The Children of the Lost Read online

  “And if he’s the guy trying to scare us,” Frank added, “then he definitely has a motive for keeping us from getting any footage.”

  I nodded, sitting down on a big rock that jutted out toward the river. “Wow,” I murmured. “Farley.”

  Frank moved closer. “He definitely knows all about the Nathan lore,” he said, furrowing his brow. “He knows the park very well. He easily could have executed a plan to frighten us while we camped here.”

  “And all those stories about how dangerous the park is,” I added. “He could have been trying to scare us then, too.”

  Just then, a shrill sound made both Frank and me jump. He turned toward the tent, then sprang into action. “That’s my cell phone,” he said, diving back into the tent to grab it.

  A few seconds later he was back outside, the phone at his ear. “Oh, hello, Chloe,” he said into the phone, his face turning a deep crimson.

  I grinned. Chloe? She had his number?

  Well . . . wasn’t that cute?

  Frank spoke quietly into the phone for a few minutes, then abruptly said, “I understand. Of course. If you can pick us up, we’ll come right over.”

  After a quick good-bye, he hung up the phone and looked at me. “That was Chloe,” he said, looking sheepish.

  “I gathered,” I said with a grin.

  His expression turned serious. “She’s coming to pick us up. She says things are pretty crazy at the hospital. Jacob left with Donna this morning on a flight out—complaining that he couldn’t deal with this anymore. And Justin is really upset.”

  Start from the Beginning

  “What happened?”

  Joe and I arrived at the hospital about an hour after Chloe had called me, having been ferried over by Chloe herself. We stumbled upon Dr. Carrini, Dr. Hubert, and Rich, all standing in the hallway just out of earshot of Justin’s room.

  Rich looked up at us with a serious expression. “Jacob left this morning on a flight out,” he explained. “He was acting stubborn and upset—I almost wonder if that girlfriend he had with him put some crazy ideas in his head.” He sighed.

  Dr. Carrini went on in a calmer voice, “He told us he ‘just couldn’t do this anymore’ and he wanted to say good-bye to Justin. Unfortunately, his good-bye sounded a lot like an ‘I’ll never forgive you for not remembering me.’ He talked a lot about feeling like a failure as a dad and not wanting to burden Justin with his inadequacies.”

  “Wow,” breathed Joe, turning to me and shaking his head.

  “Wow,” I agreed. “How did Justin take it?”

  “Not well,” answered Dr. Hubert, who wore a concerned look on his gaunt face. “He became very upset once Jacob left. He began to cry. And then he told Chloe, who had brought his breakfast, that he remembered something about the night he disappeared.”

  I glanced at Chloe, who had given us the short version of this story in the car. “That’s right,” she agreed. “He was obviously feeling sad, and he took my hand and said, ‘Chloe, I have something to tell everybody. I remember that night now. I remember.’ ” She paused. “So that’s when I called you, and Detective Cole, too. I figured everyone would be interested in what Justin has to say about that night.”

  I nodded. “We sure are,” I agreed. “Is Edie still here?”

  Chloe nodded. “Yes, she and Hank have been in with Justin all morning, trying to soothe him. But I don’t know how successful they’ve been.”

  I glanced at Rich, who nodded. “Well, now that everyone’s here, let’s get started,” he said, heading toward Justin’s room. “I don’t think it helps him at all to drag this out. Poor kid.”

  We all let out grunts of agreement, then followed Rich into Justin’s room. Edie and Hank were sitting next to Justin’s bed, and Edie was reading to him from an old-looking picture book. They both glanced up with what seemed like relief when we all walked in.

  “Detective, boys, doctors,” Hank said warmly. “Hello.”

  “Hi again, Hank,” Joe replied, holding out a hand for Hank to shake. “Good to see you again. You too, Edie.”

  Edie nodded. “Justin has made a lot of progress this morning,” she said like a proud mom. But then she added, “I think he’s feeling confused and upset about Jacob.”

  Hank sighed deeply. “I can’t believe he just left,” he muttered.

