Discretion by David Balzarini Read Free Book Online Page B

camping grounds, and the surrounding area are being searched as we speak. We’ll find her.”
    Allan Wyle rubs his face and paces on the scuffed tile floor with an edginess I’ve not seen in him. I can only blame myself for this event.
    “Colin, where could she be? You two are always together. You’d know better than anybody where she’d go, and who she’d want to be around,” Marc asks me.
    I swallow hard and fight back emotions. No sympathy is coming. They see this event as my fault. I’m to blame. I caused this.
    I need Christel more than ever.
    “When was the last time you checked messages at home?” I ask.
    The Merians glance at each other, and then at me. “My cell lets me know when I have messages, same as anyone else,” Marc says.
    “No, no. The home number. Like sheriff said. Did you check messages at home? The one she would most likely call.”
    “She would call the cell. She must have yours memorized. She certainly knows mine.”
    “She may not think of the cell number. She may just call the home number and if she left with friends, without a word to me, she may have reason—”
    “Yes, that we can agree on. She’s avoiding you. Now, what happened between you two? Level with me. She wouldn’t run away for no reason. Natalie is responsible,” Marc says.
    “Yes, of course she is,” my father says.
    Marc rolls his eyes. “Quit thinking this is an easy fix, Wyle. My daughter is not partying somewhere, as you’re implying.”
    Allan sneers. “Marc, she’s a teenager. She has friends who were at the lake today who she’d want to be around and it slipped her mind in a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave.”
    Marc stands and steps toward my father, and the deputy, Reed, places himself between the two feuding parents. He holds a hand up and tells Marc to sit down. Reed suggests my father take a walk outside.
    Silence lingers but a moment before Marc speaks up. “Colin, I checked the home messages twenty minutes ago, as a precaution. But if she’s going to reach me, she’d call my cell. Always the case.”
    “It was a thought. The waiting is torture.”
    He manages a nod. “Now…what happened to drive her away?”
    Allison Merian rubs his leg. “Dear, Natalie always said Colin respected her boundaries.”
    “Let him answer the question,” Marc says, his eyes remaining on me.
    There is no escape. There is no place to go. I can’t run to my room and lock the door. I can’t even hide in a closet like when I was five.
    “Nothing that I can think of. Nothing abnormal at least. We talked, we swam…”
    “Don’t dodge the question. What happened sexually?”
    “A kiss. I rubbed her feet. Happened many times before.”
    His gaze shows disbelief. He doesn’t budge. Seconds tick by and I think he stops breathing a moment. Does this man want to kill me? Quite possibly. I glance at the deputy, standing close by. He’s armed. He’d protect me, right?
    My gaze returns to Marc and his eyes are frozen on my neck, a quiver to his lips—either sadness or rage and I can’t tell the difference.
    Yes, it’s possible.
    Christel, where are you? I need you now.
    “Was she comfortable with that?” Marc asks his wife, and the tension eases a hair between him and me.
    She nods. “She and I talked about it before many times and I know she was comfortable with how Colin treated her and respected her boundaries. It wasn’t a problem, I assure you.”
    Marc is unconvinced, or perhaps that grimace is how a man feels when his beloved daughter is missing. It’s hard to accept, but all we can do is wait and blame one another. Until she is found, all the weight of her disappearance falls on my shoulders.
    My cell vibrates in my pocket, startling me from the seat. My hand trembles with the device. I flip it open and recognize the number on display.
    Please bring answers.

EIGHT
    “J amal. Tell me good news. I need it,” I say. To hold the phone still is a struggle. My father urns to my side and pats me on