The Children of the Lost Read online

  • • •

  About two hours later, Joe and I were sitting in Rich’s office in the Misty Falls Police Station. He’d listened to our tale from the night before and now frowned in thought.

  “Interesting,” he said, scratching his cheek. “Well, it does sound like someone’s trying to mess with you boys. Because Farley told you the truth—we only saw the word ‘lost’ on one victim’s campsite, and we think the others may have been fabrications.”

  “Lies,” Joe translated.

  Rich sighed. “Not lies, exactly. When you have a case like this, everyone wants to be the one to help solve it. And after the media started reporting that one ‘lost’ case, suddenly people started remembering it in others. Even though none of our officers at the scene saw it, and these people didn’t ‘remember’ it until months or years later.” He paused. “Whoever’s leaving it for you boys, though, knows that you heard about it, and that’s all that matters. If you know the legend of Nathan and the Misty Falls Lost, it’ll scare you. And that’s what he wants.”

  “Rich,” I said, “can you tell us more about the other kids who disappeared? We’ve been focusing so heavily on Justin, I wonder if there’s something we’re missing.”

  He nodded. “Sure,” he said. “Here’s the rundown . . .

  “Kerry, an eight-year-old girl, went missing the year after Justin. Her younger brother reported that she left the tent to use the restroom and never came back. Police found bare footprints leaving the tent but never found her remains. (Hers is also the case where “lost” was photographed scrawled on the ground outside the tent.)

  “Sarah, a five-year-old girl, disappeared two years later. She slept outside with her older sister. Her sister reported being awoken by a loud noise in the middle of the night. Her sister’s sleeping bag was empty, her pillow had been thrown in the creek, and there was no further evidence. (Sarah is the girl whose “remains” were found downriver several years later.)

  “Luke, a seven-year-old boy, was frightened by a middle-of-the-night thunderstorm the following year and went to sleep in the car with his parents. Both parents remembered him joining them in the car, but in the morning, his bedding was gone and so was he—no further evidence was ever found.

  “Alice, a four-year-old girl, is the only child to have disappeared during the day. She went for a walk with her teenage brother. Hours later, the brother was found unconscious from a blow to the head, lying in the middle of a trail only a quarter mile from the campsite. Alice was missing and no further evidence was found.

  “Tommy, an eight-year-old boy, was dared by his younger brother to go outside the tent to investigate a noise (believed by police to have been an animal of some kind, based on the kid’s description). He never returned, and there was no evidence.

  “Kyle, a five-year-old boy, was simply missing from the tent in the morning. His teddy bear was missing, but his sleeping bag was intact. No evidence was found.

  “Ellie, a six-year-old girl, is the most recent to have disappeared, only last year. Hers is the most startling case: It appears that someone or something cut a hole in the tent where she was sleeping and removed her. A fragment of her nightgown was found a few feet from the tent.”

  When Rich finished, I took a deep breath. “Well,” I said. “These cases are pretty tragic.”

  “And creepy,” Joe added. “Even if these were bear attacks, it seems weird that so little evidence was found.”

  Rich nodded. “That’s probably where the ghost rumor comes from,” he admitted. “What else could leave so little evidence behind? But no, it is possible for bears to leave very little. And bears were spotted near all of these campsites within forty-eight hours of the disappearances.”

  I sighed. “Is there anything else you can show us?” I asked Rich. “Because I have to admit, we don’t have many credible leads right now.”

  Rich nodded slowly. “I could show you our interviews with the parents,” he suggested, “but I should warn you, they’re difficult to watch.”

  I looked at my brother. “We’ll watch them,” said Joe. I think he understood the look I was giving him.

  We were down to the wire here. And we needed all the help we could get.

  • • •

  Rich was right about one thing: The interviews were hard to watch. And unfortunately, they didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. All of the parents—even Jacob—seemed understandably crushed by the loss of their child. There were lots and lots of tears, lots of if onlys and I can’t believes and I should have paid more attentions. Of course all the parents were just beating themselves up. But I could imagine that after losing a child there was no way to accept that you couldn’t have prevented it.