  I couldn’t, either, but I didn’t want to say anything to upset Justin further. Edie seemed to feel that way, too, because she shot Hank a “can it” look.

  “Can we begin now?” asked Justin, sitting up from his pillows. He looked sad but eager to get this meeting over with. Suddenly I realized how weird it must have been for him to have such a small crowd around whenever he wanted to tell his parents something. I felt a little wave of regret in my heart. More reason to want to solve this case quickly, then—to give Justin some semblance of the normal life he deserved.

  “Of course,” said Rich, pulling out a small recording device and pressing the “record” button. “Okay, Justin, tell me everything you’ve remembered this morning—starting from the beginning.”

  Justin frowned, but then the expression faded quickly as he began his story. “The birthday party I remembered the other day,” he began. “The one with the purple balloons?”

  I caught a skeptical glance passing between Dr. Carrini and Chloe, but Rich just nodded casually. “Yes, I recall.”

  “I remembered,” Justin said, then paused and swallowed hard, “after.” He stopped, glancing at his mother, who nodded encouragingly. “We had a game at the party—where you were supposed to wear a blindfold and then attach a tail . . .”

  “It was Pin the Tail on Barney,” Edie interrupted, patting Justin’s arm gently. “Go on, honey.”

  “When it was my turn,” Justin continued, “I couldn’t see anything, so I pushed the blindfold down a little with the back of my hand,” he said. “But my father caught me.” His voice broke. “He got angry at me for cheating at the game—really angry. He said a real man doesn’t cheat. And he made me spend the rest of the party in my room while my friends kept playing.”

  Justin put his head down and swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. I glanced at Edie, who nodded slowly, looking a little embarrassed.

  “That’s right,” she said quietly. “I tried to tell him Justin was only five, not old enough to be a ‘man’ yet, but Jacob insisted that Justin wasn’t too young to learn wrong from right.”

  I looked at my brother, who met my eye with a serious expression. I knew we were both thinking the same thing: Between this memory and the fact that he left this morning, was it possible Jacob still knew more about Justin’s disappearance than he was letting on?

  “Justin, son,” Rich said in a husky, gentle voice, “I don’t want to upset you, but can you tell me what you remember from the night you disappeared? The night you went camping?”

  Justin looked up at him, and it was clear then that he was crying. Tears leaked from his wet eyes in little trails down his cheeks. But he nodded stoically. “Sure, um—”

  “He doesn’t remember the whole thing,” Edie interrupted, looking at the detective with an expression that seemed to me to say “don’t push him.” “He just remembers waking up in the middle of the night, right Justin?”

  Rich nodded. “Let’s let him tell it. Justin?”

  Justin took a deep breath. “I remember waking up in the middle of the night,” he said. “It was dark, and I was scared because I wasn’t in my room. But then my eyes adjusted, and I remembered we were in a tent, and that’s when I saw him.” He paused, swallowing.

  “You saw him?” asked Rich, leaning in. “You saw whom, son?”

  Justin shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It was a man I’d never seen before. He was tall, and he had gray hair, and he was wearing a black shirt. And he knew my name. He said, ‘Justin, I’m a friend of your parents’, why don’t you come out here and talk to me a minute?’ ” He paused, looking sheepishly at his mother. “So I d
id. I got out of the tent.”

  Rich nodded. “Then what happened?”

  Justin closed his eyes. “It was dark at the campsite, but the man led me away from the tent and turned on a flashlight. He said, ‘Justin, I know your daddy is hard on you, but he’s not your real daddy. I know where your real daddy is, and I can take you there. You’ll have a happy life. You’ll have everything you want, and no one will ever yell at you.’ ” Justin paused and let out a sob. “I was scared, but he sounded so . . . so . . . I dunno . . .”

  “You went,” Edie said softly, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay, Justin. You were five. You didn’t know any better.”

  Justin nodded, sobbing harder now. “I went,” he choked out. “And that’s all I remember.”

  Rich caught my eye, and I could see that he was finding this just as hard to be a part of as I was. He sighed and went on. “Justin, do you remember anything after that, anything at all?”

