Page 116 of Veil of Silence

Mom pressed a hand against her mouth. Wren remained beside her, too stunned to speak.

Dad reached for Mom, but she stepped away, her gaze drifting to the woods. “Then who is he?”

“I don’t know,” Nora said. “But he saw the result, and he let us keep believing he was Christian. We need to find him. Then we can ask why he came here.”

“And what about our Christian?” Mom asked. “Where is he? I thought he’d come back to us! I thought our prayers had been answered!”

She let out a series of deep sobs.

Luke and Prine arrived.

Nora and her family gave them the update.

Prine enlarged the photo of the conclusion. “We’ll have someone collect the original report directly from the lab. For now, these photographs tell us we can’t assume the boy with Cross is Christian Loveless.”

Mom flinched at hearing it said so plainly.

Nora remembered the boy who’d been living in her house. She didn’t know who he was. But she’d seen something so fragile in him.

Whether he was Christian or not, he clearly needed help.

“He’s still a missing boy,” Nora said.

“He is.” Prine handed back the phone. “We’ll circulate his description.”

“Thank you.”

Luke stepped toward them. “We have Cross’s last vehicle location. The cruiser’s GPS stopped transmitting, but dispatch recovered one final point. A pull-off on County Road Twelve, nine miles east of here.”

Prine sat up straighter. “Near the old service road?”

Luke nodded. “Close to it.”

“Cross could have abandoned the cruiser and continued in another vehicle,” Austin said. “He could also still be somewhere along that road with the boy.”

Prine reached for her radio. “Two units. One from the east, one from the west. Nobody drives into the pull-off until both are in position.”

Chapter

Forty-Seven

Within minutes, the Loveless kitchen became a command post.

Luke spoke into his radio near the back door while Prine studied the location of Cross’s final GPS transmission. Nash leaned over the map beside him, pointing out two roads that approached the pull-off from opposite directions.

Austin glanced at the living room. Ruth sat between Wren and Marlowe, staring at the floor. Clayton stood behind the couch with both hands braced against it. Nora remained near the doorway, close enough to hear the plans but unwilling to leave her family. Mason was apparently at a family function with his father.

Prine folded the map. “Luke and I will approach from the west. Another unit will come from the opposite direction.”

“I’ll ride with you,” Austin said.

“You’re not assigned to this investigation.” Prine paused. “But I could use your expertise. You too, Nash.”

“Thank you,” Nash said.

“But neither of you approaches the cruiser until it’s been cleared. You follow my instructions.”

They agreed.