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Throwing on my robe, I headed toward the living room armed with my laptop. Even if it was crazy early, I was so happy it was the weekend. The closest I’d come to speaking to Dane since our date last Sunday was the occasional smile from across the room in sociology, or looking up and seeing his eyes fixated on me in the cafeteria. I felt strange about approaching him on campus, though I’m not sure why. He liked to keep a low profile, so I guess I didn’t want to spark rumors. If he wanted to make the first move, then I was fine with that.
I contemplated doing some of my assignments, but in the end fatigue stopped me. I was in one of those moods where I couldn’t sleep, but was way too tired to do anything constructive. Opening my laptop, I glanced over Facebook, and my email. Not surprisingly, nothing really of interest was happening in my world. Clicking on friends, I clicked to message Anna. My decision to make more of an effort with our relationship had gone nowhere since last week, so this was as good a time as any to start.
Hey Anna,
How are things going with you? Mom said you made the basketball team, that’s fantastic! Let me know if you ever play down this way. How is school and everything else going? Got a boyfriend yet? ;)
Call me anytime you want to talk.
Love Lil xxx
Immediately I felt better, getting that out of the way lifted some of the anxiety off my shoulders. Opening up Google, I put in the words Hansen, Golden Lake and abduction. My screen filled with links to the murder of Steffy Hansen. I clicked on Crimenet.
Everything I could have possibly wanted to know (and not wanted to know) about Dane’s sister’s disappearance was right there in front of me. Guilt swept through me as I thought about Dane, and how he’d feel about was I was doing. It was almost like going behind his back by not asking him directly. How was I supposed to bring something like that up, though? And for all I knew, he’d Googled Abby and me, not that he’d find anything. A teenager’s death from cancer was not news. The abduction of a six year old was.
Earl Phillip Ederson had confessed to the abduction, rape and murder of Steffy Hansen in 2004, almost a year after her disappearance. She had been abducted from out the front of her home while her parents were out. She had been left in the care of her twelve year old brother, who had been inside at the time, playing video games with a friend.
I clasped my hand over my mouth. How awful for Dane. She’d gone missing when he was supposed to have been looking after her. He must have carried a huge amount of guilt, which explained his erratic behavior in high school that Gem had spoken about. What impressed me most about Dane was no matter how bad things got, he pulled himself through.
Earl was seen loitering around the area in a grey pick-up truck. Steffy’s dress and doll were later found on his premises, as well as her blood. He’d confessed to her murder, but died of a heart attack before telling police where to locate her body.
An image of Steffy filled the screen. She was beautiful, with the same dark unruly hair as her brother, and the same ice blue eyes and porcelain skin. I slammed my laptop shut, my heart pounding, unable to contain my repulsion for this man that had taken this little girl’s life. How do you ever get over something like that? And never really knowing what had happened, could you ever really move on?
Grabbing the remote, I switched on the TV. Anything to get that little girl’s image out of my head. Somewhere between cartoons and video clips, I drifted back off to sleep.
“Lily.”
I opened my eyes, the urgency in Abby’s voice scaring me. She crouched next to me, her green eyes filled with fear. Anxiety filled my stomach, churning as though it knew something bad was coming. I never felt like this when talking to Abby.
Ever.
Except…when she told me about dad. The moments before learning of his affair was the only time I’d ever felt like this.
“What? Tell me, Abs,” I said, my heart pounding, as though it was going to explode from my chest. Was it Anna? Or mom? God, I couldn’t take any more bad news.
“It’s Dane,” Abby said, “You need to tell Dane his sister needs help.”
“What?” I said, confused, “What the hell are you talking about, Abby?”
“Steffy. She’s in trouble. She needs Dane’s help.” Abby said, her voice strained.
“Steffy’s dead, Abby,” I was beginning to get angry. Was this her idea of a joke?
“Lily. Listen to me. Steffy is alive. Before Earl was caught, he sold her to a group.”
“A group? What the hell does that mean? What kind of group?” I struggled to process what she was telling me. Steffy was alive? That was impossible. Earl confessed. Her killer was dead.
“She needs help, Lil. There was a reason why they never found her
body,” Abby searched my eyes, “She’s not dead.”
I sat up abruptly on the couch, struggling for breath, shivering from the cold sweat covering my clammy skin. Abby’s words replayed in my mind over and over like a broken record. That had to have been a dream, as in a made up thing in my mind. Since Abby’s death, I’d never had a normal, run of the mill dream. Every night was the same. We would chat, all night, and I’d wake remembering every detail; the only night I didn’t remember was that first night after breaking my toe.
“What’s with you?”
I jumped as Kella plopped herself down on the couch next to me, pushing my feet out of the way.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” She blurted. Her face screwed up apologetically, “Sorry.” She said, as I raised an eyebrow. Kind of an insensitive thing to say that to the girl who had lost a sister.
