ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟝
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By the time I get home from Judge Johnson's office, I am exhausted.
The man was brilliant.
Unfortunately, brilliant people also tended to explain everything.
By the end of our meeting, I was fairly certain my ears had melted somewhere inside his office.
I slipped my heels off by the front door with a relieved sigh, rubbing the back of my ankle.
I was finally home, and that was all that mattered right now.
The mansion is quiet when I strap my heels off.
Usually, Cameron would've already heard my car pulling into the driveway. He always somehow knew when I got home.
He'd either meet me in the foyer with a hug and a kiss, or yell that he'd be downstairs in a minute because he was showering after work.
It's an eerie quiet.
"Cam, I'm home." I say.
"Cam?"
My voice echoed farther than it should have.
I frowned. Maybe he was outside in the backyard, or maybe he'd fallen asleep.
Maybe...
I walked farther into the house, setting my purse on the console table.
"Cameron?" I call out a little louder this time.
The kitchen was empty; the living room was empty. The back patio doors were shut.
His truck was outside. He was definitely here.
A strange feeling settled into my stomach. Something was wrong. I could feel it.
I started toward the staircase. Halfway up, I stopped.
I finally heard a very faint sound.
Like someone was talking.
No, not talking.
Crying.
My stomach dropped. The crying came from upstairs, in our bedroom. I didn't even think. I took the rest of the stairs two at a time.
"Cam?"
The bedroom door was half open. I pushed it wider.
Cameron sat on the edge of our bed. His elbows rested on his knees; one hand gripped his phone so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
The other covered his face.
His shoulders shook violently. It wasn't like the silent tears I'd seen after Jordyn.
He was sobbing.
For one horrifying second, I thought someone had died.
"Cameron."
He didn't look up. I crossed the room immediately.
"Cameron."
He was still silent. I grabbed both of his shoulders.
"Cameron!"
His head lifted. I'd never seen him look like that.
His eyes were bloodshot, cheeks soaked, his breathing uneven. His entire face screamed broken.
The phone was still pressed against his ear. "Dad..."
His voice cracked so badly it barely sounded like him.
"I..." He couldn't finish as another sob ripped through him.
"Cameron."
I sat on the bed beside him. "What happened?"
He simply shook his head.
"What happened?" I asked again.
"Cameron, look at me."
He finally did, and I don't think I'd ever seen fear like that before.
"What happened?" I repeated.
"I..." His breathing hitched. "...Molly..."
Everything inside me stopped. "Yeah? What about Molly?"
He swallowed so hard it hurt to watch. "They..."
Another sob came through, "They can't..."
"Cameron," I grabbed his hands. "What happened to Molly?"
"They can't find her." His eyes squeezed shut.
I could almost feel my heart stop. "What?"
"They..." He couldn't even continue.
His chest caved inward as another broken sob escaped him.
"They can't find Molly."
I stared at him. My brain refused to process the sentence.
Find her? What on earth did that mean?
She was eleven. She couldn't have... no.
The phone was still connected. I could hear another voice faintly through the speaker.
Ralph.
Without thinking, I gently took the phone from Cameron's shaking hand. "Hello?"
"Dixie? Is that you?" His voice sounded exhausted.
"It's me. What happened?" I glanced toward Cameron.
He'd buried his face back into his hands, still crying.
"Ralph, what happened to Molly?" My own voice had become much quieter.
A long silence followed. "Molly never came home from school."
"When?" I felt every muscle in my body tense.
"Yesterday."
Yesterday?
"We thought maybe she'd gone to a friend's house."
"We drove around, but..nothing."
His breathing became shaky. "We called every parent we knew."
"Nothing."
"We called her teacher. Nothing."
"We called..." He stopped. I heard him inhale slowly. "...everyone."
I gripped the phone tighter.
"What about the police? Are they informed about this?"
"They filed a report, and are looking. But they're telling us to wait."
My stomach twisted violently.
"They're telling us she probably wandered off. They think she'll come back."
"But that's not my Molly."
His breathing became uneven. "Molly doesn't wander."
"No, she doesn't."
I remembered her instantly. The girl was too shy to even order her own food sometimes. That little girl wouldn't disappear voluntarily.
"Have you searched?"
Ralph gave a short laugh. "Searched? Dixie, I don't think we've stopped."
"We've searched the neighborhood, the park, the creek, the school, bus route. Put up posters, we've knocked on doors until people stopped answering."
His voice was getting thinner. "And nobody has seen her."
