Chapter Seven #2
He closed the door and drove them to Celia’s, through deserted streets that would be teeming with traffic on a workday in the nation’s capital. With buildings and trees whizzing past, she kept her gaze trained outside, hoping for a glimpse of her nephew that never materialized.
She took a second to text Gonzo to tell him she’d sent Freddie home to sleep so he could relieve him in the morning. Then she put her phone in her pocket while trying in vain to calm her racing mind.
Feeling defeated in a way she hadn’t experienced in quite some time, she walked into Celia’s home a few minutes later to find her sister and niece on the sofa, holding hands as they wept.
“Anything?” Tracy asked when she saw Sam.
Sam shook her head.
Tracy further dissolved into heartbroken sobs that devastated Sam.
She wanted so badly to fix this for the sister who’d taken care of her all her life, but some problems couldn’t be solved by wishing or hoping.
“Where could he be?” Tracy wailed. “Where in the world is he?”
Brooke tried to comfort her mom as she sobbed right along with her.
Sam sat on the coffee table and reached for both of them, giving in to her own tears after hours of fruitless searching.
A throat clearing behind Tracy and Brooke had them pulling back from each other and wiping tears from their faces.
Sam looked up to see Archie, seeming embarrassed to have witnessed their emotional breakdown.
“Hey,” Sam said to her friend as she brushed at tears. She’d thought he was still at Tracy’s. “Where’d you come from?”
“Can I talk to you in the other room?”
She nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Tracy and Brooke before she followed Archie into the kitchen, closing the door between the rooms.
“We might have something from Luna’s phone.” He put sheets of paper on the table and pointed to highlighted lines of text. “She’s been talking to several boys who were trying to get her to come out to meet them, but she didn’t want to go.”
Sam scanned the texts, which showed increasingly aggressive efforts on behalf of the boys, which Luna continued to ignore.
Archie pointed to one of the contacts. “That’s Ethan’s number, and that one is Tomas’s.”
Sam’s gasp said it all. “Archie… what the hell?”
“All this shows is that he was trying to get her to come out.”
“For what reason, though?”
“He never spells that out. It’s mostly ‘come on, let’s have some fun, you know you want to’ kind of stuff.”
“What time were those messages sent?” Sam asked.
“It started around five thirty and went on sporadically until after seven.”
“Wait,” Sam said. “That would’ve been more than an hour after they’d stopped responding to their parents.”
“What’re you thinking?”
“What if someone else had gotten ahold of their phones?” Sam went back to the living room. “Tracy, have you ever heard Ethan talk about a girl named Luna Ahern?”
“No, I’ve never heard of anyone with that name.”
“He said something to me,” Brooke said, “when I talked to him last week. I was teasing him about liking girls, and I asked if there’s anyone he particularly likes. He said there’s a girl named Luna, but she’s older than him and even though she was nice to him, he’s not sure if she likes him.”
“Did he say anything else about her?” Sam asked.
“Not that I can recall. We moved on to talk about the Feds season and if he’s going to opening day with Dad this year. He said he isn’t sure yet. What does this have to do with him being missing?”
“Luna Ahern is also missing,” Sam said. “Ethan and Tomas were texting her, trying to get her to meet them.”
“Oh my God,” Tracy said. “This just keeps getting worse all the time. Will he be blamed for that girl going missing?”
“The messages were sent after you said he stopped responding to you, so we need to figure out what’s going on. Try not to go straight to worst-case. We’re still putting pieces together to figure out what’s happened.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Tracy said. “I’m completely panicked at the thought of my eleven-year-old son being who knows where—overnight. Where could he be?”
“Take it easy, Mom.” Brooke tried to comfort her mother. “We’ll find him. I’m sure of it.”
Tracy’s tears and anguished wails were like knives to Sam’s heart.
The secure BlackBerry Sam carried so she could speak to Nick rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She left the room to take the call. “Hi.”
“How’s it going?”
“Some progress, but nothing yet. Tracy’s taking it so hard, but having Brooke and Nate here helps.”
“I’m glad they’re there. So, listen, the BOLO for Ethan led to press inquiries after someone figured out he’s our nephew.
