“Chris, hi.” Heather flashed a tight smile, reaching the landing. “We’re really sorry to bother you.”
Jordan interjected, “Hey Coach. My mom wanted to come, not me.”
“Thanks. Jordan.” Heather shot him a tense look, then turned back to Chris. “Chris, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t important. Something came up that you need to know about, as coach. I didn’t want to go to Coach Hardwick because, well, I don’t know him, and I didn’t want to call the principal if we could keep it to the team. In-house, as it were.”
“Okay, how I can help you?” Chris resigned himself to dealing with it, then getting them out of here.
“Well, can we come in?” Heather blinked. “I don’t want to talk about it out here.”
“Oh, sure, right. Excuse my bad manners.” Chris ushered them inside, but left the door open.
“Well, this is awkward to talk about, but here goes.” Heather frowned, barely glancing around the apartment. “Jordan got an inappropriate picture in a text from Evan today. It’s of a girl that Evan’s dating, a sext. Jordan thinks they call her Miss Booty Call, but whatever. Evan sent it to the entire varsity team and apparently he has done this before. I don’t know what to do, but we have to do something.”
“I understand.” Chris had no time for a high-school sexting drama. “I’ll deal with this first thing tomorrow morning when—”
“I just want to say, it’s the first time that Jordan ever got one of these pictures from Evan. Jordan wasn’t on varsity before. I don’t want my son to get in trouble for something that Evan is doing. Jordan needs a baseball scholarship and if this goes on his record—”
Jordan interjected, “But I don’t want to get Evan in trouble. I called him but he didn’t call me back.”
“Jordan, really?” Heather shot Jordan another look, then returned her attention to Chris. “I called Mindy, Evan’s mother, but this is the least of her worries right now. She’s beside herself. She just found out that her husband’s going to jail for tax evasion.”
“Really,” Chris said, surprised.
“Yes, and they had a big family fight. She doesn’t even know where Evan is.”
“Evan is missing?” Chris’s ears pricked up.
“Well, not missing, just not home.” Heather pursed her lips. “But Evan isn’t my problem. That family can afford to write a check for college, but we can’t, and I’m not going to let Evan hurt Jordan’s chances to be recruited.”
“I agree, Jordan shouldn’t get in trouble. But it’s Sunday night, so I can’t contact Coach Hardwick, Dr. McElroy, or anybody in the office.” Chris walked to the door. He sensed that something was going on with Evan and he had to get back to his desk. “Guys, I really appreciate your bringing this to my attention, but I’m in the middle of something. I will discuss this with them first thing in the morning—”
“Chris, I must not be making myself clear, this is so awkward.” Heather took a phone from her pocket and scrolled through it as she talked. “Maybe you need to see what I’m talking about to understand. It’s a very inappropriate picture. Look!”
“I assumed it was—” Chris started to say, but stopped when Heather held up her phone. Its screen showed the naked body of a woman whose face wasn’t shown but whose legs were parted, leaving nothing to the imagination. She had a tattoo on her side, a dream catcher.
“Heather, let me see that.” Chris felt something nagging at him.
“The sext?” Heather handed him the phone. “Kinda weird of you, but okay.”
“Excuse me for one minute.” Chris eyed the photo, handed her back the phone, and edged backwards toward his office. “Just wait here.”
Chapter Forty-six
Chris hustled into his office, closed the door behind him, and hurried to his desk for the pictures from Wyoming. He found the one he was looking for, the photo of Jamie, Abe, and the other teachers and their spouses in bathing suits. His gaze went straight to Courtney, who was wearing a black two-piece suit. She had a tattoo on her side, and he looked at it closely but couldn’t tell what it was. If it had been a digital photo, he would simply enlarge it, but he didn’t have a scanner.
Chris tore open his desk drawer, found an old-school magnifying glass, and held it up to the photo. He moved it over Courtney’s waist, and the ink came into focus. Courtney’s tattoo was a dream catcher, and it was on her right side, in the same position on her body as in the nude selfie. He compared it with the phone, and it was a match.
Chris blinked. So Courtney was the woman in the sext, and she and Evan must’ve been having an affair. But something else was far more concerning. Heather had said that Evan’s father was about to go to jail for tax evasion, a federal crime. Evan was so upset that he’d left the house. That could give Evan a motivation for a grudge against the government. But where was Evan? Could he be with Courtney?
Chris felt adrenaline surge into his system. He turned to his computer and plugged in Courtney’s name and Central Valley PA, and the first address was hers:
Courtney Wheeler, 297 Mole Drive, Central Valley, PA
Then Chris’s gaze fell on the third address, under previous addresses of Courtney Wheeler, and the entry read:
Courtney Shank Wheeler, 938 Evergreen Circle, Headley, PA
Chris’s thoughts raced. Headley, PA. Where had he heard that name before? The Rabbi had said it. It was up north in Marcellus Shale. Courtney and her family were from the Marcellus Shale area. She could have been the connection to the baseball team—and if so, that meant Evan was the boy in the Musketeers Varsity T-shirt, stealing the bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Herb Vrasaya’s farm.
Chris felt the revelation electrify his system. If Evan was missing, it could be going down tonight. Or Evan could be in mortal jeopardy.
Chris reached for his phone and was pressing in the Rabbi’s number when he heard the door opening.
“Chris?” Heather stood in the threshold with Jordan, her bewilderment plain.
Chapter Forty-seven
“Chris, what are you doing?” Heather asked, aghast.
“Excuse me.” Chris hustled out of the office and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry, but you both have to go, and so do I.”
“What do you mean?” Heather recoiled, frowning. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t explain more. You both have to go. Please.”
“But aren’t you going to deal with this situation?” Heather folded her arms. “I’m not just going to let my son—”
“Heather, please. Evan could be in grave trouble.” Chris grabbed his windbreaker from the hook and his keys from the side table.
“But what about Jordan? Jordan matters, too. I’m surprised you would treat him like he doesn’t. I thought you cared about him. About us.”
“Heather.” Chris felt pained. He wanted to touch her but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Of course I care about you both. But please, for now, go.”