Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
They discussed the situation as they drove home. When they reached the driveway, Nora had decided what to do.
She would tell her parents about the DNA results tonight.
Not in front of the boy they believed was Christian.
She would get Mom and Dad alone, show them the photograph of the report, and explain that Austin wanted it verified.
Then they would call Special Agent Prine and decide how to approach the situation.
Austin parked behind Dad’s truck. Nora reached for the door handle, but Austin touched her arm before she got out.
“We do this carefully,” he reminded her. “Your parents first, then Prine.”
“I remember.”
His hand remained on her arm another second before he released her. Warmth lingered where he’d touched her. She’d been careful not to lean too hard on him, and it unsettled her to realize she’d wanted to.
A flash of light behind the barn caught her eye.
Nora leaned toward the windshield. It almost looked like . . . a flashlight.
The beam swept across the trees, disappeared, then appeared again farther down the slope.
Christian had walked toward those woods in his sleep two nights ago. Had he gone outside again?
The back door on the house flew open. Mom rushed onto the porch with her phone pressed to her ear.
Nora was out of the SUV before Austin could say anything. Pain pulled along her ribs as she hurried across the yard.
Mom turned at the sound of her footsteps. Relief flashed across her face followed so quickly by fear that Nora’s stomach tightened.
“Where’s Christian?” Nora rushed.
“I’m trying to find him.” Mom lowered the phone. “Your father’s checking behind the barn.”
Austin caught up with Nora. “What happened?”
“A deputy stopped by. He said he wanted to follow up on Christian. Then he asked about where he’d walked the other night.” Mom glanced toward the trees. “Christian said he could show him. I thought they were staying near the barn.”
“How long ago?” Austin asked.
“About fifteen minutes. I went outside when they didn’t come back, but I couldn’t see them. Then I noticed the cruiser was gone.”
Mom’s voice shook on the last word.
“What deputy?” Austin asked.
“Cross. Deputy Cross.”
Nora stared at the moving flashlight, her thoughts racing.
Cross had helped search for Preston. If Christian had wandered into the woods again, maybe Cross had gone after him. But that didn’t explain why his cruiser was gone.
A bad feeling simmered in her gut.
Austin pulled out his phone and called the sheriff. “Luke, I’m at Nora’s house. Cross stopped by and walked with Christian toward the barn. Neither of them came back, and Cross’s cruiser is gone.”
“I told him to drive past the property,” Luke said. “Nothing more.”
“He told the family he was following up on Christian’s night wandering.”
“He wasn’t authorized to do that.” Luke’s voice sharpened. “Hold on a minute. I’m trying him now.”
While Austin remained on the line, Nora’s dad emerged from behind the barn. His flashlight hung at his side.
“He’s not behind the barn or on the old trail,” he told Nora. “Did that deputy put Christian in his cruiser and take him somewhere? Why wouldn’t he tell us?”
Those were Austin’s thoughts exactly.
Luke returned to the call. “Cross isn’t answering his radio or his cell. I’m sending units now.”
Austin remembered the photograph in Glen Dalton’s folder.
Zander at seventeen. Dark hair. A narrow face.
Eyes that had bothered Austin because he’d seen them somewhere before.
He ended the call and opened the photographs he’d taken after the concert. When Zander’s missing person flyer filled the screen, Austin enlarged the boy’s face.
Nora stepped beside him. “What is it?”
Austin turned the phone toward her. “Tell me who he reminds you of.”
She studied the photograph. Her gaze went to Zander’s eyes, then his uneven brows.
Her breath caught before she whispered, “Cross.”
Twelve years had changed the shape of Zander’s face. His hair was shorter now, his features harder. But there were definitely similarities.
“We need to show Luke,” he said. “Because Deputy Cross very well may be Zander Dalton.”