“Valid.” Bel used her notes app often, yet she’d never once been asked what she was typing. She did recall numerous occasions growing up, however, when her father noticed his daughters’ texting increased in volume. “And please take your shoes off.” She gestured to the man’s half-laced-up sneakers. “We don’t need people wandering off looking for Ariella. Let the police handle it.”
“You did handle it,” he spat. “Last night when you busted the party. You separated Ariella from me, and now she’s missing.”
“You were engaged in illegal underage drinking and drugs,” Bel said.
“We don’t do drugs.”
“Regardless, drugs and alcohol were found in the partiers’ possession.” Bel had called the station on her drive to Erik’s with hopes that they’d finally located their misplaced teen, but the deputies confirmed that no Ariella Triton graced their drunk tank. “Can you think of any reason why Ariella wouldn’t go home after the officers broke up the party? Ondine said her parents were strict...”
“Ariella would never run away, if that’s what you’re asking,” Erik interrupted. “She’s such a daddy’s princess. It’s why she won’t tell them about me. She doesn’t want to disappoint her father. She has one more year of community college, and then she plans to go out of state to finish her bachelor’s. We’re savingto get a place together when she does, since she agreed to tell her dad we’re dating after she moves out.”
“Don’t you find it weird that she’s afraid to tell her parents about you?” Bel asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged as he sagged onto the couch. “Maybe… but also not really. From the things she’s said, that’s why her parents are older than most college students’ parents. They had miscarriages before Ariella, and they couldn’t get pregnant again after her. I don’t think it’s so much about being strict as it is about keeping their only kid safe.”
Bel’s stomach pitched at that revelation, and fear crept ever closer. She had to find Ariella. She couldn’t let anything happen to this family’s miracle baby.
“Plus, we’re in love,” Erik continued. “She would never leave without me.”
“So you two didn’t fight last night? Nothing that would make her go home with someone else?”
“I just told you we’re in love.” He clenched his fist, but when Bel acknowledged the aggression, he relaxed. “No, we didn’t fight, and no, she wouldn’t hook up with another guy.”
“So you don’t have any idea where she might be?”
“My only guess would be Ondine’s.”
“I checked there.”
“Then no, I don’t know, which is why I need to look for her. She doesn’t have any other family. I think both sets of grandparents are gone, and I’ve never heard her mention any aunts, uncles, or cousins.”
“Is there a chance she was drunker than you thought? Or is it possible that she ingested something in her beer by accident? Intoxicated or drugged people can pass out regardless of where they are.”
“Drunk, no… unless the party reconvened after the cops left. I doubt she would’ve stayed. She wouldn’t have risked beingout so late in case her parents woke up early. Being drugged, though? I mean, it’s possible, right? It’s easy to flick something into a solo cup, especially in the dark.”
“It is,” Bel agreed.
“Oh god.” Erik collapsed forward. “She could have been dosed, and I left her. What if someone?—”
“Don’t go there,” she cut him off. “I genuinely doubt the party restarted after the police broke it up, so if she were drugged, it would’ve been before you got separated. She could still be out there sleeping it off.”
“I’m going.”
“No.” Bel used her significantly shorter body to block his exit. “Stay here in case she contacts you. I’ll head over to the lake to check for her. Do you have something of hers that I could borrow? Something with her scent on it?”
“Um… yes, actually.” Erik charged up the stairs and returned a minute later with a black hoodie. “This is mine, but she was cold when we first got to the lake. She danced in it and got pretty sweaty before giving it back, so it should definitely smell like her. You need this for the dogs, right?”
“Yeah.” She accepted the garment. “Something like that.”
“I don’t like this,”Griffin said. “This was supposed to be a courtesy visit, us being unnecessarily cautious, but it’s afternoon now. Too late for a kid to still be sleeping off the beer. You’re convinced she didn’t run away?”
“Unless everyone rehearsed their answers, they all said the same thing,” Bel said as she turned down the dirt road to the lake. In the summer, these roads swarmed with townsfolk seeking relief from the heat, but right now the scenic park was barren. If it weren’t for the discarded and trampled red Solo cups, she would’ve never guessed these lonely woods had hosted dozens of college students only hours before. “Ariella loved her parents, her friend, and her secret boyfriend. She wouldn’t just walk out of her life without a trace.”
“So where is she?”
“I don’t know, which is why I’m at the lake.” Bel had called her boss on the drive over to give him an update on her interviews, and while she’d known based on his silence that Ariella hadn’t returned home, her chest still tightened when he confirmed the teen was still missing. “Everyone claims she wasn’t drunk, but teens lie about alcohol consumption. Drugs were also present, and Ondine and Erik swore they didn’t partake, but pills are small. Ariella could’ve ingested something by accident or accepted it without her friends seeing. Drunk, high, and running from the police in the dark. She could’ve gotten lost and passed out somewhere in the trees, or she might have hurt herself and be physically unable to move.”
“Let’s hope so,” Griffin said. “Because we’re running out of innocent explanations for her disappearance. If we don’t find her soon, we’ll have to start considering the ugly ones.”
