Page 124 of Weight of Guilt

And now she and her family had another complication on an already long list.

Nash saw the news vans before he turned into the Lovelesses’s driveway.

He’d just come from the sheriff’s office after dropping off Roy Callahan’s receipt boxes. Luke’s people were already working through them, along with everything else that had come in overnight.

So far, nothing significant had changed.

There had been no sightings of Mason. No vehicle. Nothing.

Nash slowed.

One news van sat along the shoulder of the road. Another had pulled partly into the drive. A cameraman stood in the yard, and a woman with a microphone was headed toward the porch.

Then Nash heard her call Christian’s name.

His grip tightened on the wheel. How had that news gotten out?

He pulled over and climbed from the truck.

The reporter spotted him and changed direction. “Excuse me, sir. Are you a member of the Loveless family?”

Nash kept walking. “No.”

“Can you tell us whether Christian Loveless has returned home?”

He stopped and looked at the cameraman behind her then at the patch of grass beneath their feet. “You’re on private property.”

The reporter’s expression cooled. “We’re covering a story of significant public interest.”

“Cover it from the road.” Nash pointed toward the shoulder.

“We haven’t bothered anyone.”

“You’re standing in their yard with a camera.”

She opened her mouth again to argue.

But another voice cut into the moment. “Nash!”

He turned and saw Marlowe rounding the side of the house, moving fast.

Something in her face made him turn away from the reporter. “What’s going on?”

She paused, breathless. She looked at the reporters and lowered her voice.

“Christian went out the back.” She pushed a strand of hair from her face. “He heard them calling his name and took off. We can’t find him.”

Nash’s stomach dropped. He glanced back at the reporters and saw them watching.

The last thing he wanted was to give them even a breadcrumb about what was going on.

He kept his voice low as he asked, “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know. That’s why we need your help.”

Nash glanced one more time at the reporters, hating the timing right now.

Then he darted toward the back of the property.