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twenty-one
Gene groped around the nightstand and found the offending vibrating device that disturbed his sleep. A trained light sleeper, a slight noise or light would wake him up. But he’d never been this sound asleep before. After a hike and a couple of rounds of lovemaking with Amanda, his body must’ve been so relaxed, he’d completely fallen into oblivion.
He threw his legs over the edge of the bed, rubbed his eyes, and checked the phone. From habit, he never silenced it. Emergency calls could come anytime he was on call.
It was five-thirty-two in the morning. The buzzing was a missed call from Patrick. Gene was about to walk out of the bedroom to return the call when a text came in.
Patrick: K-9 support approved. Coordinating with the park rangers. Gather at the security park office by the gate at 6:45. Will start combing the area at sunrise.
Gene quickly called his friend.
“Did you sleep?” he asked when Patrick picked up on the first ring.
“I grabbed a wink for a couple of hours.” Patrick sounded tired. “Your intel last night opened a lot of avenues. When my boss heard the name Carson, he sped things up real fast.”
“Big supporter of the department?” Gene guessed.
“Big contributor to the mayor’s campaign.”
I should’ve known. Money talks.
No matter, he reminded himself. The children were the ones who mattered here.
“My mom found out the brother’s name. It’s Beau,” Gene said.
“You recruited your mom into this little investigation of yours? You’re thinking of joining the police department, Gene?” Patrick half-teased.
“No. I’ll leave the proper investigation to you. Amanda and I just want those kids found,” Gene answered. “You should know, my mom dug a bit more.”
He gave Patrick the cliff note of what they’d learned the night before. It probably violated some kind of children’s privacy rights or something, but he felt it was important for Patrick to know.
Patrick cursed under his breath. “I’ll go to the Carson’s house this morning and check out the parents myself. My colleague from the K-9 unit, officer Charlie Boone, will coordinate the search. I’d tell you to stay home, but I doubt you would. Just don’t get in the way,” Patrick warned.
“We won’t,” Gene promised.
“Good.” Patrick added, “The K-9 officer is well trained, but I suggest you leave Loki home to be safe.”
They hung up, and Gene turned around but found Amanda and Loki watching him from the door.
“What’s going on?”
“Search is on at sunrise.” He kissed her lips lightly. “Let’s find those kids.”
Amanda looked around her as she walked the area assigned to their group of two. She and Gene had scoured the woods for over an hour. She knew on the other side of the woods Jo and Ash were doing the same.
It warmed her heart that Jo and Ash had joined the search. Liam had also heard about the search and wanted to mobilize his friends to help; but Amanda told him though he appreciated the support, school was still his priority. The kids had done their part by confirming Mona’s identity.
After calling out Mona and Beau’s names repeatedly, Amanda’s throat felt a little raw.
“This isn’t even that big of a park. Where could they go?”
Amanda watched where she stepped carefully. The ground was soft from the rain yesterday.
“You’d think they’d stay close to the facilities, just out of sight.”
“They’re obviously scared about something. And here we are shouting their names. Maybe they’re hiding even further in the woods, worried about being discovered,” Amanda said.
“That’s plausible.”
