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“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.”

“Right,” I said and took a sip from my glass. “It was getting dark, and we started to get really nervous. Everyone, even some of the guests if I remember correctly, was out looking for him. I told everyone where I’d seen him running to and we all went to comb the park. My parents called the police and then the whole thing became this massive search operation that lasted for a month and then some.”

“Yes, I heard everyone was looking for Charlie. My mom was there as well.”

I didn’t remember the last bit but nodded anyway.

“After six months, my mother was emotionally drained. It was decided that my father would take her to France to recuperate. It was a temporary arrangement. Not sure if you know this, but my grandparents had a château which they had bequeathed to my mother and her sister. After some time, though, my mother developed this notion that Maple Grove House was cursed and persuaded my father to stay in France for a while longer. Each time my father brought up the idea of returning, my mother would ask for ‘a bit longer’, which eventually turned into ‘never.’ At that time, we still had a pig farm that was generating some income. It had been profitable until a few years ago when the tenant died, and his kids didn’t want to be pig farmers. Well, my father went back from time to time to take care of some things, but my mother was adamant she didn’t want to set foot in the house again. Gradually, my father stopped coming back as well and things were getting done through our lawyer.”