November's Missing (Fairy Glen Suspense Book 2) by Valerie Power

Author:Valerie Power [Power, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

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DEIRDRE COULDN’T BELIEVE SHE’D FAKED a sick call for Rebecca.

That had to be a new low for her, but she needed to get to the asylum, and Rebecca was the only one who could lead her there. In all her years of exploring the trails through Fairy Glen, she’d never run across it.

They met Wilma at the parking lot of the nature preserve, a small hushed place at the base of the hiking trails that zigzagged up the northern face of Mount Richardson. The fire had ripped through here, and there was a locked gate closing off the parking lot, but Wilma, with her giant ring of keys, unlocked the padlock and opened the gate.

“Watch out for trees coming down,” she said, as Deirdre pulled the trailer past her. “Don’t make me regret letting you guys in here.”

Only a few of the oaks that had surrounded the parking lot remained. Some were half burned. The fire had taken what it wanted, picking and choosing. She saw the trees with new eyes, as potential widow makers. Or rather—she thought of Walt—widower makers. “Thanks Wilma.”

Once she got Scarlet ready and tacked up, Rebecca led the way down the trail, commanding the little BMX bike. Deirdre was impressed, she’d never really seen her daughter ride before, other than down the street. Maybe they should do more of this, once this was all over. Scarlet liked following her. It meant she didn’t have to think too hard.

“You know, everyone calls it an asylum, but it was a sanitarium,” Rebecca said over her shoulder.

“Yes, how many times has Clara told us that?”

“She comes in handy sometimes,” Rebecca said with a smile.

“How often have you been here?” Deirdre asked. “And when?”

Rebecca had only been back since last May. When she’d lived here before she was too young, wasn’t she?

“A long time ago Mom. I rode my bike here, during the day.” She stopped her bike and turned around. “It wasn’t a party. But I saw plenty of beer cans and stuff. It was a teenage hangout, even back then. Everyone knows about it.”

She picked up the pace again, and Deirdre asked Scarlet to trot to keep up.

They went through some unburned trees, on one of the easier trails that didn’t go up the mountain. It was a flat loop that anyone could hike, with the native plants marked on little plaques. But at a point along the trail, Rebecca ducked away behind a hip-high boulder, on an invisible path. They went through some undergrowth, and on the other side of it, the path became clearer.

“It gets kind of rough here Mom. Can you handle it?”

“Of course dear.” Deirdre didn’t know if Rebecca could hear the sarcasm in her voice. Her daughter hadn’t witnessed Scarlet taking her up the burning mountain to rescue her. Everything else seemed easy by comparison.

Down an embankment made bare and black by fire, a little trail first followed along the creek a good ways, until it widened out into a shallow pool.

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