Chapter Twelve
Colton
Jumping in my truck, I’ve never felt panic and fear like this before. Although Sam’s not my son, I care deeply about him as if he’s my own. I slept so hard last night after going to the drive-in, and now I’m kicking myself for not hearing him walk around this morning.
Sam’s a smart kid, so if he was determined enough to go fishing by sneaking out of the house, he knew enough to get out the canoe and fishing supplies. But he doesn’t weigh enough to steady the canoe or strong enough to do the paddling on his own. It could tip over before he even gets inside it.
I go down the driveway with my window open so I can look out and call his name. The sun is barely awake, so most of the area is covered in darkness. Trees line the gravel road that leads to the other roads on the property.
Grabbing my phone, I click on Bodie’s name. I’ll be surprised if he answers, though, since it’s our day off. As predicted, it goes to voicemail. I sent him a text instead of leaving a message.
Colton
Sam is missing. Call me.
Then I text Bellamy and cross my fingers she’s awake.
Colton
Sam left the house this morning without telling anyone, so I’m out looking for him. I need you to go and be with Amelia and Lily, please. She’s freaking out, and I don’t want her to be alone.
Pulling up to the fishing shed, I notice the doors are wide open, and the moment I park, I hop out.
“Sam?”
When I peek inside, I frown at where the canoe should be.
How the hell did he pull that off the rack by himself and drag it to the water?
Walking toward the river, I cup my mouth and call out his name. The air is still and quiet.
Not even the birds are awake.
“Where the hell are you?” I murmur, squinting so I can look out across the water.
My phone rings, and Bellamy’s photo pops up on my screen.
“Hey.”
“What’s goin’ on?” she murmurs, half-asleep.
I repeat what I wrote in my message and give her more context about him wanting to go fishing today and about the canoe being gone now.
“Did you call Bodie?”
“Of course, and texted. Gonna call Dad next.”
“I can ask Hunt to come out. He’s a great distance swimmer.”
Her middle school ex-boyfriend turned best friend turned only-god-knows-what lives a few miles from the ranch.
“Sure, wouldn’t hurt. I’m ’bout to walk around and see if I can spot the canoe.”
If I try to go into the water now to look for him, I could end up in the wrong area. The river splits about half a mile down from here with a few narrower spots that flow into another river.
Once we hang up, I call Dad.
“I’ll be right there,” he says after I explain everything. “Gonna call the sheriff on my way.”
My heart’s racing so hard, I can feel my pulse throbbing in my neck. As I continue calling his name, I use my phone camera to zoom over the water.
“Colt!” Huntley shouts, running up behind me less than ten minutes later. “Thought ya might need some binoculars.”
“Thanks.” I quickly grab them and adjust the settings.
Then, I see it.
“Fuck, there it is.” I point forty-five degrees to the right. “It’s just floatin’. No fishin’ poles or paddles.”
“Do you see Sam inside?”
Blood rushes to my ears. “No.”
He kicks off his shoes and rips off his shirt, then sprints down the grassy area in only his shorts before merging into the water.
Watching him through the binoculars, he keeps a good pace in the right direction. The canoe drifted a good fifteen-hundred feet, so Huntley has a ways to go before he reaches it.
Dad’s truck pulls up, and a few minutes later, Sheriff Brown arrives.
I quickly give him a recap of what happened, and he calls another deputy and a medic, in case they’re needed. Huntley’s been swimming for nearly ten minutes by the time he gets to it.
“Well, is he in there?” Dad asks as I keep the binoculars glued to my face.
Huntley pushes himself onto it and shakes his head. Empty.
My heart plummets. “Fuck, he’s not in there.”
Sheriff Brown makes another call, and I try to breathe through the anxiety ripping through me.
“We’re gonna find him, Colt,” Dad says reassuringly. “We’ll search the woods in case he swam to shore and walked through ’em.”
“Amelia’s a mess. This is gonna wreck her,” I tell him. “I need to call her.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “Take thirty seconds to get yourself together first. She doesn’t need to hear the panic in your voice.”
I nod, inhaling a slow, deep breath before clicking on her name.
“Did you find him?” she blurts after one ring.
The fear in her tone sends a chill down my spine. “We found the canoe floatin’ in the river, but he’s not inside. The sheriff is callin’ in back up.”
“Oh my God…do you think, could he have, did he fall in the water?”
That’s exactly where my thoughts went, but I want to give her as much hope as possible.
“If he did, he probably swam to the nearest shoreline, so we’re gonna search the area.”
