Chapter 53
Chapter
Fifty-Three
Wren got through the front door and into the school office before a secretary put a hand up. “Ma’am, we’re not doing dismissal through the office today—”
“My son isn’t outside.” Wren gripped the edge of the counter. “Mason Loveless. Second grade. Mrs. Kessler’s class.”
Mrs. Kessler rushed inside behind her with the clipboard still against her chest. “He’s not in my line. I don’t know where he went. I just had him! I promise he was just there!”
Something changed on the secretary’s face. She must have realized this wasn’t a mistake. She grabbed the phone and turned away from them.
As she waited, Wren crossed her arms, willing herself to calm down. At least the fire alarm had stopped wailing. Maybe she could think a little clearer without that sound messing with her thoughts.
But every time she closed her eyes, she saw her sweet son’s face.
Where are you, Mason?
A moment later, Principal Rowe stepped out of the back hallway. Wren had met him twice. The fifty-something had his sleeves pushed up, a radio in one hand, and a concerned expression on his face.
“Mrs. Loveless. We’re going to find your son.” He turned to Mrs. Kessler. “Where’d you see Mason last?”
“On the sidewalk. I counted all my students twice.” Mrs. Kessler’s voice climbed with panic. “Then the buses started loading, and parents were coming across the grass, and . . .”
“How long has it been since you last saw him?”
“Four minutes, maybe five.” Her expression remained pinched and her voice tight.
“All right.” Principal Rowe pressed the button on his radio. “I need every available adult sweeping the area for Mason Loveless. Cafeteria, gym, stairwells, bathrooms. Doors stay shut until I say. No one leaves the parking lot.”
Wren took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. Panicking wouldn’t help anything right now.
But Mason . . . a cry lodged in her throat. If something happened to her sweet son . . . she didn’t know how she’d go on.
Principal Rowe turned back to her. “Does Mason have a habit of disappearing? Wandering to find a friend or going back for something he left behind maybe?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t.”
“Would he go with his father, if his father came?”
“His father’s a paramedic, and he was on a call. He’s on his way here now.”
Principal Rowe wrote that down. “Grandparents? Anybody else on the pickup list?”
“My sisters.” Wren was already scrolling for their numbers on her phone. “I’ll call them. But they would have told me if they came.”
She called Nora and Marlowe. No one knew anything. But her sisters insisted on heading to the school.
Time crawled by.
Wren stayed on her feet, sometimes pausing, sometimes pacing.
She looked over as the front doors opened. Cody rushed inside. He crossed the office in three strides and stopped in front of her, frantic energy emanating from him.
“Anything?” he asked. “Did you find Mason?”
“Everyone is sweeping the building, hoping for the best.” The words caught in her throat. But if she were truthful with herself, she didn’t believe Mason was here. Some kind of motherly instinct told her he was gone. That he’d been taken.
Just like Christian.
A cry lodged in her throat.
Luke came in behind Cody, and they all met Principal Rowe in the hallway.
“Cafeteria’s clear,” the principal told them. “So is the gym. We’re checking classrooms now.”
“Show me the cameras,” Luke said.
“Follow me.”
They all crowded into an office with multiple monitors. A security guard pulled up the footage, and they watched as he ran the north corridor.
There were so many people, it was hard to know what to look for. Wren kept searching for glimpses of Mason, for some kind of hint as to what had happened.
At 2:50 a man came through the door with a cardboard box against his hip.
“There!” Cody pointed at the screen. “Who is that guy?”
“I’m not sure,” Principal Rowe muttered.
Wren leaned closer, trying to get a better look.
The guy wore navy pants, a navy shirt, and a baseball cap. He kept his chin down and the box up.
In other words, he didn’t want anyone to see his face.
Just like the man at the hospital.
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen the man before or not—which she was sure was the point.
“Play that again.” Luke’s eyes narrowed as he watched the screen.
The security officer played the video again.
“Looks a little like the man at the hospital.” Luke looked at each person in the room. “Anyone recognize him?”
Principal Rowe shook his head. “No one we’ve talked to.”
Luke’s lips pulled into a grim line. “Where’s the alarm that was pulled?”
“North stairwell,” Rowe told him.
“Any camera feed there?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“I want to see it.” Luke stood. “Now.”
Wren followed Luke from the office and into the school foyer. Cody walked with them.
Just as she took another step, the front door banged open hard enough that she turned.
Nash came through at a jog and stopped a few feet inside. His gaze found her through the crowd, and he paused.
Something in her chest came loose at the sight of him.
She quickly crossed to him.
His arms came around her, and she leaned her forehead into his chest. He smelled like dirt and sweat and truck exhaust.
He didn’t say a word. He didn’t tell her they’d find Mason. He didn’t tell her everything was going to be all right.
Strangely, she appreciated that he didn’t make any empty promises.
Instead, his hand moved between her shoulders in one slow pass before going still again.
She wished she could stay here forever and pretend like all of this wasn’t happening. But she knew she couldn’t do that. Every second counted right now.
She stepped back and forced herself to breathe. “Thanks for coming.”
He nodded, concern saturating his gaze as he studied her. “Of course. I dropped Cody off here. Then I had to park farther down the road. It’s a zoo out there.”
“Follow me.” Wren turned toward the rest of the group.
Luke was already headed toward the stairwell. Wren jogged to catch up and stepped inside. As soon as she did, she saw the box sitting on the floor.
Luke raised his arm, stopping everyone from getting too close.
The two-by-two-foot container waited on the floor against the wall, directly under the red alarm pull. Plain cardboard. Flaps folded closed over each other.
When she saw the man carrying it in the video, she’d assumed it was a prop or a routine delivery, a reason for a stranger to walk down a hallway.
But what if it was more than that?
Her hand went out for the rail and missed.
Nash grabbed her elbow to steady her.
“Sheriff?” Principal Rowe’s voice thinned.
Luke didn’t move. He only stared at that box, clearly deep in thought.
Then she understood, half a beat before he said it, why he was being cautious.
He was afraid of what was inside—afraid it might be something that could harm them.
Afraid that it could be something like a bomb.