From a Single Seed: A Novel Read online

  From a Single Seed

  Teri Ames

  Copyright 2016 by Teri Ames. All rights reserved. Published by Catamount Publishing, Middlebury, Vermont.

  Cover design by Kit Foster Design

  Cover Photographs Copyright ver0nicka / AntonioGuillemF

  First edition

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental

  Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9972484-2-5

  Table of Contents

  Part I

  ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ 10 ~ 11 ~ 12 ~ 13 ~ 14 ~ 15 ~ 16 ~ 17 ~ 18 ~ 19 ~ 20 ~ 21 ~ 22 ~ 23 ~ 24 ~ 25 ~ 26 ~ 27 ~ 28 ~

  Part II

  ~ 29 ~ 30 ~ 31 ~ 32 ~ 33 ~ 34 ~ 35 ~ 36 ~ 37 ~ 38 ~ 39 ~ 40 ~ 41 ~ 42 ~ 43 ~ 44 ~ 45 ~ 46 ~ 47 ~ 48 ~ 49 ~ 50 ~ 51 ~ 52 ~ 53 ~ 54 ~ 55 ~ 56 ~ 57 ~ 58 ~ 59 ~ 60 ~ 61 ~ 62 ~

  Part III

  ~ 63 ~ 64 ~ 65 ~ 66 ~ 67 ~ 68 ~ 69 ~ 70 ~ 71 ~ 72 ~

  ~ Author's Note ~ Acknowledgements ~ Dedication ~Copyright ~ Before You Go ~

  Part I

  Searching for Shannon

  Chapter 1

  Sunday, December 22, 2013

  HE HOPED this phone call would be the end of it. It had taken Dustin an entire day to track down the hockey player. An entire day when he should have been getting Christmas presents for his kids. Or at least doing real police work. Instead, some prima donna college student decides to go off with her boyfriend, and he gets stuck trying to find her. All day working the phones, cutting through red tape at the college, and waiting for people to call him back. After he tracked them down in places he’d never been. Places he’d probably never see. Like Phoenix and Miami. And Pittsburgh. Christ on a stick, he needed to travel more.

  The home number he’d gotten for the boyfriend had a Vermont area code. It was good to know that not everybody who went to college in his town was a flatlander.

  He answered the phone. “Officer Shores.”

  “My mom said I should call you. You left a message on our answering machine. This is Keenan Brody.”

  “That’s right. I’m looking for Shannon Dawson,” Dustin said. According to the chief, when Shannon hadn’t gotten off the plane in California last night, her parents had checked with the airline and learned she hadn’t been on either of her flights across the country. Nor had she used her prepaid voucher on the airport shuttle that the college ran during peak travel times. The parents had contacted the Middleton Falls Police Department late last night, and the chief had called in Dustin to investigate early this morning. It was supposed to be his first full day off in over a week. “I was told you might know where Shannon is.”

  “Okay,” the boyfriend said.

  Dustin waited for more. When it didn’t come, he tried again. “Keenan, can you please tell me where Shannon is?”

  More silence on the line. The kid obviously didn’t want to answer the question. “Keenan? Are you still with me?”

  “No. I mean, yes.”

  “Let’s try again. Where is Shannon Dawson?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It was less than convincing. Dustin glanced at the photo of Shannon he’d gotten from the college directory. She was cute. He pictured her standing next to her boyfriend, hand over her mouth, giggling. “Okay, Keenan. First of all, this is a serious matter. Shannon’s parents are worried sick. Second, you may not be aware, but it’s a crime to give false information to a police officer. If you have any idea where Shannon is, you need to tell me right now.”

  “I haven’t seen her since Friday.”

  “Two days ago?”

  “Yes.”

  “When did you last talk to her?”

  “Friday night.”

  “You didn’t talk to your girlfriend for two days?” There were several seconds of silence. It was a yes or no question, shouldn’t take this long to answer.

  “She hasn’t called me back.” Keenan paused before adding quietly, “I was ticked at her.” Dustin could feel there was more, so he resisted the urge to fill the silence. “She wasn’t really my girlfriend,” Keenan finally said.

  “Wasn’t––or isn’t?”

  More silence.

  “I heard you were dating her. Maybe I heard wrong. Why don’t you tell me what your relationship with Shannon Dawson is?”

  “We were dating. I guess.”

  “And are you still dating?”

  “I don’t know.” Was this kid slow? Masterson College students were supposed to be rich and smart. Maybe his head got smashed into the boards too many times playing hockey.

  “Do you have any idea where Shannon is right now?”

  “Not really.” It wasn’t an unequivocal no. He obviously knew something but didn’t want to share it. Dustin could feel he was approaching the limits of his patience, so he forced himself to take a deep breath before continuing.

  “If you know anything at all, you need to tell me.” Despite the breathing exercise, Dustin’s voice had come out louder and harsher than he intended.

  “She might have gone to Maine.”

  “Maine? Why would she go to Maine?”

  “I don’t know. She said something about Maine the last time I talked to her.”

  “On Friday night?”

  “Right.”

