1. Hazel

Chapter 1

Hazel

K ira spun around in her seat and exclaimed, “I can't believe you went to high school with Ian Carter!”

She asked me this question at least three times a day, always followed by, “What was he like back then?”

I gave her an apologetic smile and pointed to my computer screen. “Sorry, I'm working right now.”

Kira looked disappointed but undeterred; I knew she would come back later to ask the same question. It was only the first time she had asked today.

My thoughts were interrupted when the front door of our office flew open. A young woman burst in, panic evident in her eyes and pale complexion.

She hurried over to my desk and pleaded with me, “Please, you have to help me. I can't find her anywhere.”

Surprised, I stood up and directed her to my chair, trying to calm her down.

“Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

I turned to Kira. “Bring her a glass of water.”

When Kira returned with the glass of water, the woman was still hyperventilating. She’d been repeating the same three sentences since she entered here.

“Please, you have to help me. I can't find her. I can't find her anywhere.”

“I want to help,” I said as I handed her the water. “But to do that, I’m going to need more information. What exactly happened? Who is missing? And why did you come here instead of going to the police?”

The woman downed the glass of water in a split second. Then she took a deep breath before speaking.

“My friend, Emily. She’s missing. I can’t find her anywhere. She’s not like this. She would never just go off without telling me.”

“When was the last time you saw Emily?” I asked, wanting to help any way I could. She seemed truly distressed.

“I left her in our hotel room because I needed to get something.”

My brow shot up.

“Hotel room? You don’t live in Cloverhill?”

“No, we don’t. We came here because we’re big fans of Ian Carter. We wanted to see where he lived and —

“You’re a fan of Ian Carter?” Kira interrupted.

How was it possible that Ian was her focus when a woman was missing? I still didn’t understand why Bradford, the owner of the media house where I worked, hired her in the first place. She was a high school graduate with an online certificate in journalism and she cared far more about Ian Carter than she did about actually doing her job, which often meant that I was left to pick up the slack.

I didn’t mind, though. I was always hungry for a story. But in the small town of Cloverhill, there was hardly ever anything of note to write about, which made my job as a local reporter quite boring. I was tired of writing about the passing of the town’s beloved cat or the well that was dried up one day and mysteriously filled the next. I wanted to write real hard-hitting stories, stories that would impact people and maybe even help someone.

This was my chance. I didn’t fully understand the story behind Emily’s disappearance, but I already knew I would do everything I could to find her.

“Yes, we are. Emily, more so than me,” she answered.

I glared at Kira before turning back to the woman. I still didn’t know her name. “What’s your name and why didn’t you report this to the police?”

“I already did. I told them everything, but they said I had to wait 24 hours. They said she’s an adult and she might have just left the hotel room on her own. I tried to explain to them that Emily would never do that. She wouldn’t leave without telling me. She would have at least left a note to tell me where she was going, or she would have sent me a text. Something.”

She was getting worked up again. I took the glass from her and handed it to Kira.

“She needs more water.”

“Olivia,” the woman suddenly said. “My name is Olivia.”

“Okay, Olivia. How can I help you?”

“You’re a reporter, right? You can write about Emily. It would help create awareness. That’s why I came here. I know the Starlight Tribune is the biggest media publication in town. You can help me find Emily.”

Olivia was right. Writing an article about Emily would bring awareness to the case, which would make it easier to find Emily. If more people knew she was missing, then more people would be looking.

For the first time, my writing might actually help someone. My best friend, Jade, always told me that my stories do impact people, but I have yet to see that.

In typical Jade fashion, she still never stopped telling me that my work was important. Jade had a way of adding a bit of sunshine to some of the gloomiest situations, which made her blood relationship with Ian Carter quite the mystery. Being Jade’s best friend gave me access to the great Ian Carter, the town’s beloved hockey star. And I’d give anything to have that access stripped away.

“Can I get a list of the locations you and Emily visited before she went missing? All the places you went to in Cloverhill.”

I knew I didn’t even have to ask. Everyone who came into town for Ian had a list of specific places they visited. Places where they knew he’d spent most of his childhood. I still couldn’t believe people went out of their way to explore the town where Ian grew up.

I wanted nothing to do with him. He was the most stuck-up person I’d ever met, and the further away I was from him, the happier I would be. It was a difficult goal, seeing as his sister was my best friend and my coworker was one of his biggest fans. Not to mention the fact that everyone in town loved him.

