Chapter 44
[Stone]
“Stone, Simon is missing.” The moment I hear Taxi’s voice, relief hits me, until her words register.
My instincts immediately kick in. “Tell me what happened?”
As I pace my kitchen, drinking my final cup of coffee, prepared to start another long day, thinking I’ll be alone again at the end of it, I listen as Taxi explains how Jolene woke her up, discovering that Simon was gone.
His room empty. All the typical places checked. Bathroom, Kitchen. Yard.
Being that his backpack, favorite shoes, and a light jacket were also gone, my gut didn’t like what it told me.
“He’s run away,” I state. Foul play couldn’t be ruled out, but it couldn’t be ruled in yet either.
“When did you last see him?” I ask, doubling back on details.
“Trudy had seen him around nine when he went to bed.”
“What about Jolene?”
“Same.”
“And you?”
Taxi is quiet a moment. “After school. I picked him up and dropped him off at Trudy’s before I came to your house.”
My house. Where we spent the early evening in my bed, and then she left.
I clear my throat. “Okay. Did anything unusual happen last night? An argument with him? Something to upset him?”
A long pause fills the phone. “Taxi?”
“Another argument. Jolene and I were fighting.”
I don’t want to think about the two of them sparring again. More disagreements. More to upset Taxi about her stay in Sterling Falls.
“What were you—”
“Simon,” she whispers, cutting me off. “Oh God, Simon. He must have heard us.”
I pause, confused. “Simon heard you fighting? Or the fight was about Simon?”
“Both,” Taxi says, her voice struggling. “Jolene. She . . . And I . . . And then Trudy.”
“Taxi, slow down, baby. Take a breath.” I wait a beat. “Where are you?”
Panic surges inside, as if I know the answer before she gives it.
“I’m driving, searching for him.”
“How? Do you know where he went?”
“No.” She breathes out, exasperation seeming to hit her as hard as it hits me. “He could be anywhere,” she whispers again.
“Okay, look, first, where is Trudy?” We need to hope that Trudy stays put, so Simon can call her. She still has a landline despite the popular use of cell phones. Simon has his, although apparently, he hasn’t been answering it.
“She’s at home. Jolene is with her. Trudy called Judd. Jolene is calling the school.” Taxi exhales. “Perfect attendance. He doesn’t want to miss a day.”
Her voice lifts, hopeful that me might head to the school and I hear her blinker through the speaker of her phone.
“I’ll head there now.”
“Okay, good. But I don’t like you being on the road.” She sounds distraught, and I don’t want her getting into an accident because she’s searching the roadside and side streets instead of paying attention to traffic.
“I have to do something,” she snaps at me.
I wait another heartbeat, knowing her anger isn’t with me. Not directly. She’s upset because Simon is missing.
I need to call Judd, maybe Simon headed toward him. It’d be a long walk, but not impossible Simon went in that direction.
“Can you tell me more about the fight?”
I’ve already tucked my wallet in my back pocket, adjusted my belt and holster, and I head for the front door, listening.
“We fought about Simon. Jolene doesn’t think he should stay with Trudy.”
“Why the fuck would she say that?” My voice rises as I reach my truck and climb inside, switching my cell from handheld to speaker in the truck.
“You still there,” I ask, always worried I’ve disconnected someone. I reverse out of my driveway and head toward the sheriff’s office.
“Yeah. Jolene . . . she said Trudy was too old to raise another child.”
“She’s not even seventy,” I argue.
“That’s what Trudy said.” A faint smile fills Taxi’s voice, and I can almost hear Trudy defending her age.
“So, just to reiterate, you and Jolene had a fight, Trudy overheard. What about Simon?”
Taxi remains quiet another second. “I need to back up. I agreed with Jolene.” Then she rushes on. “Only for a second. I agreed that Trudy should be in her golden years, traveling or visiting others.”
“Who does she have to visit?” I question, thinking I know everything there is to know about Trudy Wallace.
Other than distant cousins, her siblings have all passed.
Her older brother dead. Her younger sister gone.
Most of her foster children are scattered, and most don’t have children of their own.
Simon’s the only grandchild of sorts I’d ever heard about.
“No one,” Taxi breathily admits. “Everyone important to her is in Sterling Falls.”
I sigh, knowing the sensation. “So tell me again. Did Simon hear the argument?”
“I don’t know,” Taxi sighs, frustration in her voice. “But he could have. Jolene wasn’t exactly quiet, even though I told her to hush.”
I smile, imagining Taxi scolding her younger sister, although they are both around forty.
“So, he was last seen around nine o’clock last night. Items missing,” I confirm. “And an argument about him. What time was the argument?”
Taxi calculates. “Around the time I got home, so maybe nine-thirty?”
Had it been that late? Had Taxi and I lingered in bed that long?
When I consider what we’d done, how I kissed her by the dining room table, and then laid her out on it, among her paints and brushes, thinking I’d only get her off first. But then we ended up in the bedroom, and I confessed my greatest sin . . .
The sky had been dark. It had been late.
“Okay.” I clear my throat. “Has anyone called the department?”
