A Cat in the Attic Mystery: The Secret of Logan Pond Read online

  The Secret of Logan Pond

  A Cat in the Attic Mystery

  by

  Kathi Daley

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Katherine Daley

  Version 1.0

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  A Cat in the Attic Mystery

  The Curse of Hollister House

  The Mystery Before Christmas

  The Case of the Cupid Caper

  The Secret of Logan Pond

  Table of Contents

  A Cat in the Attic Mystery

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

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  Chapter 1

  Friday

  On May 19, 1995, Austin Brady, a middle school student, along with five of his friends, decided to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather. They cut school and headed to Logan Pond, which was really more of a lake than a pond, for an overnight fishing trip. After setting up camp, the group gathered around the campfire and told ghost stories late into the evening. When the boys awoke the following morning, Austin was gone. The five remaining boys looked for him but to no avail. It was as if he’d simply vanished.

  While most folks living in the area at the time of the disappearance figured he’d simply wandered away and became lost, there were those who believed otherwise. Based on interviews conducted by me, Calliope Rose Collins, it appears Austin was a smart kid, who was nearing his thirteenth birthday. He’d lived in Foxtail Lake his entire life and was very familiar with the area. The idea that he’d gotten lost while visiting a fishing hole he’d visited many times in the past seemed like the easy answer, but in my opinion, not necessarily the correct one.

  I looked at Alastair, my Great-aunt Gracie’s cat, as he sat in the window seat in the attic, watching me work. I’d recently landed a job as a full-time reporter for Foxtail News, and I’d been working on a series of articles relating to Austin’s disappearance as the twenty-fifth anniversary of that disappearance neared. While I was nowhere near solving the quarter-century-old cold case, which was my ultimate goal, I’d done a lot of research and knew quite a bit more than when I started. According to the official missing persons report my good friend, Deputy Cass Wylander, secured for me, after Austin was reported missing, the entire town came together, and hundreds of residents set out to scour the forest surrounding Logan Pond for any trace of the missing child. Unfortunately, the search came up empty. The pond was dredged, friends and relatives were interviewed, and an all-points bulletin was issued, but it seemed as if the boy had simply vanished. According to the lead investigator, even a wild animal attack would have resulted in some sort of physical evidence, but despite long hours scouring the woods, not a single clue was found.

  “I think this is going to be a tough one to crack,” I said to Alastair.

  “Meow.” He jumped down out of the window seat and trotted over to a stack of old magazines that had been piled up in the corner.

  “Don’t knock those over,” I warned as he began to paw at the tall pile, which appeared to have been haphazardly stacked and not all that stable.

  “Meow,” he answered as he gave the pile a final shove with a paw, sending it tumbling.

  I let out a sigh and headed toward the magazines, which were now scattered around on the floor. “Silly cat, I told you to be careful and not knock them over.”

  I began picking up the old issues of what looked to be travel magazines. I really wasn’t sure why Aunt Gracie was keeping these. Not only were they ancient, but as far as I knew, the magazines, which had been part of the stack, had gone out of business years ago.

  “Oh, look,” I said, picking up the magazine Alastair had decided to sit on. “This one is a visitor’s guide to Colorado.” I opened the cover. “There are maps of hiking trails, photos of beautiful meadows, descriptions of ski areas, and locations of lakes and ponds deemed to be great for fishing.” I stood up, taking the magazine with me. “Logan Pond and Foxtail Lake are both included as premiere spots to catch your limit.” I looked at the cat. “Personally, I’ve never had all that much luck in either location.” I thumbed through the issue. “They have a section on old mines and caves in the area.” I glanced at Alastair. “I’ve always been interested in learning more about the gold rush. Maybe I’ll do some research for a future column.” Tossing the magazine on my desk, I brushed off the dust that had gathered on my sweatpants while kneeling on the floor to gather up the scattered periodicals. “Perhaps I’ll look through these old magazines later. There might actually be articles I can use. Right now, I guess we should go down for breakfast.”

  “Meow.”

  I’m not sure why I find the early mornings before the sun even makes its appearance over the distant summit the best time to write, but it’s a routine Alastair and I have settled into and quite enjoyed. I logged off my computer and headed down the stairs. Aunt Gracie, the owner of the home where I currently resided and had lived in as a child, was sitting at the kitchen table, having coffee with her best friend and groundskeeper, Tom Walden. I’d noticed a slight shift between the two of them since they’d returned from their vacation in Hawaii. Nothing overt, but I sensed an intimacy that hadn’t been quite as apparent before. Not that Aunt Gracie would act on whatever might be going on between them. We both believed in the family curse and had vowed to never marry or produce offspring, but not marrying or having children wasn’t the same as not falling in love.