Staying away from him had become even tougher now that the missing Emily was a fan of his. Ian might turn out to be a big part of this story, so I couldn’t ignore him.

“We started at Ian’s high school,” Olivia said.

“Hazel went to the same school, actually.” Kira seemed annoyingly excited by this case. Her love for Ian prevented her from seeing the gravity of the situation. A woman was missing, and for all we knew, she could be dead. This wasn’t the time to drool over Ian Carter.

I knew it was a waste of time trying to tell Kira that. Everyone in Cloverhill always gushed, drooled, or even fainted at the mere mention of Ian’s name. Olivia and Emily weren’t the only ones who visited Cloverhill just because of Ian.

People traveled in from all over the world. Not to see the town’s fifty-year-old geyser or the small museum filled with Cloverhill’s history. No, they didn’t come for any of that. They came to see where Ian Carter grew up, to walk down the same streets he’d walked on when he was a kid. They quite literally worshiped the ground he walked on. No wonder there was so much air in his head.

I reached for my notepad and pulled Kira’s chair over to my desk. “Where else did you go?”

Olivia continued to list all the places she and Emily visited. “We also stopped by the arcade, the movie theater, and the diner downtown.”

Checking these places was a long shot, but if Emily really was a die-hard fan of Ian, then there was a chance she’d gone back. Maybe she wasn’t really missing. Maybe she was just visiting Ian’s favorite coffee shop or something.

That was the hope I hung onto. I hoped against hope I didn’t find out she was dead. But a part of me was already starting to fear the worst. I did my best to drown the voice in my head that told me I wouldn’t like how this would end.

When Olivia left my office that day, she was a lot calmer. Her hands still shook with fear, but she seemed more at ease.

“Thank you,” she said as she stared at me with hopeful eyes.

I assured her that I would look into it and write an article about Emily’s disappearance as soon as possible. That helped her calm down even more.

“I promise I’ll find her.”

I wasn’t worried about making that promise. I felt certain I would find Emily. What I didn’t know was if I would find her alive or…

I shoved the negative thoughts out of my head and saw Olivia off. I was glad Emily had someone who cared so much about her, someone who was determined to find her. We all needed someone we could count on when things got tough. For me, that person was Jade. We’d been friends since we were kids. I was an only child, so Jade was like a sister to me and a daughter to my parents. Her brother, Ian, was also like a son to my parents, but I’d never considered him a brother.

He was more like a prickly woodland creature that I did my best to avoid. Jade was the complete opposite. She radiated love in a way that pulled people in. It was what drew me to her in the first place.

At that moment, Jade walked into my office. It was as if I’d summoned her here with my thoughts. She frowned and gestured to the door.

“I saw a brunette outside. She looked heartbroken.”

“That was Olivia. She came to report that her friend was missing.”

“Why didn’t she just go to the police?” Jade asked, her frown deepening.

“She did, but they asked her to wait for twenty-four hours before they start investigating. She came here because she wants me to write a story about her missing friend, Emily. She hopes it will help her find Emily.”

Jade nodded in understanding. “So will you?”

“Of course I will. I can imagine what she’s going through. I wouldn’t know what to do if you went missing.”

My best friend smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Kira walked back into the room, having left to print something.She beamed when she saw Jade. Kira had been obsessed with her ever since she found out she was Ian’s sister.

“On second thought, I am going somewhere. I have to get out of here before that woman accosts me,” Jade said just as Kira reached us.

“Hi, Jade!”

“Kira. It’s so good to see you. I wish we could stay to talk, but I have to leave right now.”

“But you just got here.” Kira frowned.

“Yes, and it pains me greatly to leave so soon. I’ll see you later.” Jade spoke to me, but Kira beamed like she’d promised the woman a date later.

After Jade left, Kira turned to me, her eyes filled with awe.

“You’re so lucky. Being best friends with Jade means you get to see Ian whenever he’s in town. You get to go to his house and be around him all the time.”

Little did Kira know she was describing my worst nightmare. Ian wasn’t in town often because of his hockey career. Whenever he was, I made it my mission to avoid him. The last thing I wanted was to ‘be around him all the time’. That sounded like torture.

Ian wasn’t in town right now, which meant I was still free to come and go from the Carter residence. I loved his mom. She was like a second mother to me. I always tried to visit her as much as I could because I knew I wouldn’t get to see her when Ian was around. I would never risk running into him.

The hockey season recently ended, which meant he would be back soon, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.