  Dustin glanced at his scant notes of the phone interview on the notepad in front of him. “I feel like I’m missing something here, so help me fill in some of the blanks. Were you with Shannon on Friday night?”

  “Not really. I just ran into her.”

  “Where did you run into her?”

  “At a party off campus.”

  “Whose party?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Yeah, right. “So you went to a party, but you don’t know who was having it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where was it?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “You. Don’t. Remember.” Dustin waited a few beats, but the kid didn’t say more. With as even a tone as he could muster, he asked, “Okay, who else was there?”

  “Lots of people.”

  “Who was Shannon with?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  Dustin clenched his teeth and inhaled sharply through his nose. “Let me get this straight. You ran into your girlfriend at a party, but you don’t remember where the party was or who she was with?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Were you drunk?”

  “No, I don’t drink during hockey season. I mean, I’m not old enough to drink.”

  “Which is it?”

  “Both.”

  “Do you understand how serious this is? An eighteen-year-old girl has been missing for two days.”

  “I think I recognized one of the girls from the ice rink. She’s probably in the figure skating club with Shannon.”

  “Can you give me a name?”

  “I don’t know, Janie, or something.”

  “Last name?”

  “I don’t have any idea. I don’t really hang out with Shannon’s friends.”

  Dustin was done hiding his irritation, so he said, “Why not? You don’t like her having friends?”

  “What? It’s not like that!” Keenan’s voice was shrill, and Dustin smiled at having gotten the kid to break. Maybe now he could get somewhere with the interview.

  “But she’s in a skating club?”

  “Yeah. That’s how we met. At the rink.”

  “Can you remember the names of any of her other friends?”

  “She talked a lot about Amy. I met her once, but I can’t tell you her last name. I’m pretty sur
e they lived in the same dorm.”

  “Lived?”

  “They lived in the same dorm last semester.”

  “Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me that would help me find Shannon?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Dustin tossed his pen across the desk in resignation. “Well, if you hear from Shannon, have her give me a call. Better yet, have her call her parents.” He said it just in case his original suspicion was right and Shannon was listening to the conversation.

  Dustin got another pen out of the drawer and wrote down Keenan’s details, then he hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute. Shit. Either Shannon Dawson really didn’t want to go home––or something bad had happened to her. While Dustin was staring at the phone, it rang. Caller ID told him it was his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Just what he needed. If he didn’t pick up, she’d have him paged. No sense avoiding the inevitable. He picked up the phone.

  “I just wanted to let you know I’ll be picking up the kids at 8:00 a.m. the day after Christmas.” Joanne’s Boston accent made his skin crawl. How had he ever thought it was exotic?

  “The agreement says 5:00 p.m. You get them Christmas Eve and morning and I get them Christmas night and the day after. You already got the best part of the holiday.”

  “Our flight leaves at 11:05 a.m. We’ll need to get to the airport.” The temporary visitation agreement had only been in place for a few weeks and already she was stretching it to suit her needs. That was the problem with Joanne. She always had good reasons why he should bend. And he always bent. Well, not any more.

  “Change it. It’s my time.”

  Joanne laughed, a throaty hiccup. “You obviously don’t understand how the airlines work. The tickets are non-refundable.”

  “I just don’t see why you would buy tickets without asking me first.”

  “You can have some extra time with them after we get back.” It was a bone and he knew it.

  “Fine,” he said. “But don’t forget.”

  He’d better go tell the chief that the Brody kid had been a dead end. At least it was looking like there might actually be something to investigate.

  Chapter 2

  Thursday, October 10, 2013

  SHE WAS the sparkliest thing he had ever seen. It was partly the lycra tights she wore with her sweatshirt, and it was partly the way the light reflected off her blond pony tail. But mostly, it was her essence. She was pure and shiny and just plain perfect.

  The college had laid down ice a week ago. Today was the third time since then that Keenan had found himself in the bleachers watching the girl spin and jump effortlessly. He couldn’t help it. For some reason he kept showing up early for practice, hoping she’d be there. So he could watch. Even though he probably should have been in the weight room with his teammates. Or at the library studying.

  He needed to stop doing this, find out if she had a boyfriend. Hell, for all he knew, she was a lesbian. What an idiot he was, up here pining after a lesbian figure skater. Enough already. Time to shit or get off the pot as Grandpa Armand always said.

  Keenan hurried to put on his gear so he could get on the ice before she finished practicing. He always wore the cumbersome pads that protected him while he played hockey, so they didn’t usually bother him, but when he approached her, the pads suddenly made him feel like a Neanderthal. He should have put on the pads after he talked to her. What the hell was he thinking? He wasn’t. That was the problem.

  SHANNON HAD seen the hockey player watching her from the stands the week before and again that day. She pretended not to notice, but she could feel his eyes on her and wondered if he would try to talk to her.

  She smirked when he lumbered out onto the ice near the end of open practice time. She skated backward by him so she could get a good look at his face. It was a handsome face, warm and aristocratic, in direct contradiction to his armor.

  She continued skating backward and he joined her, matching her glides. She picked up the pace, and he did too. His agility was undeniable.

  “You’re pretty good,” she said, “but I bet you can’t do this.” She touched the ice with her toe and did a double toe loop.

