by Susan Stoker
“Here’s the other clip,” Cruz told them, and Calder focused his attention on the screen. This video they hadn’t seen before. It was the one Beth had found from the traffic camera. He knew she’d been up all night reviewing all of the footage she could get her hands on. Cruz clicked on the second video and it began to play.
Calder held his breath as the view on the school changed from the playground to a street behind the school. The people in the clip were in the background and blurry, as the camera was focused on the cars going through the intersection, but they could see a man hauling a struggling child toward a car parked on the side of the street in the upper left-hand corner.
Before they reached Lincoln’s car, he lost his grip on a wildly struggling Billy. The boy took off running across the street toward a field across from the school.
“He got away!” Hope breathed.
“Good for him,” Joseph said under his breath.
The video ended with the man standing by the side of the road next to the field looking pissed, then turning around and running back to his car and driving away.
“Did you see that?” Hope asked, looking at Calder. “He got away!”
“I saw it, sweetheart,” Calder told her. He turned her in the chair and kneeled down in front of her and grabbed hold of her hands. “We don’t know for sure that he escaped Lincoln though. He might’ve cut him off on the other side of that field.”
Hope shook her head. “No. Remember when you talked to him about never letting anyone get him in a car?”
Calder nodded.
“Me and Billy had a talk about that afterward. We both promised that we’d do whatever it took to get away. I asked if he remembered when he was little and we were still living in Washington and we were at the mall. I looked away from him for two seconds, and when I turned around he was gone. I searched the mall for an hour before I finally found him. Turns out we’d both been wandering in circles and missing each other. Billy remembered. I told him that if he was ever lost, that he should stay put. Let the people searching come to him. After we talked about your lecture, we discussed running away and hiding. That it would be safer for the police to come to us, rather than for us to wander around where the bad guy might find us again. I know he’s hiding somewhere, Calder. I just know it!”
For the first time since Billy had disappeared, Calder began to feel a ray of hope.
He was a realist. He knew firsthand what could happen to people at the hands of others. There were some awful, sick people out there. He saw the results of that evilness on his autopsy table every week. But hearing that Hope had had a conversation with Billy gave him a glimmer of hope that he really was out there hiding, and not at the mercy of Lincoln and Donna.
He turned to Dax. “Call Sledge and the other firefighters. Tell them what happened and where to start searching. Explain that they should check every single nook and cranny where Billy might be hiding. He can’t respond to people calling his name.”
“I’ll let him know,” Dax reassured him. “I know all of the guys are standing by ready to help. If Billy’s somewhere around the school hiding, they’ll find him.”
Calder turned back to Hope. “They will find him,” he said without any doubt in his tone. “Are you up for doing the money drop today?”
Hope swallowed hard and nodded. “I can do it.”
Calder wanted to be out looking for Billy, but he wasn’t going to let Hope stroll through Bamberger Park by herself. Well, he knew she wouldn’t be by herself, as all the men around them right now would be there watching over her, but he wasn’t going to leave her side. No way in hell.
“I’m extremely proud of you,” he told Hope quietly. “I know this isn’t easy.”
“That’s the understatement of the century,” she said. “I really feel the need to go to the school and look for Billy myself, but I can’t let Donna and Lincoln get away with this. I almost wish I’d never won that stupid money in the first place.”
Calder didn’t know what to say that would reassure her. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about the million bucks because he wanted her and her son just the way they were. But he knew the money would give her the confidence to get herself back on her feet and not feel beholden to anyone, even him.
TJ came over to them then. He put his hand on Hope’s shoulder. “I used to question fate all the time. I thought I was being punished when I got hurt when I was in the Army. I didn’t feel as if I deserved Milena. And when I found out she’d had my son, and had raised him by herself for two years, that feeling got even stronger. But you know what? I finally pulled my head out of my ass long enough to realize that if I hadn’t gone through what I did in the Army, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate what I have now.”
Calder watched as Hope’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded.
“It sucks that you were homeless. Even more so that you were homeless with a child. But I truly believe that your experiences are helping Billy today,” TJ said.
“Thank you,” Hope whispered.
“Are you ready to go?” Hayden asked.
Hope took a deep breath and nodded. Calder stood and pulled her up next to him, keeping his arm around her waist.
“Okay,” Hayden said. “Conor’s talked to his game warden friends and they’re already stationed around the park, undercover. They’re posing as civilians hiking and enjoying the nature reserve. Cruz and Wes are going to head out before us and get in place to apprehend whoever goes after the money you leave. Quint and I will be in the parking lot, making sure neither escapes if they manage to evade Cruz and Wes.”
“Where are you going to be?” Hope asked Calder.
“At the park with you,” he told her.
“But…they said no cops.”
“I’m not a cop,” Calder said immediately. He lifted his hands and framed her face, forcing her to look at him. “I won’t walk right next to you, just in case they’re watching you, but I’ll be nearby just in case you need me. There’s no way I’ll let you go in there by yourself. Don’t ask it of me, Hope. Please.”
