Page 50 of Trapper Road

He frowns and reaches out to nudge the Bible on his desk, as if he’d just noticed it was out of place and felt the need to correct it. “I believe she may have been a member of the Church Youth Group as well.”

There was no mention of this in the file I read. In fact, I hadn’t seen much of anything in her file or her online presence to indicate she’d been very involved in the church at all. “Can you tell me more about that?”

He lets out a sigh, as though he finds my question tiresome. “What exactly would you like to know?”

“How many kids were in the group, how often they met, what sorts of activities they did.”

He returns his hands to their folded position on his desk. His expression remains genial, but there’s a tightness around his lips that wasn’t there before. “I’m afraid I’m not following how such information would be of use to you and your investigation?”

There’s something about my line of questioning that’s bothering him, which sets off alarm bells for me. My pulse quickens a bit like it always does when I think I might be on to something. “Oh, I’m just trying to get as complete a picture of her as I can. You know, talking to her friends, that sort of thing.”

“I can’t imagine anyone connected with Gardenia United Methodist had anything to do with her disappearance.”

I find it interesting that he immediately jumps to that conclusion since I’d only been asking about Juliette generally and not specifically about her disappearance. I tilt my head to the side. “Is there a reason to believe there might be a connection?”

“Absolutely not,” he snaps. His calm demeanor slips somewhat, and he draws a deep breath in through his nose in an apparent attempt to rein the show of emotion in.

It’s too late. He’s already revealed there’s something there. I consider pressing him on it, but I’m pretty sure it would be useless. He seems the type who would protect his church to his dying breath.

I give him my best disarming smile. If he thinks I suspect the church of wrongdoing, that will be the end of him giving me any information. “I’ll definitely keep that front of mind as I’m talking to folks. Speaking of, is there someone more involved with the youth group who would have known Juliette that I can talk to about her?”

He hesitates only a moment before opening a drawer and pulling out a pad of paper. “Becky Eadies,” he says as he writes down a name and number. “She runs the group. Superb young woman. Very engaged. She should be able to answer any questions you have. If she can’t, come back, and I’ll find someone who can.” He pulls the sheet of paper free, folds it in half crisply, and passes it across the table to me.

It’s clear he intends this to signal the end of our meeting. I stand, thank him for his time, and leave. Once outside I unfold the sheet of paper and give Becky Eadies a call. It turns out that she works at the church daycare and just happens to be on her lunch break at a nearby park if I want to meet up.

“I’ll be the one wearing scrubs,” she informs me and sure enough, when I arrive at the park she’s hard to miss. Her scrubs are a shade of neon pink I didn’t know existed, and they clash horribly with her red hair that’s pulled up in a messy ponytail. When she notices me heading her way she jumps up and waves. “Oh hey! Ms. Proctor! Over here! It’s me, Becky!”

As I draw closer, she gives me a wide grin that lights up her entire face. She seems the type that if there wasn’t a picnic table between us, she’d have pulled me into a hug the moment I was in range.

“Hey, thanks for taking the time to meet with me,” I tell her.

“No problem! You caught me just in time. I usually don’t get too long of a lunch break— I’m in the baby room, just two of us to take care of twelve kids. It’s great, and I love it, but sometimes you just need to get away for a second, you know? Thankfully, we’ve got some good nappers, and Ms. Louanne’s happy to cover for me a little longer cause then she can take a longer break later in the day. So it all works out.”

Becky Eadies has clearly never met a stranger and could quite possibly talk to a wall. In my line of work, that makes for a great witness. “I won’t take up too much of your time. As I mentioned on the phone, I’m a private investigator looking into Juliette Larson’s disappearance.”

The words are barely out of my mouth before she takes off. “Juliette, yeah, geez wow. I mean such a sad sad story. Has there been any more information about what happened? The local newspaper charges a subscription fee, and I know I should pay it and support their journalists and our community, but I just graduated from college and gosh, things are so expensive! You wouldn’t think in a town like this rent would be so high but yeah, it really is.”

Her eyes are wide as she talks, and she comes across as incredibly innocent and naive. The mother in me wants to take her under my wing and explain to her about the world and its dangers, but I know that’s not my place.

“I spoke to Father Walker, and he mentioned Juliette was a member of a youth group you’re involved with?”

“Oh yeah. It meets Wednesdays. Pizza and Prayer I call it. It’s a good group of kids. About eight of them are regulars — you know, the ones I can really rely on to show up. With the rest, it’s a guessing game. Homework, other activities, there’s just a lot on their plates, you know? Makes it hard to figure out how much pizza to order. I always err on the side of getting too much. Means more leftovers for me, though don’t tell Pastor Walker I said that.” She ends on a slightly nervous giggle as if she actually might be concerned I would rat her out to her boss about taking home leftovers.

“Was Juliette one of your regulars?” I ask.

“I mean, maybe? Sometimes?”

Her answer makes me wonder if she understands what it means to be a regular. “Was there anyone there she seemed to be particularly close to? Any friends or boyfriends?”

She holds up her hands as if to stop me. “Oh goodness, I know what you’re thinking. It’s those movies that always seem to have these youth group retreats that are nothing but S-E-X.” She actually spells the word out like saying it aloud would be too dangerous. “But I can assure you, that’s not what goes on at all. That was one of the things Pastor Walker made very clear when he hired me. He wanted to make sure nothing got out of hand — no two kids of the opposite sex going off together where they might get in trouble. Which of course is when I reminded him that kids of the same sex are just as qualified to go off together and get in trouble, and I tell you, I thought I’d lost the job right then and there given how red his face turned, but come on. I mean, I know it’s the Methodist Church, and we have a reputation and all that, but inclusivity matters, you know? All God’s children are beautiful and blessed.”

I’m starting to get dizzy with the pure number of words she’s able to throw at me without pausing for air. “So no boyfriends in the youth group for Juliette?”

She shrugs. “I mean, not that I know of? But honestly, you’d probably be better off talking to the guy who ran it before me. When Juliette disappeared, I’d only had the job for like just over a month or so. I remember because I really struggled to figure out how to address her being missing with the group.”

It takes me a moment to tease out the important piece of information buried in the deluge of words and when I do, I cut her off mid-ramble. “Wait, you’d only been working for the church for a month when Juliette disappeared?”

She nods. “Yep. I started right after graduation. Didn’t even take time off to go to the beach with all my friends.”

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