  “Was it helpful?” Rich asked when he came back into his office after we’d watched all the videos. Joe was discreetly trying to wipe his eye, and I think we both looked wrecked.

  “Not really,” I admitted. “They all looked pretty crushed in their interviews.”

  Rich nodded. “They were all crushed,” he said softly. “And I didn’t know what to tell them. Truth be told, I still don’t know what to tell Edie or Jacob.”

  I stood up, looking the detective in the eye. “Rich,” I said, “do you really believe these all could have been bear attacks?”

  He sighed, looking from the dark video screen to Joe and me and back again. “No,” he said flatly. “But I don’t know what they were, either. I haven’t got any idea. In all my years in law enforcement, I have nothing to compare it to.”

  • • •

  When we finished at the police station, since we were already in town, we decided to head over to the hospital. Rich ran us over and dropped us off.

  “I don’t feel any closer than we were this morning,” Joe said with a sigh. “I can’t imagine who would want to hurt all those kids. Or who would want us to stop researching it so badly that they’d try to scare us off.”

  I nodded. “It’s frustrating,” I agreed. “But maybe something will happen with Justin today that will get us a little closer.”

  Inside the hospital, we headed straight for the nurses’ station on the psych floor. Chloe, the candy striper, was sitting at the desk chatting with Dr. Carrini.

  “Oh, hello,” she said with a big smile when she saw me walking up. “Good to see you boys again. But you should know that Justin’s asleep right now.”

  I sighed. “Just our luck.”

  Chloe touched my arm. “Don’t worry. He naps on and off all day. I’m sure he’ll be up soon.”

  Joe glanced over at Dr. Carrini. “Any change since yesterday?”

  The doctor shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I’m getting more concerned, to be honest with you. Chloe and I were just discussing the possibility that he may never recover his early memories.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You really think that’s possible?” I asked. “After spending five years with the Greers?”

  Dr. Carrini straightened his spine. “It’s extremely rare but certainly possible, especially considering the trauma Justin may have experienced. I mean, living in the woods for twelve years . . .”

  I startled. “Wait a minute. You really think he lived in the woods for twelve years?”

  Dr. Carrini looked surprised that I was challenging him.

  “It just seems hard to believe,” Joe explained, “that he would have lived so close to civilization for so long and never wandered into town.”

  “Or that he’s so polite,” I added. “He seems to understand social norms in a way that a kid raised in the woods, well, wouldn’t.”

  Dr. Carrini glanced at Chloe, who nodded as if she knew what he was about to say. “It’s unusual,” he said finally, “but not entirely impossible. If he were truly disoriented by the bear attack—if he had trouble accessing his early memories even then—”

  “He wouldn’t have known to look for civilization,” Chloe put in. “Because he wouldn’t have known what civilization was!”

  I f
rowned, looking from Chloe to the doctor. Was Chloe really buying this? I knew Dr. Carrini was the expert here, but I just couldn’t believe that Justin had spent twelve years in the woods.

  “What about the politeness?” I asked. “His language skills are good, and he seems to understand what people expect from him.”

  Dr. Carrini nodded, looking thoughtful. “It is possible for young people to pick up on social cues very quickly,” he said, “and perhaps—not definitely, but perhaps—he’s accessing memories of language from his early years.”

  I glanced at Joe, knowing that I probably wasn’t doing a great job of hiding my disbelief. What Dr. Carrini was suggesting . . . it just didn’t add up.

  Chloe seemed to sense my doubts and turned to me with a smile. “Justin is a very unusual case,” she told me. “Dr. Carrini says he’s never seen a case this difficult or surprising. It just seems like a lot of things that don’t seem possible could be possible here. Otherwise how could Justin have gotten to this state?”

  Joe didn’t exactly look convinced, either. “Does Dr. Hubert think Justin might have been in the woods all this time?” he asked. I nodded, remembering the medical doctor we’d met when we were first introduced to Justin.

  Dr. Carrini looked pained. “Not exactly,” he admitted. “Dr. Hubert is very . . . old-school, I guess you might say.” Suddenly he looked over my shoulder at someone approaching and smiled. “Mr. Greer! How are you this afternoon?”

