Chapter 13 - The Boy Who Refused to Disappear
Richard had never been so afraid.
Not when his company nearly collapsed during the recession.
Not when his father died.
Not when he stood beside Caroline's coffin.
Nothing compared to hearing that his son was missing.
Again.
Brooks drove toward the hospital while Richard sat beside Caroline in the back of an unmarked police vehicle.
Caroline held his hand.
She kept whispering Oliver's name.
Richard had imagined their reunion a thousand times during the past few hours.
He had imagined Caroline running toward their son.
Oliver throwing himself into her arms.
A moment that would somehow make the years disappear.
Instead, they were racing through rain toward another nightmare.
Brooks received a radio update.
"The officer assigned to Oliver was found unconscious."
Richard leaned forward.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Who took him?"
"We're reviewing security footage."
Caroline squeezed his hand.
"Richard."
He turned.
"Andrew planned this."
"I know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You don't understand."
Richard stared.
"Tell me."
Caroline took a trembling breath.
"Andrew told me he had someone inside the police department."
Brooks looked at her in the rearview mirror.
"Who?"
"I never saw the person."
"Did you hear a name?"
Caroline closed her eyes.
"Something about a lieutenant."
Brooks's jaw tightened.
"Which lieutenant?"
"I don't know."
Richard looked at the detective.
"Can we trust anyone?"
Brooks met his eyes.
"You can trust me."
Richard wanted to believe her.
But after three years of betrayal, trust had become a dangerous word.
At the hospital, surveillance footage showed a man dressed as a maintenance worker entering the restricted hallway.
He used a stolen access badge.
He carried a large equipment case.
Three minutes later, he emerged.
Oliver was walking beside him.
Not struggling.
Not crying.
Richard leaned closer to the screen.
"Why isn't he fighting?"
Caroline covered her mouth.
The man had one hand on Oliver's shoulder.
In the other, he held a phone.
The screen faced the boy.
Brooks enlarged the image.
A little girl appeared on the screen.
Hope.
Richard understood.
The man had threatened Oliver's sister.
And Oliver had gone with him.
"He's trying to protect her."
Caroline began crying.
Richard pressed his hands against the desk.
"My son thinks he has to save everyone."
Brooks looked at the footage.
"He's seven."
Richard nodded.
"Because the adults in his life taught him he couldn't depend on them."
No one answered.
Then a technician spoke.
"Detective, we found something."
He zoomed in on the maintenance worker's wrist.
A distinctive tattoo.
A black compass.
Brooks froze.
Richard noticed.
"You know him?"
She nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Lieutenant David Mercer."
Richard stared.
"A police lieutenant?"
Brooks swallowed.
"He was assigned to the original investigation into Caroline's death."
Richard's stomach turned.
The same investigation that had accepted Andrew's identification.
The same investigation that had never verified the body through DNA.
Mercer had been there from the beginning.
Brooks immediately issued an alert.
Then her phone vibrated.
A text message.
Unknown number.
STOP LOOKING OR BOTH CHILDREN DISAPPEAR.
Richard looked at the screen.
"He's watching us."
Brooks nodded.
"Which means he's close enough to know what we're doing."
Richard's phone rang.
An unfamiliar number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A small voice whispered.
"Daddy?"
Richard nearly collapsed.
"Oliver!"
"Daddy, don't shout."
Richard looked at Brooks.
She signaled technicians to trace the call.
"Buddy, where are you?"
"I don't know."
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Thank God."
Oliver whispered:
"The man said he'd hurt Hope if I didn't come."
"I know."
"Is Mommy okay?"
Richard looked at Caroline.
Tears streamed down her face.
"She's here, buddy."
Silence.
Then Oliver breathed:
"Mommy?"
Richard handed her the phone.
Caroline pressed it against her ear.
"Oliver?"
The sound that came from the boy wasn't quite a word.
It was a broken little cry.
"Mommy?"
Caroline began sobbing.
"Oh, baby."
"Mommy, are you real?"
She covered her mouth.
"Yes, sweetheart."
"Are you coming home?"
Caroline looked at Richard.
"Yes."
Oliver began crying.
"I thought you forgot me."
Caroline shook her head even though he couldn't see.
"Never."
"Victoria said—"
"Victoria lied."
Caroline's voice strengthened.
"I thought about you every day."
Oliver sobbed.
"Every day?"
"Every single day."
A man's voice interrupted.
"Enough."
Richard grabbed the phone.
"Mercer!"
The man laughed.
"Hello, Mr. Blackwood."
"If you hurt my son—"
"You'll what?"
Richard looked at Brooks.
She held up a hand.
Keep him talking.
Richard swallowed his rage.
"What do you want?"
"A trade."
"For what?"
"The original trust records."
Richard glanced at the encrypted drive on the table.
Mercer continued.
"Your brother's arrest made things complicated."
"Andrew's finished."
"Andrew was never the only person involved."
Richard felt cold.
"What does that mean?"
Mercer laughed.
"You think this was about one greedy brother?"
A pause.
"There's enough money in that trust to buy a lot of people."
Richard looked at Brooks.
She was listening closely.
Mercer continued.
"Bring the drive to the old Blackwood paper mill."
Richard knew the property.
A decaying industrial building forty miles north.
The company had closed it years earlier.
"Come alone."
"Where's Hope?"
Mercer paused.
"Bring the drive and you'll find out."
The line went dead.
Richard stared at the phone.
Then Brooks spoke.
"We have the location."
He looked up.
"Already?"
She nodded.
"Oliver kept him talking long enough."
Richard swallowed.
His seven-year-old son had done exactly what the detectives needed.
Even terrified.
Even separated from his parents.
Richard looked at Caroline.
She had stopped crying.
Her face had changed.
The exhausted woman from the cemetery was still there.
But beneath the fear was something stronger.
The Caroline he remembered.
The woman who had confronted Andrew when everyone else looked away.
"We're getting our children back," she said.
Richard nodded.
"Both of them."
Then a technician entered.
"Detective?"
Brooks turned.
"We recovered one more frame from the hospital footage."
The technician displayed an image.
Oliver was being led toward the service elevator.
He had one hand behind his back.
His fingers were curled into a familiar shape.
Richard frowned.
Then he remembered.
A game Caroline had taught Oliver when he was four.
Three fingers folded.
Thumb across the palm.
The family's secret signal.
I need help.
Richard stood.
"He's leaving us clues."
The technician nodded.
"We think he dropped something near the elevator."
An officer recovered the object.
A tiny blue toy train.
Inside the carriage, someone had folded a piece of paper.
It contained three words written in crayon.
FOLLOW THE WATER.
Richard stared.
Then he remembered the abandoned paper mill.
The old drainage canal.
The river behind the building.
And the underground service tunnel that led straight to the loading dock.
His son had remembered a family trip from years earlier.
May you like
Richard looked at Brooks.
"I know how to get inside."
