Chapter Nineteen #2
“There’s more,” Linc said softly, nodding at the computer screen.
He’d moved with her to the spot behind the desk, and now he put his arm around her waist, letting her lean on him.
Which Harper appreciated. She was nearing the end of her rope.
Adrenaline only lasted so long, and with little sleep, almost no food—how could she eat when she had no idea if her son had any food himself? —she was dead on her feet.
Another video was playing now, a shot of the cafeteria.
She recognized Kash immediately. Her breath caught in her throat.
He looked . . . fine. Normal. The cafeteria was pretty full, and she wondered about that, since Kash had told her recently he’d been getting there early and grabbing his lunch before heading to a safer place to eat, away from Donny and his friends.
She saw two other boys intercept Kash and take hold of his arms. If she hadn’t been watching so closely, if she didn’t know her son as well as she did, she might’ve thought it was just some friends palling around. But Kash looked tense, and he clearly tried to jerk his arms out of their hold.
He was turned around and led out of the cafeteria.
She watched as the threesome walked down a hall and out a door.
A second camera, and they were momentarily in a courtyard—and she saw Kash really begin to struggle.
Then a third camera showed them crossing the same parking lot as Donny and Ginger in the previous video.
They disappeared into the same neighborhood as well.
Harper looked up and pinned her gaze on Donny. He knew where Kash and Ginger were. She’d bet her life on it. He’d probably orchestrated everything.
“We have officers knocking on every door in that neighborhood, looking for surveillance cameras,” the police chief said. “But it will go a lot better for you, Donny, if you simply tell us what happened. Where Ginger and Kash are. And no lies this time like yesterday when we talked to you.”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do!” Harper exclaimed. “You’ve made Kash’s life a living hell at school! He avoids going to the cafeteria because he knows you and your friends will be there, waiting to torment him. You bully him constantly! What did you do? Where is my son?!”
“You need to start talking now!” his dad barked, making even Harper jump.
“Easy,” Linc whispered, tightening his hold around her waist. She could feel how tense he was behind her, but she admired his restraint. She wanted to leap across the desk and beat the hell out of Donny. Get him to tell them everything. Linc had to feel the same way.
“I’ve had enough of your bullshit!” his dad continued.
“Skipping school, smoking pot, back talking . . . you’ve been on the wrong path, Donny, and I wrote it off as teenager rebellion.
But this? Bullying other kids? Luring Ginger out of school?
Doing something to that boy? You’ve gone way too far.
You’ve made your bed, and now you’ll pay the consequences.
I’m not bailing you out. Not anymore. Your best bet is to tell everyone what you did.
And what part Owen and Scott had to play in this.
Maybe a judge will be more lenient if you show the smallest hint of remorse. ”
A muscle in Donny’s jaw ticked, but he stubbornly kept his gaze focused on his feet.
His dad shook his head. “I’m ashamed of you.
Never thought I’d say that about my own kid .
. . but that’s the truth. I didn’t raise you to be a bully.
Didn’t raise you to think it’s okay to harass a girl just because she broke up with you.
What’s wrong with you? You have a chance to do the right thing, son. ”
Harper held her breath. Amazingly, she felt kind of bad for Donny. To hear your father say he was ashamed of you had to hurt. But would it make him talk? She hoped and prayed what his dad was saying would sink in. That the kid would realize whatever dangerous game he was playing was finished.
The silence in the room was almost painful as everyone waited for Donny to talk.
“We didn’t hurt them,” Donny finally muttered. “It was a joke. I was mad at Ginger, wanted her to suffer like I was. She picked a band geek over me! It’s humiliating! She had to learn that what she did wasn’t cool.”
“What’d you do, son? Where are they?” his dad asked in a quieter tone.
“Owen borrowed the skiff his dad uses to get to the mooring where he keeps his boat in the summer, and we took them out to Ragged Island.”
At Knox’s shocked inhalation, Harper stiffened and immediately looked over at him.
“Jesus, Donny! Ragged Island? That’s at least an hour off the coast,” his dad exclaimed.
“No one lives there in the winter,” Donny mumbled. “They’d be alone. I just wanted to scare them!” he insisted, finally looking at his dad. “I was gonna go get them tomorrow,” he said defensively.
“And you have their phones? It was you who texted Ginger and Kash’s friends and family?”
Donny mumbled, “They’re in my locker.”
For the first time, Donny looked like the kid he was. And he was frightened, that was plain to see. But Harper figured he was more worried about himself than what was going on with the two people he’d stranded on a deserted island.
Knox’s fingers were flying over the screen of his phone, and he turned toward the door without looking up.
“Come on,” Linc told Harper, pushing her around the far end of the desk, away from Donny, after Knox’s retreating form.
“I’ll stay and relay any other pertinent info,” Chad said as they passed.
Linc nodded but didn’t stop as he exited the small office.
Another officer continued to question Donny, while the police chief and the principal followed Harper, Linc, and Knox out the door.
“I can call the fire department and get them to bring a boat around to the Rockville dock,” the chief told them.
“No need,” Knox said, with a shake of his head. “I’ve contacted my boss at the Coast Guard. They already know my nephew’s missing and have been on standby. They’ll meet us at the dock in five minutes.”
Harper stared at him in disbelief. His nephew. Tears sprang to her eyes. Not only had Linc claimed her and Kash, but his brothers had as well.
“I’m still sending an officer out there.”
“Fine. But we aren’t waiting,” Linc told the man.
“I understand. Assuming you both know first aid . . . just in case.”
Harper’s blood turned to ice. She’d been so excited about finding out exactly where Kash was that she hadn’t even stopped to think that he might be hurt .
. . or worse. She closed her eyes for a short moment, praying that they hadn’t found him only to find out that he hadn’t survived three days in the freezing-cold Maine weather.
“We know first aid,” Linc said, his voice quavering.
Knowing that he was just as affected by the police chief’s words did nothing to make Harper feel better.
“Come on, they’re on their way,” Knox said firmly. “Let’s go get Kash.”
“Wait, is someone going to tell Ginger’s family?” Harper asked, as they began walking toward the main doors. She didn’t know the girl, but her family had to be just as frantic.
“They’re on their way,” the principal said. “I’ll let them know what’s happening.”
They were probably going to be pissed that they didn’t get to come with them to the island, because that’s how Harper would’ve felt, but she wasn’t willing to wait. They could catch a ride with the fire department. Nothing was going to keep her from getting to that island and her son.
They practically jogged back to the car, and before Harper even had her seat belt on, Knox was pulling out of the parking space.
Before she knew it, Harper was watching a Coast Guard boat come screaming into the harbor, ignoring the no-wake-zone signs. Since it was winter, there weren’t many boats in the harbor anyway, so there was no damage done.
Then she was on board, Linc was putting a life jacket over her head, and the boat was already on the move back to open water.
Linc held on to a railing inside the small cabin with one hand and kept his other arm wrapped around Harper’s waist. No one spoke, the only sound the radio crackling with intel going out about the emergency situation.
Because Ragged Island was so far offshore, and it wasn’t prime lobster season, there were no boats anywhere close to the area they were headed.
They would be the first boat to arrive, and Harper could only pray they weren’t too late. That even with the odds against the two kids, they’d found a way to survive.
Feeling sick to her stomach, Harper held on to Linc and stared blankly out the front windshield as they zoomed across the water.