I was thinking I might make a statement that confirms we’re looking for our missing nephew and would appreciate the public’s help, or something like that. Would you be okay with that?”
“Let me check with Malone on that. I’ll call you back.”
“I’ll be here. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Be right back to you.”
Sam called Malone and explained the situation at the White House. “Would it be okay for Nick to announce we’re looking for our missing nephew and two of his friends?”
“I can’t see why not. I just talked to Ruiz, and we’re no closer to finding them now than we were a few hours ago. It might help to have Nick make a statement.”
Sam’s heart sank at hearing no one else had made any progress either. “All right. I’ll let him know to go ahead. Thanks, Cap.”
“I’ll tell Ruiz what he’s doing.”
“Okay.”
Sam ended that call and picked up the BlackBerry to call Nick back. “Please make the statement. We’ll take all the help we can get.”
“Can you send me a recent photo of him?”
“Yes, I’ll have Brooke do that.”
“Great, thank you. I’ll get right on it. Will you be home any time soon?”
“Maybe. There’s not much more I can do tonight. We’ll start fresh in the morning.”
Sam’s regular cell phone rang with a call from her other sister, Angela. “Ang is calling. I need to grab that. I’ll keep you posted on what I’m doing.”
“I’ll be right here if you need anything.”
“That helps. Thanks. See you soon.”
Sam juggled phones to take the call from Ang. “Hey.”
“What the fuck is going on, Sam? One of my friends just saw a report on the news that Ethan is missing and asked me about it.”
“We were hoping he’d be home before we had to worry you and everyone else.”
“So he’s really missing?”
“Since around four this afternoon.”
“That’s like almost nine hours!”
“Yes, I know. We’re doing everything we can to find him.”
“Tracy and Mike must be out of their minds.”
“They are. Brooke is here with Nate, and she’s been a big help.” Sam walked back into the living room. “Brooke, will you please send a recent photo of Ethan to Uncle Nick?” Everyone in their family had the number for the BlackBerry so they could reach him if needed.
“Right away.”
“Thanks, hon.”
“What’s Nick doing?” Tracy asked.
“The press put two and two together from the be-on-the-lookout alert we put out and connected Ethan to us. Nick is making a statement and will ask for help from the public.”
“So it’s blowing up into a massive story, then,” Mike said when he appeared from somewhere.
Sam gave him a helpless look that she hoped conveyed a world of apology for their high profiles elevating Ethan’s disappearance into a national story.
“What can I do?” Angela asked.
“Nothing, for right now. I’ll let you know if there’s any news.
I’m sorry we didn’t call you before now, but you have enough to deal with over there.
” Since her husband Spencer’s sudden death, her pregnant sister was now a single parent to a seven-year-old son and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
“I’d still want to know my nephew is missing, Sam.”
“Understood. I’m sorry. It’s been stressful.”
“Do you think… I mean… Did someone take him? Because he’s related to you and Nick?”
“The thought has crossed our minds, but we’re working a number of different angles. The Secret Service assures us that if there’d been any threats against Ethan or any of our close people, they’d probably know about them. They’re assisting in the investigation, and the FBI is helping, too.”
“Sweet Jesus, Sam, the FBI is involved?”
“We’re covering all the bases.”
“Are you scared?”
“Yeah.”
She whimpered. “Sam…”
“I know, believe me. I know.”
“Tell Tracy… Tell her I love her, and I’ll be over in the morning.”
“I will. Talk to you then.”
“Call me if anything happens overnight.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Sam closed her phone and conveyed Angela’s message.
“How’d she find out?”
“A friend saw the BOLO on the news.”
“Everyone will know. No matter what happens now, everyone knows he was missing, and that’ll stick to him—and us—forever, even if it turns out to be nothing.”
She wanted to tell Tracy not to worry about that, but how could she? It was true. Something like this didn’t just go away when the incident was resolved. All they could do right now was pray that Ethan would come home soon—with an explanation for his absence that would make sense.
With every hour that passed with no news and no word from him, Sam became less optimistic about that outcome.