Page 69 of Property of Quake

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

Stella comes bounding out of the trees, frantic, agitated.

Whitney drops to her knees, wrapping her arms around the dog. “Oh, Stella, where is she? Where’s Melissa?”

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

I kneel beside them and notice the beagle has on a collar I’ve never seen before. Tucked in it, against Stella’s neck, is a folded piece of paper. I reach for it, my hand trembling.

I unfold the note, and Whitney is crying before I even finish reading. I don't blame her. The message is short, simple, and the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.

If you want to see Melissa again, stop looking for me.

- Carrie

20

WHITNEY

After finding Stella, and the search at the carnival is called off, the first thing I notice is how completely my world fractures. Not with chaos or screaming, but with the terrible realization that while my life has stopped, everything around me continues as if nothing has changed. The carnival returned to his former status: music, children laughing, people playing games and riding rides. Life keeps moving when all I want to do is demand it stop.

My gaze remains fixed on the note. Quake handed it to me when he deposited me under one of the food tents at a table so he could handle a few things. The paper is so small, yet its message is devastating.

If you want to see Melissa again, stop looking for me. - Carrie

A sob lodges in my throat. The name alone makes my stomach twist. For weeks, I’ve worried about what she would do. I worried about predators hiding in plain sight and girls being trafficked. But never once did I imagine Carrie would show up at a community event where hundreds of people were around as witnesses and take Melissa.

When Quake calls my name, I can barely respond. Panic grips my throat every time I try to speak. Melissa's smile, her butterfly face paint, and the sound of her laughter replay endlessly in my mind. One moment she was here, and the next she was gone.

Quake kneels in front of me, his hands settling firmly on my shoulders. Beneath his anger, I see the same fear, guilt, and helplessness tearing through me.

"Look at me," he says commands. When I finally do, he promises, "We're going to find her."

His certainty should comfort me, but instead it makes the truth impossible to deny. This isn't a misunderstanding or a child who wandered away. Someone planned this. Someone waited until Sacred Haven's biggest day and stole a little girl from the middle of a crowd. The realization crushes me, and when Quake pulls me into his arms, I stop trying to be strong and focus only on breathing.

“Look,” he commands again, nodding toward the crowd.

The fundraiser has begun to die down, and the police have arrived. True to his word, Quake called them as soon as we found the note. We’re doing this by the book… for the most part. I’m not stupid, I know the club is doing their own thing on the side.

And I’m damn grateful they are because I want Melissa home, with us, where she belongs, no matter how that happens.

“Have they found anything?” I ask numbly as Quake stays by my side.

Romeo joins us with his laptop and turns the screen to face me. I know he’s trying to keep me in the loop, but it’s not helping.

“Not yet.”

“What about Carrie’s car?”

“The blue sedan?” Romeo asks.

I shake my head. “No, um…” I rub my temples. “She was in a black SUV the last few times she came to see Melissa.”

Romeo immediately begins digging into registration records.

As I continue thinking, another memory emerges. “Carrie was always talking about wanting a fresh start. She constantly complained about paperwork, supervisors, and regulations. She joked about getting away from it all, though at the time it sounded like harmless venting.”

"Did she ever say where?" Romeo asks.