Page 9 of Little Buried Secrets

He twisted the knob on the front door, set the groceries down in the entryway, and turned. “And who might you be?”

“My name’s Georgiana Germaine. Rae Remington hired me to investigate her daughter’s disappearance.”

“What does Margot’s disappearance have to do with Sebastian? They’re not together anymore. Haven’t been for some months now.”

“They were supposed to meet the night Margot went missing. Were you aware?”

“According to my son, she never showed, so there was no meeting.” He walked toward me and stuck his hand out. “I’m Sean Chandler, by the way. We were sorry to hear about Margot’s disappearance. My wife and I took part in the search party last night. We plan to do the same tonight.”

“Did Sebastian join in the search as well?”

Sean glanced at the cabin and leaned toward me, lowering his voice as he said, “My son … he, ahh … he’s not doing so good. Hasn’t left the house since we heard the news.”

“If he cares for Margot, wouldn’t he want to help look for her?”

“Well, of course he cares for her. We all do. I think he’s just overwhelmed by it all.”

“Do you know what happened between them?” I asked. “The reason they broke up, I mean.”

“Are you referring to the night my son had a party while we were out of town?”

“I assume so.”

Sean crossed his arms. “Look, there were a lot of rumors circling around after that night, a lot of different stories, most of them fragments of the truth but not the whole truth. In the end, we chose to trust our son’s version of events. I’m inclined to believe he was straight with us, as he’s always been.”

It was something any parent in his position would say, and he’d said it with conviction, like he had no doubt. But did he? Or was he trying to convince me his version of the truth was the right one?

“Care to tell me more about what happened the night of the party?” I asked.

Sean smiled and said, “I do not, but I get why you’d ask.”

“It would help if I could get a few minutes with Sebastian. And before you say no, I’m not here to make things harder on him, and I’m not accusing him of anything. All I’m trying to do is to find Margot. If I didn’t think he might be able to help me in some way, I wouldn’t be here.”

Sean considered my request and said, “I tell you what, if you’re willing to ask your questions in the presence of his mother and me, you got yourself a deal. I’m not sure he’ll say much, but you can try.”

Sean led me inside the house, showing me to the living room where I took a seat beneath a large chandelier made of antlers. A petite woman with long blond hair worn loose and cascading over her shoulders and down her back, walked in and sat on a chair beside me.

“I’m Meredith,” she said. “Sean’s in talking to our son right now. They shouldn’t be long.”

“I appreciate you both for the opportunity to speak with him.”

Meredith crossed one leg over the other, bouncing it up and down as she said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How’s Dr. Rae doing?”

“About how you would expect,” I said.

“I’m so sorry about what she’s going through. One of my gal-pals told me Dr. Rae hired you to help the police find Margot.”

“I’m assisting the police, but yes. I’m also conducting my own investigation.”

“Hmm.”

Meredith leaned back, saying nothing for a time. “I hope you don’t take offense to this, but why do you think Dr. Rae hired you when the police are already investigating it as a missing person’s case? What can you do that they can’t?”

Plenty.

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