And then Caleb happened.
Anna should have seen the warning signs. It had started with a lack of interest in school programs, an area that had previously been a passion of J.R.’s, and more of a focus on football. Anna could understand that. But then his demeanor had changed. His tone was sharper, his words more cutting at her. Was this a sign of adolescence or of a bad influence? She’d tried to talk to him about spending less time with Caleb, whom she didn’t trust, only to have J.R. lash out at her instead. Jameson saw Caleb as a good ballplayer and someone who could teach J.R. to toughen up a bit. But that was what Anna saw to be the problem. Caleb was a little too tough.
She kept a steady eye on the boy, whose mother left him alone too often and whose father was never around. He was allowed to play those violent video games that Anna condemned, and a few times she had to tell the boys to turn off that explicit music about “killing bitches”. J.R. seemed enthralled with Caleb, like Caleb was a cool older brother. And he was older, by a year, because he’d failed kindergarten.
And then things had taken a turn for the worse. It was the summer before their freshman year. J.R., Caleb, and Ethan were inseparable those three months. Anna was home more with the younger children, which meant the boys spent most of their days outside.
She had just finished putting Drew down for a nap when there was a knock on the door. She opened it, surprised to see Chief Tourney standing there, but even more shocked to see J.R. next to him. Her son was trembling, his eyes red from crying, snot running down his face. Her first instinct was to cradle him. She reached out and pulled him toward her. He was taller than she was by almost a foot, but when she held him he became her small child again.
“J.R., are you hurt?”
He shook his head as he wept in her arms. She was glad Jameson wasn’t here to see this. He always thought J.R. cried too much.
“Mrs. Hudson,” the chief started. “I found J.R. up on the hill above Beacon road.”
“What were you doing all way down there?” Anna interrupted the chief. “And where are Ethan and Caleb?”
J.R. mumbled something into her shoulder she couldn’t understand.
“J.R. was alone when I found him,” Rex continued. “Anna, it appears he found some old truck tires on the hill and decided to roll them down to the road.”
Her head jerked up. “Excuse me?”
Rex shoved his hands in his pockets. “I was driving and that’s when I caught sight of something on the hill a good fifty yards in front of me. J.R.’s head was above a bush and I could see the tire in his hands. Want to tell her the rest, J.R.?”
Anna pulled back to look her blubbering son in the eye. “Is this true, J.R.?”
“It was all Caleb’s idea!” he cried. He ran his tan arm over his nose, snot dripping from his skin. “He dared me to do it, told me I was a coward if I didn’t.”
Anna’s face went hot. Of course, Caleb would be involved. J.R. would never think to do something like this alone. Anna closed her eyes. “Did the tire hit anything?”
“No, fortunately not,” the chief answered. “When I saw it come down the hill picking up speed I blared my horn, stopping all traffic just as it went sailing by and into the ditch on the opposite side of the road.”
“Oh, thank god.” Anna breathed. She didn’t want to think about what could have happened had that tire slammed into a passing vehicle.
“J.R., head up to your room.”
She watched her son stagger up the stairs and waited until she heard the slam of his door before turning back to the chief.
“Thank you, Rex, for bringing him home safely. I’ll see to it that he is accountable for what he did.” She leaned forward. “But let’s be clear. This is not J.R.’s doing. It’s that boy Caleb Weston who needs a good scaring. I say you go over there right now and talk to him.”
“Mrs. Hudson,” the Chief said carefully. “That may be true. But it was J.R.’s hand on the tire. Not Caleb’s.”
Anna stiffened. He was wrong. J.R.’s hand may have been on the tire, but Anna knew it was Caleb who was egging him on, forcing him to do something he never wanted to do.
“Chief!” Nick called out, catching Anna off guard, bringing her out of her head and back to the football stadium.
