Route 16. From Prince Rupert east across Canada. Also known as the Highway of Tears. No hitch-hiking say the signs. And probably for good reason. For, over the years, quite a few people have disappeared, last seen thought trying to thumb a lift. In one shop window I’d found a fading poster, a montage of the missing. Lost souls dating back almost a quarter of a century.
A young woman had recently disappeared south of the highway. Tragic coincidence or part of a pattern? Hard – almost impossible – to say. Perhaps the only connection was the road – ostensibly a single route east, settlements strung along its length – such that over the years the missing appeared to be linked, even if this wasn’t actually the case. The alternative – that they were – quite unpalatable.
