Zion Powell
Zion looked around the kitchen. The dishes had been put away, but Rowena was nowhere in sight.
“Hon?” He wandered through each room in the downstairs. “Rowena!”
Where had she gone? They were going to head over to the James’s house to find out how they were doing after their argument at the park the night before.
He went upstairs and found her in her exercise room, on the treadmill, now wearing shorts and a tank. She was running fast and looking out the window. The machine sounded like it was going at top speed.
“What are you doing?”
“Running.” She didn’t turn to look at him.
Zion walked over to her. “I thought we were going over to check on Morgan and Lila.”
“That can wait.” Rowena kept looking out the window.
“Our son is missing.”
“This is how I deal with stress.” She wiped some sweat from her forehead.
“Do you want me to go over there by myself? Would that be easier on you?”
“Sure, or you can wait. I don’t care.”
“I can’t sit still. I’m going to head over there, if you don’t mind.”
“Do what you want.”
He studied her. It wasn’t like her to be so distant. Not from him, anyway. They could appear strong to the rest of the world, but they could always be themselves around each other. “Maybe I’ll just go over there real quick. I can tell them they’re welcome to come here anytime.”
“Okay.” She turned up the speed and started huffing and puffing.
Something was going on with her, but she clearly wasn’t going to talk about it right now. Maybe this was just how she was processing such a stressful event. They’d faced a lot together in their many years as a couple, but nothing as serious as not knowing where Emmett was for so long.
He took a deep breath. “I won’t be gone long.”
Rowena nodded.
Zion frowned, but left the room. She’d tell him what was going on when she was ready. Or maybe she just needed to burn off some energy, and that was all it was, though he doubted that.
He made his way downstairs and outside. The sun was especially warm for this time of year, almost feeling like another wave of summer. But it wouldn’t be long before the weather turned cold and rainy.
Zion stopped at the end of his driveway and looked up and down the street. He half-expected to see Emmett, Atlas, and Brielle walking down the sidewalk, laughing. His heart ached knowing that wasn’t possible.
Something rustled from the yard on the left. Zion turned to see the older neighbor pruning back the branches on his apple tree. It was unusual to see Larry, as he worked nights and kept to himself.
“Hi, Larry.” Zion waved.
The older man lowered his clippers and nodded but didn’t say anything. He didn’t wave or smile. He actually wore a frown as he glanced over.
“Have you seen Emmett? My son. He’s missing.”
“He ran over my tulips.”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him? Maybe see something two nights ago?”
Larry’s frown turned into a scowl. “Can’t say that I did.”
“Him or Atlas across the street.”
“Haven’t seen anything.”
“If you do see something, could you let us know?”
“Sure.” He turned back to his tree.
“And if you—”
Larry spun around. “I need to get a shovel from my shed.” He disappeared around the side of the house, and a moment later his gate slammed shut.
Zion shook his head. Some people were clueless, and unfortunately his neighbor was one of those people. But he couldn’t expect more from the man. As far as Zion knew, Larry hadn’t ever married or had kids. Just locked himself away in the large house.
There was no time to worry about that. They needed to find Emmett and Atlas. He headed across the street and rang the James’s doorbell.
Lila answered, looking as worried and exhausted as he felt. “Zion, is everything okay? I mean, you didn’t hear worse news, did you?”
He shook his head. “Rowena and I are just concerned. How are you two holding up?”
She frowned. “You saw us arguing last night, didn’t you?”
Zion nodded. “We don’t mean to pry, but want to let you know that if you need anything, you’re welcome to come over any time. I’m not sure how much help we can be, but we know the stress of a missing son.”
Lila leaned against the door frame. “Thanks. You two can come over here if you need to, also. How are you holding up?”
“About as well as can be expected.”
“I can let Morgan know you stopped by. He went to the school to talk to the boys’ friends.”
“Good thinking. Tell him to let me know if he hears anything promising. And really, stop by any time.”
“Thanks. I’ll let him know. Tell Rowena I said hi.”
“Will do.”
“Bye, Zion.” She stepped inside and closed the door.
He stared at the closed door for a moment. Was it just him, or was everyone acting weird? Could be him. He was more rattled than he ever remembered being, between Emmett’s disappearance and Nastasia’s call from the office the afternoon before.
Maybe it was just him. He could usually read people well—that was one thing that made him a successful attorney—but anyone would be off their game after the week he’d had.
Zion headed back over to his house, looking up and down the street for any other neighbors he could ask if they’d seen the boys. The street was quiet, other than a lawnmower on another block.
Larry didn’t glance over as Zion came back. Just grumbled to himself as he clipped more branches. Crazy old coot.
Inside, the house was quiet. Rowena was probably still on the treadmill trying to run off her worry. Not that it would help any more than another vice. Some people drank or ate when troubles came, but his wife burned calories rather than consuming them. Being in the fashion world, that wasn’t uncommon. A lot of her friends and colleagues did the same.
He went up to the exercise room to find her on the elliptical, her top now soaked in sweat.
“Maybe you should take a break.”
She shook her head no and kept huffing and puffing.
“You’re making me tired just watching you.”
“Exercise is good for you,” she said between breaths.
