My-Serendipity.net - Echoes in the Silence

Sitting inside the Port Huron Police Station for most of the afternoon, Beth was becoming accustomed to the blended smell of stale coffee and bad cologne. The room was cold in both temperature and personality with the metal desks and standard brown rolling chairs encompassed by marred taupe walls. Officers ventured in and out, none taking more than a quick glance at her sitting alone, hands folded and pressed between her knees.

The Captain stayed with Eric, the two of them loosely resembling Laurel and Hardy. Eric’s tall, muscled frame and youthful features stood in contrast to the shorter, thicker officer that seemed to have hair that abandoned his head to gather above his lip. Focusing on how he looked to be the real life version of every doughnut eating officer stereotype distracted Beth for a while, a delusion shattered when he washed an apple down with a bottle of water. While Eric and the Captain spoke, her eyes kept drifting to the door.

Each person that passed through brought a brief waft of fresh air and the pulse quickening hope that it would be Melissa crossing the threshold wondering what all the fuss was about. Her truck broke down. She’d lost her phone and couldn’t find a working pay phone. She tried to get a ride but no one would pick her up with Kona beside her. Beth spun a tale and clung to hope. The thought faded as soon as the breeze blew in with Tove and Hayden. The dread and worry she had been trying to fight off snapped back, flinging her into reality.

Across the room in a heartbeat, she paused just inches from Hayden’s sympathetic face, reading his eyes before throwing her arms around his neck. As his wrapped around her waist she felt the numbness ebb, allowing the panic to grow. Standing motionless, neither made a move to let go. When he finally spoke, it was so soft that she barely heard him. "I need you to not lose faith."

"I’m trying, but where is she? Why isn’t she here? I don’t understand…"

He’d asked himself those same questions a hundred times and had only answers that brought no comfort. "It’s our turn to wear her shoes this time. She’s out there somewhere and she needs us." He pulled back to look into the glistening in her eyes. "With me?" As he let his arms fall, she nodded and stepped back. Looking toward Eric, Tove, and the police Captain then back to her, they walked together in silence to get a status.

"Mr. Christensen? I’m Captain Fellowes." The two shook hands in a polite gesture, both eager to get to the business at hand. "Now that you’re here there are few things I’d like to go over. The first is your wife’s cell phone. With a signed release from you, your phone carrier can look up tower transmissions and we might be able to triangulate a location to start looking. Right now our officers are just keeping an informal eye out."

"Fire and Highway Patrol are doing the same," Eric added.

Pulling out a small bundle of papers, Capt. Fellowes slid them to Hayden who signed them without reading and slid them wordlessly back across the desk. "I don’t know how long it will take them to check, but right now it’s our best bet."

"I understand Captain."

"Ok. Next, we’d like to send her picture to local hospitals just in case." Hayden merely nodded this time. "If you have a picture of her dog we’d…"

"Kona is her partner," he sternly interrupted, all signs of passive compliance gone from his voice.

"Yes," the Captain corrected, "of course, my apologies for the generalization. To make sure we cover all of our bases, if you have a photo, I’d like to copy that and get it distributed to local animal hospitals. I assume the animal is micro chipped?"

"She is." Hayden pulled out his wallet and flipped through the pictures in thick plastic. "The phone number registered on the chip goes to the coordinator for their search team." Finding the photo of Kona and Melissa taken for the team’s yearly record, he pried it loose and put it next to the signed papers. It started to feel like a cookie cutter process and Melissa was just the name to put on the blank line, but then the regular process skewed. They all knew this part was coming.

"Before we go any further, I want you to know that we can’t guarantee the discretion of whoever receives this information. Given that you are a recognizable name, if we do all of these things, it is only a matter of time before the press gets wind of it. You could very well wake up tomorrow morning with a story staring back at you," the Captain warned. "Do you have a PR person?"

"Um…Adam, but he’s not…"

"Adam Geraud is working for Lucas Film," Tove interrupted, putting his hand on his brothers sagging shoulder. "He will be back in California by morning. He is aware of the events up to earlier this evening and will be available *IF* we need him."

