Golden Bird

"I can't help thinking about her, David, and I don't know what to do. I feel so helpless. Mom and Dad are withering away before my eyes. Neither one of them will talk about it. They're preparing themselves for the worst. Or maybe they've already accepted it, but I know she's alive. Damn it, I know it!"

"The police ..."

"Screw the police!" blurted Joey as he swung around to face the older man. "I know the police think she's dead. That she picked up a hitchhiker and he dragged her off in the woods and we'll find her body in the spring when the snow melts. But I just don't believe it, David. She never would have done that, I know her. She would never have picked up anybody she didn't know"

"Maybe it was somebody she did know."

"Someone from around here? No, I don't think so. This is too small a town. Someone would have heard something by now. You don't keep secrets in a small town."

"Maybe it was someone she knew from somewhere else, from Boston, maybe." David shook his head. "But Joey, if she is alive, then why hasn't she contacted us?"

"I don't know." Grasping at straws, the young man suggested, "Maybe she's hurt, in a hospital where they don't know who she is, she didn't have any identification on her, remember, ... maybe she's in a coma or has amnesia."

David looked at him skeptically.

"Well ... it could happen." Joey's voice sounded so young. "What if we hired a private detective? Come on David, you must have contacts in that department."

David thought a moment. "Yes ... but the agency we used dealt primarily with financial investigations. I don't know if they could handle something like this."

Joey was becoming excited at the idea. "They should at least be able to recommend someone who can. Come on, David. We need someone with more experience than Sheriff Parker-I know he's an old friend of Dad's, and all, but missing persons is not something he's had to deal with a lot. You know what I mean?"

David was silent as he swirled the ice in the amber liquid in his glass. He took a swig of whisky, then nodded his head at Joey.

"Perhaps you're right after all. I'll give Ted Baker a call in the morning; he's the financial investigator my firm uses. He might be able to give me the nave of someone who can help us." He smiled. "OK?"