The chief, dressed in regular jeans and a pullover Falcons sweatshirt, turned around at the sound of Nick’s voice. He was standing close to Kate, Caleb’s mom. After all these years, Anna had never gone out of her way to get to know Kate. It was more than just Anna’s distaste for Kate’s son. Anna’s social circle tended to surround her with women who were just as invested in the wellbeing of their town as she was. That didn’t fit for a single woman who worked odd hours as a nurse.
“Hey, Nick, Anna.” He extended his hand to them. Kate nodded a hello to Anna’s pressed smile.
“Rex, I was hoping to run into you,” Nick said. He watched the way the chief’s brows rose in surprise. Yes, they have known each other a lifetime, but he could count on one hand how many personal conversations they’d had.
Anna placed her hand on Nick’s arm. “I’ll catch up with you, I’m going to speak with Patty a moment. Hot cocoa?”
Nick nodded at her with a smile and a “Thank you” before turning back to Rex. “I wanted to ask you about your property.”
“My property?” Rex raised a brow. “What about it?”
“The acreage behind your house. Do you realize you are sitting on a timber gold mine there?”
Rex scratched his head, wondering where this was going. “Well, sure. Back in the day, my grandfather logged off a near quarter of it I believe. But it’s never been an area that interested me.”
“No, I can’t imagine it would,” Nick said with a chuckle. “Running the safety of our town the way you do and raising a girl on your own.”
“So how can I help you, Nick?”
“I want to buy it from you.”
“Excuse me?”
“All of it,” Nick continued. “The timber and the land around it.”
“Nick, with all respect,” Rex said stiffly. “My house is not for sale, nor the property it’s on. It’s been in my family’s possession since the beginning of Timber Falls.”
Nick placed a hand on Rex’s shoulder. “Now I’m not saying this is an easy decision, Chief. But I’m asking you to think about it. That timber is just sitting there. Think of the way it could benefit the community. I’m willing to offer you a substantial amount.” He patted his shoulder. “Think about it, will you?”
Rex knew his answer, but he nodded anyway. Nick gave him a squeeze on the shoulder and a smile before walking off.
“The nerve,” Kate said when they were alone again. “He thinks he can just buy the whole town.”
Rex let out a deep breath. “Well, he’ll be sorely disappointed that he can’t buy me.”
The crowd in the stadium behind them began to scream. Kate turned to see the players enter the field for the second half of the game. “I need to get back to my seat. Will I see you tonight? Caleb’s staying at J.R.’s.”
Rex looked to the stands to see his daughter engrossed in conversation with her friends. She probably hadn’t even noticed he was there.
“Yes, Lila’s staying at Hannah’s.”
She smiled at him, and he wished right then that the game was over and they were alone in between her sheets. This thing between them, whatever it was, was new enough that neither of them was ready to share it with anyone. Especially their own kids. He wasn’t sure when he would be ready. He hadn’t dated much after Maura died. He never had the will or the time. But now that Lila was older and more independent, he decided it might be time to make his desires known.
He watched as the Falcons won the game in a clean sweep. The crowd went crazy, rushing the field. It was hard to see Lila in the stands, but when he did, she caught his eye and they smiled. He waited until she left with Hannah, and then he jumped in his car and raced to Kate’s house.
Third night gone
She had been down this road maybe two or three times already. At this point, Kate was driving in circles as she followed main roads and went down unknown streets. She had this town memorized by now. But she couldn’t stop. She followed the old highway to neighboring towns, familiarizing herself with their dark corners and secret pathways. It caught her breath every time she drove by a sign in the window or a poster stapled to a tree of her son’s face on it with the word “Missing.” She was living on caffeine and 7-Eleven burritos. She only went home to change her clothes and check her machine, which she also often did from payphones.
She was grateful for the volunteers on foot or driving around in the pouring rain. The downpour made it difficult to trek the woods and surrounding mountain trails, which seemed almost pointless when what they were looking for was not a body but a car. If they could just find J.R.’s damn BMW then they would have some answers. Kate said his license plate number over and over to herself like a mantra, willing it to come to light.
