New Jersey Man Arrested

Tim Wallace, 42 years old, of North Creek, New Jersey, was arrested Wednesday afternoon. He is accused of stealing millions of dollars from the bank where he has worked for 15 years.

Police arrested Wallace at the home he shares with his wife, Trish, and their 11-year-old son …

“Josh,” Mom said, looking over from the driver’s seat. “Don’t read those stories. They’re just going to upset you.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Josh said, letting his phone drop to his lap. Mom was right. These articles about Dad were total garbage, filled with lies.

Of course Dad didn’t steal money from the bank! It was all a mix-up, some problem with the bank’s computer. Dad said it happened all the time.

The police must have known right away they’d made a mistake; they let Dad come home just a few hours after they arrested him. Now all Dad had to do was go to court and explain everything to a judge. Or something like that. What mattered was that soon this whole mess would be all cleared up.

Mom reached over for Josh’s hand, but he slid it away. He loved Mom, of course — she was the best. But he wasn’t the touchy type. He glanced at her — her hair wasn’t all done up, and she had gray circles under her eyes. Poor Mom looked stressed out.

“Let’s take a break from reading those stories,” she said. “That’s why we came here.”

Here was the middle of nowhere, somewhere in California. They’d flown into the Sacramento airport this morning, and they’d been driving for what seemed like forever. They were heading to some little town where Mom’s cousins lived.

It had been Mom’s idea that she and Josh get away while Dad straightened out the mess at the bank.

“We’ll have an adventure together,” she’d said.

Josh had figured he and Mom would go to the hotel on the shore, like they’d planned.

But Mom had decided this was the perfect chance to visit their cousins — Holly, who was Josh’s age, and her mom, Nicole.

Josh knew Mom and Nicole had been buddies when they were little girls. But those two hadn’t seen each other in years. And Josh and his mom had never even met Holly.

Mom had showed Josh Holly’s picture. She looked friendly enough. But from what Mom had said, he could just tell that he and Holly were different types. She seemed all into nature and stuff like that. Trees could be cool if you could climb them, and Josh loved animals. He’d just rather play video games than die of boredom on a hike.

And where exactly did these cousins live?

Josh stared out the car window. They seemed to be driving through an endless forest. He gripped his phone tighter. At least he could check the Yankees scores and FaceTime with Greg and Dad whenever he wanted.

Josh leaned his head against the window. He was just dozing off when Mom’s voice jolted him back to life.

“Josh!” Mom said. “Look at this!”

Josh turned to the window, and his eyes bugged out. They were still driving through the forest. Except every single tree was dead — bare and black and twisted. It looked like an evil witch had cast a killing spell, destroying everything for miles around.

A chill ran down Josh’s spine.

What could have happened here?