Chapter 12

“There’s chocolate cake,” Maggie soothed. “You should have seen Mom’s face when she remembered she shouldn’t leave you two alone up here.” She waggled her eyebrows.

So that’s how we ended up back downstairs again. The cake was delicious. I got the piece that said ‘Happy’. We sat in a stupor in the living room while Dad organized some notes and made his calls.

As it turned out, my dad was able to have the plane located. It took a while, but he did it. The directions I’d given were spot on, and with input from Frederick’s family, there, on a remote hilly slope, one that had been wooded at the time and was now densely covered with secondary growth, the wreckage of the plane—complete with two skeletons—was found. It wasn’t all in one piece, but it was identifiable.

* * * *

I had a bad night after he told us all about it. It wasn’t exactly a dream that ruined my sleep, but more like what PTSD must be.