She licked her lips but nodded.
“They aren’t going to do anything to mess up the money drop,” he reassured her. “I’m not dressed like a cop and I won’t be wearing my badge.”
“Donna knows who you are from when you ate at the diner though,” Hope said.
“Those two are obviously desperate for money,” Quint said. “The FBI did a background check and found that Lincoln has been dabbling with gambling and owes ten thousand to a local loan shark. They aren’t going to risk the deal going bad if Calder’s with you.”
“Especially if they don’t have Billy in the first place,” Hayden added. “They’re going to want to get their hands on the money as soon as possible and get the hell out of town. I have a feeling it’s why they contacted you so quickly after the attempted abduction. They wanted to get the money before Billy was found and they lost any leverage they had.”
Hope took a deep breath. “Okay. I trust you guys.”
Calder dropped his hands from her face and wrapped an arm around her waist once more.
“But, right after we do this, can we go and join the search around the school?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Calder reassured her.
Hope moved away from him but when she reached for his hand, Calder relaxed. She intertwined her fingers with his and took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s do this,” Hayden said.
Everyone headed for the door except Hope and Calder, and Joseph disappeared into the room he’d been using to give the couple some privacy. Since he’d be a liability rather than a help, with the shape his legs were in, he’d offered to stay at the house and once more monitor the phone, and to be there in case Billy came home.
Calder waited until everyone had exited before he turned to Hope. “I love you.”
She licked her lips but didn’t hesitate to return the words. “I love you too.”
“Let’s ge
t this done so we can find Billy and get on with that wonderful life, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Calder felt Hope squeeze his hand as they headed for the garage.
At precisely eleven o’clock, Hope walked as fast as she could down the nature trail toward the trash can she was supposed to put the money in. She usually loved being in the outdoors, but not this morning. Every chirp of a bird made her flinch; every time the wind blew, she whipped her head around, thinking Lincoln would be standing there.
She was sweating, and she knew her heart was racing. Her shoulder hurt from the weight of the bag she was carrying and she was nauseous from nerves. But she didn’t let any of that stop her. Putting one foot in front of the other, she kept going.
Billy and Calder were the two things keeping her moving forward. Billy, because she knew whatever happened in the next couple minutes could determine his fate. And Calder, because she knew he was watching over her. He wasn’t right by her side, but she knew he was behind her somewhere. As were the other law enforcement officers.
They’d arrived at Bamberger Park thirty minutes before she had and fanned out, forming a protective circle around the path, the drop point, and her. She didn’t see Lincoln’s car parked anywhere, but she hadn’t bothered taking the time to inspect every car in the lot either. Her only job was to get the money to the trash can and leave.
The sticks crunched under her feet and she could feel her heart beating way too fast in her chest. She had no idea if Lincoln would decide to just pop out from behind a tree and kill her and steal the money, or if he really would wait for her to leave the cash in the trash can she was headed toward. She was terrified, but nothing was going to make her turn back now. No way.
As she walked around a bend in the path, Hope came to a stop in the middle of the trail. Right in front of her was a bench—and next to it, a large metal trash can. It looked sturdy enough to withstand a hungry animal trying to get a meal.
Looking around, Hope didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary. The birds were still chirping, and that was the only thing she could hear, other than her own too-fast breaths.
She slowly made her way toward the trash can and reached for the lid. She panicked when she couldn’t figure out how to get it off. It was a bear-proof trash can, and for a second, she envisioned Lincoln killing Billy when she couldn’t leave the money because she was too flustered to figure out how to open the damn thing.
After a few seconds, she realized how the mechanism worked and the top popped open. Without hesitation, Hope dropped the bag on the ground and started removing the money, both the real and fake. She was glad the fake money looked almost exactly like the real stuff…she almost couldn’t tell which was which. The bag wouldn’t fit inside the small opening and she wanted to get rid of the money as fast as she could. She dropped a couple bundles of cash in her haste to make the drop, but she didn’t even glance at them. Her only concern was doing what Donna had told her to do so she could get Billy back.
When she was done stuffing the money into the trash can, she folded the bag and pushed that in too. Then…she stood there. Not sure what she was supposed to do next. It seemed anticlimactic to just turn around and leave, but after a moment, she realized that was exactly what she was supposed to do.
Calder had said that Conor’s game warden colleagues were ready and waiting to pounce on Lincoln and Donna when they showed up to grab the cash, and TJ and Conor himself were there somewhere as well. But she had the intense urge to stand by the trash can and yell at Lincoln to come out and give her son back.
Instead, she took a deep breath and turned her back on the trash can and the money, and made her way back to the parking lot. It was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do in her life, but she knew Calder and his friends would do whatever it took to take down Lincoln and Donna and find Billy.
It was the thought of Calder watching over her, of knowing he’d join her back at the parking lot, that gave Hope the strength to walk away.
