Free What You See by Ann Mullen

cabinet, I found a tray. I was busy pouring coffee and
arranging everything on the tray, when all of a sudden, my stomach growled. I
looked up to find a clock, and realized it was way past noon . I hadn’t eaten all day. I decided I’d better fix myself a
cup of coffee, so that I’d have something in my stomach. What I’d give for a
piece of bread right now. I took the tray to Billy’s office and set it on a
small table to the right of his huge desk. I went about serving coffee, while I
listened to their conversation. I waited for a cue from Billy as to what I was
supposed to do next. When he didn’t say anything, I sat down next to the table
and remained silent.
    Billy was taking notes as he listened carefully to every word Myra and Jack were saying. I noticed he
had a tape recorder sitting in the middle of his desk, and the green light on
it was flashing.
    Pretty smart, I thought. This man thinks of everything.
    Myra looked at Billy, then turned to me and said, “We’re at the end of our rope. The
police still don’t have anything, and I don’t think they’re even trying
anymore. Every time I call that police detective... oh, what’s his name, Jack?
Oh, yes... Detective Hargrove, I can almost see him rolling his eyes back in
his head. It’s been almost six months and they don’t know anymore now than they
did then. I know my daughter’s out there somewhere and she needs our help. I
can just feel it.” She burst into tears.
    I jumped up, grabbed the box of tissues from Billy’s desk,
and handed it to her. This was heartbreaking. She was in so much pain.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Carrolton’s daughter left Poquoson the day
after Christmas to stay a few days with a friend in Charlottesville , but never got there. Nobody has
seen or heard from her since,” Billy explained to me.
    I sat dumbfounded, while Billy fired off questions to the
Carroltons. “What is your daughter’s full name and social security number?” he
asked, waiting for her to regain control of her emotions.
    Jack Carrolton sat stiff and upright, staring straight ahead
as if he was in another world, while Myra dried her eyes and said, “Helen Sue Carrolton.” Then she rattled off the
number.
    “She just turned nineteen in December. We bought her a new
car for a birthday and Christmas present. She’s such a sweet girl. She never
gave us a moment’s trouble. Made straight A’s almost all the way through
school. She’s in her first year at Christopher Newport University .
They were on Christmas break when she left to visit her friend Emma Lee. Emma
attends the college in Charlottesville . They were... are best friends. They
grew up together.” She dabbed at her eyes and continued. “Jack is Helen’s
stepfather. Her real father died when she was six. Jack has been like a father
to her since day one. He loves her as much as I do.”
    That last statement sounded like she was letting us know
there was no reason to suspect her husband of anything. Maybe the police had
questioned Jack’s possible involvement in his stepdaughter’s disappearance.
    Jack must have been reading my thoughts. “Yes, to the
question you are about to ask. Since I’m only her stepfather, at the very
beginning they grilled me up and down. If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, they
started giving Myra a raking over. Once they established
we didn’t do harm to our own child, or have anything to do with her
disappearance, they went down the list of her friends and everybody she knew...
or knows.”
    Jack and Myra desperately wanted to believe their
daughter was alive. However, after six months of trying to find her, I think
they were beginning to accept the possibility that maybe Helen wasn’t alive,
and if that was true, they had to know. They were both wound so tight; I was
expecting one of them to go off any minute.
    Billy eased himself back into the conversation. “I’m going to
do my best to find out what happened to your daughter, so I’m going to need
every bit of