The case heading for the file was daunting right off the bat.

 

Investigation into the disappearance of Jacqueline Puller.

 

He ran his finger over the letters of his mother’s full name.

 

Jacqueline Elizabeth Puller.

 

Formally correct, though he had called her nothing other than Mom for the eight

years he had had her as a mother.

 

After that? He had rarely used the term at all.

 

For several years when he was growing up, people would come up to him, their

features full of sadness, and tell them how bad they felt for his loss.

 

He had no doubt they were being sincere, but for a little boy it was way too

much to deal with. And Puller had started running the other way when folks

headed toward him with “that look.” His father had not spoken of his wife from

that day on. The family had just continued to exist with an enormously important

piece of their world simply gone without any reason given.

 

Puller and his brother would speak of it sometimes, first as boys and then as

men. But as the years passed and no word was ever heard about their mother, they