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As it floated to the ground, it joined half a dozen others like it. They slid across the dirty backstreet with a gruff tearing sound. Each of the faces was different. One was black with big eyes, another an Asian with a cute button nose, and a Latina with a small heart-shaped face.
None of the girls had anything in common… except for the fact they’d all gone missing in this town.
But what did I expect? It was what happened in modern towns. People went missing from time to time. That was nothing unusual.
And then I looked up. My blood turned cold.
Dozens of curled posters flapped on the wall. Maybe hundreds. Each one, a missing woman.
Their friends and families would be out there somewhere, searching for them, worried about them.
The wind ruffled the pages once more and a pair of concealed eyes winked at me.
With my heart in my throat, I reached for the poster on top, revealing another one underneath it. And beneath that, another sheet of paper…
And another…
And another…
Every square inch of the wall was half a dozen layers deep with posters of missing women, each with a reward underneath for any information on their whereabouts. They went back in time, the paper growing darker, crisper, and the images faded and forgotten like distant memories. None had dates on them, but it wasn’t hard to imagine just how far back these missing women went.
Hazel groaned as she stood up.
“That’s it,” she said. “I think I’m empty. Man, I’m really never going to drink another drop of alcohol for the rest of my life.”
“Excuse me,” a voice said. “Are you coming back inside?”
It was the guy Hazel had been kissing earlier, no doubt hoping for Round Two.
“How dare you!” Hazel said sternly, wiggling her beringed finger in his face. “I am engaged to be married! I can’t be seen cavorting with ne’er-do-wells!”
The guy nodded, a little disappointed, and headed back inside.
I shared a look with Hazel. We burst into laughter.
“He looked terrified!” Hazel said.
“He’s probably keeping an eye out for Tom,” I said. “Ten points for the use of the word ‘cavorting,’ by the way.”
“It was one of my better moments, I thought,” Hazel said triumphantly.
She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For being a great friend.”
She smiled at me and I smiled back. Then I wrinkled my nose and pulled back.
“What?” she said.
“Go inside and get cleaned up,” I said. “You smell worse than a monkey’s ass.”
Hazel led the way. I couldn’t help but glance back at that wall. I felt like their eyes were following me.
We joined the others at the minivan and hit the road. I had to turn back and return to the hotel twice—the girls having put something in the wardrobes and drawers too important to leave behind. After the second time, I went through all the rooms myself and made sure nothing had been left behind.
To my complete lack of surprise, they had forgotten a bunch of stuff.
