flinched.
“Please call the cops, Sheri.”
Sheri averted her eyes and walked to the window as if to put distance between herself and Amanda’s pressure. “I need to think. Let me call his family to see if they’ve heard from him. Maybe he felt a need to visit home. There are a lot of possibilities to explore before we press the panic button.”
Amanda forced herself to back off. Every ounce of her screamed danger, but maybe she was overreacting. She could no longer trust her own alarm system; it had failed her one crucial time, and now its sirens shrieked at even the smallest hint of danger.
“Okay, good idea. I’ll take Kaylee for a walk before she mutinies, and when I get back, we’ll take stock again.”
The walk through the quiet, leafy residential streets was peaceful, giving Amanda time to sort through her fears. She was surprised Sheri had not already contacted Phil’s family in Manitoba, which seemed an obvious first step for a worried wife to take, but perhaps the family ties were tenuous. When you spend most of your adult life in tumultuous, faraway lands, a placid, prosperous home can feel like a very distant place.
As always, Kaylee’s boundless enthusiasm for each new person or patch of grass made her smile, and by the time they rounded the final corner half an hour later, Amanda felt almost relaxed. She hoped there might be a police cruiser in Sheri’s drive, but instead, parked behind her own motorcycle was a dusty red pickup.
As she mounted the front steps, she heard a low murmuring from inside, which stopped the moment the front door screeched open. She found Sheri in the kitchen, busying herself with a pot of tea. Lounging against the counter was a tall, lean man in jeans and a black T-shirt. His grey buzz cut and square shoulders screamed drill sergeant, but before Sheri could say a word, he eased away from the counter and extended a confident hand.
“You must be Amanda. I’m Jason Maloney, Grand Falls RCMP.”
His hand enveloped hers in a warm, comforting grip. The skin was rough and weathered, like his face. “Nice-looking little Kawie you’ve got out there.”
His smile was teasing and Amanda found herself blushing in spite of herself. Before she could ask about Phil, Kaylee rushed in to tangle herself in Jason’s long legs.
“Hey, boy!” He stooped to ruffle her fur, lost in the moment. His manner was casual. At home. Not at all like a cop on a missing-persons call. Amanda’s sixth sense prickled.
“He’s a she. Kaylee. What’s the plan about Phil?”
Maloney straightened as if called to attention.
“Corporal Maloney thinks we should keep it low-key —” Sheri began.
Maloney interrupted her. “Unofficial. For now. Phil’s a friend of mine and he’s having some rough times. No point in siccing the dogs on him.”
Amanda shot Sheri a dismayed glance. The woman was still in denial. What the hell had she told this guy? “But —”
“We can still accomplish a lot without putting it on the books. This may be a big island, but it’s a small place. People know each other and watch out for each other. They notice things. A word in the ear of a few friends in other detachments —”
Sheri was watching him as if mesmerized. When the kettle whistled, she blinked her eyes as if he had snapped his fingers. She returned to earth, flustered, and turned her attention to the tea.
“Phil has a friend who’s a corporal in the Deer Lake detachment,” she said. “They’ve both been through some difficult times in the past. If anyone can understand Phil, it will be Chris.”
“Have you called him?” Amanda asked.
Sheri slipped Jason a hesitant look before shaking her head. “Jason thinks he should handle it. One cop to another.”
One man to another, he means, thought Amanda. But he was probably right. If this Chris guy knew about the marital trouble between Phil and Sheri, he’d be much more likely to talk openly with Jason than with her.
Jason moved toward the door, brushing Sheri’s hand with his fingertips as he passed by. Sheri edged away. “I’ll make the call from my truck. You can fill Amanda in on the rest of our plans while I’m gone.”
Sheri’s hand shook slightly as she poured tea into two mugs and dumped more cookies onto a plate. Amanda had taken a few coffee breaks along her journey to ease her muscles and let Kaylee out, but her last real meal had been breakfast at the roadside diner more than eight hours earlier. Her stomach roiled in protest at the sight of the cookies, but she suspected Sheri was too distracted to even think about anything more substantial.
Kaylee, however, was watching Sheri’s every move with eagle eyes, reminding Amanda it was well past her dinnertime too. When Amanda went outside to fetch her food, she spotted Jason on his phone, head bent. His voice was raised as if in argument although Amanda couldn’t make out the words.
Back inside, she fed Kaylee before returning to the living room. Sheri was gazing out the window at Jason’s truck, frowning. At her own private thoughts or at Jason’s behaviour, Amanda wondered.
“Are you hungry? We could go out to eat, my treat.”
Sheri flinched. Shook her head. “I don’t want to leave, in case …”
“Of course. Order in pizza?”
Sheri shrugged in disinterest. “Maybe when Jason’s gone.”
“Okay. So … what’s the plan Jason mentioned?”
Sheri wrenched her gaze away from Jason’s truck. “That’s it, mainly. Jason is going to phone around to his colleagues and send them a photo of Phil and Tyler. Phil’s family hasn’t heard from him, not that I thought they would.” She pulled a wry face. “Nice enough people, but to them even a trip from the farm to Winnipeg is a trip to foreign lands. They don’t understand what he’s been doing all these years, mixing in other people’s troubles.”
Amanda smiled in rueful understanding, even though her own parents were university professors. Cloistered in their academic ivory tower, they had mouthed all the right words of admiration for her as they wrote out cheques for the latest world disaster, but Amanda suspected they felt much the same.
Sheri sighed. “I phoned as many of Phil’s friends as I can think of, which wasn’t many. He hasn’t made many connections here yet. He’s picked up odd jobs to help fill the hours, but there’s not much work on offer in this town, especially for a development teacher who speaks four languages but none of them Newfoundlandese. That was getting him down too, I know that. It gave him too much time with his thoughts and memories.”
She sat down and picked up her neglected tea, her hand steady now as she focused her thoughts. “It’s even possible he’s off looking for work. There is more to be had in the major centres like Corner Brook and St. John’s.”
“But what about Tyler? He’s taken him out of school, hasn’t he?”
Sheri smiled, a fond, maternal smile that lit up her face and gave a brief flash of the old Sheri. “Tyler was delighted, believe me. The school year is just beginning, and not much new work is being done yet anyway. And Tyler is very smart.