“I can’t stay in the house and wait, Colt. Bellamy’s here, so I’m gonna take her truck and drive down.”
“Just be careful. Don’t rush.”
Although the river isn’t that far, there’s a steep incline down the driveway, and it gets foggy in the mornings with the cool water and heat in the air.
“I called Wilder already. Raven too. She’s on her way up here.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
By the time she arrives, Huntley’s back on land, soaking wet. But he looks like he barely broke a sweat. I’d be panting and throwing up by now.
“Amelia, this is Huntley. Bellamy’s friend.”
“Yeah, she told me.”
“Nice to meet you.” He attempts to shake the water off his hand to shake hers. “Sorry ’bout the circumstances.”
“Thank you for swimmin’ out there. What did you find?” she asks, bouncing between her feet. Her hair’s tied up, and she’s in leggings and running shoes, prepared to do whatever it takes.
I want to wrap my arms around her and relieve some of the tension in her shoulders, but I don’t want to alarm her even more.
“Doesn’t look like he was inside of it or fell out. There wasn’t any water inside.” He shrugs. “Is it possible he walked to another part of the river to fish instead?”
“That’s my hope. Perhaps he couldn’t figure out how to get in and push it out onto the water at the same time, so it floated out without him. It took two of us the last time we went, and even then, it was rocky.”
“What if he went out into the water to try and bring it back, but then it got too deep for him, and he went under?” Amelia asks frantically, her eyes glossed over. “He could’ve drowned!”
This time, I do pull her into me and smooth my palm down her back. “We can’t think like that, darlin’.”
I want to assume he wouldn’t have gone in knowing he couldn’t pull it back and swim at the same time, but he’s eight, so there’s no telling what he did.
Dad left to get the four-wheeler and plans to drive through the woods near the river, so Amelia gets in my truck with me. Bodie finally returns my call, and once I update him, he rushes down to help.
By now, everyone in the family has been notified and is out searching for him. The sheriff’s deputies are also alerting locals and issuing a notice about a missing little boy. Typically, it’s my job to email the guests to keep them informed, but Mom did it since I’m unable to.
“I wanna search by foot and see if he’s hidin’ out,” Amelia says. “He’s probably scared and lost.”
That’s not my only concern. There’s wildlife, and it’s easy for an adult to get confused about which direction they’re going, nevertheless, a young child who isn’t familiar with the area.
I lead Amelia through one of the trails that’s nearby, calling out his name, and looking through some of the smaller spaces that he could hide in. The sun beams through the trees, heating my skin, which hopefully means Sam isn’t cold either.
“This is my nightmare, it’s happenin’…” Amelia hyperventilates, clutching her chest and kneeling on the ground. We’ve been walking and shouting his name for the past hour. “My biggest fear come to life.”
Kneeling in front of her, I clasp my hands around one of hers. “Try to breathe and think positive thoughts, sweetheart. We’re gonna find him. You gotta believe that.”
She looks up at me, tears filling her eyes, and she whispers, “But what if we don’t?”
“We will,” I reassure her.
We have to.
“I named him after my brother, and now I’m gonna lose him too.” She releases short, erratic breaths. “It’s my punishment.”
She hasn’t told me the full story about her brother or why she thinks it’s her fault, but there’s no way I’m going to let her think this is too.
Had I known Sam was a flight risk, I would’ve installed a deadbolt out of his reach and put up more barriers to make sure he didn’t wander off.
Considering what he did at the grocery store, I should’ve been more prepared.
Most boys his age don’t think about the consequences or the fear of someone bad taking them.
I’m just as accountable.
“This ain’t on you, darlin’. I should’ve taken him fishin’ when he asked me.”
A knot the size of my fist weighs in my stomach at the reality of disappointing him enough that he decided to go on his own instead.
“He knows he’s not supposed to leave without askin’,” she mutters, shaking her head. “I’ve told him so many times!”
She buries her face in her hands, crying. And it breaks me.
“Most kids need to be told repeatedly. It’s why my mother stopped tryin’ to keep tabs on us by the time she had the twins. She knew we wouldn’t listen anyway.”
“It’s different with someone already after him and escalates that fear of losin’ him,” she admits. “I’m failin’ him over and over again.”
She’s defeated and mentally drained, but I can’t let her give up.
“You could never fail him, Amelia. Now, c’mon. Let’s keep lookin’.”
Before I can pull her up, my phone rings.
“It’s my dad. Hold on.”
“Hey,” I answer.
He sighs. “We found him.”