Chapter 10 - A Mother's Worst Fifteen Minutes
Belle had never known silence could be so loud.
The garden was full of people.
Security officers.
Household staff.
Men speaking into radios.
Yet all she could hear was the absence of her son's voice.
“Micah!”
She ran toward the trees.
Renick caught up.
“Belle.”
She pulled away.
“Don't.”
“We're searching every building.”
“He's seven.”
“I know.”
“He's seven years old!”
Her voice cracked.
Renick stood still.
She looked at him, shaking.
“I brought him here because I needed a job.”
“Belle—”
“I thought the guards and gates meant we were safe.”
Her eyes filled.
“Where is my little boy?”
Renick had no answer.
That helplessness tore at him.
He turned toward Nathaniel.
“Every exit.”
“Already locked down.”
“Every car.”
“Being inspected.”
“Every employee.”
“We're accounting for them.”
Renick's voice went deadly quiet.
“Then find the person who took him.”
Belle ran toward the cottage.
Inside, Micah's backpack lay beside the kitchen table.
His half-finished drawing was still on the counter.
A glass of apple juice stood untouched.
His jacket hung on the chair.
All the ordinary things a child leaves behind without knowing his mother might someday look at them as evidence.
Belle gripped the counter.
She couldn't breathe.
Renick entered quietly.
“Belle.”
She turned.
“Don't tell me to calm down.”
“I wasn't going to.”
“Don't tell me everything will be okay.”
“I can't promise that.”
She stared at him.
Renick swallowed.
“But I can promise you that I won't stop looking.”
Belle closed her eyes.
Then forced herself to think.
Micah had been drawing paper birds.
He'd spent the morning talking about Brinley.
He knew security officers by their first names.
He was cautious around strangers.
He would not have walked into a car simply because someone asked.
Unless—
“Brinley.”
Renick looked up.
“What?”
“Someone could have told him Brinley needed help.”
The realization struck them both.
Renick reached for his phone.
“Check my daughter's room.”
A moment later, Sully answered.
“Miss Brinley is safe.”
“Has anyone spoken to her about Micah?”
“She knows he's missing.”
Renick looked at Belle.
“She may know something.”
They found Brinley sitting on the rug in her bedroom.
Her rabbit lay beside her.
Her eyes were swollen.
When Belle entered, the little girl stood.
“Micah?”
Belle knelt.
“Sweetheart, we're looking for him.”
Brinley began shaking her head.
“Micah.”
“I know.”
“Bird boy.”
Belle held her hands.
“Did someone tell him to go somewhere?”
Brinley looked toward the window.
Then pointed.
“House.”
“Which house?”
Brinley made a square with her fingers.
“Glass.”
Renick frowned.
“The greenhouse?”
She nodded.
Belle stood.
“There's a greenhouse beyond the south garden.”
Nathaniel spoke into his radio.
“Teams to the greenhouse. Now.”
They ran.
The structure stood near a line of old stone walls.
Its glass roof reflected the gray afternoon sky.
The door was locked.
One guard broke the lock.
Inside, the air was warm and smelled of damp soil.
Rows of plants filled the narrow aisles.
“Micah!”
Belle moved between the tables.
Nothing.
Then she heard a sound.
Three soft taps.
She stopped.
Another three.
From beneath a wooden potting bench.
Belle dropped to her knees.
“Micah?”
A tiny voice answered.
“Mom?”
She crawled forward.
Her son was wedged inside a narrow storage compartment beneath the bench.
His hands were tied loosely with gardening twine.
A strip of cloth lay beside him.
Belle pulled him into her arms.
“Oh, baby.”
He clung to her.
“Mommy.”
She kissed his cheeks, his hair, his forehead.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“I was scared.”
“I know.”
“I tried to get out.”
“You did so good.”
Renick knelt nearby.
His expression was frighteningly controlled.
“Micah.”
The boy looked at him.
“Who put you here?”
Micah hesitated.
“Mr. Ellis.”
Nathaniel froze.
“Ellis Grant?”
Micah nodded.
The estate's night security supervisor.
A man who had helped Brinley decorate the Christmas tree the year before.
Belle held her son tighter.
“What did he say?”
Micah swallowed.
“He said Brinley fell again.”
Belle closed her eyes.
“He told me I could help her.”
Renick's hands curled into fists.
“Where is Ellis now?” he asked Nathaniel.
Nathaniel spoke into his radio.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then a guard called from the south gate.
“Sir, we found Grant's vehicle.”
Renick stood.
“Where?”
“Inside the maintenance tunnel.”
“Is he there?”
“No.”
The guard hesitated.
“But there's a second vehicle.”
Renick's eyes narrowed.
“What vehicle?”
“A delivery van.”
“Registered to whom?”
Nathaniel checked his tablet.
The answer appeared on the screen.
Harbor Finch Logistics.
Before Renick could speak, another radio transmission broke through.
“Mr. Kavanaugh, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Ellis Grant is dead.”
Belle pressed Micah's face against her shoulder.
The guard continued.
“And someone left a note beside him.”
Renick stared ahead.
“Read it.”
May you like
The reply came through a burst of static.
“The boy was only the beginning.”
