Chapter Thirteen
Chief Farnsworth appeared in her open door. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“You’re not,” Sam said as she stepped away from Nick. “Come in.”
She returned to her desk chair while the chief took her other visitor chair.
“That meeting has me speechless,” he said.
“I know. It’s shocking and a lot to process.”
“How have we never heard of this?”
“I guess we’re lucky that it hadn’t factored into a case before.”
“Yes, we are, but we’ll probably be seeing more of it, based on Agent Fuller’s assessment.”
“It’s terrifying what’s happening online that most people know nothing about. I fell into the rabbit hole last night and was as shocked as you are. I’m trying to imagine my sweet nephew caught up in something like this, and it’s simply unfathomable.”
“I have to think your dad is watching over him wherever he is and will help get him home safely,” the chief said.
“That’s a comforting thought.”
“If there’s anything I can do for you or Tracy, please let me know. Marti and I are praying for his safe return.”
“Thank you both. That means a lot.”
“I’ll let you get back to work.” He shook hands with Nick and left the office as Sam
picked up her desk phone to call Archie.
“Hey,” he said.
“Have you been home?”
“Not yet. I brought the computer from Tracy’s house here to continue processing it.”
“Thanks for sticking with it. CSU found a note at Luna’s house from Ethan in which he tells her he thinks she’s pretty and would like to get to know her. He gave her his number.”
“Okay, I’ll look to see if she ever made that call. Did you tell Ruiz about the note?”
“Haggerty was going to.”
“Okay.”
“I’m being a team player. Don’t worry.”
“What? Me worry?”
“Haha, I deserve that.”
“Nah, he’s one of your kids. It’s understandable that you need to be involved. I’ll be back to you soon.”
“Thanks, Archie. This will never be forgotten.”
“You’re there for me. I’m there for you. That’s how it works.”
“Appreciate it,” she said softly. After their frequent hookups when she’d been between marriages, things between them could’ve been awkward, but thankfully, that’d never happened.
They’d settled into collegial friendship that was a source of great comfort to her—and to him, too, especially lately as she’d worked on the Offenbach case, which had also involved his new girlfriend, Harlowe.
As Sam tried to think of what she should work on next, her brain went blank.
She didn’t have a single idea worth pursuing.
She sat behind her desk and looked down at the reports that’d been prepared overnight, trying to make sense of words that floated in random order thanks to the fucking dyslexia that kicked in hard when she was overtired.
She stared at the far wall, hoping inspiration would find its way through the fog in her brain to give her some direction.
Her phone rang, and she pounced, hoping for something that would break this thing wide open as the clock inched closer to twenty-four hours without a word from Ethan.
“Holland.”
“This is Christi Trulo-Carpenter. I’m so sorry for the delay in reaching out to you. I’ve had desperately ill children since Friday night.”
“I hope they’re better now.”
“They’ve stopped actively puking, so that’s an improvement. Is there any word on Ethan?”
“Nothing yet.”
“I’m so sorry your family is going through this.
I’ve only met with him twice so far, and they were mostly get-to-know-you sessions before the real work begins.
So far, I haven’t picked up on anything alarming that would lead to him intentionally disappearing.
He told me he found the conflict between him and his parents upsetting. ”
“They’d be glad to hear that. It’s upsetting to them, too.”
“From what I’ve seen thus far, he doesn’t seem like the kind of kid to do something like this to get back at them or anything like that.”
“That’d be my take, too, although I haven’t spent enough time with him lately to be able to say that for certain. I’ve only heard my sister’s side of things, which came as a surprise to me. That isn’t the Ethan I’ve known, but he’s grown up when I wasn’t looking.”
“Kids start to chafe at parental confines in middle school, often when friends are allowed to do things they’re not.
My dad told me when my kids were born that the biggest problem I’d have wouldn’t be with other kids.
It would be with their parents, who’d have different rules and values than I do.
I’ve already found that to be true, and my kids are in elementary school. ”
“Your dad is one of the wisest people I’ve ever known, and what he said makes a lot of sense. Ethan’s friends were allowed to go out, to ride the Metro, to be independent. He wanted what they had.”
“Which is entirely normal, if difficult to navigate as a parent whose better judgment might be saying it’s too soon for such freedoms.”
