Page 107 of Smitty

I hopped out of bed and walked over to him, kissing him before rushing to the bathroom. I had already turned on the shower when he called out, “Coffee’s ready.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Need me to do anything else?”

“Go get our house!”

“You’ve got it.”

“Love you!”

“Love you, too.” He eased the door open and said, “I’ll call you when I know something.”

“You better.” I kissed him once more. “Be careful.”

“Always.”

Half an hour later, Anslee and I were in my SUV, packed and on our way to daycare. Drop-off went by in a blur, and before I knew it, I was sitting at my desk, sipping on my cup of coffee. It felt different sitting there without the weight of dread resting on my shoulders. I looked down at Dylan’s file, and a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I picked it up.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was worried that I might never get him to a place where he felt safe enough to tell me or anyone the truth about what was going on with him. Now, he was safe and sound with his family, getting the counseling and support they all needed.

It wasn’t some fairy tale ending. Those rarely happened for anyone, but Dylan was okay. And sometimes, that was enough. I opened the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet and slid his folder into the section marked Closed Cases. As I closed it, I muttered, “One family down, a hundred more to go.”

I reached for the next file marked James “Jimmy” Carter and flipped it open. I made a note to schedule another follow-up visit with the school. Before I could add it to my planner, there was a knock on my cubicle wall. I glanced up and found Daniel looking down at me.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” He stepped in and sighed. “I was able to track down Jimmy’s mother.”

“And?”

“You were right.” He leaned against the doorframe. “She left because Raymond was an abusive alcoholic.”

“Oh, poor Jimmy… and her, of course.”

“Yeah, the way she described him, he was pretty rough… Like this guy was into some pretty crazy stuff.”

Jimmy’s threats were suddenly making much more sense. Concerned that we needed to make a move sooner rather than later, I told him, “I was going to contact the school this morning, and…”

“About that… I had a message from the counselor at Jimmy’s school.”

“And?”

“He said Jimmy told him it’s been days since he’s seen Raymond.”

“That’s not good.”

It took me a second, but then it hit me.

It had only been a few days since I had shown Brayden’s brothers the pictures I found at Jimmy’s house. I couldn’t help but wonder if they had anything to do with his disappearance. Brayden had told me they had taken care of it, but that’s all I got.

I might’ve been more concerned if Daniel hadn’t said, “Jimmy didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed pretty relieved.”

“I’m sure he is, but he’s still a juvenile. Someone should be watching over him.”

“Exactly, which is why his mother is coming.”

“What do you mean?”