Page 144 of Finding Noah

“Give up on hope that he might be out there somewhere? No. But do I think you should give up on looking for clues where there aren't any? Yes.”

***

They did leave shortly after, and Meg was ever insistent that Abraham knew something. But Soldier was less than convinced.

He'd found the man unnecessarily abrasive, but he had no reason to believe he was guilty of anything nefarious.

Meg tried to tell herself he was right. Neither of the men at The Llewellyn Family Funeral Home had given her the impression that they were lying. Shawn had offered his card with an incessant reminder that if they needed anything at all, they should give him a call.

“And, please, when you find him, let us know,” he'd said before they climbed back into the car.

Meg accepted that maybe she just wanted someone to blame when, right now, there wasn't anyone.

She was once again at Charlie and Stormy's table, a cup of tea growing cold between her hands. Soldier was in bed with Ray and Miles. Her father was asleep on the couch. Their reasons to stay were rapidly depleting, save for the one most obvious—Noah was still out there.

Soldier was certain he was still alive, but they were no closer to finding him than they'd been before they came.

Soon, they'd leave, and eventually, their lives would just simply fall back into step with the rest of society until Noah's existence was something that had been once, but no longer was.

Meg swept her eyes toward the window, in search of the moon. Can Noah see it now? she wondered. Was he looking up, thinking about her as she thought of him?

“Where are you?” she whispered, wishing he could somehow hear her voice. Wishing she could hear his reply.

Something caught her eye then. A bobbing orb of light from somewhere in the distance.

Her heart jolted to frantic life in her chest at the same moment her lungs ceased function. She watched that light grow closer, closer, until she deduced that it was a flashlight.

She should wake her father or Soldier or, hell, even Charlie. Someone taller, bigger, stronger than she was. Someone without a budding life inside their belly. But she never had the chance as she stood from the table and froze as a figure came into view just outside the low stone wall surrounding the perimeter of the cottage on the hill.

Dressed in black from head to toe, the figure stood tall. A man, she presumed, given his height and form, though his face was unseen due to the mask he wore.

A plague doctor.

She gasped at the smooth material and glossy, goggle-like eyes. Fear held her on the spot as her hand clutched at her chest. She didn't need to see his eyes to know he was looking at her through the kitchen window.

He sees me, she thought. He knows I’m here.

What does he want?

Slowly, he held both hands up and out, presenting the flashlight, and then as if he were lowering a weapon, he laid the flashlight on the stone wall.

He isn't here to hurt me, Meg told herself, though her body trembled with the terror of someone very much in danger.

But afraid as she was, she found the strength to move, and she headed toward the back door. Because as certain as she was that this masked man meant her no harm, she knew he had information.

He knows where Noah is.

As silent as she could, she opened the door and slipped outside into the dark night, and in a whispered voice, she asked, “Who are you?”

“Who I am,” he answered in a voice that instantly reminded her of Batman, “isn't of importance to you. It's what I know.”

“And what do you know?”

“Oh, I know everything, Meghan Kinney, daughter of Patrick and Christine. I know where you live, where you work. I know you're engaged to marry Noah Mason, son of Soldier and Rain, and I know you're right now pregnant with his child.”

Meghan's mouth fell open as she took one, two steps backward, intent on running back inside or screaming for her big, strong father-in-law, just feet from where she stood, but the masked man lifted his hand, halting her movement.

“I will not hurt you,” he said with soul-deep sincerity. “But if you run now, I will not be back. Time is not our friend, Meghan, and if you ever want to see your fiancé alive again, I advise you not to waste the little that we have.”