“I’m too tired right now. I talked to Lila, but she didn’t say much, so I told her they could come over any time.”
“That’s good.”
Ding-dong!
Rowena glanced over at him. “Who’s that?”
He pulled out his phone and checked the app. It showed Layne at the front door.
“It’s Layne.”
Rowena stopped. “Get the door, and I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Sure.” Zion rubbed his temples as he made his way downstairs. He answered the door and found Layne standing there, pale and with dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was messy and she wore a hoodie instead of the stylish clothes she normally did. “Come in.”
“Thanks.” She trudged inside. “I hope it’s okay to come over.”
“Of course.” He closed the door behind them. “Do you want to go to the kitchen? Are you hungry?”
Layne shook her head. “I can’t eat.”
“It might help.”
“I tried. Can we just sit in the living room?”
“Okay.”
Instead of sitting, Layne walked around the large room, studying all the pictures of Emmett. She picked up one of his senior photos and turned to Zion. “Do you think he’s okay?”
“Can’t let myself think otherwise.”
“You’re lucky. I keep thinking the worst.” She stared at the picture for a moment before setting it down then collapsing on the loveseat.
Zion sat on the couch and raked his fingers through his hair. “How are you holding up?”
She looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot. “Not very well, I’m afraid. I can’t stop thinking about him, you know?”
He nodded. “I can’t, either.”
Rowena came into the room, still in her workout clothes but with a towel around her neck. “Layne, how are you?”
“I’m so worried!” Her eyes widened, then she jumped up and threw her arms around Rowena.
Rowena returned the embrace and threw a surprised expression to Zion, who shrugged. Layne was often over at the house, but she had never been one to chat with Rowena or Zion.
“Would you like to have a seat?” Rowena stepped back.
Layne nodded. “Have you guys heard anything?”
They both shook their heads. Zion leaned forward. “Have you? Are the kids talking to each other about anything?”
“Everyone’s only talking about the viral video. People are trying to figure out what they were going to do, and if it got them killed.” Her eyes widened. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Rowena swallowed. “It’s okay. Just tell us everything you know.”
Layne chewed on her lower lip. “Mostly it’s just theories. Some say they went skydiving, but that’s dumb. How would that go viral?”
Dumb as it was, Zion still considered it. “What else are they saying?”
“Most of it’s stupid like that. People saying they went to race their cars somewhere dangerous, but neither of them are into that. Others say they tried some new drug, but again, that’s not like them. They’re not into drugs.”
“What else?” Rowena asked. “Anything likely?”
Layne fidgeted and looked deep in thought. “Brielle said maybe a haunted house. That’s the only one I actually believe. I looked up that asylum, and that night was the anniversary of the slaying.”
Zion glanced over at Rowena. They exchanged a knowing look.
“What?” Layne looked back and forth between the two of them, stopping at Zion.
“The police looked there, and they found signs of a struggle.”
She gave him a pained stare and her face paled even more. “Really?”
“They also found drugs there.” Rowena frowned. “Not that it means they belonged to Emmett. The struggle doesn’t mean it was them, either.”
Layne covered her mouth, and her eyes shone with tears. “What does it mean?”
Zion opened his mouth to respond, but his phone rang. “Hold on.”
It was the police.
His stomach plummeted to the floor. Did they have bad news?
“Who is it?” Rowena demanded.
He waved her quiet and accepted the call. “This is Zion Powell.”
“Zion, this is Deputy Alvarez,” the woman replied. “I’m working on your son’s case.”
“Hello, Deputy.”
Rowena’s eyes widened. Her face showed the same fear Zion felt. Was their world about to come crashing down around them?
Layne sat up straight and she chewed on a nail.
“Zion,” Deputy Alvarez said. “Would you and your wife be available to come down to the station?”
His stomach lurched, but then he realized she hadn’t said morgue. She’d said station. “What for?”
“We have an article of clothing we’d like you to look at. If you’re able to identify it as your son’s or not, it can help us know if we’re moving in the right direction.”
“An article of clothing? What is it? Where’d you find it?”
Rowena moved closer to him and put her head by his phone.
“It’s a jacket.”
“A jacket?” Zion exclaimed. “That doesn’t tell me anything. Where’d you find it? What does it look like?” And the question he didn’t want to ask—was it bloody and mutilated? He hated to even think it, but unfortunately, it was a possibility. Why else would they want them to come to the station to see it?
The deputy cleared her throat. “I can’t tell you over the phone. We just need you to come downtown and see it. Then you can tell us what you know. We’ve already asked the other boy’s family to come down, too.”
That couldn’t be good.
Both Rowena and Layne stared at him, unblinking.
He cleared his throat. “Okay. We’ll come right down.”
“Thank you, Zion. We’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.” He ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket.
“What’s going on?” Rowena demanded.
He took a deep breath to calm his breathing. “They want us to go to the station and see if a jacket belongs to Emmett.”
Rowena gasped. “Why? Is something wrong with it? Did he get hurt?”
“I don’t know. They’re also having Lila and Morgan come down to look at it.”
“I have to go.” Layne fled the room, and a few moments later the front door slammed shut.