Into the Fall: A Thriller by Tamara L. Miller

Author:Tamara L. Miller [Miller, Tamara L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2025-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

October 2016

Rob Boychuk stood in the waiting room of the Patricia Bay detachment, appraising the young man who had just asked to see the “head officer of the looking-for-people team.” Boychuk guessed he might be in his late teens or early twenties, but estimating age seemed to be a skill that diminished as he grew older. They all looked like children to him these days. The boy sat on the waiting-room chair, phone in one hand, legs splayed as his thumb flicked through images on the screen. His free hand rested on his knee, tapping out an indecipherable beat. The impetuousness of youth, thought Boychuk, or a guilty conscience? Even after all this time on the job, it still wasn’t always easy to tell.

“Shall we have a seat in my office?” Boychuk said, after introducing himself. “Whatever,” the boy said, looking to the front door of the detachment as if there were a better offer outside.

“Won’t take long, I promise—sorry, what did you say your name was again?”

“Zach. Zach Ellis.”

“Come on back, Zach.”

Boychuk led the young man to his desk and asked him to have a seat. He thought about taking him to the interview room, but the kid was squirrelly enough. His office had big windows with a clear view of the parking lot. Better to let Zach Ellis see the outside world.

“So, you told the desk officer that you had some information about the search for Matthew Anderson?”

“Is that the guy’s name? I hadn’t heard about it until my mom texted me. She saw it on the cottagers’ Facebook page or something. Something about a guy going missing on our lake. She knew I was up here over the weekend it happened and thought I should come talk to you.”

Zach looked around the room as he spoke, avoiding Boychuk’s eyes and finally settling his gaze out the window.

Boychuk nodded but held his tongue. It had been a little over three weeks since Matthew Anderson’s disappearance, one week since they’d discovered the storage unit with a filing cabinet of documents in the name of Jonathan Evans.

“I didn’t see the guy or anything. But there was a woman, all freaked out. She was with a couple of kids. She asked me to take a look for her husband. Said he’d taken off in their canoe or something. Thought he might have fallen asleep. Seemed a little weird to me.”

“And did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Look for him.”

“Ya, I took a spin around the lake. Didn’t see anyone. It was kinda stupid for us to even be out there. The wind was kicking up, and I really had to concentrate on steering the boat into the wind. Almost thought we’d flip over.”

“We?”

“I had some friends at the cottage with me.”

“Did anyone see him or anything out of the ordinary?”

“Naw. We took a quick look around and got the hell out of there.”

“Did you go back for the woman?”

Zach looked at his feet. Boychuk could see the faint blush on his face.

“We let her know we hadn’t seen anything, but with a storm coming up, I wanted off that lake.

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