I tried to pick up a hobby like fishing… but that did not work out well. I caught one tiny bluegill and nearly got pulled into the creek as I tried to reel it in with all of my excitement. Erich then tried to coach me on setting the hook and reeling swiftly rather than with my whole body. Once I finally had the line pulled in, I couldn’t bring myself to unhook the little guy. His gills were gasping, his mouth opening and closing laboriously. The hook was caught up in his mouth and through the gills. I cried thinking the poor little fish was in pain, and Erich had to free him through actual tears of laughter as I sobbed with guilt.
I decided then and there I would not be catching dinner any time soon.
Despite my failure in catching a meal, Erich fixed the stove within the first few days of us living there and was able to get the power connected with a small down payment of hustled money from our life on the run.
Content. How do I find any other words to describe that? I was never bored, despite the fact that I spent a lot of time alone at home.
We shared the cozy bedroom. Most of the time he slept on the couch unless I left a big enough space next to me for him to come to bed and stay on the far end, away from me like I would give him some kind of illness. Erich didn’t have to sacrificejackets and blankets anymore. We had a fireplace to keep us warm during the cold nights.
Even if I was playing house, imagining how maybe one day he’d feel the same way I did since we were settled down and had our roles together, he was unfazed by my lingering feelings. Sleeping in the same bed was only a necessity, and it was on occasion.
I think after our encounter in New York, he had growing suspicions I wanted him to love me… but he played the ignorance card well. Olivia was likely right—I was only a “little brother” to him. I couldn’t bear to ask what changed his mind about finally settling down, either. I very well could be the pet cat he couldn’t care for anymore. He was dropping me off at the old farmhouse down the road out of mercy rather than bringing me to a shelter.
Even though holding my ground and remaining confident got us there from New York, I still had a hard time maintaining that aura. And comparing myself to a pet was degrading.
Chapter 24 – November 23, 1993 – Sergeant Aileen Taylor
Sergeant Taylor did not have any recent events to connect her suspect to any crimes in the country, but she persisted in finding as many answers as she could in order to finally lock down and close the Bruce Miller assault case.
Thankfully, she now had the blessing of the lieutenant once she was able to convince him of her theory that the girl Bruce met was a missing person. More nails in the coffin for her state-line-crossing suspect, and further fuel to the fire in her unintentional hobby case.
Once she had a mental break on how she could prove this theory, Emil had floated the idea that they look at missing person cases for young women who matched the description Bruce provided. Sergeant Taylor was too wrapped up in how to charge Erich; she originally put it on the back burner. Lucky for her, Emil was examining in all the right places and took that part of the case personally.
They had taken refuge in her office as they watched the clock tick closer to their scheduled call from Mississippi. Emil’s forehead glistened with beads of sweat, and Sergeant Taylor tapped on her desk impatiently as they waited for the phone to ring.
They needed confirmation that the mystery girl could possibly be the Chambers heiress who went missing in May of 1993.
They had no idea if she was still alive. Or where she was. But the pieces fit together once Emil found a black-and-white newspaper picture from theBelham Chronicles, dated June 1993. A delicate woman with thick, dark hair sitting on a wooden chair next to a fireplace. Her heart-shaped face was pale, and her shy smile was breathtaking. Not quite the panicked “Missing person” announcement from the front page Sergeant Taylor expected, but a quiet, third-page column confirming “Camille Chambers” was missing from Belham, Mississippi. The narrative was a “Happy 19th Birthday” message pleading for the woman to come home, and not so much a detailed retelling of how the woman went missing in the first place.
Bruce was barely helpful when asked if it was the same woman, but he confirmed the similarities despite his memory being fuzzy.
The trill of the phone ringing broke the silence of the room, and Sergeant Taylor pounced to pick it up as Emil jumped and straightened his posture next to her. “Norwald Police, you’ve got Sergeant Taylor,” she answered before hitting the button to put the phone on speaker for Emil.
“Sergeant Taylor. Thank you for being flexible. My apologies for not being able to take your call yesterday.” The man on the other end spoke clearly and confidently. Emil’s eyes darted from Sergeant Taylor to the phone’s coiled wire as he listened.
“Absolutely no problem, Mr. Chambers,” Sergeant Taylor responded, clicking her pen to take notes. “I’m sorry we’re catching up so much later than I would like. This case has turned us down so many different paths, and now that we’ve got the connection to your sister, I’m glad we’re finally able to speak.”
Whoever was on the other line made a small humming sound before continuing. “That is hardly your fault. If it were up to me, we likely would’ve brought her home by now.”
Sergeant Taylor flashed Emil a questioning glance, receiving a shrug in response. “I’m sorry, Mr. Chambers, but can you elaborate?”
“Absolutely.” The voice continued, clearing his throat. “My parents didn’t go down the necessary avenues for our best possible chance when she ran away. Or was taken. We weren’t sure what happened that night.” Sergeant Taylor jotted down some notes on her notepad as the southern drawl continued. “They were concerned about the ransom, or rather, who would take advantage of it. That’s part of the reason my dear sister’s disappearance wasn’t national news.”
“I see,” Sergeant Taylor answered as she lifted her gaze to the numbers on the phone’s keypad. “So what exactly was done to find her? Weren’t they worried?”
The other line went silent, and Sergeant Taylor leaned forward to hear better. Finally, the voice spoke up. “You see, my parents both passed away recently. I’m not sure what was going through their minds. I do know that the scandal surrounding it would’ve been devastating to Belham, so the news was contained to the state of Mississippi for about a week. Private investigators were hired, but the trail went cold, and it was as if she disappeared into thin air. I would’ve been blasting it from every news channel in the country if it were up to me.”
Sergeant Taylor nodded slowly. Emil tapped her shoulder before lifting up his notepad. “Weird?” he wrote on it, andSergeant Taylor shrugged in response before continuing the conversation. “Mr. Chambers, I’m so sorry. That must have been devastating.”
“Please, call me Reed.” The voice buzzed through on the phone’s speaker.
“Reed. Got it. So, our one witness confirmed the picture matched the woman he saw, but with how long ago this was and the fact that the witness was under the influence, this is hardly proof… Does the name Erich Zaleski sound familiar to you?” Sergeant Taylor asked before tapping her pen against her notepad again. Emil stiffened in his seat.
“No,” Reed answered, then sighed. “But the night she went missing, the bedroom window was open and her room was a mess. I believe she was kidnapped and put up a struggle. My parents likely refused to pay a ransom if the kidnapper ever reached out.”
Sergeant Taylor wrote “No connection” on her notepad next to Erich and Camille’s names. She was becoming stumped with how these two fit together, and whether this Hail Mary Emil sent her way was even the same person. “What more can you tell us about that night?”
Emil flinched as the other line became muffled with static. Reed murmured too closely to the speaker, but it was inaudible. His voice finally came through enough for them to take more notes. “We were celebrating her high school graduation. She left the party early because she wasn’t feeling well and retired to her bedroom. I went up to check on her around two in the morning when everyone was leaving, and that’s when I noticed her open window and destroyed bedroom. Her sheets were tied into a rope out her window as well.”
