(nw) Their daughter vanished in 1990 at her graduation…

John unfolded the page, revealing a photoshoot with young models. His attention was drawn to a young man in stylish clothes. Something about him seemed familiar.

“Who’s this?” he asked, pointing to the model. Emily leaned over to look. “That’s Steven Larson. He was in our class.”

John returned to the yearbook and found Steven’s photo next to Mary’s. Now he remembered. He was pretty talented, modeling at that age.

“He still does some modeling, I hear. Owns a clothing line now,” Emily said. John looked up.

“You know, Nancy mentioned once that you dated Steven back then. I didn’t think much of it.” Emily’s expression shifted instantly.

“That’s not true at all. I never dated Steven. Honestly, I never liked him. He was actually close with Mary for a while.” That surprised John. “Mary? She and Nancy never mentioned anything about Steven to me. It was in junior year, about a year before graduation,” Emily explained. Steven seemed into Mary for a few months, but it fizzled out. Once we figured out what he was really like, we both steered clear of him. Mary never brought him up again.” Emily paused, as if recalling something. “Although, now that I think about it, I saw them talking a few times in class. They seemed close, which was odd because we’d decided he was bad news. Mary even asked me weird questions about him.” “What kind of questions?” John asked, his interest piqued.

“She asked if I thought someone like Steven just needed help to change, if he wasn’t as bad as we thought. One time, she even asked me to drive by his house because she wanted to see where he lived. I thought it was strange then, but Mary always had a big heart. She wanted to see the good in people. Did the police know about this when they investigated her disappearance?” John asked. “Yeah, I told them,” Emily confirmed. They questioned everyone in our class, including Steven. But by then, Mary was dating Daniel Spencer. He was their main suspect at first.”

John nodded. “I remember Daniel. He’d come by to pick her up. We suspected him too, but he had a solid alibi for when she disappeared.” “Do you know what happened to him?” John asked. “Last I heard, he left town soon after Mary vanished. Probably too hard for him with all the suspicion,” Emily said. John’s thoughts swirled. “And Steven? What about him?” “I’m not sure about their relationship,” Emily said. Mary didn’t show much interest in him, except for those few odd questions.” John glanced at the magazine photo of Steven again. Why had Mary used his page as a bookmark? And the fact that she was close with him, yet neither John nor Nancy knew, felt significant.

He mentioned this to Emily, and she said, “That was from Mary’s favorite magazine. I hated it so much that she tore out the page with his face. She folded it up and said there was no better use for it than as a bookmark.”

John paused for a moment, then nodded. “Do you know where Steven is now?” he asked. Emily picked up her phone and scrolled through a message.

“Actually, last weekend we had a class reunion at Steven’s house. I didn’t go, but they shared his address in the group chat.” She showed John the message.

“Could you send me that address?” John asked, pulling out his phone. They exchanged numbers, and Emily forwarded the information. “Do you think Steven might be involved somehow?” Emily asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know,” John admitted. “But I want the police to know about his connection to Mary, however brief. The fact that neither Nancy nor I knew about it makes me curious. When Mary started dating Daniel, everything was open and transparent.” John stood, thanking Emily for her time and information. As he prepared to leave, Emily touched his arm.

“Please tell Nancy I said hello,” she said. “And thank you for letting me keep the book. It means more to me than you can imagine.”

John nodded, tucking the yearbook under his arm, and stepped into the daylight, his mind buzzing with new questions about his daughter’s life and disappearance. John sat in his car, the yearbook on the passenger seat beside him. His thoughts churned with the new information Emily had shared.

Learning that Mary had been close with Steven Larson, even briefly, was unsettling—not because of Steven himself, but because John and Nancy had been unaware. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number of Detective Robert Sullivan, who had handled Mary’s case all these years. John knew the detective was now retired but still lived in town.

The call went to voicemail, unsurprising for a Sunday. John stared at his phone, then at the address Emily had sent. He should go home to Nancy.

He knew he’d promised her they’d close this chapter of their lives today. But something about Emily’s words and that bookmark nagged at him. Mary’s curiosity about Steven’s house, her questions about whether he could change.

“Just a quick drive-by,” he muttered to himself, starting the car. “Just to see where it is.” Twenty minutes later, John found himself in one of the town’s more affluent neighborhoods.

Large houses with manicured lawns lined quiet streets, a stark contrast to the modest home where he and Nancy raised Mary. He located Steven’s address, a spacious two-story house with a circular driveway and professional landscaping. The property was noticeably larger than its neighbors, a testament to Steven’s success since high school…