Page 155 of Peaks and Promises

He showed the cop the app, and I tried not to scream at him while he took his sweet time zooming in and out. The cop walked over to the window and looked outside, then fiddled with the app again.

“Excuse me,” he said, raising his voice so it would carry through the dining room. “Sorry to disturb your dinner, folks, but who’s the owner of the silver Nissan?”

A bald man with a beard leaned out from one of the booths. “That’s mine. Is there a problem?”

Reese leaned close and lowered his voice. “Do you recognize him?”

“No.”

The cop went to his booth and spoke to him. After a moment, he got up and we followed them outside.

“You can have a look,” the man was saying as we approached his car. “I got nothing to hide.”

“Have you stopped anywhere else recently?” the cop asked.

“Yeah, got gas a while back. I wasn’t planning on stopping again, but dinner sounded good.”

He unlocked the car and opened all four doors. The cop leaned over and looked carefully, but it was obvious no one was inside.

“Sir, can you pop the trunk?” the cop asked.

My stomach roiled with nausea at the thought of Nate stuffed in the trunk of a car.

He opened it, revealing a mess of random stuff—a duffel bag, a few loose pieces of clothing, jumper cables, bungee cords, and some bottles of water. Definitely no ten-year-old child.

Reese moved closer and reached in, drawing out a pair of sneakers.

Nate’s shoes.

“Oh no.” I covered my mouth with my hand. “Those are his shoes.”

The guy raised his hands. “I don’t know how those got there. I’ve never seen them before.”

“Maybe at the gas station.” Reese handed the shoes to me.

“Were you away from your car?” the cop asked.

“Uh, yeah. I went in to use the restroom.”

“Do you remember seeing a boy, about ten years old?”

Reese held up his phone with a picture.

The man shook his head. “No. Wasn’t paying much attention, though. There were probably other cars there, but I didn’t really look.”

“What about in the convenience store? Any kids?”

“Not that I noticed.”

“Did you lock your car when you went into the restroom?”

“No, I didn’t. Realized it when I came out.”

The cop cast a glance at us. “He could have stashed the shoes in this car while it was unattended. If so, there should be surveillance footage.”

He asked the man to wait while he went to his car and spoke to dispatch. Reese and I moved to stand next to his SUV.

“He’s moving,” I said. “Right now, he’s driving somewhere and getting farther away.”