Chapter 91
Kirsten
@MaisieMDanceTX, TikTok
Watching Maple’s dad on Dylan’s YouTube show gave me goosebumps because Ella talked about wanting to dance in a Vegas show once. I’d hate her to have met someone like Blake #findElla #findMaple
As soon as the detective’s car drives away, I reopen my laptop and look for Coco’s channel on YouTube.
I know I can’t stick around for long, that I need to be elsewhere when she comes back with a warrant.
But I don’t imagine Provo magistrates are fans of weekend work, so I’m guessing I have a couple of hours to figure out a place to lay low.
Compared to most teenagers, Coco doesn’t have that much content on her page.
Plenty of shorts, but only six long-form videos.
I watch her latest, filmed a couple of months ago.
It’s mainly a voiceover and images with Coco talking very earnestly about a girl called Sophie Lyle, like she thinks she’s Kendall Rae.
So this is Maple’s best friend. They’re the same age, and Coco is pretty too, I suppose, dark curly hair and big brown eyes.
But she lives thousands of miles away, she’s obsessed with a murder victim, and she’s got less than five thousand followers on YouTube.
What does Maple see in her? And would she really have chosen to leave me to go to her?
But if Maple’s not with Coco, or Dylan, or any of her friends in Provo, does that mean that Garrett and the detective and half the internet are right? Blake has taken her?
My phone buzzes again. This time it’s Garrett’s mom so I let it ring out, then wait a full two minutes before a double beep tells me she’s left a voicemail.
I’m not listening to her sermon about my absent mothering skills, so I hit delete.
But as I do, I notice the voice message from Stu Miller again, the one I still haven’t listened to.
I was so proud of myself when I first thought about contacting him.
Yes, I had the optimism of inebriation on my side, but I really believed I’d figured out a solution to our problem.
I would hire a private investigator to find Ella Hart, and he would accomplish Maple’s mission for her.
She’d go back to being Maybe Maple, Maddie would forgive her, and we could put the whole sorry episode behind us.
Of course, I had no idea then that Maple would disappear before my plan had a chance to crystallize.
I drum my fingernails against the countertop. Narrow my eyes.
Maple’s mission remains unaccomplished.
I push off the barstool. How have I been this stupid?
This blind? Maple is obsessed with finding Ella Hart!
She hasn’t been taken by a pedophile, or found solace with a YouTube nobody.
She’s found a clue – Dylan even told me this, a new piece of information Maple was reluctant to share – and gone on a hunt.
And of course she’d want to do it solo, because she’s my daughter. Brave, independent. Ambitious.
I grab my phone, hit play on Stu Miller’s message, and feel my chest swell, like my heart is literally fixing itself in real time.
And as I listen to Stu’s soft Utah twang, I thank God for agreeing to pay him in advance too.
Because not only has he found Ella, he’s sharing all her details, including her address.
This is where Maple will be. Not with Coco in Miami, or Blake in New York, or wherever the hell he really lives. But out there, finishing the task she set herself.
And maybe the most exciting bit is that I’m the only one who’s figured it out. So I get to be the one who finds her. The heroic mom, with the most finely tuned instincts.
I need to book a flight.