Chapter 1
The house, which had most likely been loved and cared for by the family who’d lived there at one time, had been abandoned long ago. While the structure was shabby and faded, there was evidence that children had once played in the overgrown yard. A bicycle leaned against the peeling siding, a rope swing hung from a large tree, and a little pink bucket, faded from the sun, laid at the foot of a large shrub, which had been left to spread out unattended. I felt a moment of sympathy for the neglected home with its shuttered windows, cracked walkway, and lawn ravaged by weeds. According to the story I’d been told the previous evening, the family who’d been living in the two-story home with gingerbread trim had disappeared without a trace.
Without a trace. I rolled the concept around in my mind. How exactly does one disappear without a trace? The man, woman, and four children who’d once lived in the now dilapidated house had to be somewhere. Unless, of course, the family was dead and buried in an out-of-the-way place, which was an option too gruesome to consider, although, in the case of this particular family, it seemed as good an explanation as any. When my new friend, Parker Peterson, had told me the story of the missing family over dinner last night, I’d been intrigued, but as I stared at the little pink bucket and tried to imagine the child who’d once played with it, all I could feel was deep and penetrating sorrow.
“Ainsley, what are you doing all the way over on this side of town?”
I turned and looked at the dark-haired woman who’d walked up behind me. “Hope.” I smiled at Hope Masterson, the owner of the local inn who’d started off as a landlord but had become a friend. “I didn’t hear you approach.”
“I was in the area visiting a friend who’s been ill and was on my way back to the inn. I saw you standing here staring at the old Hamish place, so I thought I’d come over and say hi. You look sad. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I was just wondering about the family who once lived here.”
“So, you’ve heard the story?”
I nodded. “Parker was hanging out at Josie and Jemma’s place last night, and she filled me in. I guess I was curious, so I decided to stop by.” I gazed at the boarded up front door beyond the rotting front porch.
“The story of the Hamish family is quite the mystery,” Hope responded. “The fact that the family was clearly preparing to sit down to dinner when they disappeared makes it even creepier in my mind. I guess Parker told you that the Thanksgiving turkey was still sitting on the kitchen counter waiting to be carved when the neighbor stopped by the following day.”
I nodded. “Parker mentioned that fact and said it looked as if the family had just vanished into thin air. None of the neighbors claimed to have seen or heard a thing. There hadn’t been any sign of forced entry or a struggle, and the family’s personal possessions, including the family car, were left behind.”
“It is a very odd mystery,” Hope agreed. “And it’s so disturbing. I don’t know everything that happened, but I remember Parker diving into the deep end with that story. She was just getting started as a journalist, and I guess she realized that such an interesting story could provide her with her big break. She was frantic to solve the mystery and figure out what exactly happened to the Hamish family, but, like the cops, she never could figure it out.”
“I think she intends to try again.”
Hope raised a brow. “Really? After all this time? Does she have a new lead?”
“I don’t think so. I think she just hopes that if she looks at the same leads that she had back then, they might make more sense after five years.”
Hope leaned a hip against the short fence that bordered the front of the home. She paused as if taking a moment to organize her thoughts before she spoke. “I remember there were a lot of theories floating around at the time, which I suppose was natural since no one had any answers, and everyone was scared there was a serial killer in town and their family might be next to go missing. There were a few good theories put out there that could never be proven, but the reality is that most of the stories being circulated were nonsense.”
“Such as?” I asked.
“I suppose the out of the box theory that gained the most attention five years ago was the alien abduction theory. Apparently, a handful of people had seen bright lights in the sky that night, and once word of the lights got out, there was a group who insisted that aliens had visited us. Of course, I didn’t believe it for a minute, but I suppose that an alien abduction is about as believable as the claim that the mob abducted the family.”
“Abducted by the mob? What mob?”
Hope shrugged. “I don’t think anyone had a specific mob in mind. A family who disappears as they’re getting ready to sit down for a meal just felt like a mob sort of thing to a lot of people.”
“Yeah, I guess it does at that. What do you think happened?”
She glanced toward the house and then answered. “I really have no idea. I hope the family left of their own free will, but if they had, why not take a few things with them?”
“An abduction does make sense,” I agreed. “Although I can also imagine a scenario where a family in hiding finds out that the person or persons who seek to harm them have found them and are on their way to the house, and the family leaves without even stopping to grab their personal possessions.”
“Of course, if that had occurred, it seems as if the people who were after them would have shown up shortly after their departure only to find the house empty.”
“That’s true. If there had been someone after the family, they wouldn’t have just knocked on the door and then left when no one answered. They would have broken in and taken a look around.”
“Exactly. And if that would have occurred, it seems that someone, a neighbor perhaps, would have noticed that someone other than the family who lived in the house was on the property and called the police. Although…” Hope paused before continuing. “If you stop to think about it, a family on the run from an unknown threat is a good theory if you consider this specific town. Gooseberry Bay really is the perfect town to settle in if you want to get lost. Not only are we a small, close-knit community, but based on the geography created by the bays and inlets in the area, we’re pretty isolated as well.”
I pulled my sweater tighter across my body as a gust of wind blew through the neighborhood, sending the leaves that had littered the yards and streets flying. “That’s a good point as well. I noticed that once you turn off the main road at the bridge, it’s still another thirty miles south to town, and once the road reaches the town, it ends. It’s not like you deal with a lot of folks just passing through on their way to somewhere else.”
“Exactly,” Hope agreed, tucking a stray lock of her dark hair behind her ear. “Which is why your theory of a family on the run seems to have merit. I think if you look hard enough, you’ll find quite a few locals who seem to be harboring a secret.”
I paused to think about that. I had to wonder if the woman I’d come here to find had been harboring a secret, which, like the secret I suspected the Hamish family had kept, had also caused her to run.