A Colton Target

by Beverly Long

  “I have no idea,” he said.

  “Make sure they sign your form.”

  He didn’t answer. Simply looked past her shoulder.

  What the hell was happening with this kid? It drove her crazy. “You’re excused,” she said, so frustrated that she could barely speak. How could she help him if he wouldn’t let her?

  After Toby left, she packed her shoulder bag, stuffing inside a stack of papers to grade. She’d have plenty of time tonight, since Josh would be with Blaine.

  Tilda had not mentioned the dinner to Josh. She’d been pretty upset after her conversation with Blaine last night and hadn’t wanted that attitude to spill out. This morning, he’d been glued to his cell phone, barely answering any questions she passed his way. He’d seemed a little off, but then, maybe that had been her imagination, since she’d still been feeling unsettled by Blaine’s visit.

  You’re selfish, Tilda.

  Ugly, ugly words. Hurtful.

  Were they true? Had she been selfish?

  She’d been scared. Of Russ Colton. Of having a baby at eighteen. Of the prospect of raising Josh on her own.

  But had she found solutions that benefited her and Josh without regard for Blaine? Had she, indeed, only been concerned about the two of them, without any regard for others? If she looked up the definition of selfish in the dictionary, would she recognize herself?

  Ugh. It was no wonder her head hurt.

  She drove home, carried her things into the house and collapsed onto the couch. When her stomach rumbled, she managed to pull herself to a standing position. She got an apple out of the refrigerator and cut it up. Added a few hunks of cheddar cheese and a small handful of crackers. She took the plate into the family room and returned to the couch. Then, turning the television on, caught the end of a sitcom that had been popular ten years earlier.

  When everything had been simple. She’d been married to Dorian, and they’d been enjoying raising Josh.

  She was so tired. Days of not sleeping were catching up with her. She closed her eyes. And woke up with a start sometime later. The evening news was on.

  She looked at her watch. It was almost six. When Josh had said he’d be late, she hadn’t expected this. Blaine would be here at six thirty. She checked her phone, to see if Josh had sent a text or called. But there was nothing.

  She called his phone. It went to voice mail. She sent a text: Where are you?

  There was no answer.

  She didn’t want to panic. But, truth be told, her heart was racing in her chest. She opened the app that would allow her to track the location of Josh’s phone. When she saw the address, she breathed a sigh of relief. His school. He was at school.

  At band practice still?

  She thumbed through her contacts and found Isaac’s number. His friend answered on the second ring. “Hey, Josh’s mom,’ he said.

  “Hey, Isaac. Is Josh with you?”

  “Uh...no. I haven’t seen him since after school.”

  “You mean after band practice?” Isaac played the tuba.

  “There was no band practice today.”

  Her heart had been racing and now might have skipped a couple beats. And she felt the burn in her chest, making it hard to breathe. “So, the two of you walked home after school together.”

  “Yeah.”

  He’d already said almost that—probably thought she was losing it. “Did he have his phone, Isaac?”

  There was silence. “I don’t know. Maybe not.”

  Josh loved his phone. He always had it. That, and Isaac’s cryptic tone, sent a chill up her back. “Did something happen today, Isaac?”

  “Kids are saying stuff. You know, online. About Josh being a Colton.”

  Oh, God. “Bad stuff?”

  “I don’t know. I ignored it and told him to do the same.”

  Her son was a sweet kid who did not have very thick skin. She wanted to know what people were saying but that wasn’t the important thing. “Did Josh mention going anywhere else but home?”

  “No. But he wasn’t exactly talking to me,” Isaac admitted.

  What? They were best friends. If Josh didn’t think he could talk to Isaac, then he might not think he could talk to anyone. “If you see him or hear from him, tell him to call me right away, okay?”

  “Sure,” Isaac said and hung up.

  His phone was at school, but she didn’t think he was. She thought of all the places he might go if he needed to talk to someone. She dialed her parents.

