Before He Finds Her Read Free Page A

trailer forever, could she? If she were to die of natural causes at the age of ninety-five, having never seen or done a single thing, what kind of victory would that be?
    Many of Melanie’s high school classmates were bound for West Virginia University. They wore Mountaineer T-shirts and talked about how “we” were doing in various sports, as if they were already gone. Melanie made one weak attempt to convince her aunt and uncle that being one of 25,000 students would make her inconspicuous. She let herself fantasize a little about living in a dorm, going to football games, meeting boys. Making friends.
    That TV show Friends had been on her whole life, it seemed, and she was always amazed by the smugness with which those six New Yorkers lazed in a coffee shop and took their banter-filled friendships and their freedom totally for granted. She let herself wonder if maybe college would be like that.
    But college to her aunt and uncle meant student directories, ID cards, a wide-open campus where anyone could find her, follow her, do terrible things. In the end, they compromised. She could attend—part time—Mountain Community College, twenty miles up the road. She’d live at home and take a course or two at a time. Wayne would find her a used car and teach her to drive it. To help pay her way, she’d look for part-time work somewhere in Fredonia.
    She accepted their best and only offer. If she couldn’t be a Mountaineer, then she would be a Fighting Soybean.
    “I don’t understand your sudden interest in journalism, anyway,” Wayne said, pulling himself away from the window. He uncapped a can of Folgers and spooned heaping tablespoons of grounds into the filter. He poured water into the machine and turned it on.
    “It isn’t sudden,” she said. “I just think it’s interesting.”
    “Well, sure it’s interesting —but I still say it’s a risk.”
    “Oh, everything’s a risk, Uncle Wayne.” She was suddenly queasy from the smell.
    “That’s right,” Kendra said. “Everything is.” She came over to Melanie and took her hand. “Baby, what’s going on?”
    “See? Exactly—I’m not a baby. And you both still think I am.”
    “You could never become a journalist,” her uncle said. “You know that, right? Not until he’s caught.”
    “He’ll never get caught, and you know it.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
    “ Melanie. ” Kendra could always convey sympathy and admonishment in a single word.
    “I’m sorry, Uncle Wayne.” Melanie sighed. “It’s just that I’m an adult. If I want to take a risk, it’s really my decision.” But that sounded ungrateful. “Come on, it isn’t that big a risk when you think about it. And anyway, Ramsey Miller could be in Antarctica right now. He could be dead.”
    “He isn’t dead, Mel.”
    “Yeah, but he could be.”
    Uncle Wayne shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
    She was about to keep arguing over her father’s hypothetical demise, ask how Wayne could be so positive he was still a threat, when suddenly her neck hairs tingled and she had her answer. She was sure of it.
    There was a new letter. One that actually said something.
    But she couldn’t ask about it, since she wasn’t supposed to know about the letters in the first place. And worst of all, as of about a year ago, Wayne no longer kept them in his desk.
    The dripping coffee smelled so rancid that Melanie wanted to flee the house for air—except even the trees smelled sour to her these days. Feeling less confident, she said, “It’s just a stupid college newspaper that probably nobody ever reads anyway. I don’t see why you have to freak out.” But she knew it was easy for her to talk a big game about taking risks when she had others devoting their own lives to her survival.
    Her aunt and uncle glanced at each other. “Honey,” Wayne said gently, “I love you dearly. But if you honestly think we’re just freaking out for the heck of it, it only