Among the Missing. H. R. Devlon

      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.

      *******

      Chapter 3

      Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

      Monday, June 15^th, 1:30 p.m.

      Permission to Proceed

      Thomas Blake knocked on the open door of Police Sergeant Sidney Hazlet’s office. “Hey, Sid…Do you have a minute?”

      Sidney Hazlet was Blake’s and Turner’s Patrol Supervisor. He was ten years younger than Blake, and he had the look of a grizzled prize fighter. He’d retired from the Chicago Police Force after twenty years of service – and he had hired Blake as a part-time Reserve Patrol Officer two years later, after Blake had retired.

      Hazlet looked up from the papers on his desk, smiled at Blake, and said, “Hey, Tommy…come on in and sit down. How’s it going? How are you and young Turner working out?”

      Blake entered Hazlet’s office, and sat down in the chair next to Hazlet’s desk. “We’re good, Sid. Turner’s a fine officer.”

      “Glad to hear it. Just don’t corrupt him with your by-the-book B.S., Tommy.”

      Blake laughed. “Too late, Sid. I’ve already started the brainwashing. Seriously, I wanted to talk with you about the Mercedes that Turner and I processed last Friday night. Did you read our report on it?”

      “Yeah, I did, Tommy. I also heard that our boys searched the lagoon, but didn’t come up with a body.”

      “That’s good news”

      “Yeah, it is. We also heard from Barker’s groundskeeper that Barker spent part of Friday night at his Lake Geneva place. The groundskeeper said Barker showed up around 5:30 p.m., and apparently stayed until midnight – at least, that’s when the alarm system was reset.”

      “Wait…Barker has a place here in Lake Geneva?”

      “Yeah…over on the south side of the lake…on North Oakland Road. Barker’s parents owned it until 2010, and then Adam Barker inherited it when the parents died in a plane crash.”

      Blake nodded. “So that explains why the Mercedes was in Lake Geneva…and why the Mercedes tire tracks came into the lagoon area from the south…but it still doesn’t tell us what happened to Adam Barker.”

      “You checked the tire tracks? Damn, Tommy, you’re a Reserve Patrol Officer, remember?”

      Blake smiled. “Old habits, Sid. But that brings me to the reason I wanted to talk to you. Something