Chapter 3

One of the first families or friends of the vanished that we met were the parents of Laura White. Laura had vanished from her apartment. Her parents, Joe and Rhonda White, had called when she missed church. They had a key but had to get help because the chain on her door was still in place. She was simply gone.

Missus White said, "Laura was a good girl. She taught math and coached volleyball at a local high school. She didn't date much but had many friends. No one knows where she could be."

I said, "She sounds like my brother, Brian. He doesn't date much but has many friends. He's a sales manager who was on vacation in Myrtle Beach with a couple of buddies and vanished from the hotel room."

Joe White said, "Laura is quite capable. She likes the outdoors and even hunts. I have taken her deer hunting with me for years."

I saw a picture of a young woman on the table next to us. I took it gently and said, "Is this a picture of Laura?"

Missus White smiled and said, "Yes, it was taken last summer as she was leaving to play volleyball in a summer league." The picture was of a tall, slim young woman. Her eyes caught my attention. They were beautiful brown eyes that could calm the soul. I murmured, "I hope Brian meets her."

Missus White said, "What did you say?"

I stammered for a second. "I said that I hoped Brian meets her. Her eyes startled me. There is a calm intelligence there that my brother would find irresistible. Maybe they vanished to the same place and will meet."

Mister White said, "That's always possible." Beth took out a picture of Brian and passed it to the Whites. They nodded. He said, "He's tall enough not to be intimidated by her height. She's pretty outspoken. Hopefully, he can handle meeting an independent woman."

Beth said, "He can. I think they would like each other. It would be tough for Brian to make the first move but you never know."

Missus White said, "Our Laura can be bold but we've never seen her with men much. Her height scares them. Her independence scares them. Her intelligence finishes scaring them away.

"We've always wanted her to meet the right man. She has told me that she does, too. She's careful though. Your brother looks like a great guy and you two make good cheerleaders for him. Who knows? Maybe they will meet."

We left shortly thereafter though exchanged numbers. Our next meeting was with two teens, Tim and Jean Jones. Their parents vanished leaving them alone. Tim had finished his first year of college and Jean would be a senior in high school. They had all gone to bed Saturday night and the brother and sister woke to find their parents gone. The house was still locked for the night. No cars or phones or clothes were taken. At first, the police were not inclined to include Ted and Alice with the vanished but it finally appeared that inclusion was appropriate. They were worried but had relatives to help. Their parents had left two very competent young people though the situation was unprecedented for them. They asked us if we had any opinions.

I said, "Not really. For the most part, the individuals who vanished are good, smart people. I hope they wound up finding each other and making a go of things. We won't ever know unless someone reappears."

The most troubling was the parents of the three teens. The two girls had known each other but the boy wasn't known by either. Since all three vanished from the same location, their parents hoped they were together.

We went on to Myrtle Beach. We met Detective Grimm and verified to her that our brother was a good guy with no problems. There were simply no leads. It was like Brian and all the others simply vanished off the face of the earth. The detective asked me to look at Brian's things. I did and told her that I couldn't find anything missing. I told her that it's like he vanished naked. The boxers that he slept in were still in the bed and under the top sheet! I told her that many of the other stories were similar in most ways.

We were given Brian's things to take back to Nashville. Amos and Nat were anxious to help, make us feel better, or anything. They felt guilty and just didn't know what to do.

I didn't either and Beth and I left for Nashville the next morning.