Page 81 of South of Nowhere

Medications?No.

Any enemies? Ex-boyfriends or stalkers who were problems?Why would you ask that?

These are relevant questions. Please answer.No.

A find-my-phone or computer location app?Yes, but none of them worked.

Any emotional or mental issues that might affect her ability to cope?What are you saying?…No. Of course not.

Answering these questions and a few others took only minutes. It was a short list, but it didn’t need to be as comprehensive as on some jobs. If a missing person had vanished somewhere in the state of Maine, say, well that reward job would have required considerable research.

But Fiona Lavelle had disappeared somewhere on a fifteen-mile stretch of highway. Shaw needed only a minimal amount of data to begin his investigation. He looked over the notes, assessing the situation, calculating the likelihood of possible occurrences:

She had in fact driven past the gas station at Hadleyville Road and the manager had not seen her because the view was blocked. Or because he simply hadn’t bothered with the request. She hadn’t picked up when Millwood called because her battery was dead or the phone was silenced.

—Eight percent.

Gone into the New Summer from the levee?

—Zero percent.

Gone into the retaining pond with the Suburban?

—Zero percent.

Gone into the river someplace else? He’d driven Route 13 earlierand the surface was slick. Braking fast to avoid a deer, even with ABS, she might’ve skidded off the road and into the Never Summer. Or ended up there because she tapped the accelerator too hard. But in that case the drone would probably have picked up the wreck. And there were very few places where the river came close to the highway.

—Five percent.

Skidding off the road in theotherdirection, into the forest? Route 13 was largely straight but had some serious drop-offs from the right lane. She might have flown off the asphalt for the same reasons as the above likelihood.

—Twenty-five percent.

Sleeping off the fright? On reflection, napping wasn’t as likely as he’d first thought.

—Five percent.

Pulling onto one of the trails to wait out the storm, her phone battery dead and no charger cord with her?

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