“I-I don’t know.” Taxi’s distrust rang through her hesitation. “I called you first.”
Something swells in my chest. Relief that her first thought was me. That she remembered I’m always here for her, no matter what.
“Maybe Jolene could call a few of his friends, see if any of the other kids have heard from Simon. You said Judd knows?”
“Trudy called him.”
“Good. I’m gonna call this in, and then I’ll start searching as well.”
“Where?” Taxi asks.
“Everywhere.” I turn a corner. “You keep to the school and then double back. Be careful, Taxi. Watch the road. Traffic.”
“Yes, Sheriff Stone.” A tiny tease registers. The slight edge of relief because humor might be the only thing she can grasp right now. Her nephew is missing.
“We’ll find him, Taxi,” I state, confident, determined. I will not let anything happen to that child.
“Thank you.” She exhales. “Stone, I . . .”
“Later,” I state. “We can talk later. Simon is the priority.”
“Yes.” In my head, I see her nod, agreeing with me.
“I’ll call you back in a bit,” I say as I reach my office, setting my truck in Park. The first parking space is reserved for me. “Be safe, Tallulah.”
We hang up without saying goodbye. It’s almost a relief. I’m not ready to say goodbye to her.
Simon is the first priority.
Stomping into the department, I’m a man on a mission. “Crupkey. Crowley.” I bark as I enter the bullpen and head straight for my office. The two young deputies lurch out of their chairs and follow me. When we enter my office, I tell them to close the door. I pace behind my desk.
“We have a missing person. Amber alert. A child. Simon Gilbert. Age ten. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Last seen last night around nine.” Fuck. It isn’t much to go on.
The two are scrambling to type notes on their devices.
“Family members are contacting the school, friends, and important family members.” I pause looking at Crupkey, his name not lost on me. He takes the heat for having a famous last name related to a fictional cop in a classic musical.
“My family members,” I reiterate. “Simon is close to my brother Judd.” I rattle off Judd’s address. “I’m going to assume he might have gone there.”
Crowley lowers his tablet. “Boss, is the kid missing?” he hesitates. “Or did he run away?”
“What’s the difference?” I snap, knowing that voluntarily leaving his home isn’t the same as being taken involuntarily.
Either way, a ten-year-old is out there somewhere, having possibly left in the dark.
The mountain nights are growing colder as autumn approaches.
Even if Simon knows his way to Judd’s, any number of things could have happened to him. He’s on foot.
Brown bears. Mountain lions. Another person.
Crowley and I meet eyes. My hands rest on my hips. “There was a possible kidnapping in Wrightwood.” Several cities away, a child went missing weeks ago. His shoe turned up in a field near Sterling Falls.
My stomach drops to the floor.
“We need to find Simon.” My fists clench at my sides. “Now,” I bark when I hardly ever raise my voice. My team is a good group. They work hard. They show compassion, empathy for others, and self-reflection.
I won’t ever allow another Andy Whitehall to work for me. My department is clean.
And a little boy is missing.
“Why are you both still standing here?” The second they scramble out of my office, I realize I can’t just sit here either.
I fire off information to Fern the dispatcher as I near her, telling her I want all hands on deck. Those on traffic duty need to be on the lookout. Those not actively working on something else need to be part of the search. We have no time to lose. We’ve already lost hours.
Thankfully, there isn’t easy access to planes or trains in Sterling Falls. A bus headed out of the area picks up just outside of town, where the big box stores are starting to gather. Simon would need to take the highway to get that far.
And my only hope is he didn’t head for the busier thoroughfare.
Please be somewhere local.
Please let us find you. Or better yet, come home, little buddy.
Taxi is worried about you.
Trudy must be scared out of her mind.
I make another set of calls as I settle into my truck, heading toward Trudy’s. The simplest place to start is at the beginning.
The calls I’ve made include Knox at the fire department and Sebastian at the bakery, hoping he can spread the word to the local businesses.
Maybe Simon went downtown.
I contact Clay, although he’s on the opposite side of town from me, and Ford, who is more north.
We seem to have the four directions covered.
Judd is already scouting the winding roads near him, but he’s further up the mountain and deeper in the woods, and as much as I want Judd to be Simon’s safe haven, I do not want to think about him walking to Judd’s place.
Too easy to get lost. Or hit by a reckless driver on the switchbacks. Or . . .
I refuse to think of the alternatives.
My profession says I must. My heart says don’t go there. Not yet.
I have Trudy at the house, Jolene with her. Taxi covering the route to school. I run off the checklist in my head.
I even call Vale, hoping she and Cort can keep a lookout in Rogue River, in case Simon made it over there somehow. Twenty minutes away by car is pretty far for an evening stroll, but we don’t know how long Simon has been gone.
When I reach Trudy’s house, I park in the drive, hopping out to look for clues. Something. Anything. Footprints in the soft shoulder that might hint about which direction he took.
Right or left, buddy. Which way did you go?
Taxi’s camper van is still gone, and I should head inside to check on Trudy, but every second is a second lost.
Jolene is in there, I remind myself, getting back in the truck.
Looking left, then right again, and picking a direction.
Hoping my instinct is correct.