No Return

57

“Anna!”

Wes rushed into the bathroom, but it was empty.

He realized with dread that he’d fallen asleep next door thinking she was just on the other side of the wall, but she hadn’t been.

That meant the last place she’d been …

… was his room.

He ran out the door and nearly crashed into Danny on the sidewalk.

“Whoa. Slow down,” Danny said.

Wes threw open the door to his room and raced inside. He scanned the space with new eyes, looking for any clue as to what might have happened to Anna.

“Hey, you all right?” Danny was standing in the entryway.

Wes dropped to his hands and knees and looked under the bed. About six inches in, there was a wood-sided pedestal that prevented anything from being pushed all the way under.

He checked the bathroom. Only his toiletries and Anna’s toothbrush sticking out of a glass.

“Wes, what’s going on?” Danny asked.

“Get the police,” Wes said. “They’re over at Tony’s room.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it! Please.”

Danny nodded and headed quickly out of the room.

Wes stepped back into the bedroom and took another look around.

First Tony and now Anna? What in God’s name was happening?

His gaze stopped at the closet. It had double doors that opened to either side. The door on the left was sticking open a half inch. He knew he hadn’t left it that way. He approached it, fearful of what he might find, but knowing he had to look. He placed a couple of fingers against the edge near the top and pulled.

For a second he forgot to breathe.

Someone had taken one of the suit hangers and turned it ninety degrees. Taped on the wooden crossbar was a newspaper clipping. It was folded in half, so he couldn’t see what the article was.

He removed it from the hanger and opened it up.

LOCAL STUDENT MISSING

Under the headline was a picture of Jack Rice.

Danny reentered the room, Officer Rockwell right behind him.

“Mr. Stewart,” Rockwell said. “You wanted to see me?”

Without even thinking, Wes folded the article and slipped it into his pocket, then said, “Someone else is-”

“What the hell is that?” Danny asked.

At first Wes thought Danny had seen him hide the paper, but he was pointing at something behind Wes’s shoulder.

Wes turned. Mounted on the inside of the open closet door was a full-length mirror. On it was a viscous substance that Wes recognized immediately.

Vaseline. Just like in Anna’s original room.

There were words on Wes’s mirror, also, only they were harder to distinguish because there was no steam to help make them stand out. Still, Wes could discern the message.

YOUR FAULT