“That was my sister’s position. Her husband disagreed. As she said, when they stopped presenting a united front, Ethan saw an opportunity.”
“That’s how it often happens. One parent wavers, and the door opens. Of course, once that genie is out of the bottle…”
“Right.”
“I remember when I was a freshman in high school on the swim team. We had six a.m. practices on Saturday mornings, so I arranged for one of the older kids to drive me. My parents didn’t love that idea, but it was five a.m. on a Saturday, so they allowed it.
Then I wanted to go with the same kids to get pizza, and suddenly, they didn’t have a leg to stand on with not wanting me riding in cars with other kids.
They said later that they failed to think it all the way through and realize that a yes at five a.m. can be seen as a yes to Friday at seven p.m.”
“Wow, that’s not something I would’ve thought of either. I’d be all in with getting out of the five a.m. wakeup on a Saturday.”
“Most parents would. It’s how we lose control of the whole operation and never see it coming.”
“This has been very helpful, Christi. I appreciate you taking the time to call when your kids are sick.”
“I’m praying for Ethan’s safe return.”
“Thanks again.”
Sam closed the phone and conveyed the gist of what she’d learned to Nick.
“That’s something about the kids in cars. I wouldn’t have seen that one coming either.”
“Another thing we won’t have to worry about while our kids are driven by the Secret Service. Thank you for being president and making that happen.”
He grunted out a laugh. “Never expected to hear you say that, and PS, eventually, they’ll hate us for not being able to drive like other kids do.”
“They’ll be able to someday. Just not when their friends can.”
“Which is the only time they’ll really want to.”
“True.”
She scrubbed her hands over her face. “I’m taking everything I’ve learned so far and trying to parse it into action, and nothing is popping for me the way it usually does.”
“That’s because you’re not usually looking for someone who’s missing. Usually, you’ve got a body in your morgue and a routine you follow to figure out what happened. This is an entirely different set of circumstances, so naturally, nothing is working the way you expect it to.”
“Wow, you’re good at this insightful-husband thing.”
“I’m good at you. Not so sure about the husband thing.”
“Best husband I ever had.”
He rolled his eyes. “It was a low bar,” he said, as he always did when she said that.
While her first marriage had been an unmitigated disaster, this one was as close to perfection as any two people could get.
She never should’ve married Peter in the first place when she was forever in love with Nick Cappuano after only one night together.
Thinking about that was far better than wondering where in the hell her precious nephew could be and whether she’d ever see him again.
The not-knowing was torturous for Brooke.
She tossed and turned all night, waiting and hoping to hear something about Ethan.
She was staring up at the ceiling when Nate turned to put an arm around her and draw her in close to him.
That he’d slept with her in a bedroom at her grandfather’s home with hardly a glance from her parents was a testament to the tension in the house.
Her sleeping with her boyfriend with her parents in the same house was the least of their concerns at the moment.
“Did you sleep at all?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. I heard my parents up all night, too.” Her tired eyes burned with unshed tears. She’d checked her phone a hundred times during the night, hoping for news that’d never come. “What’ll we do if he’s dead?”
“I know it’s really hard not to think the worst, but there’re a lot of things that could be happening short of that.”
“I just want him back so badly that it’s all I can think about, along with every memory I have with him from the day he was born.”
He caressed her arm in a soothing pattern. “Tell me about that day.”
Brooke smiled as she recalled one of the most momentous days of her life.
“I was eight, and before that, I had no idea how long nine months really was. It seemed like it’d taken forever between when my mom and dad told me they were expecting a baby and when he finally showed up.
It’s really more like ten months, but to me, it was endless.
My mom went into labor when she was at the grocery store.
She’d left her phone in the car, so we got a call from the store that she was on the way to the hospital and that Dad needed to meet her there. ”
“That’s a fun story.”
“My dad was a disaster trying to remember all the things he needed to bring, and he was on his way out the door when he looked back at me and said, ‘Shit, I can’t leave you here alone.’”
Nate chuckled. “So what did he do?”