  Justin shook his head, still crying, but before he could respond, Dr. Carrini moved in and held up his hand. “Let’s stop here,” he said firmly. “I think we should have a quick chat in the hallway.” He gestured to Dr. Hubert, Joe, Chloe, Rich, and me—we were all standing in a clump fanning back to the doorway. He walked out into the hall, and the five of us followed. My mind was already spinning with the information Justin had given us. I caught Joe’s eye and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

  Rich cleared his throat, pointing at Dr. Carrini. “What was that about?” he asked sharply. “I was close to getting real information about where Justin was taken after he was abducted.”

  Dr. Carrini laughed—a sharp sound in the quiet hallway. “Real information?” he asked. “Are you sure about that?”

  “What does that mean?” Rich demanded.

  Dr. Carrini sighed, glancing at Chloe, who nodded as though she already knew what he was going to say and agreed one hundred percent. “Have you ever heard of false memories?” he asked.

  “What?” Rich asked, then scoffed. “Oh, you have to be kidding me! Those were negative memories! Why would anyone make those up?”

  Dr. Carrini frowned, making clear that he was not kidding. “Justin has clearly bonded with Edie. Edie responds favorably whenever he remembers anything, and it serves to strengthen their bond. Don’t you think—”

  “No,” Rich interrupted harshly, “I don’t. Dr. Hubert, do you agree with what Dr. Carrini is saying?”

  Dr. Hubert hesitated, stroking his chin. “It’s certainly possible,” he said slowly. “Do I think it’s happening in this case? No, not necessarily. But Dr. Carrini is the expert.”

  At that moment, Hank poked his head out of Justin’s room, looking at the six of us curiously—and not entirely happily. “What’s going on out here?” he asked. “Edie and Justin are a mess. And why did you stop the questioning?”

  Rich sighed loudly. “I’m closer than I’ve been on this case in twelve years,” he muttered, shaking his head and glaring at Dr. Carrini. “And you just stopped me from solving it.”

  Dr. Carrini’s eyes flashed with anger. “Didn’t you notice that this memory of that night doesn’t match the one he gave yesterday?” he demanded. “The bright light . . .”

  Rich rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, that was so vague . . .”

  “And it could have been the flashlight,” I spoke up. Everyone turned to me like they had forgotten Joe and I were there. I felt a little sheepish. “You know,” I added, “the bright light. It could have been the flashlight the man turned on.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, thinking this over.

  “I have a question,” said Joe, giving me a meaningful look. “What does anybody here know about Farley O’Keefe?”

  Rich looked up. “Farley?” he asked, clearly surprised. “Well, he’s a little cranky sometimes, but overall he’s harmless. Why . . .”

  But he broke off, suddenly staring over at Hank. Hank looked stricken.

  “What’s up, Hank?” Joe asked gently. Hank shook his head, but he poked his head back into the room, calling, “Edie! Edie, come out here for a minute.”

  After a few seconds, Edie appeared at the door, looking surprised. “Can I help?” she asked. “Justin is very upset . . .”

  Hank glanced at Rich and then back at Edie, a concerned look on his face. “Joe here was just asking about Farley O’Keefe.”

  I was expecting Edie to look confused, but instead she looked even more shocked and upset than Hank had. “What about Farley O’Keefe?” she asked carefully.

  I cleared my throat. “We have some reason to believe he’s been harassing us at our campsite over the last few nights,” I said. “Nothing definitive. But I just wondered if you knew of any reason Farley might want to prevent us from looking into Justin’s case, or any of the others.”

  Edie closed her eyes, then swallowed hard. She opened her eyes and looked at Hank, who gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “Tell them,” he said softly.

  Edie looked from him to me, and then to Rich. “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly, so quietly that I could barely hear her. “I didn’t tell you before because I wanted to protect his privacy. But Farley O’Keefe is Justin’s biological grandfather.”

  L-O-S-T

  “What?” someone cried. It took me a minute to realize that the voice was my own. Farley and Justin are related? My mind was spinning. This just didn’t make sense.

  Rich cleared his throat. “Edie,” he said slowly, like he was trying to control his voice, “could you elaborate?”

