heard the first question and it puzzled him.
“You didn‟t happen to see a little boy in there this morning?”
The man shook his head. “I didn‟t see anyone until I came upon these two.” Tim looked at them. “How about it? Did you see a kid?”
Jack shook his head and saw Weezy doing the same. “No, but—” But Tim had turned back to the man. He said his name was Ted Collingswood, a
broker in the Prince ton Merrill Lynch office. He‟d arrived in the Pines on Thursday, planning to spend a few days birding. He wasn‟t due back till today, so nobody would have reported him missing yet. According to his story, Jack estimated he was now at
least fifteen miles from where he‟d left his car.
By the time he started telling his tale of being chased up a tree by the “thing,”
about a dozen people had gathered. Jack shook his head, thinking how it didn‟t take
much to draw a crowd in Johnson, New Jersey, the most boring town on Earth. “Sounds like the Jersey Devil,” someone said.
Jack looked but it wasn‟t Eddie.
Tim said, “Sounds more like a bear.”
“Bear?” someone else said. “There ain‟t no bears in the Pines.” “Yes, there are,” Tim said.
“We‟ve got black bears. Not a lot, but we‟ve got
some, and this man was unlucky enough to stumble across one in the dark. Let‟s leave it at that, shall we? Let‟s not start getting all Twilight Zone about this. Bears can climb, and they‟re heavy enough to break branches a man‟s weight won‟t.”
A bear worked for Jack, maybe even explained the tracks around the pyramid. Everyone turned then at the sound of a siren as an ambulance roared up
Quakerton Road. They watched the EMTs load Mr. Collingswood into the back and roar
away.
And as it did, another sheriff‟s department cruiser pulled up and a deputy got
out. Jack didn‟t recognize him and couldn‟t read his name-tag from here. After a
whispered conversation with Tim, the new deputy leaned back against his car with his arms folded across his chest.
Tim was reaching into a button-down breast pocket of his dark blue shirt as he
approached Jack and Weezy.
“We‟ve got a serious situation here, and I‟m hoping you can help.” Uh-oh.
“Sure,” Jack said. “What‟s up?”
Tim pulled out a photo and handed it to them.
“Know who this is?”
Jack‟s stomach clenched when he saw the photo of a smiling little boy with
shaggy blond hair.
“That‟s Cody … Cody Bockman. What—?”
“He‟s missing.”
“The little guy we saw this morning?” Weezy said.
“You saw him?” Tim said.
The other deputy straightened from the cruiser and approached as Jack told of
his encounter.
“Last I saw him, he was pedaling toward his house. What happened?” “According to the father, the kid had just learned to ride his two-wheeler, and
was running it up and down their driveway this morning, going from the street to the garage in back. His dad went in to refill his coffee, and when he came back out, the kid was gone.”
“But where?” Weezy said.
“The dad ran up and down Jefferson and every other street in the neighborhood.
Not a sign of him.”
Jack drew a map in his head. Jefferson was his street. Its west end stopped at
the buffer woods along 206. The east end stopped at—
“The lake!”
Weezy‟s hand shot to her mouth. “Oh, no!”
Tim nodded, his expression even more grim. “That‟s a big worry. The good news
is, we‟ve searched the bank and haven‟t found any sign of him or his bike. Still …” “There‟s that circus too,” the other deputy said. “A bunch of trucks and trailers
and RVs arrived last night.”
“You don‟t really think he ran away to join the circus?” Weezy said. Jack‟s throat tightened as he remembered threatening to sell Cody to the circus. The deputy made a face. “Not likely, but some real shady types in that crew.” Jack said, “I kidded him about that and he seemed to think it was a cool idea.” “We‟ll check it out,” Tim said. “But they‟re setting up half a mile north on the highway. I don‟t see a five-year-old who‟s just learned to ride without his training wheels making his way anywhere near there.” He looked down at his pad where he‟d
taken notes on the lost man. “That Collingswood guy … he shows up out of nowhere
just after Cody disappears. Could be coincidence, but I don‟t like coincidences.” “I‟m sure he‟ll turn up,” Weezy said.