Taking the papers and pictures with him, Captain Fellowes left to get things started leaving the four alone for the first time.

"I didn’t get a chance to say this yet, but thank you." The sincerity in Hayden’s voice over shadowed the worry.

"Hey, it’s good to have you back man." Eric hobbled over for a quick guy hug. "We’ll find her. Back at it at first light..."

Night had swallowed the sun and with nothing left to do but sit at the police station, they drove to a nearby hotel and hoped sleep would speed up the new day. Hayden spent more time than he wanted in hotels. From the bland striped wallpaper and flowered bedspread, to the generic pictures of flowers in frames screwed into the wall, he never got over how impersonal they were. Tossing his backpack on the bed closest to the window, he unzipped the small front compartment and pulled out a picture, studying it as he sat it down on the nightstand.

Taking a seat next to him, Tove picked it up again. "I’ve always loved this picture of the two of you. This is at Disneyland, right?"

"Yeah, our first real date." The memory of the day always made him smile. "I had kissed her for the first time just 8 hours before this was taken. By the time we left the park that night I wanted nothing more than to stay with her. She got us each one and I promised to always keep it with me."

"She had hers at Mom and Dad’s," Tove grinned. "That must have been one hell of a first date."

"It was perfect," he sighed quietly. "She gave me her heart."

"So, do you two make an annual pilgrimage through ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’?"

"No…we haven’t been back since. I always thought there would be time…" Taking the picture from his brother’s hand he ran his fingers over the smooth mahogany frame. "As soon as we’re home together, I think I’ll surprise her though. She’s weak in the presence of Churro’s."

Tove squeezed his brother’s shoulder as he stood up. "Good idea. Why don’t you try and sleep. Tomorrow’s a new day."

Pulling a chair over to the window, he propped his feet up on the sill and looked out at the stars. His mind spun with thoughts too dreadful to survive in the daylight. It was a parade of the worst case scenarios from movies and books that the dark recesses of your mind pulled out to toy with you while the sky was dark. Just as he would doze off, those demons would jar him awake again. It was a battle of wills and he was going to win. Still holding the picture in his hands he stared into it not needing light. He knew every inch by heart. "I know you’re ok," he whispered. "I promise to be waiting in your dreams." With one hand holding the picture, the other over his heart, he focused on the beating and drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~

Waking to a morning with no missed calls, the sinking feeling grew once again in the pit of Hayden’s stomach. She knew he worried. She knew to call. Trying to remain optimistic was getting more difficult.

It was a weary, but motivated group that left the hotel after grabbing some toast from the complimentary breakfast buffet. Eric was limping along on his still out of commission limb. The full leg cast had been reduced to a walking boot just two days before causing the faded pain of healing bones to return. Frustrated by his inability to drive or even walk without crutches, the sidelined firefighter was more aggravated than Hayden ever remembered seeing him.

Tove had picked up a newspaper and was flipping through it reading only the headlines. No stories about Melissa, at least not yet.

Hayden had his face buried in a road map looking at the possible paths toward home, contemplating which one Melissa would choose. Nearly at a consensus, he felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Stopping in the middle of the parking lot he scanned for snipers and found a familiar face.

"Jason?" he called. "Is that you?" It was more of a courtesy than a question. The camera hanging from his neck kind of gave him away. With a shrug of his shoulders, the tall, lean young man walked toward the group. His skin was southern California tan, every detail of his face and body were perfectly formed making him look more like a model than a photographer. Normally he walked with confidence, but not today.

"Were tailing me or Melissa?" Hayden’s tone was nice but directed. After all, standing before him was a possible lead.

"You." So much for that idea. "I got a call that you landed in Toronto and then boarded a plane to here. I was already nearby visiting school friends, so the agency sent me to see if, well…I figured if I got a few shots of you doing nothing they’d forget about it and not send out anyone else."

