Page 34 of A Future To Remember

“The note means that Abby’s alive, at least,” Oscar said.

I knew he was trying to lift my spirits, but other than my wife walking through the door, I didn’t know what else could. “If the note was from six months ago, she might not be,” I replied, saying the quiet part out loud.

“We dragged that river, sir. From top to bottom several times over. The Tahoe wasn’t in the water the last time we checked.”

The last time we’d checked had been late November. It was now mid-April. “A lot can happen in four and a half months.”

Oscar took a sip of his beer. “Maybe it wasn’t four months. Maybe it’s been only a couple of weeks.”

Oscar was mirroring my thoughts exactly. I felt the Tahoe had only recently entered the water. “You think the Tahoe was dumped to make it look like it went into the water at the time she disappeared?”

“Yep.”

“What’s your logic?” Mine was only a gut feeling, so I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“For one, the Tahoe didn’t have a lot of silt or debris in it. Sure, it was muddy, but with the way the river runs downstream, it should’ve had a lot more if it’d been in the water longer. The current should’ve funneled all kinds of shit into it…silt, debris, maybe even bits of trash if it’d been in the water longer than a few weeks.”

I nodded, seeing his logic and knowing Oscar was right.

“If that’s true, then it means she was abducted last October, taken somewhere, and her kidnapper decided to dump the Tahoe within the past six weeks or so to throw us off the trail.”

“That’d be my guess. If she were dead, he would’ve disposed of her body by locking it in the SUV. We gotta believe she’s still alive, sir.”

Another solid point to Oscar.

Our food arrived, delivered not by the bartender but by a petite waitress wearing the nametag patty.

“Here you are, fellas,” she said. Then she slid another saucer-size plate onto the table that had what looked like some rare ground beef on it. “This is for your dog. I heard he’s not doing so great. Maybe this’ll perk him up.”

I stared up at her at a loss for words. Her kindness got to me because it was something Abby would’ve done. My wife is a kind, thoughtful woman, hypersensitive to those in need, including—and perhaps especially—animals.

I had to clear my throat and look down. “Thank you,” I managed. “He’ll appreciate that.”

As if on cue, Eggy poked his nose out of the sling, sniffing the air like he knew his lunch had arrived. Another wave of emotion hit me. As long as Eggy showed an interest in food, I was going to keep him alive.

I lifted a bit of the ground beef to his nose, and he took it greedily, poking more of his nose out of the sling. I fed him another nibble, knowing I’d feed him before I even took one bite of my own burger. “He’s my wife’s dog,” I explained as the waitress continued to hover and coo at Eggy. “I’m watching over him until she comes back home.”

“She’s traveling?” Patty asked.

I traded looks with Oscar while he chewed the giant bite of burger he’d just taken. “No,” I said. “She’s gone missing.”

Patty gasped. “Oh! Wait, she’s the woman on all the flyers?”

I nodded. We’d hung dozens of flyers all over town. “Abby,” I said. “Abby Cooper.” I flipped through more pictures on my phone until I got to my favorite of my wife, sitting on one of the Adirondack chairs in our backyard, enjoying the sunset.

Patty leaned in and looked at the image. “Oh, wow. She’s really beautiful.”

I nodded. “She is. Inside and out.”

Patty stood tall again, regarding me, and I could tell there was something she wanted to say but was thinking it through first. I’ve been an investigator long enough to know that the best thing to do in moments like that is to just wait expectantly and see what got said.

“You know…” she began.

“Hmm?” I asked.

She pressed her lips together pensively, then came out with it: “My sister swears she saw your wife fast asleep in a car headed out of town back in October.”

Oscar stopped chewing and we both stared at Patty. I thought we’d interviewed every person who’d offered up a lead in the past six months, but to my knowledge, no one had suggested they’d seen Abby in a car leaving town.