  I turned around. Sure enough, there was Jacob, stuffing a cell phone into his shirt pocket and looking a little uncomfortable. “Hello, doctor,” he said, nodding at each of us. “Chloe. Boys.”

  “How are you this morning?” asked Chloe with a concerned look.

  Jacob laughed uncomfortably. “Better,” he admitted. “This hasn’t been easy, but . . . well, maybe Edie’s right. Justin might remember us at any time. We’d just better be patient.”

  Dr. Carrini nodded and gave a tight smile, even though this directly contradicted what he’d been telling us earlier. “Well, I’d better check on my other patients,” he said and quickly disappeared down the hall.

  “I should go, too,” Chloe agreed, standing up. “See you later, Frank and Joe. And Jacob.” Nodding at each of us, she took off down the hall.

  Just then, there was a girlish squeal from down the hall. “Jacob!” a young female voice cried. And then a young woman came into view, perhaps in her midtwenties, with long auburn hair and a dazzling white smile. She ran down the hall toward Jacob and threw her arms around him. “It’s so good to see you! I’m sorry I couldn’t be here for you all week.”

  I glanced at my brother. What the . . . ?

  But his focus was still on the woman, who was smiling at us now. “I’m sorry,” she said, thrusting out her hand. “I don’t mean to be rude. I’m Donna McCabe, Jacob’s girlfriend.”

  Girlfriend? Jacob had a girlfriend? This was new information. Why had he never mentioned Donna before?

  I didn’t get much time to ponder this question, because within minutes of Donna’s arrival Edie came running out of Justin’s room like her feet were on fire. She was headed right for Jacob, and if she was surprised to see Donna, she didn’t show it.

  “Jacob, boys,” she said, looking from her ex-husband to Joe and me. “Come quickly! Justin just woke up . . . and he remembers something!”

  False Memories

  A few minutes after Edie fetched us, a small army was gathered in Justin’s room: Frank and me, Dr. Carrini, Dr. Hubert, Chloe, Edie, and Jacob. (Donna had excused herself to the cafeteria—she was worried about confusing Justin, since they’d never met.)

  Before Justin could tell us what he told Edie, though, Dr. Carrini insisted on doing a quick exam. He checked Justin’s pulse and blood pressure, and he shined a bright light in his eyes until Jacob couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Come on, doc!” Jacob cried, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why can’t the boy just talk? You’re makin’ him forget what he was sayin’ in the first place!”

  Dr. Carrini pursed his lips and glanced at Jacob with disapproval. “I’m making sure Justin is lucid,” he replied coolly. “I want to be certain he’s aware of what he’s saying and not producing false memories.”

  “False memories—,” Jacob started to grumble, but Dr. Carrini cut him off.

  “He appears to be fine,” he said, backing away from Justin’s bed. “Go ahead, Justin. Tell them what you remember.”

  Justin looked nervously at Jacob, then at Edie. Edie leaned over and took his hand, smiling encouragingly. “It’s all right, Justin,” she said softly. “Just tell them what you told me.”

  Justin cleared his throat and nodded. “Well . . . ,” he said quietly in his scratchy, nearly-unused voice. “I remember a party.”

  Dr. Carrini nodded. “What sort of party, Justin?”

  Justin stammered, “Well—I—”

  Edie cut in gently, “What do you remember about the party?”

  Justin nodded again. “Right. I remember big purple balloons and a cake that looked like a clown. And there was . . . there was . . . a big purple dinosaur there!”

  Dr. Carrini scoffed. “Edie and Jacob, I think we can agree this—”

  But Edie was smiling. “No, no,” she said. “He’s right! For his fifth birthday party, we had a Barney theme. And we had a man come dressed in a Barney costume!”

  “He handed out the balloons,” Justin added, speaking directly to Edie this time.

  “That’s right,” Edie said, nodding and wiping a tear from her eye.

  I turned to Dr. Carrini. This was pretty incredible! Justin’s first memory of his early life in twelve years!

