Town in a Blueberry Jam

Thirty

Maggie threw up her hands, deep frustration showing on her face. “I can’t believe they’re doing this to me. What are they up to? Where can they be? We’ve checked everywhere.”

Candy nodded. It’s true, she thought, both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. She felt edgy, ragged, and thirsty; her brain hurt and her fingers felt numb. She knew she was rapidly wearing out — it had been a long day, and it showed no signs of ending soon.

They had been combing the town for the past two hours, starting at Cameron’s home, which they found dark and lifeless, then on to all his favorite haunts, including McCoy’s, the only burger joint in town, where the high school kids hung out in the summer evenings, and the teen center in the basement of the Episcopal church. They had come up empty everywhere they looked. Maggie had tried to use her cell phone to call folks around town, to ask if anyone had seen Cameron and Amanda, but the reception was lousy, fading in and out. It was sporadic even on a good day, which was why Candy had gotten out of the habit of carrying her own cell phone. But when inclement weather set in, it was near impossible to get a signal — so they had been forced to stop back at Maggie’s house to use a land line. They wasted another twenty minutes there, and even that effort turned up nothing positive.

That’s when Candy had an idea, and that brought them here, to Sapphire’s house, less than twenty-four hours after they had broken into the place.

As before, Candy parked a block away and they snuck around to the back of the house. It wasn’t fully dark yet, but the thick clouds that had been building throughout the afternoon and early evening had darkened and lowered, threatening rain, and a strong wind was kicking up out of the northwest. Sapphire’s house looked eerie in the odd slanted dusk light and gathering gloom, like a dark sentinel guarding a long-held secret.

But there were no more secrets to be revealed this night. The back door was locked, and the key was in the exact place Candy had left it the night before, on a ledge above one of the back windows. It hadn’t been moved since she had put it there, as far as she could tell, so unless Cameron had his own key, he wasn’t here.

They hovered around the back of the house for a few minutes, debating whether to enter again. In the end, they decided against it. “They’re not here,” Candy said, the disappointment strong in her voice as she glanced at the upper windows, which showed no signs of life inside. “If they were, we’d know it. We’d see their car or footprints, or hear them talking inside. They’re teenagers, after all.”

“Where are they then?” Maggie asked again, looking as though she was about to burst with anger and worry. She had bitten her lip raw, and her eyes were red and tired. “I just want to find them,” she pleaded, to the sky as much as to Candy. “I just want to make sure they’re safe.”

“I know. Me too.” Candy lowered her head and for the first time felt ashamed she had ever thought Cameron could have had anything to do with Sapphire’s death. Something was bothering him, yes — something that tore at him, that much was obvious. Whatever it was, it had him running scared, taking Amanda with him. He wasn’t a killer — she realized that now — but he still could be in trouble. Candy and Maggie had to find him before he did something they’d all regret...

She looked up at Maggie, who stood with arms crossed as the wind tore at her clothes. “Is there anyplace else they could have gone? Anywhere? Maybe Cam has a friend who lives out of town... or Amanda? Up in Bangor, maybe?”

Maggie thought a moment, then shook her head. “I’ve called everyone I can think of.”

“Some place, then — where they might hang out, go for walks, hiking, anything like that?”

Maggie tilted her head as her mouth tightened. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her face with her hands. “Think, think!” she commanded herself. “Come on, there must be something I’m missing... some...” She stopped, her hands flying away from her face, her eyes wide. “The camp!”

“The camp?”

“Yes!” She jabbed a finger excitedly at Candy. “That’s it! The Zimmermans have a camp up north, about two hours away. Cameron and his dad go up there every summer to hunt and fish. It’s the perfect place for them to hide out!”

Candy checked her watch. Nearly seven-thirty. A two-hour trip would put them at the cabin well after dark, which came early even in the summer at this far-eastern end of the time zone. “I don’t suppose there’s a phone up there?”

Maggie shook her head. “I don’t suppose there is.”

“Where’s this place at?”

“East Musquash Lake, up by Topsfield. Do you think that’s where they went?”

“There’s only one way to find out. I’ll have to stop for gas on the way.”

For a moment Maggie was silent, but then she rushed forward and gave Candy a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re with me. You’re the best friend a gal could have.”

“You’d do the same for me, right?”

“You know it.”

“I wasn’t doing anything special this evening anyway,” Candy said as they started back to the Jeep. “A night drive might be nice.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, really. It’ll give us a chance to talk a little.”

“That’s right. We can talk. You had something you were going to tell me, didn’t you?”

“About what?”

“Something you said on the phone — Cameron took something?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Candy clutched Maggie’s shoulder as she remembered. “I forgot about that! And I have more to tell you — about Herr Georg, and Ray’s tree fort.”

“All that? Sounds like we have a lot of catching up to do. I guess this is a good time for a long drive.”

So as the impending storm squeezed the last light from the sky and the night deepened prematurely, they drove out of Cape Willington to Route 1 and from there turned eastward toward the small, quiet Downeast towns of Cherryfield, Columbia Falls, and Jonesboro. Along the way, Candy explained about the break-in at the house, her harrowing search with the shotgun, and her discovery that the files were missing. “I think Cameron took them for some reason,” Candy explained, still trying to sort it all out in her head. “He saw us up in Sapphire’s attic last night. He must have guessed we took those files.”

“But why would he want them? What was in those files anyway?”

“I didn’t get through all of them — but I did get a chance to look through Herr Georg’s file.” As the first raindrops splattered like giant bugs on the windshield, Candy told her about the e-mails between Sapphire and the German baker, and her talk with him that afternoon, though she kept back some of the details about his past, out of respect for his privacy.

“This is not for public knowledge, of course,” Candy finished, “but you’ve been involved with this from the beginning, so I thought you should know.”

“And Sapphire was blackmailing him?” Maggie asked in disbelief. “I knew she was evil, but I had no idea she was that evil.”

“There’s more,” Candy said. “I found Ray’s hammer.” She paused as Maggie gasped, and was just launching into the story of her discovery of Ray’s tree fort when Maggie’s cell phone rang.

“I can’t believe it!” Maggie said in a surprised tone as she dug into her purse. “Wouldn’t you know, it hasn’t worked all day, and just when we’re getting to the bottom of this story, now it suddenly works. Must be something to do with the storm.” She glanced at the phone’s display, then let out a shriek that nearly split Candy’s ears open.

“Oh my God! It’s Amanda!”

“Amanda? Well answer the dumb thing.”

“Right.” Maggie thumbed the call button. “Amanda, where are you? I’ve been scared to death.” She listened then, the silence lengthening as they drove east, her stillness speaking more than words.

When she finally lowered the phone to her lap, Candy didn’t have to look at her to know her friend was stunned. “Is everything alright? Are the kids okay?”

It took Maggie a moment to answer. “Turn around. We’re headed in the wrong direction.”

“Why? Where are they?”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you.”

“I’ll believe you. Just tell me.”

“They’re at Quinn’s cabin.”

“Quinn? As in Sebastian J.? I don’t believe it.”

“It gets worse. Cameron’s holding a gun on Quinn. He thinks Quinn’s the one who killed Sapphire.”

Now it was Candy’s turn to look stunned. She blinked several times, shook her head, and slowed the Jeep to a crawl, then cranked the steering wheel as she expertly made a three-point turn in the middle of the road. With the Jeep pointed in the opposite direction, she gunned the gas pedal, and they headed back through the gathering darkness toward Cape Willington.