Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
That evening, the movie was droning on in the background, while Ty, Dannika, and I sat on the couch in pure silence. My mind raced a mile a minute as I tried to come up with something new to do, something new to search. There had to be something. I couldn’t give up. I refused to.
“Maybe we should go back by the girl’s house,” Dannika offered, and I was relieved to see I wasn’t the only one plagued by endless worry.
“Do you think we’d find anything different?” I asked.
“What if we talked to the realtor? Maybe we could ask what happened to the current owners?”
Ty looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth twisted in thought, but he kept quiet.
“Do you think it could work?” I asked.
“Realtors are talkers. They want you to feel at ease. It’s worth a shot,” Dannika said.
“I don’t think she’d tell you specifics. Or that this girl would’ve told her realtor specifics if she was really trying to be hidden,” Ty pointed out, slowing down his speech when he caught a glimpse of the scowl on Dannika’s face. He added quickly, “But we can’t totally rule it out.”
Dannika picked up her phone from the arm of the couch and looked at me. “What was the address again? We’ll call.”
I told her, the address now burned into my memory. The last place I saw my son alive. The last place I may ever.
She typed it in, and I watched her thumb scroll across her lighted screen. “I’m not finding the realtor listing. Do you remember the name of the company?”
I shook my head, another wave of defeat washing over me. “It was blue and red…” A sigh escaped me, and I rested my elbows on my knees, chin in my palms. How could I have not thought to remember something so potentially important?
“It’s okay,” she said. She stood, grabbing her keys from the basket on the shelf over the fireplace. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, we’re—okay,” Ty said, not bothering to argue. I jumped into action, and he followed suit, flipping off the television and light as the three of us raced out the front door without a second’s hesitation.
The drive to Crestview was a bit shorter than normal, as Dannika lived on that side of Oceanside, but we drove it in complete silence.
Everything around me seemed to be silent lately.
People just didn’t know what to say. The police, Howie, my parents, Ty and Dannika.
Everything had fallen by the wayside. Who cared about menial, everyday things when your family was missing?
How could I carry on a conversation about a movie or laundry or dinner when my child was with a stranger?
Somehow, Dannika and Ty’s silence carried less weight than anyone else’s.
We pulled up in front of the house, which looked much the same as the last time, its blinds open, rooms empty. The sign had blown over in the yard, but I read the number aloud as I typed it into my phone.
I left her a voicemail and Ty made a lap around town as we waited for a callback. In the town square, I noticed one sole business open: Sassy Snips.
“Hey, can you stop for a second?” I asked, and Ty immediately slowed, pulling into a parking space across from the salon. I pushed my door open from the back seat. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
They nodded, looking confused, but I didn’t look back as I crossed the street and hurried into the shop. Toshia was washing out a bowl of dye in the back corner of the empty salon while Carolyn swept up.
“Can we help you?” Carolyn asked, squinting her eyes. She was trying to decide how she knew me, but recognition flooded Toshia’s eyes.
“Did you decide to come back for those highlights?” she asked, an uneasy smile on her face.
“I’m sorry, no. I just…I had something come up, and I had to leave in a hurry. I was actually here to see what you could tell me about the client you were helping while I waited. Kat.”
“Kat?” she asked. “Why?”
Carolyn stopped sweeping as I walked past, watching the interaction curiously. Toshia shut off the water and smacked her hands against the side of the sink before drying them off.
“You said she lives around here, right? Does she come in often?”
“Why are you asking?” she pressed.
I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth. She would protect Kat at all costs. So, I lied. “I legally can’t tell you, but it’s really important that I find her. I believe she may be in danger.” It surprised me how easily the lie came.
Toshia’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god.”
“Do you know how I can get a hold of her?”
She shook her head. “I really don’t. She just moved out of her parents’ rental place yesterday. Her husband’s job ended, and they moved back home.”
“Back? Back where? I thought she lived here?” She looked over my shoulder, where I knew Carolyn must be standing. “It’s really important, Toshia.”
“They have a house in Red River. I honestly don’t know the address.
She grew up here in Crestview, but when she got married, they moved away.
Her husband’s latest job took him away for a year, so she moved back home and rented her childhood home from her parents.
It was the first I’d seen of her in years. ”
“Okay.” I sucked in a breath, thinking quickly. “And you said her name’s Katie, right? Do you know her last name?”
“Katherine, technically. But Katie or Kat, yes. Her last name was Thompson before she got married… I’m not sure if she ever changed it. I’m sorry, I really don’t know much else. Have you checked her blog? Her mom says she’s always on it.”
“I have. She hasn’t posted much lately.”
“With her husband home, the new baby, and the move, that makes sense. I can give you her parents’ address, but they’re probably in Red River—”
My breathing caught at her words, my fingers clenching into a fist. “Wait. What do you mean? What new baby?”
She nodded. “They just adopted a baby. They’d had a really hard time having one… I didn’t know they were adopting, but it was perfect timing, really, with his job ending.”
I swallowed, my vision beginning to blur. “You said her parents are gone, too?”
“Oh, I don’t know that for sure. Kat’s been telling everyone they were getting ready to adopt a baby.
The paperwork was all finalized; they were just waiting on the placement, which she said would be any day.
When I drove by Friday afternoon, it looked like they were over there packing up her stuff.
So, I’d say they finally got the little one, and now that her husband’s home, they’ll be moving back to Red River.
If I know her parents, I’d say they took them up to Red River to help them settle in.
I don’t know when they’ll be back. They just live around the corner, the house next door to Kat’s. Do you want the address?”
I shook my head, running from the salon without another word. They had Gray, and they were claiming him as their own.
What had happened to Ben?
Who were these people?
And, most importantly, what did they want with my son?