Ash nods as if to say,I’m almost sure of it. “I told her that I would try to find my debit card and we could go get her five hundred dollars.”
“Plus tip,” says Clay.
“Yes, plus tip. If she promised that she would never tell anyone about our time together.”
“Let me guess,” says Zoey. “She promised.”
“Yes. She did. Then I ‘found’ my debit card. We drove to a bank machine. I paid her. I dropped her back at the bar where I met her. Then never saw her again. But she broke the promise because a few days later—and this is the part you can never tell anyone—Andy Kimmich came to the house and told me ifIever told anyone about that night, he’d kill me.”
“Andy Kimmich of Riverwood PD?” says Zoey.
“That’s the only one I know.”
“And he actually said he’d kill you?” says Clay.
“Kill me,” says Ash. “His exact words.”
“Okay,” says Zoey. “So how is Teddy involved in all this?”
“Right,” says Ash. “Okay. I told Teddy that if he did me a favor in relation to Andy Kimmich, I would forgive the interest on the ten grand.”
“What was the favor?” says Clay.
“I told Teddy to tell Andy Kimmich that he saw an MC atmy house. This house. My house. You know, because Teddy and Deb’s property is right next to this one. Teddy was supposed to say it in kind of an awestruck way, like I was in business with an MC. Just to let Andy know I wasn’t somebody to mess with.”
“An MC?” says Zoey.
“Motorcycle club,” says Ash.
“You mean a biker gang? Guys with leather vests and loud Harleys and big handlebars?”
Ash nods.
“Holy shit, you have to be kidding,” says Clay.
Ash shakes his head with dead-serious eyes.
“And you think,” says Zoey, “that Teddy went to tell Andy Kimmich this, and that’s why Teddy is missing.”
Ash nods, and his lower lip begins to tremble. He wipes away a tear before it can start down his cheek. As he does, Clay and Zoey share a look of disappointment.
Zoey takes a deep breath and says, “All right. I’ll have a talk with Andy.”
“You promise you won’t mention me, right? I mean, you promised.”
“We promise,” says Zoey.
CHAPTER 32
The old ladies didn’t seem like old ladies until they went to sleep at nine o’clock. Braedon’s wide awake, sitting up in the bed his father slept in when Clay was a boy. He tried texting Daniel. No response. Probably had his phone and computer taken away. He texted Emily, but it’s 4:00AMin St. Andrews. She’s probably sleeping. He considers going downstairs and into the sunroom to make some more lures but he doesn’t want to risk waking up Sue and Carol. YouTube is boring. Social media is boring.
Braedon second-guesses his choice to spend another night away from home. If he were with his father, they might be out looking for Teddy. He might be able to help. And then he wonders if what Sue said is true. When the police are investigating something, do they spend most of their time on the computer? Maybe Grandpa Judd retired before that happened, and Dad doesn’t realize he should be using a computer. What does heknow anyway? He’s just a soccer player and coach. Maybe Braedon can be of some help after all.
He opens the photos app on his computer and scrolls through the pictures until he finds a good one of Teddy. He’s sitting next to Judd on their birthday, a cake on the table before them, with a whole mess of lit candles on it. Braedon duplicates the photo, then edits out everything but Teddy’s head. Long gray hair and a big smile. Braedon then copies the photo into Google and does a reverse-image search.
If Teddy went up to the cities to see friends, maybe one of them posted a picture of it on Instagram. If he got in trouble and got arrested in some other town, maybe his mug shot will show up. The kind of picture where a person stands in front of a height chart. Or if Teddy got conked on the head and has amnesia and wandered into some other town, maybe the local newspaper wrote an article about it.NEW MAN IN TOWN CAN’T REMEMBER WHO HE IS.That would be the headline and there would be a picture of Teddy under it. And then it will be Braedon who finds Uncle Teddy. Not his father. Not his grandpa Judd. Even though they’re the ones out there looking for Teddy, Braedon will be the hero. Because he’s the one who had the idea to do the reverse-image search. Thanks to Sue, that is.
But the search yields only a few results. All of them Instagram posts by Deb. The most recent one was last Christmas. No mug shots. No newspaper articles. No posts of Teddy at a concert up in the cities. Nothing.
