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Jon walked beside her, and he pushed stray branches out of the way along the narrow path to the small cabin where she’d spent many idyllic days as a child. The scents of the island—pine, moss, and dead leaves—stirred her trepidation. Some of her earlier memories were anchored on this island.
The path opened in front of them, and the cabin came into view. Roses flanked the path here, and their sweet fragrance nauseated her. Someone had attacked her the last time she’d been on the island, and she was thankful for Jon’s steadfastpresence. The green metal roof gleamed in the sunlight, and the freshly stained cedar logs gave the cabin an updated feel. She glanced around but didn’t see Sarah. Maybe she was inside.
Jon squeezed her fingers, then released her to step to the door. He rapped his knuckles on it. “Sarah?”
No answer. He peered in the window before trying the knob. “I don’t think she’s inside.”
“Should we find her first?” Annie would rather have had a chance to inspect the cabin by themselves, but Jon had a point about the two of them being able to bounce memories off one another. “There’s a pond out back between here and Superior’s shore. Maybe she’s sitting out there.” She and Jon walked around the side of the cabin into the back, and she spotted the path. “The pond is this way.”
Her pulse throbbed in her throat. This was harder than she’d thought it would be. Any minute she expected to see her smiling mother or her dad come striding up from the big lake. Mom used to lie out in her one-piece blue suit on the tiny beach that opened up this way. And Dad would usually catch walleye for dinner. She would beg to help clean it, and he’d cook it over the charcoal grill in the picnic area he’d constructed by the pond. That area was gone now, lost to the ravages of storms and weather.
Jon took her hand when she didn’t move. “Want me to go look for her?”
Annie shook her head. “I can go too. Just remembering.” She cleared her scratchy throat and forced her feet to move along the pebble path. The shrubs were trimmed and neat instead of spilling across the path the way they’d been so many years ago. Everywhere she looked she found evidence of Max’s care for the property. There was a new tire swing along the waytoo. She and Sarah had spent many hours in one during their childhood.
The sound of a dog’s happy bark carried over the squawks of the gulls overhead, and she spotted a golden retriever leaping into the air to catch a Frisbee. The bright-orange disc looked like one she and Sarah had when they were little. The same one?
The rest of the red dye in Sarah’s hair had faded, leaving only the blonde shade matching Annie’s. Sarah’s happy, carefree expression caught Annie’s attention. The island had been good for her. Or maybe it was the dog.
The golden saw them first. It gave an excited bark and, tail wagging, ran toward them. Sarah’s relaxed posture changed, and her smile dropped off. She came toward them but said nothing, as if she was waiting for Annie to explain their presence.
Annie knelt and petted the beautiful dog. “Did Max get you a dog?”
“No, I found him. He belongs to a woman who was injured out here. Max didn’t know about the dog when he had his caretaker take her to the hospital. Scout will have to go back to her tomorrow. I wish I could keep him.” Sarah looked down and clenched her hands together.
With a final pat Annie rose and put her hands in her pockets. “Um, Anu told me you wanted to talk about the night you were abducted. I don’t remember much about that week, and I thought we might walk through the property and the cabin together. Maybe we will remember something.”
“You think it’s a crazy idea, don’t you? That someone planned to take one of us all along—that it wasn’t an impulsive decision.”
“I hadn’t thought about it, but after Anu told me about your theory, I realized there were a lot of unanswered questionsabout that night. I wish we’d had the opportunity to ask Sean about it.”
“Sean?”
“He was related to Becky, right? Maybe she said something to him about how it happened. He knew you were Sarah Vitanen.”
“Yes, he did.”
“And now the family is gone.”
“Not everyone. I heard Sean has an uncle who is still alive. He has Alzheimer’s, but we—I mean, you—might catch him on a good day.”
Annie hadn’t remembered the man. “What was his name?”
“Mort Jones.”
“Not Johnson?”
“Anu said he changed his name after a big blowup in the family.”
Which would be why they hadn’t realized he existed. Annie started to text Mason before she remembered there was no service out here. “Ready to take a walk through the place?”
Sarah swallowed hard. “If you say so.”
Annie hadn’t stopped to think about how hard this all was for Sarah. Her life had changed even more than Annie’s that night. New compassion for her sister began to stir in her heart. Maybe she could figure out a way to forgive her.
Eighteen
Sarah’s heart rate still hadn’t resumed its calm rhythm at the sight of her sister. She hadn’t expected Anu’s intervention to result in Annie’s sudden appearance. And she’d been so calm and nonconfrontational.
