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Mary shook her head. “Michelle didn’t know who to ask for help. She examined it but never found anything.”
“The tracker could have been on her phone too.”
“I guess that’s true. She felt like the car was a chain around her neck. Brandon gave her plenty of things but never the love and acceptance she wanted.”
Annie remembered Brandon’s comment about Michelle liking to shop. “Did she spend a lot of money?”
Mary huffed and shook her head again. “She despised spending any of his money. She only spent the money she earned working at the coffee shop. Brandon hated her being a barista. He thought it reflected poorly on him that his wife was working a menial job, but Michelle loved it. She was attending classes at Marquette University part time and was working two days a week.”
“Where did she work?”
“Front Street Brew.”
Annie had been to the coffee shop a few times. Had she ever met Michelle? “Do you have a picture of her?”
Mary dug in the pocket of her red capris and pulled out her phone. “Sure.” She swiped through her pictures and turned her phone around to show Annie. “This was the last time I saw her.”
Annie studied the smiling young woman in the selfie with Mary. She resembled her mom with the same warm brown eyes. Her brown hair lay in a smooth curtain on her shoulders. “She’s beautiful.”
“Inside and out.”
“Would you send me that picture? And did she happen to send you a picture of the injury?”
Mary nodded. “I’ll send that one too. What’s your number?”
Annie rattled it off, and Mary texted over the pictures. Annie heard them arrive. “What about other enemies? Did she have any conflict with people at work or school?”
Mary’s brow wrinkled as she thought. “There was a guy at school who had a crush on her. Michelle laughed it off, but I was never sure it was as innocent as Michelle thought. The guy was always showing up places, like maybe he’d been following her. I didn’t like it.”
“What was his name?”
“Chad Smith. I have a picture Michelle sent me from a school outing to the forest.” Mary scrolled through her pics again. “This is Chad.”
In his midtwenties, the man wore a camo jacket and stood next to Michelle with his arm extended for the selfie. His thatch of brown hair was unruly and in need of a trim.
“I’ll send this to you too,” Mary said. “Oh, and her best friend was a neighbor—Brayonna Day.”
Annie handed over her card. “Thanks, we’ve spoken with Brayonna. She said Michelle never called after she didn’t show up to lunch a year ago. Do you know why she didn’t contact her best friend?”
“The shelter told her she’d be putting people in danger. IfBrandon came after them to try to get them to spill her whereabouts, he might hurt them.”
“But she told you.”
“She didn’t. Just that she was in a shelter and safe. I didn’t know where.”
That made sense. “Please call if you think of anything else. I’ll let you know if we find any more information about your daughter.”
The last photo arrived on her phone. She forwarded all the photos to Mason with a short description of what she’d learned. Annie didn’t like the proprietorial expression in Chad’s sidelong gaze at Michelle. He was someone to check out.
Eleven
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was one the U.P.’s wonders, but Lake Superior was never to be trusted. Kayaking in its frigid waters always required being alert and prepared. The tour company Jon had booked would provide whistles, spray skirts, and flotation devices, but he had packed wet suits just in case as well as bottles of water for all of them.
The tandem sea kayaks meant one of them would need to travel with another kayaker, so he volunteered to be odd man out so Kylie could be with her mother. He was paired with a woman in her sixties, and he suspected he’d be the one doing most of the work so he had her sit in the bow. As they started off, he discovered she was a surprisingly strong paddler.
The sun shimmered on the blue water, and clouds drifted overhead. God had provided perfect weather. Jon tried to paddle close enough to Annie and Kylie to be able to converse with them. With Kylie in the bow, Annie did most of the work since the little girl was busy taking pictures of birds and the amazing scenery of Pictured Rocks.
Sweat beaded his forehead from the warm sun on his wet suit, and he began to rethink the decision to wear them. The scent of the water made him wish he could plunge into the cold depths.Kylie leaned over the kayak and splashed her head. She shook her wet hair like a dog, and he laughed, so she did it again.
