Page 21 of The Girl Who Was Taken

“He died instantly.”

Barb nodded. Knowing that her son had not suffered relieved some of her burden.

“I’d like to ask a few questions about Casey, if that’s all right,” Livia said.

Barb shrugged. “Sure.”

“Police said you two were estranged.”

“We didn’t talk, if that’s what you mean.”

“May I ask why?”

Another sip of vodka. “Long story.”

“I drove a long way.”

“Why’s it important?”

Livia thought for a moment. “About a year ago, summer before last, a couple of girls went missing from up where I live in Emerson Bay.”

Barb pointed two fingers at Livia, cigarette between them and smoke twisting behind. She nodded her head. “I ’member that. That one girl is still all over the news. One that got away.”

“Correct. The other girl? She was my sister.”

“Other girl who was taken?”

“Yes.”

“That was your sister?”

Livia nodded.

“Well, shit on that. Sorry to hear, Doc.”

“Thank you.” Livia shifted in the recliner. “The reason I mention it is because Casey and my sister, Nicole, were dating when she disappeared. My examination of the—” Livia stopped herself. She almost saidbody,something Dr. Colt had lectured them about. Relatives didn’t want to hear about bodies. The deceased were still very much alive in their memories. “—of your son indicates that he likely died around the same time that my sister went missing. End of the summer of 2016. Maybe fall. So for my own selfish reasons, Barb, I wanted to find out a little about Casey. About the person my sister was dating.”

“You’re not sayin’ Casey had something to do with those missing girls, are you?”

Having built a good rapport to this point, Livia didn’t dare reveal her suspicions. And the truth was that she had no idea what to think about Nicole and Casey. “Of coursenot. I’m just looking for anything I can find about that summer. Anything I can learn about my sister before she went missing.”

“You know,” Barb said, pouring more vodka into the white Styrofoam cup, “we’re a lot alike, you and me.”

“Oh yeah? How’s that?”

“My older boy, Joshua, he went missing. He was nine. Out with Casey and their daddy at the fair. Their father was such a piece of shit, excuse me. Worthless as a husband and no good as a father. Knowing this about him, I still let him take my boys to the fair that day. He came home with Casey. Never saw Joshua again.”

Livia paused at the revelation. “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

“Me too. So I know how you feel. About your sister. Casey would’ve known, too.”

“When did that happen? Your other son?”

“July twelfth, 2000. He’d be twenty-seven now, but I only know him as that nine-year-old boy stuck in my mind.” Mrs. Delevan looked off into the corner of the room.

“Joshua was never found?”

Barb shook her head. “My Joshua is gone. Police questioned my husband for a long time, but they finally gave up on that angle. There was a predator at that fair, and he waited until Joshua drifted far enough away from his daddy. That’s all it was. The police checked in with me for a year to tell me about their leads and about the case. But they stopped calling eventually. After a while, I gave up hope. Me and their daddy were never the same. I still blame him. He didn’t have nothin’to do with Joshua’s disappearance, but he was the one supposed to be watchin’ my boy that day. He knows it, too. So he took off about a year after we lost Joshua. Casey and me never seen him again. Casey hung around until he was eighteen, then he took off like his daddy. Ain’t talked with him for three, four years. Then I get a call from the police. Now both my boys are gone.”

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