Chapter 11

Morgan had to listen six times to be sure but in the end she was positive that it was a message left by Trent on her voicemail. It was one of the only times that she could remember that she was happy that her phone hadn’t had signal. If she had answered the phone to an inebriated sounding male she would have quickly hung up. But something made her listen to the message again instead of deleting it. She was glad she hadn’t. It was Trent and he made absolutely no sense what so ever. Her concern moved to a new level- frantic. Trent and Morgan’s mutual friend Corwin did not agree exactly. He expressed his assessment to Morgan with, “Come on…it’s just a prank caller or someone with the wrong number.” But he did secretly admit to himself that he was becoming increasingly concerned with Trent’s lack of communication.

She would have to explain to her professor later why she missed her lab. The image of the Trent’s blank parking space would not leave Morgan’s mind and she knew that something must be wrong. She had sped most of the way and was thankful that she hadn’t broken her record of exactly zero speeding tickets. She felt that Corwin’s objections to coming along were mostly and act and she was not surprised that it took little cajoling to convince him to come. Forty-five minutes later as she wound her way down the long winding driveway that led to the Malum cabin, her heart skipped when she saw Trent’s car parked under a small patch of trees. Her initial joy was soon replaced with tension as she noticed the layer of dust that coated the car and signs that it had not been moved for several days. Coming to a skidding halt near a large black sedan that somehow seemed familiar; they quickly jumped out with grand intentions of quickly finding Trent. After only fifteen minutes of searching and yelling she was glad that she had been training for the Vulcan Classic road race coming up next April. Corwin had obviously not been training. A general perimeter search of the area had no productive results. She decided to take a chance and head in the direction that led to the overlook. Corwin headed the opposite direction towards the Great Oak. After several minutes she reached the overlook and proceeded to call Trent’s name several times to no avail. She felt frustrated and powerless to be so close if there truly was something wrong and yet not be able to help. She decided to head towards Corwin by cutting through a low ravine that did not have a path but was quicker than heading back the way she had come. As she came through a small grove of trees she thought that she saw movement ahead. She gasped as she recognized Trent’s crumpled body on the ground and the owner of the black sedan standing over him. She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs. The name of Johnny Malum echoed through the trees.