  But oddly, Dr. Carrini looked perplexed. “Do you remember anyone there, Justin?” he asked brusquely. “Any of the guests?”

  Justin glanced at Edie, and she squeezed his hand. “I remember you,” he said to Edie. “You were wearing a blue dress. And you told me, ‘Justin . . .’ ”

  Edie began to tear up, and she wiped at her eye with her hand. “‘Justin, you’re our special baby. You were chosen for us, and we’re so happy to have you.’ ”

  Edie began to cry in earnest then, and Justin’s eyes welled up, too. Chloe moved closer to the bed, grabbing tissues from the nightstand and handing them to both.

  Everyone was quiet for a minute or two. Then Jacob’s gruff voice split the silence.

  “What about me, boy?” he asked, moving closer to Justin’s bed. “You remember me?”

  Justin looked up, startled, and shook his head.

  “You sure?” Jacob asked. “I was there, you know. I set up the sprinkler for you kids to run through. I gave you a big monster truck you’d been wantin’. You don’t remember?”

  I swallowed. Jacob’s naked desire to be acknowledged was hard to watch. But again, Justin shook his head without a word, then glanced down at the tissue in his hand. Jacob was silent, looking like he wanted to say more, but then he just huffed and backed away.

  “Justin,” I said, feeling a little awkward as I moved closer to the bed, “what about the night you disappeared? Do you remember anything about that?”

  Dr. Carrini looked at me in alarm. “Maybe we should just pause here . . .”

  But I wanted to hear what Justin had to say. “Do you remember going camping?” I prompted. “Sleeping in a tent with Edie and Jacob? Do you remember that?”

  Justin looked troubled, like he was searching inside his head and finding nothing. I was pretty sure he was going to say “no,” when suddenly he said in a small voice, “I remember cooking hot dogs over the fire.”

  Edie gasped, then turned to Jacob with a look of amazement. “We did that!” she cried. “We did that, Justin, the night . . . well.” She paused, probably not wanting to relive the difficult memory.

  “Anything else?” Frank asked, stepping up behind me. “Justin, do you remember more from that night? Anything from the middle of the night?”

  Justin squinched up his face. “Um . .
. well . . .” He was clearly thinking hard. Finally he opened his eyes. “I remember . . . being outside?”

  “At night?” Frank prompted. “You remember being outside in the dark?”

  Justin opened his eyes and nodded. Then he closed them again, furrowing his brow. “I remember . . . a bright light?”

  Dr. Carrini stood from the chair near Justin’s bed he’d been perching on. “I think we should stop there,” he said, in a tone that seemed to dare any of us to disagree.

  “Stop?” asked Dr. Hubert. “But the boy is finally remembering.”

  Dr. Carrini frowned, placing a comforting hand on Justin’s shoulder. Justin moved away, toward Edie. “He’s overexerting himself, clearly. And besides . . . the night of the camping trip is a police matter. Shouldn’t Detective Cole be here?”

  There was some grumbling, but most of us seemed to agree (albeit reluctantly) that yes, Rich probably should be there.

  Dr. Carrini walked toward the door. “I’m going to get Justin a light sedative,” he said, “to help him rest. And perhaps we all can leave Edie and Jacob here to have some one-on-one time with their son. We’ll call Detective Cole and set a time to continue the questioning tomorrow.”

  I glanced at Frank, and he nodded. Slowly, everyone except Jacob and Edie filed out of the room.

  We found ourselves in the hallway with the two doctors and Chloe. Once out of earshot, Dr. Hubert turned excitedly to Dr. Carrini. “He’s remembering!” he exclaimed. “He’s really remembering!”

  Dr. Carrini smiled wryly. “Is he, though?” he asked.

  “What does that mean?” asked Frank.

  Dr. Carrini sighed. “I can’t be sure, but I’m concerned that Justin is producing false memories.”

  I frowned. “Why would you think that? Edie confirmed the party memory.”

  “That’s true,” Dr. Carrini allowed, “but we weren’t there when he first produced the memory. I’m afraid that Edie is so eager to be recognized, she might have inadvertently fed him information.”