What could possibly convince them to leave town without word to anyone? It made zero sense to Kate. Caleb was all she had—he knew that! He may have been smug and at times aloof, but he wasn’t merciless, not with Kate, not ever.
She had never been jealous of Anna and Nora. Not for their tight friendship or seemingly perfect lives with their perfect husbands. But for once, she envied them now. They had each other through this. And Kate had no one.
It had just been the two of them for the last seven years, since the day she left her ass of a husband and got the hell out of Sacramento as fast as she could. Dave hardly tried to stop her, and never put up a fight for Caleb, which was a relief but also made her hurt for her son, knowing his father didn’t even care if he left. Caleb acted like it didn’t bother him, but she saw the way he lit up on the few occasions his father would call, usually with unfulfilled promises of visits or money for a train ride back to California.
After these calls Caleb would become distant; he knew it hurt her when his father called. And then when he would realize his father was full of shit, he would become angry and lash out at the only safety net he had, his mother.
His violence became prevalent after these calls. He never meant to lay a hand on her, she knew that. She never showed him her tears, or just how badly it killed her to watch him go through this. She would call Dave when Caleb wasn’t home and scream her grievances at him, but it never helped. He would only do it again, and again.
Just as he had last week.
It had been over a year since Caleb had spoken to his father, and two years before that since he had seen him last. But when J.R.’s dad announced that the Huskies coach would be in town to watch them play, Caleb’s first call after telling Kate was to his dad. Kate held back her tongue and secretly prayed that Dave would pull through with his promise to make it to that game.
It wasn’t until the day of the game that she received the call that he couldn’t get off work. She knew it was bullshit and told him so.
“You are nothing but a coward,” she spat to him over the line.
“Now wait just a minute, Kathryn.” He was the only person who called her by her full name. “What do you expect me to do? Maybe if you hadn’t taken our son two states away, it wouldn’t be so damn hard for me to come up and see him!”
“You have never put in the effort with that boy.” She was pacing the kitchen with her cordless phone. Her blood was boiling. Of course, he couldn’t bother to tell Caleb himself, which left her to break her son’s heart again.
She hated Dave for many reasons. The numerous affairs, or slaps across her face that she lied about for Caleb’s sake, but she downright despised him for the games he played with her son.
He was a cruel man. He had charmed her when she was young and naive and didn’t know any better. She’d wanted to believe he had goodness in him, but it wasn’t long before she understood his heart was as black as his hair. Only then she was six months pregnant with Caleb and had nowhere to go. Once Caleb was born, she was afraid to ever leave him home alone with Dave, frightened she would return to him either not being fed or changed properly all day, or worse. During their fights, he would threaten to take Caleb away from her, that they would go somewhere she would never be able to find them. When Caleb started school, she began taking classes and got her nursing degree. It took longer than it did for most, but the moment she had that degree in her hand, she bolted.
And now she would have to call him and tell them she had lost their son.
She pulled her car over at a gas station, lifted the hood of her coat over her head and ran through the rain to a pay phone. It rang six times before the answering machine picked up. She slammed the phone down and turned back to her car before changing her mind. She inserted her long distance phone card and dialed again. This time, he answered.
“Yeah.”
“Dave,” she said breathlessly. The windows of the booth were fogging up from the storm outside. She wiped away the steam with her forearm and watched as cars passed the street in front of her. She didn’t want to miss anything.
“Kate?” He sounded groggy and annoyed. “What the hell. It’s one in the morning.”
“Has he called you?” For the first time in her life, she wished her son had reached out to his father. At least then she would know he was safe.
“Who? Caleb?”
She closed her eyes. “Of course, Caleb, Dave.”
“Jesus, Kate, you woke me up. What’d you expect?”
She expected a whole hell of a lot more than he had ever been able to give.
“No.” He sighed. “I mean, not for a couple of weeks anyway. How did the game go on Friday?”
