Page 12 of Twin Jeopardy

“That happens too,” Tony said. “But who took her? There was no one else up there.”

“Valerie said there was a man camped near us. None of us ever saw him, but we didn’t look. And she wasn’t one to make things up.”

“Then maybe that’s what happened. If it is, I’m sorry about that too.”

Vince knew the statistics. Children who were taken were almost always killed unless they were kidnapped by a relative, and he was pretty sure that hadn’t happened to Valerie. He didn’t like to think of his sister ending up that way, any more than he wanted to believe she had fallen into a crevice in the mountains and been killed. He had long believed she had died, but he wanted to know how. Wasn’t that human nature—to not like unanswered questions?

INTHEFOURyears Tammy had been reporting for theEagle Mountain Examiner, she had written feel-good pieces about local citizens; straightforward accounts of town council and school board meetings; reports of burglaries, fires and murder. She had even written a first-person report of her own escape from a pair of serial killers who had terrorized the area one winter. While some of these stories had been tougher to write than others, none had affected her as much as her recounting of the disappearance of Valerie Shepherd.

More than one volunteer had teared up as they spoke of the search for the little girl. “She used to come into my store with her mom,” said the owner of the local meat market. “Such a grin on her face. She was an impish kind of kid—always up to something. Her twin brother was quieter, following her lead. We couldn’t believe she would just vanish the way she did.”

“It hit me hard,” another volunteer admitted. “I wouldn’t let my own kids out of my sight for a long time after that. To think of anything like that happening here, where we always felt safe. It was hard to believe things could change that suddenly—one minute she was there, the next she was gone.”

But Tammy knew how suddenly life could change. The day Adam had been killed, the three of them—Adam, Mitch and her—had been playing in the front yard, kicking a soccer ball back and forth, when the ball had rolled into the street. “I’ll get it!” Adam called, and ran after it.

He didn’t see the car race around the curve. And the driver didn’t see Adam until it was too late. One minute he had been there with them, laughing and playing. The next moment he was gone. A hole was torn in their family that could never be repaired. They had done their best to heal, but they all carried the wound inside them.

She had seen the same kind of damage in Vince Shepherd when she had interviewed him. He knew what it was like to walk through life with an empty space in your heart or your soul that could never be filled. Tammy coped by avoiding thinking about Adam and what had happened that day. But talking to Vince and to the volunteer searchers had forced her to feel all those feelings again—grief and anger and confusion. How could something like that happen? How could a person who was practically part of you suddenly not be there?

She had wanted to ask Vince if he was like her—if he coped with the loss by avoiding thinking about it. She had apologized for bringing him and his family any pain, but was an apology enough?

That was why she turned up outside Vince’s condo at eight thirty on a Wednesday night, a fresh copy of the latest issue of theExaminerin her hand. She rang the bell to his unit and shifted from foot to foot, jittery with nerves. What if he hated what she had written?

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, and then Vince stood on the threshold, a wary expression on his handsome face. His hair was damp, curling around his ears. The T-shirt that clung to his chest and abs was damp too, as if he had pulled it on hastily, along with the jeans. His feet were bare. “I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she blurted, feeling her face heat. “I just wanted to give you this.” She thrust the paper at him. “Everyone else will see it in the morning, but I wanted you to read it first.”

He unfolded the paper and scanned the headlines, stopping at the story that filled the front page below the fold. “‘Search for Missing Girl Shaped EMSAR Future.’”

Tammy bit her lower lip and forced herself to remain still as he read. She had rewritten the lede so many times she had memorized it.When ten-year-old Valerie Shepherd vanished from the mountains above Galloway Basin on a sunny summer Saturday, she changed the family who loved her forever. But she also changed the community of Eagle Mountain. And her disappearance spurred the transformation of Eagle Mountain Search and Rescue from a group of dedicated amateurs to the highly trained professional-quality organization they are today.

Vince glanced up from the paper. He didn’t look upset, which was a relief. “Come on in,” he said, and took a step back.

“Okay. Sure.” She moved past him, the scent of his soap—something herbal—distracting her, not to mention the realization that mere inches separated her from his seriously ripped body. How had she not noticed this the other night? He hadn’t been wearing a clinging, wet T-shirt, but still, how had she missed those shoulders?

She pushed the thought away and moved into a small living room furnished with a sofa, matching chair, coffee table and a large wall-mounted television. He slipped past her, picked up the remote and switched off the TV. “Have a seat,” he said.

She settled on one end of the sofa. He took the other, the newspaper spread out on his lap. “Thanks for bringing this by,” he said.

“I figured people might mention the article to you, and you’d want to know what’s in it.”

He nodded and looked down, reading again. She gripped both knees and pretended to study the room, but she was almost entirely focused on Vince, attuned to any reaction he might have to her words.

He was a fast reader. Or maybe he was skimming. Not many seconds passed before he looked up again. “It’s good,” he said. “All the stuff about search and rescue is interesting. I didn’t realize all the emphasis on training was relatively new.”

“Part of that is because there’s a lot more training courses available now.”

He glanced back down at the paper. “I didn’t know so many people still think about Valerie. I always figured my mom and dad and me were the only ones who remembered her.”

“I didn’t have to remind anyone about what happened,” Tammy said. “As soon as I said her name, they remembered. And everyone asked if I knew anything more about what happened to her.”

“I guess no one came up with any new information? I mean, the article doesn’t mention anything.”

“There’s nothing new. I’m sorry.”

“I guess it would be surprising to think anything else would come to light after all this time.”

“Will you share that with your parents?” She tapped the paper. “I should have brought a copy for them too. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay. They have a subscription. They’re looking forward to the article. Dad said they enjoyed talking to you.”

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