Fear the Dark Read Online Free Page B

lockers at school. Everything points to a deliberate and well-planned elopement, nothing else. An elopement that just . . . stopped . . . near the edge of town.”
    â€œNothing in the car?” The judge sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs, setting the tackle box at his feet and propping his rod against the other chair.
    â€œNothing unusual. Once we went over everything and got it all out of the car, I had the parents back here sorting what belonged to who. Some stuff was obvious, but not everything. And nothing stuck out as not belonging to a couple of reckless kids taking off without much in the way of planning for the future.” He didn’t add that Monica Church had sobbed the entire time the parents had sorted their kids’ belongings.
    Jonah drew a deep breath and leaned back in his well-worn chair until it creaked. “Those two kids might as well have vanished into thin air for all the evidence I’ve found.”
    â€œMaybe they were just smart enough to lay down a false trail,” the judge suggested.
    Thinking of the vanished footprints that, so far, only he, Sarah, and Tim knew about, Jonah said, “From all I’ve been told, Amy was the brains of that pair—and she wasn’t that smart. All she wanted was to get out of Serenity and out from under her parents’ thumb, and it was the same for Simon. I’m betting they hadn’t thought much beyondjust getting out of here. No elaborate plan. They had relatively little money, relatively few skills, and like most teenagers, they thought they could build a life on that foundation. Somewhere other than Serenity.”
    â€œStranger things have happened,” the judge said mildly.
    â€œYeah, yeah, I know. And if either one of them had been in touch with
somebody
, I wouldn’t be so worried. But they haven’t. It’s been a week, and nobody’s heard from them. And since Amy left her purse behind, they only had whatever cash Simon had in his jeans. About two weeks’ pay at most, his father thinks. That won’t get them very far, especially if they have to rent a room somewhere.”
    He paused, then added, “Something else. Their cell phone usage—high as hell like every teenager’s—stopped abruptly. Nothing after Saturday night, about the time they left. Which figures; probably Stuart letting Amy know he was waiting with the car. Nothing since. I mean nothing. The phones are either off or destroyed. And I have to lean toward the latter, because both had GPS locators in them; the parents had made sure of that
and
that the GPS was locked on at all times, so the kids couldn’t disable without destroying the phones. A condition of them having their own phones, I gather.”
    â€œAnd no joy.” It wasn’t a question.
    Jonah nodded. “How many teenagers do you know who can be more than a foot or two away from their cells? If they aren’t in a pocket, they carry them in their hands. A lot of the girls don’t even bother with purses anymore, just a little billfold-like thing on a long strap that holds their cell, driver’s license, and car keys if they have a car, and maybe a few bucks or an ATM card.”
    He held up a hand before the judge could ask. “I know that because they volunteered the info and showed me the billfold things.Most of the girls seem to have them. The twenty-first-century version of the fanny pack, I guess. Handy. But not helpful to me.”
    â€œMaybe they tossed their cells and bought burners,” the judge suggested.
    â€œIt’s a possibility, especially given the locked GPS signals, but who would they call except friends or family? I don’t really know Amy, but according to her BFF, she would have called once they were out of town and on their big adventure, proud of herself for having pulled it off. The friend seemed sure. And worried.”
    â€œBecause there was no call.”
    Jonah