this? Do they really hate each other that much?
Geoffrey was breathing harshly, trying to calm down after their confrontation. He had the proper decency to look ashamed of his actions, but Gwen could still see the fury in his eyes and the tenseness to his shoulders. But when he sighed, she could see the apology on his face, and she knew he regretted losing his temper like that. Unlike their own father—who had regular temper tantrums—she had never really seen Geoffrey get angry like that. She glanced over at Gabe, wondering if an explosive temper ran in the family. Even though he had been trying to break up a fight, he had still gotten pretty heated himself.
Finally, Gwen noticed that both Karen and Sandra were standing in the open doorway. With a heavy sigh, their mother left the room, probably to go and find their father. She couldn’t always calm him down after one of his rages, but she was better at it than anyone else. However, Sandra didn’t look too angry at their actions. She looked more remorseful than anything else. Gwen could see it in the way her eyes softened when looking at her husband, and how her shoulders slumped in defeat.
It almost looks like guilt, Gwen realized.
Sandra and Geoffrey stared at one another, and Gwen got the feeling they were waiting until she and Gabe left before they said anything. She tugged on Gabe’s sleeve and the two of them left the kitchen, giving them some privacy to talk about whatever had just happened. Gwen couldn’t get the look on Sandra’s face out of her mind, how much it had looked like she blamed herself.
What is going on in this family?
They found their mother on the couch, leaning against the back with her eyes closed and a grimace on her face. Gabe headed for the stairs, but Gwen stopped at the end of the couch, her hands trailing across the furniture while she debated what to ask her mother. Karen opened her eyes and looked over at Gwen, her features softening a bit. “I’m sorry you two had to see that,” she said, quietly.
“What happened between Dad and Uncle Geoffrey?” Gwen asked, lingering near the end of the couch. “They hate each other, Mom. And I mean, hate. Do they care about each other at all? I can’t imagine ever hating Gabe that much, no matter what he did to me. It must have been really bad.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what happened,” she said, turning to stare at the kitchen, where Sandra and Geoffrey were talking quietly. “Nobody will tell me anything, and I just stopped asking after a certain point. All I know is that it was your father’s fault. Nobody said it, but that’s the feeling I get whenever a fight happens.” She looked at Gwen again and shook her head. “You shouldn’t be worrying about this. Whatever happened is between them, and I’m sure you’re too young to fully understand, anyways.”
Gwen was confused. What could have happened between the two of them that was her father’s fault? What did he do that destroyed their relationship so thoroughly? It wasn’t just destroyed, it was dead and buried in the ground. There was probably no fixing their relationship if that fight was any indication, and that made things all the more perplexing to Gwen. She had meant what she said—she couldn’t ever imagine hating Gabe with such a burning passion, even if he betrayed her darkest secrets.