Final Assignment: A Promise Falls Novella Read Free Page A

said they hadn’t.’
    That was probably the call she’d taken while I was there.
    ‘Does Mike have a girlfriend?’ I asked.
    ‘Who can keep track?’ Elliot said, with what almost sounded like a touch of envy. ‘Every week it’s someone different. The last one I remember was Kate or Karen or something.’
    ‘So he’s popular,’ I said.
    ‘He’s a good-looking kid,’ his father said.
    ‘I can understand your reluctance to call in the police,’ I said to him, ‘but I think it’s time.’
    ‘I told you so,’ Suzanne said.
    ‘You can’t help us?’ Elliot asked.
    I was thinking, but did not say, that if Mike had been in some kind of accident, the police might already know about it. But if he didn’t have sufficient ID on him, or if it was missing, they might be struggling with who he was.
    ‘I’m just one person, and I’m happy to help. But the police will put the word out to everyone they’ve got out there. They’ve got a much better chance of finding him than I do, and in a lot less time.’
    Elliot nodded resignedly. ‘Okay, I’ll make the call.’
    As he walked over to a landline phone on a narrow table that ran along the back of the sofa, Suzanne looked at me wearily.
    ‘The trouble that boys can get into,’ she said, and then looked at me apologetically. ‘I’m sorry. You know better than anyone.’
    I’d lost my son Scott shortly before Donna had passed away.
    ‘Yes,’ I said.
    ‘Hello, police?’ Elliot said. ‘I want to report a missing person. Our son. We haven’t seen him since last night.’
    I was still standing by the front door, and my eye caught some movement outside. I turned my head and looked through the glass to see a police car pulling up to the curb.
    ‘His name,’ said Elliot, ‘is Michael Vaughn. He has brown hair and he’s about five feet, six inches—’
    ‘Hang on,’ I said to Elliot as a uniformed cop got out of the car and started making his way toward the house.

Three
    ‘Oh dear,’ Suzanne said.
    ‘What is it?’ Elliot said, still holding the phone to his ear. When he saw the cop at the door, he placed the phone back into its cradle. ‘Shit,’ he said.
    I was closest to the door, so I opened it. ‘Hey,’ I said.
    ‘Where’s Michael?’ Suzanne asked the police officer. ‘Do you have Michael?’
    The cop was stone-faced. He was late twenties, and I did not recognize him. He would have joined the Promise Falls police some time after I’d left it and moved to Griffon.
    ‘Mr and Mrs Vaughn?’ he asked. He was glancing at all three of us. He wouldn’t have much trouble figuring out who Mrs Vaughn was, but with me standing there, Mr Vaughn was up for grabs.
    ‘Yes, yes,’ Suzanne said, then put a hand on Elliot’s arm. ‘This is my husband. What’s happened? Is this about Michael?’
    ‘I was just calling the police,’ Elliot said. ‘Our son—’
    ‘There’s been an incident,’ the officer said. ‘Michael Vaughn is your son?’
    ‘Oh God,’ Suzanne said.
    ‘What’s he done?’ Elliot asked. ‘Has he done something?’
    He was obviously hoping so. Right now, the idea that his son had caused some trouble beat many of the possible other explanations for the police being here.
    ‘Not that we know of,’ said the cop, who was wearing a name tag that read
Osterman
. ‘This is a very difficult thing to have to tell you. Someone going for a jog in the woods near Clampett Park found a body a short while ago, and—’
    Suzanne started to wilt. Elliot moved to catch her before she hit the floor. He guided her into a nearby living room chair.
    Osterman waited until she was safely seated before he continued. ‘This jogger phoned the police and we went to the scene, and based on identification found on the body, well, we were led here.’
    Between sobs Suzanne was saying, ‘No, please no, not my baby, not my baby.’
    Elliot said, ‘Someone could have stolen his wallet. It might not be him.’
    The cop nodded. ‘That’s true, but