  “I noticed you were up,” Gracie greeted. “I guess you’ve been working on your column.”

  I nodded as I poured a mug of coffee. “I’m trying to come up with some fresh ideas for the Austin Brady case, but I’m afraid I’m getting nowhere.”

  “The boy disappeared twenty-five years ago, and despite their best effort, the local police were unable to find a single clue as to what happened to him,” Tom pointed out. “I’m not sure that the case is solvable.”

  I blew out a breath and sat down with the senior couple. “I know it’s a long shot, but Dex and Austin were friends, and he really wants answers. I know it’s a big ask on his part, but I’m really hoping to give them to him.”

  “I guess Dex would have been around the same age as Austin at the time of his disappearance,” Gracie said.

  Dex was my boss and the current editor of Foxtail News. He inherited the position after his father, Garrett Heatherton, retired, and he was still trying to make his mark on the family business.

  “Dex told me that he was actually supposed to go along with the other six boys on the overnight fishing trip, but his father found out about his plan to cut school on Friday and put an end to things. I know it’s a longshot, but this is important to Dex, so I’m going to do what I can to find something. I’m not sure what that something might be after all these years, but there must be
something to discover that might not have been found back then.”

  “Seems like you’ve taken on a big job,” Tom said. “It might be best to keep your expectations realistic so as not to be too upset if you’re unable to do what you’ve set out to do.”

  “I know how difficult this will be, but Dex and Cass have agreed to help me, as has Hope, who’s done her own research on this case in the past.”

  Hope Mansfield was the local librarian.

  “So, what do you know so far?” Gracie asked.

  “Not a lot. The five boys who went fishing with Austin were: Josh Underwood, Colin Woodford, Larry Lakewood, Bobby Brighton, and Toby Wallis. Josh died in a vehicle accident when he was seventeen, but Colin, Larry, Bobby, and Toby are all still alive and kicking. I plan to speak to each of them.”

  “Didn’t Toby move from the area?” Tom asked.

  I nodded. “Toby is a ranger for the National Park System and is currently based at Glacier National Park. He’s married to my friend, Natalie, from high school.”

  “I remember Natalie,” Gracie said. “She was going to be a doctor.”

  “She ended up being a wildlife veterinarian, which works perfectly with Toby’s choice of career.”

  “I thought Toby was quite a bit younger than Austin,” Gracie said.

  “He was. In fact, he was the youngest in the group. I think he was four or five years younger than the others. Hope thinks the reason he was there was because he might have gone with Josh Underwood. Josh’s mom used to babysit Toby when his mother was out of town.”

  Gracie got up and headed toward the oven where something delicious smelling was baking. “I guess that makes sense. Is Toby coming to Foxtail Lake?”

  “No. He can’t get away, but Cass and I are going to have a video conference with him tomorrow. I know Toby the best, so I’m hoping to get a basic foundation from which to question the others.”

  “I know Colin and Bobby still live in the area, but I’m not sure about Larry,” Gracie said.

  “Larry Lakewood’s family moved to Denver not long after that fateful camping trip. He currently lives in Steamboat Springs. Cass and I plan to take a drive up there to speak to him at some point next week. I also plan to interview Colin and Bobby as soon as I can set something up. I was going to do it before this, but Hope warned me that neither man is really open to speaking about the incident, so it would be best if I did my research and had my ducks in a row before I spoke to them.”

  “It seems like you’ve been working on this story for over a month now,” Tom said.

  “I have. I’ve been looking at the police file, including the missing persons report, witness interviews, and old newspaper articles. As I just mentioned, I haven’t actually started my interviews yet, but I plan to take care of that next week. I’m hoping that once I’ve conducted my consultations with these men, I’ll be ready to try out a theory or two. I plan to go ahead and turn in the first of my three columns to Dex since it’s only an introduction that shows my intent to do further research, so I’ll still have time to figure out something. At least I hope I can figure out a way to put all the little pieces of information I’ve been gathering these past weeks together and come up with something new, even if it doesn’t lead me to the answers everyone seeks.”

  “What happened to Austin’s family?” Tom asked. “It seems they moved on quite a while ago.”

  “His father died in a climbing accident maybe ten years ago, and his mother remarried and moved to Florida. Austin was an only child, so there are no siblings to interview. Dex has the contact information for Austin’s mother, but I’m hesitant to call her unless I actually have news to share with her.”

  “That makes sense,” Gracie said after sliding a quiche out of the oven. “No reason to bring the whole thing up again if you don’t need to. The poor woman has certainly had to live with more than her share of tragedy.”

  “That’s what I figured.”

  Gracie slid a plate with a slice of quiche and a piece of toast in front of me. Before my accident, I’d lived on my own and would usually just grab an apple or a banana for breakfast. Since I’d decided to move home to Foxtail Lake, Gracie had been feeding me wonderful meals twice a day. I realized that if I didn’t want to get fat, I was going to have to up my workout routine, which at this point consisted of pretty much nothing.