I slowly looked toward Cameron. He hadn't moved. He sat exactly where I'd found him.
Completely shattered that his little sister was missing.
Ralph continued quietly. "He keeps blaming himself."
I looked back at Cameron.
Tears burned behind my own eyes. "No."
"No..that's not his fault." I whispered it.
"I know." Ralph sounded like he was trying to convince himself too.
"But try telling him that."
I looked at my husband. His shoulders still trembled, he hadn't heard a word I'd said.
I could tell he was somewhere else entirely.
He was still imagining an eleven-year-old little girl who should've been home by now, but she wasn't.
Ralph let out a long breath on the other end of the phone.
"Uhm, Dixie."
"Yes?"
"We're holding a community meeting."
I blinked. "Oh, you are?"
"We've reserved the auditorium at the community center. There'll probably be local news, police, church members. Anyone willing to listen."
His voice steadied just enough to continue. "Polly and I are going to speak. We're asking people to keep looking. We just need more eyes."
My own throat tightened. "Of course. I'll be there."
"I appreciate that, I really do." Ralph sighed quietly.
He stayed quiet for a moment. "I should let you go. The detective's back- I think they've got another lead."
My heart jumped. "A lead?"
"We don't know if it's anything yet. But I have to hear them out."
"Okay."
The line disconnected. I slowly lowered the phone on the table behind me.
Cameron hadn't lifted his head once. His breathing had become quieter now.
The poor man had cried himself nearly empty.
I walked over carefully. "Cameron."
I set the phone onto the nightstand before kneeling in front of him again.
"Cameron." I rested one hand against the side of his face.
His skin felt cold. He didn't even react.
My heart cracked. "Cameron."
His shoulders trembled again."..She's eleven."
"I know."
"She's..." He swallowed painfully. "...she's just a kid."
"I promised Dad..." His words dissolved into another sob.
"I promised I'd always look after her."
Without another thought, I wrapped both my arms around him. He stayed completely still.
No arms came around my waist. That scared me a little. He just sat there.
I rested my cheek against the side of his head. "I've got you."
He didn't reply to that, but I held him anyway. One hand rubbed slow circles across his back, while the other rested gently in his hair.
"I've got you."
I repeat.
His breathing hitched as another sob escaped him.
I closed my eyes. This wasn't the first time I'd held Cameron while he cried.
After Jordyn, there had been nights exactly like this.
Different grief, but the same man with the same impossible pain.
I knew that look, that complete emptiness. Underneath all of this, there was another fear. He was terrified Molly would become another Jordyn.
Another person he'd love with his whole heart that the world would take away from him.
Eventually, his forehead rested against my shoulder. His body finally leaned into mine. Immediately, I tightened my arms around him.
"There you are." I smile just a bit.
His hands slowly found the fabric at my waist.
"I can't lose her, Dix."
"You won't."
"I already..." His voice shattered again.
"I already know what this feels like."
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I knew one of us had to stay strong.
"Me too."
"I can't watch another little girl disappear. It'll ruin me."
"You won't."
"No, I can't." he corrected.
I gently cradled the back of his head. My fingers combed through his hair.
"We're going to find Molly."
"You don't know that." His head moved weakly.
"No, I don't, but you know what I do know?"
"What?" He looked up just enough for me to see his swollen red eyes.
"I know your sister, Molly is stubborn."
"So are you, and your father."
"And your mother."
I gently brushed a tear from beneath his eye. "The West family doesn't quit."
His lips trembled.
"So neither are we."
He closed his eyes again. Neither of us spoke. The only sound was his breathing gradually beginning to steady.
"Dad's holding a meeting." He spoke.
I nodded. "He told me."
"They're asking everyone to come."
I waited.
He looked down at the floor. "Would you come?"
Cam needed me there.
"I don't think I can do it by myself," he said.
I immediately reached for his hand. "When is it?"
"Next Thursday."
That date.
Wait, why was that date so special?
Judge Johnson, Justin Deyes, the prison interview.
Oh shit.
Next Thursday was the only opportunity we'd managed to schedule. The meeting that could change everything for me and my career.
For one long second, my mind simply went blank.
Cameron watched me carefully. "You don't have to work that day, right?
"You can take a day off."
My eyes came back to him, realizing I'd been quiet far too long.
"No it's..." I forced a small nod.
"I..." My voice felt strangely distant. "We'll figure it out."
It wasn't a yes, and it certainly wasn't a no.
But it was the only answer I had.