  “Hi, honey,” her mother said.

  “Hi, Mom. Is Josh there by any chance?”

  “No. Howard,” her mom yelled, her mouth almost away from the phone. “Have you heard from Josh?”

  “Nope. Why?”

  She did not want to worry her parents. “No big deal, Mom. I was just expecting him a while ago, and he hasn’t turned up.”

  She kept her mouth shut about what Isaac had told her. She didn’t want her parents to be scared.

  “Did you call the school?”

  “Maybe I’ll do that,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you know once he gets here,” she promised before hanging up.

  She called the main office of his school. It rang and went to voice mail. Everyone had undoubtedly left for the day. But she knew people at that school. She scrolled through her contacts, found Sarah Trent’s name. She and Sarah, Josh’s homeroom teacher, had bowled together on a teachers’ league the prior year.

  She dialed. When Sarah answered, Tilda worked very hard to keep her voice calm. “Hey, Sarah, it’s Tilda Deeds. I’m having a little trouble tracking Josh down tonight. He’s not answering his cell but the app on my phone says his phone is still at the school. Could he still be there?”

  “I don’t think so. I left the school an hour ago, and it was pretty deserted. This time of year, the kids scatter pretty fast after school.”

  “You’ve got keys to the building, right?”

  “I do.”

  “I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you meet me there?”

  “Of course. Look, I’m only ten minutes away. I’ll meet you at the south door.”

  “Thank you, Sarah.” Tilda hung up.

  Where the hell was he? She tried his cell one more time. Straight to voice mail.

  She ran to put on shoes and was in the garage in less than a minute. Got into her SUV, raised the garage door and backed out. The weather had changed. Earlier, it had been clear but, like it often happened in Colorado, a storm had blown in, and now precipitation was falling. It was sleet, that ugly mixture of snow and rain that would turn to ice on the roads as the evening temperature dropped.

  She glanced at the clock on her dashboard. Six fifteen. She drove as quickly as she could, all the while trying to make sense of what she knew. Josh had left the building with Isaac and had gotten as far as Isaac’s house. Then, between there and home, had he somehow realized that he’d left his phone at school and returned for it, only to be locked out? Was he outside the doors of the building right now, waiting for someone to exit so that he could slip in and retrieve his phone?

  Not her kid. He’d have found a phone to use—either at one of the nearby stores or back at Isaac’s house—and called her for assistance. She was a teacher, after all. She knew how to get things done at a school. Would know people that could get the door open.

  Her kid was smart. And action-oriented. He wouldn’t just stand around hoping.

  There was something wrong. Maybe nobody else would believe her, but she knew. She thought about calling her parents back. For so many years, they’d been her go-to people. The third leg of her three-legged stool.

  And she almost pressed the button on her phone that would have had them come running but realized suddenly that there was someone else that she should call first.

  Josh’s fathe
r.

  And then mentally kicked herself for not calling him earlier. Was it possible that Josh was there? She didn’t think Blaine would deliberately keep her son away from her, but perhaps he didn’t know that Josh hadn’t filled her in.

  It was crazy how life worked. Earlier, she’d have been really irritated that Josh had gone to see Blaine without permission, but now, all she wanted was for him to be hanging out with his dad.

  She found Blaine’s contact info and pressed the number. He answered on the second ring.

  “Tilda?”

  “Is Josh with you?” she asked. Then sucked in a quick breath. She couldn’t let him know that she was losing it.

  “No. What’s going on?”

  “You haven’t talked to Josh?”

  “No,” he replied. “I’m still planning on taking him to dinner tonight. I’m less than ten minutes away.”

  “Oh, Blaine,” she sobbed. “I think something is very wrong. I can’t find him. I don’t know where our son is.”

  Chapter 10

  When Blaine had seen Tilda’s number flash across his phone screen, he’d immediately gotten tense, thinking that she was calling to cancel his dinner with Josh. He’d not expected that she’d tell him that his son was missing.