  Edie nodded, glancing back at the room like she was concerned about Justin overhearing. Understanding her gesture, we all scooted a little farther down the hall. Then Edie replied quietly, “Of course. I’m sure this comes as a shock.” She paused, sighed, and then continued.

  “I grew up here in Misty Falls, and I lived here my whole life until I was twenty-five. At that point, Jacob and I had been married for three years, and I desperately wanted children. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to have children of my own. Around this time, one of our good friends who was in the army was sent to Iraq to fight in Desert Storm. His wife, Hailey, was a close friend of mine—we shared everything, and she knew how much I wanted children.” Edie paused to take a breath.

  “Hailey’s husband was Sean O’Keefe—Farley’s son. As you know, he was killed in Desert Storm—just a few weeks after arriving in Iraq. Hailey was devastated. She thought Sean was the love of her life, and she couldn’t imagine living without him.” Edie sighed. “A week or so after his death Hailey learned she was pregnant with their child.”

  Rich coughed. “I remember Hailey O’Keefe,” he said, seeming to think this through. “I never knew she had a child with Sean.”

  Edie nodded. “That’s because Hailey was so deep in her own grief, she knew she couldn’t handle raising a baby right then. It would be too hard for her. Since she knew how desperately Jacob and I wanted a child, she asked if I would consider adopting her baby. Of course my heart broke for her, but I knew we could help her in this one way: We could take her child and give him a good home.” She fished a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes, which shone with tears.

  Rich was nodding slowly. “You moved out of town around that time. Was that because . . . ?”

  Edie nodded. “Hailey was so devastated, I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle watching their son grow up. We moved to Boise, and we arranged for Hailey to stay with us until she delivered. When Justin was born, she kissed him once and then handed him over to us. She moved closer to her parents in Texas as soon as she was able. And I don’t think she ever looked back.”

  Rich nodded again. “And Farley never knew of the child?”

  Edie closed her eyes tightly, as though she were trying to hold herself together. “Hailey didn’t tell him,” she said quietly. “At least, not at the time. A couple years later, she remarried and had another child, and I think that made her realize just how strong the parent-child bond is. She wrote to Farley and adm
itted that she’d had a son with Sean and had given him to us to adopt.”

  I glanced at Frank. “And was he upset?” I asked. “Did he want access to the child that you weren’t willing to give him, maybe?”

  Edie shook her head. “Just the opposite,” she replied, her voice low. “He sent us the most lovely note, just telling us that if we were so inclined, he would love to meet his grandson, but he understood if we felt uncomfortable. That’s when they started,” she said, looking at Rich again. “These yearly camping trips to Misty Falls Park.”

  Rich shook his head, as though he were trying to understand. “So Justin spent time with Farley on these trips? Did he know he was his grandfather?”

  “No,” said Edie. “I mean, yes, they spent time together. Farley taught Justin to read a compass and how to build a fire with just two sticks and a piece of flint. But as far as Justin knew, Farley was just the kindly park ranger. And Farley always seemed happy with that arrangement.”

  Frank looked confused. “What about Jacob?” he asked. “Did he and Farley get along?”

  Edie pursed her lips. “They . . . tolerated each other. I don’t think Jacob approved of Farley taking over his role, in some ways, and Farley made it clear that he didn’t exactly think Jacob was father of the year.”

  “What does that mean?” Rich asked.

  Edie sighed. “Farley thought Jacob should be more attentive to Justin. Jacob liked to do his own thing, read his book, go for hikes alone. And I think Farley thought that Jacob should be more of a mountain man, more like him—Jacob wasn’t a huge fan of the outdoors. He couldn’t read a compass or build a fire.” She paused, then added softly, “You know how Farley can be.”

  Rich was nodding slowly. “This is all very interesting,” he said, looking up at Frank and me.

  “It fits,” I spit out, before I could think better of it. “Farley’s ranger uniform is dark, and he has gray hair. He knows the park better than anyone—he would know how to sneak up to the campsites and where to bring the kids so they wouldn’t be found.”