Читать книгу Among the Missing - H. R. Devlon - Страница 5

Jack Logan was sitting at his dining room table, reading the postcard at the top of his stack of mail:

Hey, Professor “Indiana” -

Come join us this month at

The Sister Bay Yacht Club…

We’ll make it worth your while!

Trish and Julie, 2/3 of a

ménage, waiting for à trois

(Call us at 262-555-1742)

Logan laughed, and then shook his head. Professor “Indiana” was the nickname used by some of his female students at Carroll University – presumably because they thought he looked a little like a forty-three-year-old Harrison Ford – “Indiana Jones” – and because he truly was from Indiana – Fort Wayne, to be specific.

Logan remembered “Trish” and “Julie”. They were in his “Clinical Statistics” course last fall. …If I were ever going to get involved with any of my students, Logan thought, it would be with those two… both of them were gorgeous brunettes… right… in their Junior Year of the Nursing Program …and they were both highly intelligent… Trish was the one who scored a 98 on my Final Exam… and Julie…what did she score? A 94… right…and they were both obviously ready for almost anything…

“I can’t think about that,” Logan said aloud. “I have a career and a reputation to protect. I’ll call them, tell them I’m flattered, and I’m sorry, but they’ll have look elsewhere for their trois”

Logan sighed, shook his head once more, and checked the rest of his mail. …Bill, junk, journal. junk, magazine, bill, catalogue, junk…wait…what’s this?

Logan was looking at an envelope, addressed to him, and postmarked from Lake Forest, Illinois. …That block lettering…it’s familiar…where have I seen it before? Who do I know in Lake Forest?

Logan put the rest of his mail down on the dining room table, and opened the envelope. In it, there were two pieces of paper: a hand-printed note, and a typewritten cryptogram:

Logan was stunned. Adam Barker. Michelle. He hadn’t seen or heard from either of them for over twenty years. He hadn’t wanted to see or hear from them since then…since what had happened then.

Twenty-four years ago, Logan had been a sophomore on scholarship at the University of Chicago, majoring in Mathematics and Computer Sciences. He was on scholarship because he was very bright, but his family, on the north side of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was relatively poor. Logan was also a sponsored member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, with all of his expenses paid by a prominent Fort Wayne business man.

Michelle – she was Michelle Harris then – had been a freshman at the University of Chicago, majoring in Economics – and she was also on a scholarship because she was very bright, but her family was relatively poor. (In fact, Michelle’s family, on the south side of Fort Wayne, was so poor that Michelle often said she never wanted to be that poor again. Ever.)

Logan had met Michelle Harris when they had both returned to Fort Wayne to work at summer jobs – as wait staff in a local ice cream parlor. Logan was immediately smitten by the red-haired, green-eyed beauty, and she seemed to be just as attracted to him. By the end of the summer, Michelle Harris was wearing Logan’s Sigma Chi pin – and the two had planned to marry as soon as they both finished college.

At the beginning of Logan’s senior year, one of Sigma Chi’s newer pledges had been a dark-haired, handsome, and charismatic transfer student by the name of Adam Barker. Barker hadn’t needed a scholarship, because his Chicago parents were very wealthy (their net worth was said to be over two hundred million). Barker was a junior, majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and was rumored to be a brilliant student.

Logan and Barker had become fast friends within weeks of Barker’s arrival. Both enjoyed solving puzzles – Sudoku, cryptograms, crosswords, brainteasers in general – and both were constantly seeking new intellectual challenges.

Logan couldn’t have been happier with his life at that time – a beautiful, intelligent fiancé like Michelle, a close friend like Adam, and the promise of a future that was everything he had hoped for.

Then, in the spring of Logan’s senior year, his last semester at the University of Chicago, the Sigma Chi’s had staged their annual Spring Fling. Logan had taken Michelle, of course. Adam Barker had taken Christy Evans, a pretty blonde from Northwestern University. The four of them – Adam and Christy, and Jack and Michelle – had spent most of the evening at the same table…laughing, talking, drinking, having a good time.

After the Spring Fling had ended, and the four of them were walking to Adam’s car, Adam had suggested that they all spend the month of June in Paris. Logan had laughed. He had thought Barker was joking.

But Barker hadn’t been joking. He had told the other three that he would pay all the expenses, and that they would have a great time. Michelle and Christy had been ecstatic. Logan had said he was sorry, but he wouldn’t be able to go – he’d already promised to work at the Fort Wayne ice cream parlor again that summer, starting in June.

Barker and the two women had pleaded with Logan to change his mind, but Logan had told them he had no choice – he really needed the money.

Michelle had asked Logan if he would be upset with her if she went to Paris without him…she had told Logan that if he didn’t want her to go, she wouldn’t go.

Logan had urged her to go. Encouraged her to go. After all, he trusted her.

And he had trusted Adam Barker.

So Adam, Michelle, and Christy had gone to Paris without Logan – for the entire month of June.

When Michelle had returned, she had been…distant. She had cancelled several dates, claiming her parents needed her attention.

Then, in August, Logan had received a small box from Michelle. Inside, there was a note, and… his Sigma Chi pin. The note read:

Jack –

I’m sorry…I’ve changed my mind…

I want to stay single a little longer.

I hope you understand…

Love, Michelle

Logan had been crushed. But the worst was yet to come – the following year, after her graduation, Michelle had married Adam Barker, Logan’s trusted friend.

“So the friend who betrayed me twenty years ago wants me to help the woman who betrayed me twenty years ago – is that about it, Barker?” Logan said aloud. “Not bloody likely.”

Then he crumpled Barker’s note and cryptogram with his junk mail, walked into his kitchen, opened the door under the kitchen sink, and threw all of the crumpled materials into the trash.

*******