Two hours later, Hope and Calder stood in the parking lot of the nature area at Bamberger Park and watched as both Donna and Lincoln were put in separate cop cars. They were handcuffed and had been yelling at the officers even as they were placed in the backseats.
TJ and Conor walked toward them.
“How are you two holding up?” TJ asked.
“We’re okay,” Calder said. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“After Hope put the money in the trash can and left, Lincoln appeared out of the bushes where he’d been hiding,” Conor said. “My game warden colleagues got everything that happened next on film. He had trouble getting the trash can open, since it’s designed to keep animals out. Donna came out of hiding to help and they had to tip the receptacle over and shake the money out, since they couldn’t figure out the release mechanism on the front panel. They quickly realized some of the money was fake, but were greedy enough to waste time trying to fish every bill they could out of the trash can. It’s a good thing we had the park locked down because it took them so damn long to get the cash, someone would’ve certainly come upon them. The second they headed back down the path, they were apprehended.”
“What’d they say about Billy?” Calder asked.
“That they didn’t know where he was. Said they never had him,” TJ said with a shake of his head.
“They could be lying,” Calder said.
“I don’t think they are. The second they heard about the kidnapping charges, they fell all over themselves trying to explain what happened at the school, and how they never found him after he ran off. We even had to tell them to shut up so we could read them their Miranda rights to make everything legal. Right after that, they repeated what they’d said, that they never had Billy, and had only used his disappearance to their advantage so they could get their hands on the money. And Cruz called. Both houses have been searched and they didn’t find any sign of Billy at either, or that he was ever there.”
Hope didn’t care what happened to Donna or Lincoln. They’d get what was coming to them. They might not have kidnapped Billy, but they’d tried. And they would’ve if Billy hadn’t outsmarted them. All she cared about was finding her son. “Can we go?” Hope asked Calder.
He turned and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, sweetheart. We can go.” He looked at their friends. “We’ll be with the search party around the school. You’ll call if anything happens with those two that we need to know about? If they have any information at all about where Billy might be?”
“Of course,” TJ said. “Go. Find Billy and bring him home. Tell him he won’t have to worry about these assholes again.”
“Will do, thanks,” Calder said, shaking both TJ’s and Conor’s hands.
When they were finally on their way to the school, Calder asked, “Are you okay, Hope?”
“Yes. But I’ll be better when we find Billy.” She turned to him. “We are going to find him, aren’t we?”
“Absolutely,” Calder answered without hesitation.
Hope swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn’t fall apart now. She glanced at her watch. It was after lunch. Billy had been out there somewhere on his own for almost a full day. He was probably hungry and scared.
“He’s fine,” Calder said softly.
“How’d you know what I was thinking?” Hope asked.
“Because I’m thinking the same thing.”
Hope studied Calder. He had dark circles under his eyes, much as she did. He wasn’t taking this any easier than she was…though he was hiding it better. Even though Billy hadn’t been a part of his life for that long, he loved him. He’d told her that, but a part of her hadn’t really processed it. She’d lived with Earle for years, and he’d never shown even a third of the emotion toward her son as Calder was right this moment.
The man sitting next to her had been emotionally supporting her since Billy had gone missing, and she’d selfishly not returned that support. Billy might not be related to Ca
lder by blood, but it was more than obvious to her, now that she was looking for it, that it didn’t matter.
Reaching out, Hope put her hand on Calder’s thigh. He glanced at her quickly before his eyes returned to the road in front of them. He reached down and covered her hand with his own.
“Yes,” Hope said softly.
“Yes, what?” Calder asked.
“After we find Billy and things settle down, my answer will be yes,” she told him.
She saw the second her words penetrated because his entire body seemed to sag in understanding. He didn’t answer her in words, simply picked up her hand and kissed her palm reverently, before placing it back on his thigh. The rest of the drive to the elementary school was done in silence.
Chapter Seventeen
Calder told Hope he wanted to start their search for Billy at the exact location on the street where he’d escaped Lincoln. Cade Turner, one of the firefighters from Station 7, had met them at the school and had updated them on the search, indicating what neighborhoods had already been combed through and what clues had been found…which had been nothing.
There was a group about to start a new search about three miles from the school, but something inside Calder told him that would be a waste of time. He stood at the edge of the street and stared across the field where they’d seen Billy running on the surveillance video.
“What are you thinking?” Hope asked.
Calder shook his head. He wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He looked beyond the field on the other side of the road at the neighborhood on the other side. The houses weren’t big, but they weren’t small either. It was a typical middle-class neighborhood, normal for this part of town. He tried to imagine, if he was Billy, what he’d do…where he’d go. He suddenly regretted that he hadn’t taken Billy camping. Or taught him more about the outdoors. There simply hadn’t been time. In some ways, it felt as if Hope and Billy had been living with him forever, but in reality, it hadn’t been that long. But he regretted not spending more time with Billy. Vowing to change that, Calder looked down at Hope.