Line 32 / Part 4

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Elizabeth's body tensed up visibly and she leaned forward, but before she could say anything Bob cut in.

"Aha. That all sounds really interesting. I may be a little slow, being a country sheriff and all but I'm still missing the piece why this has anything to do with Julia's disappearance?" And pretending to read off his notes he added, "That's what I have: One - Julia came here to spend the summer. Two - Though she wanted to attend summer camp she thought that's life for a teenager and yielded because it is the only thing she could do anyway. Three - She doesn't know you're going to Japan. Four - what she doesn't know could not possibly influence her decisions. I have no kids myself but I remember from my childhood that family life is not a democracy and I'm sure there were many things concerning my parents I didn't know anything about. So doll, give me the missing piece. Why do you think something is wrong?"

"This is all too embarrassing. If only Sam was here none of that would have happened." Amelia silently started to cry again.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval of Amelia's emotional outburst. "You know I'm not monster mom even though my own mother likes to see me that way. Julia has been difficult since Peter moved to the East Coast and so I thought it best I don't tell her that she was to stay here for the school year. She thinks she's just here for the summer." And passive-aggressively she added, "And it's really none of your business but I didn't want to have any discussions about why she should stay in Cedarwood Ridge when she thinks she is too old for even a summer in the country."

"Oh doll but it is our business, it is! We need as much information as possible if you want us to find out what might have happened. So what's this Peter moving to the East Coast all about?"

Elizabeth's mouth dropped. "Are you saying you don't know that I got divorced?"

"And why would we know about that? To you city folks we may be just backward but we keep busy caring for good values and making sure everything is nice and tidy. We don't have time to gossip about ex-community members," Ted, patronizing.

And here I spent tens of thousands of dollars on therapy to not care about all the things the people of Cedarwood Ridge think of me! Elizabeth suppressed a crazy giggle. "You're right of course, why would you. Anyhow Peter and I divorced last year and Julia had a hard time accepting the fact that her father now has a new family on the East Coast."

"Thank you, I think this is the missing piece. I'm getting the picture. Now you're afraid that Julia took matters in her own hands and ran off to live with her father. Is that it?" Sheriff Bob Browne penned in his notebook: Five - Subject prefers to live with father on the East Coast.

Elizabeth bit her lip. "Yes, I guess that must be what I fear."

"But why now? Why not before?" Elizabeth got almost a physical sense of how many points she had lost with Ted for being a divorcee and a bad mother. "From what I understand how you're at work all day and such, she must have had plenty of opportunity to make that move."

"Why, now that you mention it I thought Julia looked a tad pale when she came home last night," Amelia, recovered from her emotional episode, rejoined the discussion. Now that things had gotten that far out of control already, the sheriffs might as well hear the rest of the story. "Truth be told Elizabeth and I had a word or two about the whole divorce tragedy. Mind you, nothing serious of course, just a little mother-daughter talk. And naturally during that the Japan problem was mentioned as well. So maybe Julia did overhear things that weren't meant for her ears? Yes! I am sure of it. And this is why she lost her appetite! Teenager or not, she always gets seconds when it comes to macaroni and cheese."

Bob gave Elizabeth a questioning look. "Now try to remember doll. Did you notice Julia's pallor as well?"

"Hhm, maybe I did but same as with the eating, teenagers are pale on any given day, going through these physical growing pains and hormonal imbalances and all. So I guess I didn't make a big deal about it. And Julia hates to be smothered with questions anyway. She gets defensive about what she calls her 'right to privacy'." Elizabeth felt emotionally exhausted and relieved at the same time. "And who knows, maybe because I never enjoyed any privacy in my adolescence or maybe because I didn't have enough courage to assert any of my rights I am a bit overindulgent with my own daughter."

Amelia's face froze into a horrified mask. Of course she was aware of this need in Elizabeth's generation to find someone to blame for their choices, this behavior Sam used to call 'their narcissistic addiction to navel gazing,' but that her only daughter was so vulgar, so graceless, so unrefined as to share their most intimate family problems in front of two perfect strangers was too much for her to comprehend and left her completely speechless.

Ted Hanson looked at his boss. "So what are we going to do now? You really think she went to be with her father?"

"Is as much of a theory as having a reunion sleep-over at the Freeman's. So I guess we better get to it and make some calls. Why don't you contact Gretchen and tell her to put Sarah Freeman on the line and check on Peter Banes number - doll, where exactly on the East Coast did you say?"

"Ridgewood, New Jersey," said Elizabeth.

"Thank you. Tell Gretchen that. Plus, Amelia, would you mind topping off my coffee one more time?"

"Well certainly, Bob!" As if by magic those words reinstated Amelia Livingston's identity as perfect hostess and with a sweet smile she got up from her chair to do as the sheriff had asked.

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