That was true. At one point we kept quite a few people as staff in the house. My parents liked to hire married couples with children. They were stable employees, I suppose. Being a single parent, Jared’s mother was an exception, but she was a good employee. In any case, we always had some kids playing in the playground that my great grandfather had built.
“Well, we were playing the game on that day as well,” I said, dreading to get closer to the moment when my brother disappeared. “We hadn’t played in a while and Charlie sort of begged me to do it for old times’ sake, so to speak.”
If only I’d said no.
“He told me that he’d found a place to hide and that I wasn’t going to find him this time,” I said. “I knew all the possible hiding spots in the house, of course, but that was our ritual. He would boast of a new place, and I would find him within minutes.”
I suddenly got thirsty and finished my glass. Judging by numb gums, my magic powder was still working, and I needed more alcohol to reduce the unexpected anxiety. Jared followed suit without saying anything and gave the bartender a sign for another round.
“So off he ran to hide. I decided to give him a few extra minutes and went to get a cold drink,” I said, wishing the new round would come sooner.
“We could take a break,” Jared suggested, looking at me.
“I’m all right. I’ve worked through all this with my therapist and drank through it many times over.”
The new round came with a fresh bowl of walnuts. Jared started to work on those nuts, and I joined the cracking action as well. We ate the nuts in silence like two buddies who didn’t need to fill pauses with unnecessary chat. After I’d finished a couple, I felt I was ready to continue.
“Well, when I went upstairs looking for him, I couldn’t find him in all the usual spots. And just when I thought that, perhaps, he had finally found a new one, I saw him from the window running through the garden. I figured he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to play anymore, so I went to my room.”
“You saw him running away?”
“Well, I was on the third floor and was considering checking the attic, which Charlie was a bit afraid of, when I saw him running fast towards the main gates. I screamed, ‘That’s not fair!’ or something to that effect, thinking it was odd for him to break our rule about hiding only in the house.”
Jared stopped eating the nuts and gazed at me.
“When exactly was that?”
“Thirteenth of July.”
There was a moment of silence. “Was that the last time you saw him?”
“Yes, it was.”
“When did you realize that he was missing?”
“It was much later in the evening. I felt strange that he hadn’t shown up for dinner, which we usually had by ourselves when our parents were preoccupied with their guests. I asked the staff. No one had seen him. Then I thought perhaps he’d gone to see our parents. It was a bit unusual but at that point I was running out of options.”
If only I had started looking earlier instead of sitting in my room, checking out my secret stash of adult magazines.
“I remember the summer parties your parents organized,” Jared said. “They were amazing. So many people in nice outfits walking around the park, carrying tall champagne glasses, and chatting with each other.”
“Some of those events were nice, I suppose,” I said, remembering myself being bored at them.
“But you couldn’t find Charlie there.”
