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“I’m worried about you,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to her hand, which he took in hers.
“I’m okay,” she assured him.“Really.I am.”She drew in a deep breath.“Things are going well at work, and Conrad only has a few more months of high school, and Sariah is nearly engaged.”
“Have you talked to Jane lately?”
“Just yesterday,” she said, thinking of her younger twin.“She’s great too, and you love your job.”She reached up and ran her hands along his shoulders and then flattened his collar.“You’re almost done besides.”She couldn’t wait until they could start their next adventure—traveling the country together.She had so many plans for them.“I’m okay, and we’re okay, and life is good.”
“All right,” West said, that sexy drawl that had attracted her from the moment they’d met still prevalent in his voice.“Let’s go to breakfast, baby.”
Cass stood at the window,dusk covering the day beyond the glass.West hadn’t come home from work yet, and something needled at her.He should be home by now.As she lifted her teacup to her lips, her hand shook.
“Mom,” Conrad said, and she turned from the view of her front yard.A pond sat out front, and Cass had drawn some of her best designs while sitting beside that water, under the Texas sun.
“Yeah, baby?”She flashed a smile at her son and moved toward him.“How was rugby practice?”She swept her fingers along his forehead, swooping his long hair out of his eyes.It was damp, as he’d just showered after his practice.He’d been blessed with West’s thick hair, and Cass smiled at her gorgeous son.
“Fine,” Conrad said, frowning.“I just called Dad, and he didn’t answer.”
Cass looked down at his device in his hands.“I haven’t heard from him either.”
“He said he was going to stop at the sporting goods store and get me new cleats,” Conrad said.He lifted his phone, and an ear-splitting noise came out of it.Cass’s phone went off with the same alarm in the next moment, and both she and her son hurried to read the alert.
Cass’s eyes swept the message, expecting it to be an Amber Alert or something similar.A few times, they’d gotten license plates for cars that had been stolen by dangerous criminals.But overall, Sweet Water Falls experienced a low crime rate and maintained a fairly peaceful lifestyle.
Where Cass and West lived, on the northwest side of town, away from all the main roads in and out of town, they hardly saw any traffic besides the other folks who lived on this road.
This alert made her blood run cold.There is a dangerous person reported in the area near the Mirabay Shopping Center.Please do not go to this area.If you see any suspicious activity, please call 911.
“Where was Daddy stopping?”she asked, her voice hollow and far lower than her normal speaking voice.
“Sweetspot,” he said, looking up from his phone.“That’s in the Mirabay Shopping Center.”
Cass spun away from her son, her heartbeat quaking through her whole body.“He’ll be home any minute.”She parted the curtains and looked outside.In the two minutes she’d been talking to Conrad, darkness had fallen.No headlights cut through the night, and Cass could barely get a full breath.
She needed West to pull up right now.Now.Right now.
“Mama,” Conrad said, his voice scared.“Daddy’s still there.”
A sob filled her throat, and all she could do was lift her arm and let her son step into her side.They stood together, united and strong, while they watched outside.Conrad tilted his phone toward her, and sure enough, West’s location pin sat in the strip mall where Sweetspot was—and where all the activity was.She couldn’t help thinking perhaps he’d been there as part of his job.He did have to investigate some dangerous people sometimes.
“I’m sure they’ve just locked everyone down,” she said, the words scraping her throat.She sent another text to West—are you okay?Are you still at Sweetspot?Please let us know you’re okay.
He didn’t respond, and according to her phone, he hadn’t even read her message.Conrad’s fingers flew across his phone, and Cass watched him text his rugby coach, his friends, and seemingly everyone else around town.
No one knew much of what was happening in the area where police had warned everyone to stay away from.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood at the window.Long enough that her legs grew tired, and she sank onto the nearby couch.Long enough that her Supper Club text string bulged with messages about the events happening in Sweet Water Falls.Cass hadn’t contributed at all, because her fear had paralyzed her.
“Mama,” Conrad said, spinning back to her.“Someone just pulled up.”He leaped over the couch, and Cass shot to her feet.She went around the couch instead of over it, arriving at the open door as Conrad jumped to the ground.
“Conrad,” she called after him, because she knew instantly that the car in the driveway wasn’t West’s.
The lights on top of the car gave everything away.Strangely, no sobs choked her now.No tears filled her eyes.No feelings filled her mind.
A police officer rose from the driver’s side of the car, and one from the passenger side.Cass couldn’t move, and she couldn’t stop her son from jogging toward the men there to give them the worst news ever.
She pulled out her phone and sent a single message to the group text.Something’s happened to West.The police are here.
She stared at the bright screen, lost somewhere in her own mind.The world around her had frozen, and she could barely move through the ice now surrounding her.Joy texted, then Lauren, and then Bessie.
Sage sent a message that blurred, and it wasn’t until Bea said,I’ll be there in the morning, that Cass looked up.
The sound of her son sobbing met her ears, and she blinked at the two broad-shouldered men now standing on her porch.
“Ma’am,” one of them said, and Cass knew him.
“Hello, Jonathan,” she said, the words a mere ghost coming from her mouth.She knew these men.Her husband had worked with local law enforcement for decades.“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
Jonathan Gerber removed his hat and ducked his head, and Cass dissolved into tears.Thankfully, the two cops were there to catch her, hold her, and take her and Conrad back inside the house.
