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It was open. A young girl of eleven or twelve wearing earbuds attached to an iPod was sitting on a canvas chair facing the lake. Amanda didn’t see an adult.
Amanda walked around her with Loki, giving a wide berth so as to not startle the girl. She gave a small wave.
The girl didn’t react much to Amanda and Loki, but she yelled out, “Mom! There are people out here!”
Amanda jumped at the unexpected announcement, but quick to recover.
“Oh good, your mom’s here.”
A woman showed up at the open door of the Airstream.
“Is there something you want?” she demanded, her wary eyes flicked from Gene to Amanda.
“Hi, we just talked to your neighbors at slot 20, Cary and Lucas,” Gene said, getting straight to the point. “I’m Gene and this is Amanda. We’re looking for a missing girl. Maybe you might have seen her around?”
“Missing girl?”
The woman frowned, but relaxed a bit. She stepped off from the Airstream and went to stand next to her daughter.
“Yes. We’re sorry to just walk up to your door like this,” Amanda said.
“No, that’s all right. I’m sorry for being rude. We just had some weird things happening around here. It’s had me a bit on edge.”
“That’s what Cary told us. We want to ask you about that. Maybe it’s related to the girl we’re looking for,” Amanda said. “She was last seen not far from here. We’re hoping someone might have run into her.”
“What are we talking about here? A little girl, teenager, an adult?”
“Teenager. Here.” Amanda quickly produced the sketch. “She has blonde hair, brown eyes, around five-five.”
The woman frowned at her. “You don’t have an actual picture?”
“We’re not really sure who she is,” Amanda answered.
“Then why are you looking for her?” the woman questioned.
Amanda sighed, thinking of the best way to explain the situation.
“We think she might be in trouble or running from a dangerous situation,” Gene said. “Amanda here saw her briefly but wasn’t able to get more information before the girl disappeared.”
It was stretching the story a bit, but Amanda thought it sounded better than I almost hit her with my car and she vanished into thin air.
“Cary told us they had a few things missing, a blanket and a towel. And you’ve lost some groceries,” Amanda said. “Did you figure out whether you just forgot them at the store or did they go missing?”
“No, I didn’t forget them, I’m sure,” the mom said. “We had a few other bags to haul in, and I asked Stella to get the rest.” The mom gestured to her daughter. “But one was definitely missing.”
Both Gene and Amanda looked at the girl.
“Did you see anyone when you took the groceries in, Stella?” Gene asked.
The girl shook her head but couldn’t meet either of their eyes. Young girls weren’t exactly great at eye contact, but there was that feeling again, nudging Amanda.
“Stella,” she said gently, showing Stella the sketch. “Have you seen this girl?”
Stella looked at the sketch for a second before averting her eyes to her mother.
“What is it, honey?” the mother asked.
“I’m sorry,” the little girl blurted out.
