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“But I saw him get on the bus—”

“I know. I called over to the bus barns and talked to the driver of the bus Cody rides. The driver remembers picking up Cody and bringing him to the school. So we know he got here, but from that point, no one’s sure what happened. From what I can tell, Cody never came into the building or even stopped at the playground. With all of the students arriving by bus and car, he could very easily have walked off the grounds unnoticed.”

Sick with worry, Dani sat on a corner of Cody’s desk and swallowed back her tears as she looked at the empty chair. “So no one knows where he is?”

“I’m sorry,” Amanda said. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know.”

The young teacher thought for a moment before broaching what she knew would be a sensitive subject for Cody’s mother. “I heard that his father was back in town,” she said gently.

“Yes, but not with me. And no one answers at his place.”

“Do you think Cody’s with him?”

“I don’t know,” Dani admitted, pressing a finger to her temple. “I hope this is just one of Cody’s pranks to get back at me; we had an argument this morning.” She pursed her lips together and stood. “I hope to God that Blake hasn’t taken off with him.”

“So Cody was pretty upset when he left the house?”

“Beside himself.” Her heart twisting, she looked at Cody’s teacher. “I—I was going to run after him, but I thought maybe we should both cool off before we got into another disagreement.”

“I see.” Amanda rubbed her arms and nodded. “He does have a stubborn streak.”

“Like me.”

“Have you gone to the police?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d get my facts straight first. Look, can I talk to the bus driver?”

“Sure. You can use the phone in the office to call over to the bus barns.”

The phone conversation was short. Unfortunately the bus driver wasn’t able to tell her anything other than the fact that Cody had definitely gotten to school. Dani hung up the receiver and felt her shoulders slump under the weight of not knowing what had happened to her son.

“Any luck?” Amanda said hopefully.

“None.”

“Listen, why don’t you call me in the morning?” Amanda suggested. “If Cody hasn’t shown up, all of the teachers will ask their classes about him. Maybe one of the children will know where he is. And I’ll call all the students in my class tonight, if that will help.”

“Thank you,” Dani murmured as she walked out of the building.

“Good luck.”

Without much hope, Dani drove away from the school and after stopping at Blake’s brother’s house and finding no one home, she steered her pickup to the police station where she reported Cody missing, talked to the sergeant, filled out a missing person’s report and gave the police one of the pictures of Cody she kept in her wallet. She repeated the procedure at the sheriffs office and finally, drained and exhausted, she returned to her dark, empty house.

Runt barked excitedly and whined at the door as Dani opened it, but she walked into the shadowed house with a heavy heart. Nothing had changed. Cody hadn’t returned. The note she’d written him was still on the refrigerator, the ice box hadn’t been raided, there was no loud music filtering down from his room, nor any dirty tennis shoes or books scattered in the living room.

The pain in her heart wouldn’t go away. Nor would her wild imagination, filled with horrible scenarios of what had happened to her son, be still.

Once she’d had a steadying cup of coffee, she called everyone she could think of, including the Anders brothers and, much as it rankled, Caleb Johnson.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that your boy’s missin’,” Caleb said, his insincerity drifting over the wires. “Anything I can do?”

“Just let me know if you see him,” Dani replied.

“Will do. And I’ll tell the hands.”

“I appreciate it.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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