“He took me with him, and Grandpa Skip came to get me at the hospital. I came back here with him, and we ate ice cream and watched movies. That was one of my favorite nights ever with Gramps. We were so excited while we waited to hear and finally got the call at around nine that night. I had a baby brother named Ethan Charles, and he was eight pounds, ten ounces, twenty inches long and perfect in every way. His middle name was for Grandpa Skip. That was his real name, but no one ever called him that.”
“Ah, that’s some family trivia there.”
“Yeah. I wanted to go see the baby right then and there, but Gramps said we had to wait until visiting hours the next day. Then my dad called back and asked Gramps to bring me over so I could see Ethan the same day he was born.”
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“Dad said I was a day-one person, and I needed to be there.” She wiped away tears.
“I’ve never loved anything the way I loved Ethan from the first second they put him in my arms. My own living, breathing baby doll.
I wanted to do everything for him. I fed him and changed him and helped to give him baths.
I loved to pick out his outfits every day and to play with him when I was supposed to be doing my homework.
Leaving him to go to school was painful.
I’d rush home after to find out what I’d missed since I left. I was obsessed.”
Nate brushed away the tears on her face.
“Abby was born about two years later,” she said, “and it was the same thing all over again. I never resented being asked to babysit them or spend time with them like some of my friends did when their parents asked them to watch younger siblings. I was—and am—crazy about them both.”
“I know you are. Their pictures are all over your apartment.”
“They’re as much my babies as they were my mom and dad’s.”
“I can totally see that. They love you so much.”
“I’m not sure what I’ll do if something terrible has happened to him.”
Nate hugged her tightly. “I know, honey, but let’s try to stay positive.”
“I’m trying, but it gets harder the longer we go with no word. The silence is making me crazy.”
“Let’s go see if anything happened overnight. I’ll check in with my office, too, and see if they have anything new.”
“Thank you for being here with me. It’s the only thing keeping me from losing it.”
“Don’t you know by now that the only place I want to be is wherever you are?”
“Love you,” she whispered tearfully.
He kissed her softly. “Love you, too.”
Gonzo walked into an apartment filled with boxes ahead of their upcoming move to Sam and Nick’s home on Ninth Street. It was ten times the size of where he and Christina lived now, and he couldn’t wait to be settled there.
Christina came out of the kitchen, dressed for another day as the press secretary to the president. She was so fucking pretty and put together in a sharp navy suit that he was almost afraid to hug her back. “How was the meeting?”
He held her close and nuzzled her neck, breathing her in as he rested a hand on the baby bump under her fuchsia silk blouse. She’d taught him that word—fuchsia. “Good.”
She stood back to examine him more closely, placing her hands on his face. No one had ever seen him the way she did, but even she hadn’t known how bad things had gotten for him with the pain pills before it was almost too late to save him.
“Any news about Ethan?”
“Nothing yet.”
“God, what is that about?”
“I don’t know, but I hope we find him soon.” He looked down at his hand on the curve of her pregnant belly. “How’re you feeling?”
“Pretty good today. The nausea didn’t last as long as usual.” She kissed him. “You look exhausted.”
“It was a long night. Where’s the boy?”
“If he knows what’s good for him, he’s getting his shoes on. He’s going to Angela’s for a couple of hours to play while I go to work and you get some sleep. Alex? Daddy’s home.”
An excited scream came from his three-year-old son’s room before the boy came bursting out of the hallway, launching himself at Gonzo, who scooped him up into a big hug.
Gonzo kissed his neck and made him giggle. “What’s this I hear about shoes?”
“Mommy said to get them, but I can’t find them.” Alex leaned in to whisper in Gonzo’s ear. “I’m in big trouble cuz I didn’t put them where they go last night.”
It was all Gonzo could do not to laugh. “Well, that sounds like a problem. Maybe I could help you look for them?”
“Yes! Daddy can help!” He squirmed his way out of Gonzo’s arms and ran back toward his room, shooting a grin at his mother on the way by.
“See how he does that with the little grin? And then I forget all about why I was annoyed with him.” She reached up to cuff Gonzo’s chin. “Like father, like son.”
“We can’t help that we’re adorable.”
She gave him a playful glare.
“I’d better go help the boy before we’re both in trouble.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“You’re very sexy when you’re stern.”
She gave him an exasperated look. “Hurry up, Tommy!”
“I’m hurrying.”