Hayden knew three things about Jason besides his name. He hated working for the paparazzi mafia, a picture of the beach at sunset that he had taken was hanging in the music room at home and, most importantly, Melissa liked him. "Well, I’d introduce you, but you know everyone already so, everyone, this is Jason." Beth remembered him, but Tove and Eric were cautious and not at all sure why Hayden was being nice. "Listen, it’s ok. I know you have a job to do."

"Only ever enough to pay the bills," Jason sighed.

"Melissa told me that she always trusted you. Was she right to or are you handing me a line?"

"No line…Mrs. Christensen is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. When celebrities are rude, taking pictures of them is easier because you don’t like them and you can separate yourself. It’s not like that with her. Do you know that she knows everyone’s name and that every single time she sees me, she asks me how my real photography work is going? Of all the people she meets, she remembers me. I hate this job the most when it deals with people like you and her. They told me what kind of car you rented so I just drove around until I found it. It’s not like it’s a big town or anything. That’s it. I swear."

"Go get your car. I’ll wait." The young man looked confused, but jogged off the opposite direction while digging his keys from his pocket.

"Umm…" was all Eric could force out after Jason was far enough away.

"The Captain was right last night. When we find her today, the press will have it. If it has to be a media event, at least the one photographer she trusts will be here."

"The press might already have it if the picture went out to the hospitals," Tove added gently, trying to think of what he’d do tonight if they didn’t find her the way Hayden hoped they would. "We can’t keep them away if it has, we’ll need Adam."

"I know, but until then, I need to do what she’s always asking me to work on…listening to my gut. I’m going to trust him to do the right thing not because I want to, but because she would."

Tove and Eric exchanged skeptical looks, but Beth took Hayden’s hand and squeezed it. "She’ll love that you did this," she smiled just as a beat up compact pulled up behind them.

"I’ll ride with Jason and fill him in. We’ll follow you."

~*~*~*~*~

Arriving at Police Headquarters, the trio met up with Hayden and noticed the lack of color in Jason’s face as he remained seated in the car.

"What’s the verdict?" Eric asked as they walked toward the entrance.

"He’s upset but will do everything he can to keep them away. I told him not to jeopardize his job. Only he can find the balance that works for him."

The shift commander met them as they entered the station to give them an update which consisted of having sent out the pictures to all the local hospitals, both people and animal. The night shifts had reported seeing nothing out of the ordinary, so they found themselves in the same spot they were in the day before. Eric called his parents while Tove did the same.

"I can’t sit here and do nothing all day," Hayden told Beth. "Let’s go drive the routes ourselves. I need to be out there."

Leaving their contact information with the shift commander once the parents were brought up to date, they checked the maps one more time, opting for I-96. It wasn’t the most direct route, but it went through Detroit and they hoped she would have taken a more populated route since she was alone. Driving along with eyes on both sides of the road, they looked for anything that stood out. They made it all the way to the industrial city before turning around to go back having seen nothing of interest just as the Highway Patrol had reported.

George called Hayden during the drive back, not wanting to bother him, but concerned enough to call anyway. "It goes without saying, I hope, that we’re here for you. Whatever you need, whatever we can do, consider it done." The sympathy in the older mans voice went right to Hayden’s core. Thank you didn’t seem like enough but it was the best he had.

Back in Port Huron they checked with the police, who had nothing other than word from the cellular carrier that they had received the request and were processing it. Stepping outside, Hayden hit the speed dial only to have Melissa’s phone now go immediately to voicemail. At least he could still hear her voice.

He didn’t know how long he’d been out there or even really what time it was, but the sunshine felt good on his skin and the air was clear and fresh. The world seemed peaceful and he absorbed as much as he could. He could even block out the frequent swinging of the doors until the time it delivered Tove.

"Hey, they have a location from the phone company. We were on the wrong freeway."

Part of the station buzzed into action with a police cruiser pulling up with the Fire Chief’s large red SUV. Eric headed for the SUV and took the front seat for no other reason than leg room. Beth, Tove, and Hayden followed, climbing into the rear seats. With lights and sirens blaring, they raced down I-69…hopefully toward Melissa.