Chapter 25
Savvy
Well, KC wasn’t at home, and he apparently never showed up at the church hall for a youth group practice, so I’m really starting to get concerned.
It’s still possible he went up in the mountains for some R they did not just take off together. Not over that. I don’t believe Carson would do anything to put Tatum in danger.”
“I don’t see it either,” Nate agrees. “Tate and I talked this morning and she was fine, not upset. They didn’t run off, but something happened.”
I nod. “Okay, Hugo, you call in to dispatch to put out a BOLO for the kids and the vehicle. I’m heading back to the office to write up a warrant for Judge Crombie to sign.
We need to get on the horn with the cell phone company to find out where those cell phones last pinged.
Or maybe the CID team back at the station can help us fast track that. ”
I glance over toward the bandstand.
“But first I want to make a public announcement. Are you guys okay with that?” I look each of them in the eye. “If it turns out the kids took off somewhere on their own, this could be embarrassing for them.”
“Do it,” Nate immediately replies.
Hugo just nods.
The fact neither of them even hesitates shows the level of their concern, and mine is mounting with every second.
Time is of the essence, which is why I don’t stop to wait for a break in the program, but instead march right up on the stage mid-song.
“I’m sorry, it’s an emergency,” I tell the startled singer, who immediately offers up her microphone and moves aside.
Both Hugo and Nate step up next to me.
“Good evening, folks,” I start, moving back a little when the mic starts to squeal.
“I apologize for the interruption, but we are urgently trying to locate Tatum Gaines and Carson Alexander and are calling on the public for help. Anyone who has seen either Tatum or Carson, or Carson’s vehicle.
” I step aside to let Hugo share the car’s details, before I continue.
“Or has spoken to either of them, or knows anything about their possible whereabouts, please contact the Sheriff’s Office directly. ”
I rattle off the number for the office before apologizing again to the band. When I start down the steps, my father is already walking toward me, Phil, looking very concerned, by his side.
“What can I do?” Dad asks.
“I may need help with the phones at the station, and I need someone to prioritize tips as they come in.”
“Done.” Then Dad looks at the men to my side. “We’ll find the kids. You’ll see.”
He immediately turns, grabs Phil’s hand, and starts walking, Hugo right on their heels.
“What should I do?” Nate asks, looking so lost my heart constricts in my chest.
I’m about to tell him to tag along with me, when I catch sight of Roy Battaglia with a couple of other guys approaching.
“We’re gonna drive around. Any idea where they were last seen?”
“New Horizons Church, but that was around four o’clock,” I inform them.
“Okay. We’ll head over and spread out from there.”
Good. We could use all the help we can get.
“I’m coming with you,” Nate announces.
Shit. I would’ve preferred him to stick close to me instead of going off on his own.
God only knows what he might run into. I already have two kids and a deputy missing.
Luckily, Roy Battaglia is a veteran, a trained security specialist, and has a good head on his shoulders. I’m sure he’ll keep an eye on Nate.
I shoot him a pointed look and he nods his understanding, before clapping a hand on Nate’s shoulder.
“Come on, man, let’s go find your kid.”
“Call my cell if you find anything,” I call after them.
“You too,” Nate returns over his shoulder.
For a brief moment I watch them, their combined long strides eating up the distance to the parking lot, before I turn to where I left the cruiser.
My phone is already to my ear.
Nate
Nothing.
Myself, Roy, Omar, and Larry have been driving around in circles expanding out from the church for what feels like a long time. Then again, I’m discovering every minute feels like an eternity not knowing where my little girl is.
Flashes of dark thoughts pop in my head, and I shove them down and out of sight as soon as they appear. I don’t want to allow my mind to go there, but as much as I ban the horrible possibilities from my mind, my body still responds to the visceral fear associated with them.
Roy is already getting out of his vehicle in the church parking lot when I drive up. The other two guys roll up right behind me. Another loop finished without a sign of the kids.
“Those kids had two hours to kill before they had to be home after they left here,” Omar points out. “Where would they go?”
I’ve only asked myself that question a hundred times while driving around.
“The fair makes the most sense. You’d think kids would be drawn there,” Larry suggests.
You would, except that these are kids who chose to sit up in a hayloft so they could watch the sun go down behind the mountains instead of joining the crowd at a party just yesterday.
I voice my doubts out loud.
“I’m not so sure,” I drawl, my thoughts spinning as I turn to Roy. “Remember that old logging trail to the Lizard Peak summit?”
He and I would steal whatever alcohol we could get our hands on and drive his grandpa’s old pickup, bouncing up the trail to catch the sunset from the ridge over the quarry.
It was a popular hangout for kids but I didn’t think any adults knew it was there, until one night we found that bastard Sanchuk waiting for us at the entrance of the trail by the road.
“I don’t think that trail exists anymore. Last time I was out that way…” He appears to be thinking before he adds, “Fuck, that was probably with you.”
Except that wasn’t my last time up there, that would’ve been with Savvy, about seven years after, when I took her up there on our second date. The trail had been in much worse shape so we ended up ditching my pickup and hiking the rest of the way.
“Are you talking about the one off Quarry Road, leading to the lookout point?” Larry wants to know.
“Yeah. Do kids still go up there?”
“Nah. They blocked access to that trail many years ago. You wouldn’t be able to find it now, it’s all overgrown.”
Okay, so maybe not that spot, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t another pretty spot somewhere that kids these days go to hang out.
My phone is in my hand and I dial Hugo’s number.
“Got something?”
It sounds like he’s driving.
“Not yet. I have a question though; do you remember the ridge on Lizard Peak?”
“That’s going back more than a few years, but yeah. Why?”
“Do kids nowadays have a hangout like that? Somewhere you can see the sunset? Does Carson?”
It’s quiet for a moment before Hugo comes back.
“Not sure about other kids, but when he was young Carson used to ask me to stop on the bridge across Watts Lake. The setting sun would reflect off the water creating a mirror effect, and he used to say you got a two-for-one sunset there. We haven’t done that in years though.”
I’m already climbing behind the wheel of my vehicle when I mumble a thanks and hang up. When I start the truck, Roy jumps into the passenger side.
“Where are we going?” he asks as I tear out of the parking lot.
“Watts Lake,” I inform him.
The blood is going cold in my veins at the thought of my daughter being anywhere near the place where a man was murdered less than a month ago.
I focus on the dark road heading out of town and don’t pay much attention to Roy, who is talking to someone on his phone. It’s less than a ten-minute drive from the church but already my hopes climbed so high, it feels like a punch in the stomach when I reach the bridge and it is empty.
No sign of the vehicle or the kids.
I pull off to the side in the middle of the bridge and get out. Roy exits at the same time, and we walk up to the railing.
It’s dark out here now, only a watery light coming from the lampposts at either end of the bridge, but it doesn’t quite reach the middle. The moon is mostly hidden behind the clouds, so you can’t see more than the occasional silver ripple in the water where it catches the light.
When I lean over, looking straight down, I see a glimmer of something reflective just under the surface of the water. At that moment the moon briefly breaks through the cloud deck, revealing the outline of two rear lights and a bumper in the water.
My heart stops as my feet start running.