  He was a trained soldier, capable of rapidly sorting through complex situations. But a crying Tilda pulled at him, and he had to work to stay focused. He didn’t want to waste valuable minutes because he hadn’t listened well.

  “What time did you expect him?” he asked.

  “Five or five thirty, because he sent a text at noon, telling me that there was band practice. But when he wasn’t home by six and wasn’t answering his cell, I called Isaac, who is also in band. There was no practice.”

  Kids lied. Didn’t necessarily make them bad kids, but he didn’t like the idea that Josh had deliberately tried to fool his mom. “Has this happened before?”

  “He doesn’t lie, Blaine,” she said, her voice hard. “At least never before,” she added.

  Before you came back. That’s what he heard, even though she didn’t say it. He pushed those thoughts aside. Plenty of time to be pissed off later. “Did you try his cell?”

  “Yes, and I tracked its location. It’s at his school. I’m on my way there.”

  “I’ll meet you,” he told her. He knew where the middle school was.

  “Thank you.” She sounded as if she was about to cry again.

  “I’m sure it’s fine, Tilda,” he said softly. Didn’t know why he felt the sudden urge to comfort her, especially given what she’d implied, but it clawed at him that she was upset. “This is Roaring Springs,” he added before he hung up.

  Small-town America. Colton Country, some in his family might even have joked. Safe.

  But was anywhere really safe anymore? He immediately thought about Decker’s wife, Kendall, and how she’d been injured while attending a show at his cousin Bree’s art gallery. And then Bree had almost been shot, and Rylan Bennet, Blaine’s good friend from the army, had taken a bullet for her.

  Some people just didn’t like the Coltons. And Josh was the Colton that a lot of people were talking about right now.

  He continued driving with one hand but with the other dialed Josh’s cell phone twice. Both times it went right to voice mail. He left a message the first time. “Josh, it’s Blaine. Very important for you to call me or your mom right away.”

  His phone never rang. He pulled up to Roaring Springs’s middle school and saw Tilda was already there. She was sitting in her car but got out when she saw him. They met on the sidewalk. Neither of them had an umbrella, and they were getting wet fast.

  “I called a friend to unlock the door. She’s a teacher here,” Tilda said. “Sarah Trent.”

  He did not recognize the name. And he did not see anybody waiting for them. If she didn’t get here soon, then he was going to find another way inside. “Walk me through it again.”

  She didn’t argue. “Isaac confirmed that the two of them left school together and walked to Isaac’s house. He thought Josh was headed home. He did say that Josh wasn’t talking much, that he’d been upset by some things he’d seen online.”

  “What things?”

  “I don’t know. It had something to do with him being a Colton.”

  Christ. “Okay. We’ll figure it out. Where else have you checked?”

  “He’s not with my parents, and they haven’t talked to him. I didn’t tell them that he’s...missing.”

  “He’s not missing, Tilda. He could be inside this school, at this very minute. Maybe he got caught up in some after-school activity, lost track of time. Did he know I was taking him to dinner?”

  “No. I didn’t have a chance to tell him.”

  That probably wasn’t true. Maybe she’d been hoping he’d cancel. He saw a woman pull up, park quickly and get out of the car. She had an umbrella. Tilda waved to her.

  “Thank you so much for coming,” Tilda said. “This is Blaine Colton.” She waved in his direction. “Sarah Trent,” she added, for his benefit.

  “You’re Josh’s dad,” Sarah said, her tone knowing. She looked at Tilda. “Word has gotten around school,” she told her, perhaps somewhat apologetically.

  “I heard there might have been some stuff online,” Tilda said. “Stuff that might have upset Josh.”

  Sarah had her keys in the door. “I didn’t see it, but it’s very possible. I swear, these kids can be absolutely vicious to one another. They’ll write things down for the world to see that they would never have the guts to say in person.”

