Rue glanced at the dashboard clock for the fifth time in as many minutes. It’s after nine. The NYPD should have picked Danny up by now. Why aren’t they calling? She sped over yet another bridge.
A sign welcomed them in Maryland, and another one told Rue that it was still two hundred forty-two miles to New York. It might as well be two hundred thousand. She wanted to get to Danny now. Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, she stared at the cars ahead of them as if she could make them move faster.
Only Kelsey’s soothing presence next to her stopped her from cursing all the way to New York. Strange. No one but her grandfather had ever had that calming effect on her.
Rue’s cell phone rang, catapulting her into action. Finally! Her heartbeat shot through the roof. She glanced at the caller ID while she shoved the phone’s earpiece into her ear. “Clearfield PD,” she said to Kelsey and pressed the button to accept the call. “Do you have Danny?”
“Ms. Harding, this is Detective Schaeffer.”
“Do you have Danny?” Rue repeated. Her voice vibrated like a rattlesnake about to strike.
Only silence came through the tiny earpiece, and then Detective Schaeffer cleared his throat. “The NYPD met the bus at Port Authority. Daniel wasn’t on it.”
Blood rushed through Rue’s ears. “What? That’s impossible. He—”
“He had been on the bus,” Schaeffer said. “The NYPD questioned the bus driver. He recognized Daniel from the photo we sent them. Apparently, Daniel got off the bus in Newark.”
“Newark? That doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t know anyone in Newark, and his ticket was for New York.” Rue switched lanes to pass a slower-moving car.
“We alerted Newark PD,” Schaeffer said. “They’ll search the station, watch surveillance tapes, and ask around, trying to determine if your son has been seen with anyone.”
Rue’s knuckles blanched as she throttled the steering wheel. For a moment, she felt as if she would throw up any second, and she could hardly get out the words. “You think he might have been kidnapped?”
“No, Ms. Harding, there’s no reason to think that,” Schaeffer said.
A “yet” hung in the air.
Rue bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted the bitter tang of blood. Images of what might have happened to Danny flashed through her mind, each one worse than the one before. No, no, no, no, no. I can’t lose him. Not him too.
“Maybe he just changed his plans at the last minute,” Schaeffer said. “Teenagers sometimes do that. I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything.”
When the call ended, Rue plucked the headset from her ear and clenched her hand around the fragile piece of technology until her fingers hurt. Even that pain couldn’t pierce the fog of her panic.
A light touch to the back of her hand finally pulled Rue from her panicked haze. “Hey.” Kelsey’s voice was soft like a lullaby. “Maybe you should pull over.”
“No,” Rue said a little too loudly. “We can’t afford to lose more time. Danny wasn’t on the bus. He got off in Newark, and no one has seen him since.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Kelsey said. It sounded as if she didn’t know what else to say.
Rue turned her head and met Kelsey’s gaze. The mahogany eyes had darkened to a walnut color. “Yeah.” Rue blew out a breath, trying to release her tension. She stared straight ahead through the windshield.
A road sign flashed ahead of them, telling her that the left lane was closed for roadway construction. Traffic slowed.
Rue smashed her fist against the steering wheel. “Damn.”