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“Everybody knew she was so jealous of you. The only reason Allison wanted to go out with me was to get at you.”
“That’s not true. You had a famous father, too.”
“Yeah, and she wanted to see Graeme Sutter’s studio more than anything so she could brag to her friends.”
“You also had your driver’s license and a car,” Brogan pointed out. “And you were attracted to her long blonde hair. Let’s face it, Allison looked like a model at fourteen. Whatever happened to her anyway?”
“I heard she died of a drug overdose in New York, where she tried to make it as a dancer on Broadway. We’re getting off track here. The main reason Allison showed any interest in me at all was to make sure she could stick it to you.”
“Okay. I already knew that. It’s about time you realized it, too. So why bring her up now?”
“Because, in a way, I think that’s what Lyssa was doing to Daniel Cardiff. She needed a date for the prom. Good ol’ Daniel fit the bill. He was handy, a co-worker, a classmate, a boy she’d known all her life who had his own set of wheels. Even a pickup truck is transportation, a way to get around. But Lyssa’s way of thinking changed when she met this twenty-four-year-old construction worker. Maybe she keeps stringing Daniel along because she can’t take Conor to the prom, at least not to the main event. She’d need to wait until after it was over to hook up with Conor.”
Brogan nodded in agreement. “Because Conor doesn’t fit the age requirement. He’s too old. Most school proms have age limits. It usually maxes out at twenty-one. The locals—teachers, parents, chaperones—would’ve known Conor was an outsider. Lyssa probably knew Conor wouldn’t even make it past the door.”
“Exactly. So Lyssa keeps Daniel on the hook for the prom date. But then she goes out with Conor one fateful night, and the two disappear, never to be seen again. Meanwhile, she leaves Daniel pining, pining for a decade. The boy becomes a man, thinking Lyssa is his true love. Daniel even becomes the main suspect in her disappearance. All the while, Lyssa used Daniel as a pawn so that she could go to the prom for a few hours and party with her friends before meeting up with the man she had waiting in the wings.”
“Is this your big ‘ah-ha’ moment about Daniel?”
“I think it is,” Lucien admitted as he opened his laptop and brought up a map of Del Norte County. As he scoured the area around Coyote Wells, he realized something. “This whole place is rugged, rural, and rocky. It has thick forests, canyons, ridges, four state parks, two county parks, two major rivers, and twenty lakes. That’s a lot of square miles to cover when a couple goes missing.”
“They could have ended up driving off a cliff or into one of those bodies of water.”
“If they ended up in a canyon, it might take years to find them. The same is true if they missed a curve and drove into any number of these bodies of water. No wonder this is still an unsolved, open case. And we don’t have any data that points us to one area over another. No cell phone pings, no phone records at all.”
“Maybe bringing Daniel in on this is the right thing to do. Maybe Lyssa had a favorite make out spot she frequented. Daniel could point us in that direction.”
“Let’s head to the Vanilla Bean and ask him.”
Business was slowduring the dinner hour. Daniel waited on a handful of customers picking up take-home pints or quarts for dessert. He waited until the last person was out the door before turning to Brogan and Lucien with a face filled with anticipation. “If you’re here, you must’ve found out something.”
Brogan repeated everything Chief Bonner had relayed in his email, including who owned the Dodge Charger. “Did you have any idea she was seeing this Claypool guy?”
A sheepish look crossed Daniel’s face. “I’d be lying if I said no. Lyssa had been acting weird for a month or so. I suspected something was up. But hey, I was focusing on a lot of stuff back then—senior in high school—keeping my grades up to get into college, making sure I graduated, keeping the boss happy at work, and keeping mom and dad off my back about stuff in general. Trying to keep my girlfriend happy wasn’t my top priority. Maybe it should’ve been. I don’t know. Lyssa always seemed high maintenance. Maybe she found someone who could give her the attention she craved.”
“Where would they have been heading that night to get in some alone time?”
Daniel rubbed a hand through his hair. “I’ve thought about this over the years. We used to go out to Spirit Lake a lot for picnics, daytime, nighttime, it didn’t matter. I think that’s where she’d take this Claypool guy. It was Lyssa’s favorite place to hang out, a place where she didn’t mind skinny dipping or chanting in the moonlight. She was into tarot cards, mysticism, and anything to do with spirits. She loved listening to the local lore—everything from Bigfoot sightings to weird paranormal stuff. She believed the ghost stories about Spirit Lake were true. She believed the place was haunted. Lyssa really dug that kind of stuff.”
Lucien had brought his laptop and flipped it open to a map of Coyote Wells and its surrounding area. He leaned on the counter. “Let’s see if we can pinpoint a likely spot at Spirit Lake to get things started. Give me your top three guesses where she liked to swim and hang out.”
After fifteen minutes of searching the map, Daniel came up with three possible locations. “The thing about these spots is that you’d come in from the south using the main entrance to the lake and then veer left for the more secluded places to park.”
“Good to know. We’ll check these out for viability and get back to you.”
“Wait a sec,” Daniel began, “It sounds like you think they had an accident and ended up in the water? That would mean the car is still there in the lake somewhere.”
“It’s a theory,” Brogan stressed. “If they left town and headed to Spirit Lake, Conor could’ve been speeding, missed a turn, and ended up over a cliff on the wooded mountainside. We just don’t know for certain. But we have to start somewhere. Right now, it’s a thousand-to-one shot that you picked the right lake. With so many to choose from, I’d say the percentages aren’t exactly on our side.”
“But we take one lake at a time,” Lucien explained. “You need to realize this could take us months, maybe even years, to settle on that perfect spot where they left the roadway and ended up. They either went into the water or drove off into a canyon. It will take time and money for us to get it right.”
“Wow. All this time, I had convinced myself Lyssa had taken off with the guy and left Coyote Wells in her rearview mirror. Now, I learn she could’ve been within five miles of town this entire time.”
Brogan laid a hand on his arm. “If this is what happened, she intended to come back for the prom. It explains why she didn’t pack up her clothes or take anything with her. Maybe she just wanted to have some fun—”
“Without me,” Daniel finished. “With another guy. I get it. I’m not a complete idiot. The older guy couldn’t take her to the prom, but I could fill that role. That sounds like how Lyssa thought about things, manipulative and thinking of herself to the end. You must think I’m stupid for throwing away money trying to find someone like that?”
“No,” Brogan countered. “I think deep down you’ve known all along she was seeing someone else. Witnesses saw her willingly get into the car. That proves no one forced her to go anywhere she didn’t want to go. Now you have to admit it, face it, deal with it, and move on. Move past Lyssa, once and for all. If we ever find her, you no longer have to spend another moment thinking about what might have been unless you want to dwell on it.”