  Tilda knew this to be true. Periodically, she monitored Josh’s social media. But always with his knowledge. Always by his side. And once in a while, he’d voluntarily show her something.

  But that hadn’t happened tonight. Why?

  The building door swung open. “You said that you tracked his phone to here?” Sarah asked.

  “Yeah. I have an app. I can make his phone ring, which should help us locate it.”

  “It’s pretty quiet in here,” Blaine said. If Josh was involved in an activity, it wasn’t generating any noise.

  “Yeah. The cleaning crew doesn’t come in until much later, and then I think they’re only here for a couple hours,” Sarah said.

  “I want to check his locker. It’s the logical place for his phone,” Tilda told her.

  “Do you know the number?” Sarah asked.

  “Four thirty-six.”

  “Okay. That’s on the second floor.”

  Sarah left her wet umbrella by the door and led them down the hallway. The doors to all the rooms were open, and Blaine suspected that was to make it easier for the cleaning crew. He quickly looked in every room as they passed. As a result, he was a little behind Sarah and Tilda when they stopped in front of a locker on the second floor. But he heard a ringing coming from within and knew that Tilda had activated the phone.

  “I’ve got the combination somewhere,” she said, tapping on her phone. “I had to get his books when he had a bad cold earlier this year.”

  It took her another minute, but then she dialed the combination lock and easily opened it. The phone was on the top shelf, sitting on a single sheet of paper. Blaine picked the phone and then the paper up by the edge and held it so that he and Tilda could both read it. The message was brief and clearly intended for anybody who’d come looking for him. Like his mother. Don’t worry. I’m okay. I’ll be home tomorrow.

  Tilda said a four-letter word that Josh would have caught hell for.

  “Yeah,” he acknowledged. That did about sum it up.

  He glanced at the rest of the locker, hoping that it might offer some clues. It looked like any locker he remembered. Books and notebooks stacked on the bottom shelf. A hooded sweatshirt hanging on a hook. “Josh’s?” he asked, pointing to it.

  Tild
a nodded.

  He pulled the sweatshirt off the hook. It would have Josh’s scent and would make tracking easier, if it came to that. His friend Max worked with service dogs and might know where to quickly get a scent hound. “I’d like to look through the rest of the school,” he said, turning to Sarah. He didn’t want her locking up the building before he’d cleared it entirely.

  “Fine,” she agreed.

  Blaine turned to Tilda and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “We’re going to find him,” he reassured her. “We will. Now call Isaac. Ask him if there’s any place that he knows that Josh would go to if he wanted to get away from it all. Ask him if the two of them have talked about any cool places around here lately. Get him thinking.”

  He waited until she nodded. Then he gave her shoulder a tight squeeze and took off. There was only one more floor for him to search. It wouldn’t take him that long. His gut told him that Josh wasn’t close by, though. He’d walked at least to Isaac’s house. They had confirmation of that. From there, he’d gone somewhere.

  They could contact the police. The note dismissed the concern of foul play, but still, missing kids were high priority. The more eyes looking for Josh the better. But if that was going to happen, he had to talk to his parents first, let them know what was happening. They would hate the publicity, once people made the connection that the kid in question was a Colton.

  He could mobilize the family. The Coltons had resources. Horses that could go places that cars couldn’t. Employees that could quickly be marshaled into extra boots on the ground. Access to helicopters and experienced search and rescue personnel.

  But if Josh was already getting taunted because he was a Colton, any anonymity that he might have would be blown after tonight. It was a very real consequence if his kid simply wanted a couple hours of alone time.

  He finished the search of the third floor pretty quickly and rejoined Sarah and Tilda, who was still on the phone. He listened to her side of the conversation.

  “Thank you, Isaac. This has been very helpful.” She hung up.

  For the first time, she looked hopeful. He didn’t demand to know what Isaac had said. Sarah was still there, and they needed to get out of the building.