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private?”
    He shook his head. “I want you out of here, now.” Matt turned to Helen. “What has Claire been telling you?”
    Helen put a hand on his arm. “Listen to what she has to say, Matt. She can help us.”
    â€œI know why you can’t find Amber on the trails,” I told him.
    â€œAnd why is that?”
    I looked again at the volunteers and stepped away, waving for Matt to join me. I didn’t want the rest of the crowd to hear what I had to say. Helen followed us.
    â€œAll right,” Matt said. “You got your privacy. Now, what is it?”
    I hesitated. I was about to accuse a teen of a serious crime, without proof. “Amber is in Doug Conner’s van,” I said. “I think he’s moving her from place to place so you won’t find her.”
    â€œWe’re back to your kidnapper story, are we? I suppose you saw this in one of your visions?”
    â€œI did.”
    â€œI believe her, Matt,” said Helen.
    Matt’s voice softened as he talked to her. “Helen, you’re tired. Your daughter is missing. That kind of stress will mess with your mind. We have no reason to believe Doug took Amber.”
    â€œClaire saw the inside of Doug’s van in her vision,” Helen told him. “She described the shag carpet on the walls.”
    Matt shook his head. “How long has Doug had that van?”
    â€œAbout five months.”
    â€œIsn’t it more likely Claire just saw him driving around town?”
    â€œI’ve never seen Doug’s van,” I said.
    â€œYou may not remember—”
    â€œWe’re wasting time arguing,” I said. “I think Doug hurt her, Matt. I don’t know how badly.”
    â€œDo you hear yourself ?” Matt asked me. “You’ve just accused an innocent kid of assault and kidnapping.” Matt turned to Helen. “You can’t possibly believe this woman.”
    At that moment, I heard my mother’s voice. “And why the hell not?” I turned to find my mother marching toward us. “If I were you, I’d be hunting for that van right now,” she said to Matt.
    â€œOh, here we go,” said Matt. He already thought Mom was loony. Her bright pink earmuffs and silver puffy jacket only added to that image. In her yellow snow boots, she looked like an overdressed duck.
    â€œMom, what are you doing here?” I said.
    She waved a hand at Matt. “I’m here to make sure this fool listens to you.”
    â€œYour help is the last thing I need right now,” I said.
    Matt pointed a finger at me. “And I don’t want your help either,” he told me.
    â€œBut I do,” said Helen. “Matt, please. You haven’t found Amber. I’m willing to try anything at this point. Maybe Claire can lead us to my daughter. Maybe not. But isn’t it at least worth a try?”
    â€œLet me tell you something, Helen,” Matt said. “Nearly every time someone goes missing, Claire’s mom phones us, claiming she knows where that person is. She’s got a ‘feeling.’” He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
    Mom poked him in the chest. “If you’d just listen once or twice, you would come to believe me,” she said.
    â€œI did listen to you at first,” said Matt. “You always ended up wasting our volunteers’ time. That’s precious time we could have used to track down those missing people.”
    â€œI told you exactly where that Evans kid was hiding last month.”
    â€œIn the old Sterling mansion, I know,” said Matt. “Except we found him in the Johnsons’ barn.”
    â€œHe was in that mansion when I told you he was there. He hid in the root cellar when he heard everyone looking for him. Then he left.”
    â€œI questioned him later,” said Matt. “He was never there.”
    â€œHe was lying,” said Mom. “He broke into the