White Space Season 1

tighter around her shoulders. “It’s gonna rain,” she said, looking up at the sky. “Are we gonna be out here much longer, ya think?”
    Cassidy said, “Just till we get to the center of town. I’d like to put the rest of the posters up at the post office.”
    “Where’s Vivian?” Mrs. Lindley held her hand out for another stack of posters, then crossed the street toward the intersection of Lighthouse and Main. “Shouldn’t she be out here with us?”
    Cassidy shook her head. “She had another one of her headaches. She wanted to come but would’ve been miserable, and we would’ve, too. Plus we needed someone to stay behind in case Emma came home.”
    “The migraines?” Mrs. Lindley shook her head. “Seems like she’s getting them even more than she used to.”
    Cassidy looked far off, barely whispered, “Yeah, a lot more.”
    Mrs. Lindley said, “Blue marbles aren’t any sort of gumdrops.”
    Cassidy looked back at Jon, almost smiling. He smiled back. The two of them quietly laughed as they crossed the street.
    Ten minutes later, the two of them were standing in the center of town. Mrs. Lindley went to the small laundry over on Grover to see if anyone had left any quarters in the change machine, while Cassidy went to drop off a few flyers at the Stop and Shop, then the rest at the post office. Jon said he’d hang his final few posters on the two light posts, then on the bulletin board in front of the community center.
    When Cassidy returned, Jon was staring at the bulletin board with his mouth open wide. There were 14 pictures on the board, five in color and nine in black and white. Eleven adults and three children – all missing.
    Jon turned to Cassidy, shaking his head. “Hamilton Island isn’t that big,” he said. “Missing people shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
    Cassidy looked up at the board like it was graffiti in her own ghetto, then back at Jon. “You can’t find people if they don’t want to be found, or if they’re dead. Most of ‘em probably ran away, and a bunch of them are probably suicides, or falls, off Tanner’s Pass.”
    Jon just kept shaking his head. “That can’t be,” he said.
    Cassidy laughed, but there wasn’t any happy in the music. “You’ve been gone a long time, Jonny Conway. Wearing your rose-colored Armani, Bono-looking glasses. You don’t remember how depressing this place can be, or maybe you never had a clue to begin with, living up in the Gardens and all.”
    Jon ignored her. “If these are suicides, or even runaways, the numbers are still big enough to make the news. In Seattle, at least.”
    He looked around at all the CCTV cameras hanging from light posts, off the corners of buildings, and pretty much anywhere you could put a camera. There were enough cameras on the island to shoot the most invasive reality show ever. Cameras installed by Paladin, via his family, to keep the family safe during a time that crime was starting to rise on the island 10 years ago.
    “All these damned cameras, and they can’t keep people safe?”
    Another cracked laugh from Cassidy, then, “Ha, no one gives a shit about the dirt on the island.”
    Words stuck in Jon’s throat as a thick, sickly mucus made its way into his mouth. He didn’t know what to say, wasn’t even sure what to think, but a creeping horror had wormed its way in his head and was now slithering through his body.
    Jon held Cassidy’s eyes as the wind tousled his hair, staring into their bottomless depths with a sudden craving to know everything she knew.
    “I found .50 cents!” Mrs. Lindley yelled, running toward them.
    “We need to talk,” he said.
    “We need to find Emma,” she said.
    The gray in the sky turned black and started to pour down on them.
    Jon wiped the rain from his face, then followed Cassidy and Mrs. Lindley back toward the house. As they walked, Jon couldn’t help but feel like they were being watched.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 8 — Milo Anderson

    4 p.m.

    Milo woke up pissed.
    He was angry at Alex for coming over. They would talk someday, probably, but not for a while – not before the sun had set on the horrors of what happened. When every thought of Alex made Milo think of Jessica, even the daylight was dark. Alex’s dad murdered the light.
    He was also pissed about the “Cody” guy who was winding him up online, talking like he knew something and saying Manny was in danger. And then, when pressed for questions, the fucker stopped talking. Yet another