  He did a stop, making a shower of snow. “That’s not fair. I don’t have toe picks.”

  She skated back toward him. “So do a different jump. You don’t need picks for a waltz jump.” She demonstrated. “Or a Salchow.” She did another jump.

  “What do I get if I make it?”

  “The satisfaction of winning the bet.”

  “Not good enough. I win, you have dinner with me.”

  “Deal. But you have to do one full revolution and land without falling.”

  “Okay, but show me one more time how you do it.”

  She showed him the Salchow.

  She watched the determination on his face as he began his approach and found herself hoping he would make it. He got some backward speed, turned, spun, and then launched. It wasn’t the most graceful Salchow she’d ever seen, but he did manage to get all the way around before he hit the ice. What surprised her was that he didn’t even come close to losing his balance. He skated back to her grinning broadly.

  “Good enough?”

  She smirked and shrugged. “I’ll be at the Cameron Dining Hall at six thirty. If you find me, we can sit together.”

  “That’s not much of a date.”

  “It wasn’t much of a Salchow.” She skated off toward the girls’ locker room, glad he couldn’t see the smile she couldn’t repress.

  Chapter 3

  Sunday, December 22, 2013

  DUSTIN DREW a line through another name on the skating club list. It seemed there were a lot of people who signed up but never participated. And, of course, nobody he’d talked to had heard of Shannon Dawson. It could be that the Brody kid had sent him on a wild goose chase. He switched back to the roster for Shannon’s dorm. There were two girls named Amy living in McCullough Hall. He’d left messages on the home phones of both an hour ago, then decided to start with the skating club list, mostly because it was shorter. Most of the people he’d left messages for wouldn’t call back. People were weird that way. He just hoped that if someone had information, they would call.

  Shannon lived on the second floor, so he started with Room 201.

  Finally, after five dead ends, he got a call from a girl on the third floor who said she knew Shannon.

  “I got a text from Alex who got a text from Kyra who said you were trying to track down Shannon’s friends. Is she okay?”

  “Who am I speaking with?”

  “Sorry. This is Madira Mehta. My friends call my Maddy. I hang out with Shannon sometimes. I mean, we’re not ‘besties’ or anything, but we’re friends. What’s up with Shannon?”

  “She’s missing. Can you tell me when you last saw her?”

  “I think I saw her Friday morning when she was on her way to her last final.”

  “So you didn’t see her Friday night?”

  “No, but I heard she was pretty drunk.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Oh, wait... I might be thinking of someone else.”

  “I’m not trying to get her in trouble. I just need to know who saw her last. Do you know who saw her Friday night?”

  “Maybe Alex Jones.”

  “Okay. Do you know a girl named Amy?”

  “Sure. She probably knows where Shannon is.”

  “How do I get in touch with her?”

  “I’m pretty sure she’s in Aspen, but she’ll have her cell. Give me a sec to look at my contacts.” Dustin took Maddy’s information as well as Amy’s and Alex’s. Finally, he was getting somewhere.

  Dustin reached Alex right away. Unfortunately, Alex had no idea where Shannon was.

  “Did you see her on Friday night?”

  “No, I didn’t. I left school on Friday afternoon.”

  “Did you hear she was intoxicated?”

  “I don’t want to get her in trouble.”

  �
��Believe me, nobody’s worried about that right now. We just want to find her. Do you know who she was with?”

  “No, my boyfriend saw her with some friends. He mentioned how drunk they were. He wasn’t with them, though.”

  “Any idea who she was with?”

  “Nope.”

  Before hanging up, he got Alex’s boyfriend’s information, but it was probably another dead end. At least now that he had a solid lead, he could stop plodding through the lists. He left a message on Amy’s cell then decided to take a break.

  He walked back to the break room and found his plastic container with three formerly-frozen-now-soggy burritos in the back of the fridge. Since Joanne had kicked him out, he hadn’t had a good meal of leftovers. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had a good meal.

  He ate alone at the table in the windowless room. The flavor of the burritos was good, even if the texture wasn’t. That was probably why the box said, “Keep Frozen.” Not his fault the PD’s fridge was freezer-less.

  Amy Stevens finally called him back at 7:10 p.m. He could hear music and laughter in the background.

  “Shannon’s missing?” Amy said. “I had forty-eight texts about it when I checked my phone. There’s no reception on the top of the mountain, so I left my phone in the lodge.”

  “Do I take it you don’t know where she is?”

  “No. I mean, I assumed she went home.”

  “When did you last see her?”

  “Friday afternoon. We both had the cell biology final. It was the last one and probably the worst.”

  “How do you know Shannon?”

  “We’re both neuroscience majors and we live in the same dorm.”

  “Would you say you’re close friends?”

  “Sure. We only met at the beginning of the semester, but the neuroscience program is intense, so it’s something we have in common. Most people don’t get it.”

  “Did Shannon say anything to you to indicate that she might not be planning to go home?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Did she tell you her plans for Friday evening?”

  “Yeah. She was going to a party with a couple of her friends from the skating club. She invited me, but I already had plans back in the city.”