A black car slowed as it came toward the gas station. She lifted on her tiptoes, trying to read the license plate through the weary glass. She opened the booth door and peered out. It wasn’t J.R.’s BMW. She sighed in frustration. “So he hasn’t tried to call you?”
“I already said no. What’s going on, Kate?”
“He’s gone,” she said with a shake of her head. The tears pooled in her eyes again.
“Gone?” He sounded alert now. “What, did you two get in some kind of fight or something?”
“No!” she shouted. “No. Nothing like that. He went out with his friends Saturday night and never came home.”
“He’s been missing since Saturday?” he bellowed. Kate held the phone from her ear. “It’s Tuesday night, or...or Wednesday morning and you’re just now telling me?”
“Oh, what would you have done had I told you right away?” she snapped back. “Caught the first flight up here? Right.”
He didn’t answer the question. He sucked in a deep breath and murmured something she couldn’t understand. She didn’t know if it was toward her or whoever was in his bed beside him. “Well, what’s the plan?”
“We’ve got volunteers searching. The chief of police and the sheriff have cops out looking for J.R.’s car. That was what they were all in when they went out Saturday night. But they still think it’s a runaway case.”
“Christ, Kate. What’d you think was going to happen? You’ve never kept a tight leash on that boy. He’s always been allowed to do whatever he wants when it pleases him. And now he’s just up and left.”
“Screw you,” she spat. She hated that she had to do this, communicate with a narcissist who didn’t give a rat’s ass that his son could be in danger.
“Call me when he shows up. I’ll come on up there and show him who’s boss. He’ll think twice before running off like that again.”
She slammed the phone down, feeling the pit in the middle of her stomach turning rock hard. She ran back to her car and started the engine, but the tears betrayed her and she couldn’t stop the sobs. She wished she could drive to Rex’s house, but she knew Lila would be home in bed, and Rex had kept his distance from her since the investigation started. She knew it was what he had to do. He couldn’t treat her special when there were two other boys missing as well. An
d she knew this case was eating him alive; she could see it in in the daze of his eyes and the droop in his shoulders. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, and he had never been a big drinker. She appreciated his dedication to finding her son, which was why she didn’t blame him for drinking.
She turned her car around and headed home. A drink was exactly what she needed right then as well. She kept the fridge stocked with beer for Caleb and the boys, and never touched it herself. But she snuck a secret stash of bourbon in her dresser drawer for an emergency. When she got home to her dark and empty house, she pulled it out and poured herself a glass. There seemed to be less in the bottle than the last time she had checked, but at this point, she could just have been seeing things. She was exhausted to the point of delirium, but she couldn’t sleep. Her mind wouldn’t let her rest. She took her glass and walked down the hall and stood outside of Caleb’s room. Out of respect, she never opened this door. There were things in there that the mother of a teenage boy didn’t need to see. But now, she felt it was necessary to see if he had left behind any clues.
She opened the door and was instantly hit by the smell of sweat-soaked football gear that had yet to make it to the laundry room. She cracked open the window, regardless of the rain, and let the fresh air cleanse the room. She looked around at the mess of clothes, books, and papers, wondering where in the world to start. She eyed his messy bed, homework laid out on top of the sheets. Was that a sign of someone running away? Gone mid-sentence of a history paper? She set it down and rummaged through the top of the dresser, taking out a photo of Avery in her cheer outfit intermixed with his socks and another of the two of them taken at last year’s homecoming dance. His deodorant, cologne, and aftershave all sat there atop the dresser, undisturbed and forgotten about as if he planned to leave it all behind and never come back. She stifled a sob as she looked at her grown son’s belongings and remembered the joy she had felt in designing his nursery. Winnie the Pooh theme. Dave had thought it was childish and girly, but he relented. Caleb had slept with his Winnie the Pooh blanket until he was five, when Dave threw it away, saying he was too old for it.
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