  “I’m thinking about joining the new gym that opened up on the north end of town,” I said after I tasted my first bite of the delicious breakfast.

  “I hear it’s really nice,” Gracie said. “I think it’s being referred to as a health spa or wellness center rather than a gym. They have weights and whatnot, but they also offer classes and have a juice bar.”

  “Naomi joined last month, and she said all the equipment is state of the art.” Naomi owned the local animal shelter where Cass and I volunteered two afternoons a week. “She said the classes are pretty good as well. They have spin, yoga, dance, and a couple others.”

  “It sounds fun. I think you should do it,” Gracie encouraged. “Trust me, when you get older, you’ll be glad you stayed in shape.”

  “I do feel like I need to work on my strength. I’ve let my workout routine slip into oblivion since the accident, and I haven’t kept up with the exercises the physical therapist gave me the way I should have. It really is time to get my strength and flexibility back. Naomi told me they’re running a promo for the spring, so the timing is good. I thought I’d stop by today after I check in at the newspaper.”

  “Will you be spending the afternoon at the shelter?” she asked.

  “I will,” I confirmed. “And since Cass and I usually go out for a bite after our shift, don’t plan on me for dinner.” I glanced at the clock. “I guess I should head up and shower. I told Dex I’d be in around nine. He mentioned that he has a couple extra articles for me this weekend. I hope they aren’t too time-consuming, but I guess I’ll just be flexible and go where the news takes me.”

  “I really enjoyed the article you did last week about the upcoming fishing derby,” Tom said. “It was so well written that it motivated me to sign up even though I’d initially decided not to.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it. The derby won’t actually be taking place for another month, but Dex wanted to start getting the word out. He’s hoping for a good turn out this year since the community voted to roll the derby, chili cook-off, and ax throwing contest all into the same weekend.”

  “Are they having the chili cook-off and ax throwing contest out at the lake?” Gracie asked.

  “They are. I hope this nice weather holds. An outdoor event in May can go either way, but we have had an early spring, and the snow is about gone at this elevation, so I think we should be fine.”

  I took my dishes to the sink and then headed upstairs to shower and dress. I had a busy day ahead of me, and I knew I’d need to stay organized. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually workout today, but I packed a bag with workout gear just in case. I needed to meet with Dex first, and I had my volunteer shift at the shelter in the afternoon, so I’d need to stop by the gym between the two. If I didn’t have an immediate need to do research or an interview for the articles Dex planned to assign to me, I might get a short workout in today; otherwise, I’d just check it out and plan to return for my first workout at another time.

  Chapter 2

  Dex was waiting for me in his office when I arrived. I could sense his impatience to find the answers he’d been seeking ever since his friend disappeared, but I think he knew I was doing the best that I could and the odds of me actually finding anything that hadn’t been discovered before were pretty slim. Still, it was hard to see the look of anticipation in his eyes, only to watch it extinguish when I told him that despite weeks of research, I still hadn’t found anything.

  “I can see you’re really trying,” he encouraged. “And I know finding anything new is a longshot.”

  “I know most folks think Austin simply got turned around and lost his way, but
what other theories were passed around back then?” I asked. “There must have been a lot of talk and speculation at the time. I lived in Foxtail Lake when he disappeared, but I was just a kid, so I don’t remember much.”

  He shrugged. “Like you said, most figured he wandered off and became disoriented, which caused him to lose his way, others figured he woke early and went fishing, only to somehow be pulled into the lake, where he drowned.”

  “Pulled into the lake? By what?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe a really big fish or perhaps some sort of lake monster. It was a pretty out-there theory to begin with, so who knows what whoever suggested it was thinking. Again, there were a lot of theories being tossed around, but most were pure nonsense.”

  “I guess. And I agree that a lake monster sounds a bit out there. What other sorts of things did people theorize?”

  Dex leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, resting them on his slightly protruding belly. He was a tall man who looked to have been in excellent shape at one point, but it was obvious that he could use some time in the new gym in town too. After a moment, he answered. “There were theories having to do with animal attacks, kidnappers, and even alien abduction. Like I said, the ideas were filtering through the community at a crazy rate, but to this day, no one seems to know what actually happened on that long-ago spring night. As you know, Logan Pond was dredged, the forest searched, and almost every stone in the area overturned, but the guy was just gone.” He looked me in the eyes. “How can someone just be gone?”

  “I don’t know, but I do plan to do everything in my power to figure it out. I have interviews set up with the surviving boys next week. Maybe one of them noticed something they may not have even realized they noticed. If there is a new lead out there, I’ll find it.”