By seven thirty, the house was filled with well-meaning people and Deputy Wendall Kincaid, who sat at a chair in the kitchen and fielded calls from fellow officers and tried to coordinate the neighbors and friends who had shown up to search.
Allison was in the kitchen, making sandwiches and more coffee for those who had come to help. She appeared efficient and in control, unless Knox looked into her eyes, which held her intense, screaming despair.
Knox was just grateful she had something to do to keep her busy and a couple of friends to chat with her and offer support. He paced the floor, waiting for something to happen, and finally climbed the stairs to Cody’s bedroom.
He stood in the threshold and stared at the top bunk. He’d tucked Cody into bed with a pat on the shoulder and Cody had placed his hand on Knox’s cheek.
I’m glad you want to spend time with me, Knox, he’d said. I really like being with you. Knox had tucked the sheet around his neck and wished him happy dreams. He wanted to do it again. He wanted to tuck his son into bed tonight and tell him how much he loved him, how happy he was that Cody was his son.
The room held the scent of little boy and big dreams. Knox’s gaze shifted to the miniature horses on the shelves. His heart swelled in his chest, making it difficult to draw a breath. The glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling would soon be shining, but Cody wasn’t here to see them.
Where are you, son? How can I find you and bring you home where you belong? There was no way he believed Cody had run away. Cody loved his home and his mother, and Knox hoped he had started to love him.
Before a wealth of emotion could grab him by the throat, he left the bedroom and headed back down the stairs. As darkness began to fall, a frantic restlessness filled him.
He was a Texas Ranger, not accustomed to sitting around and waiting for answers. He was usually out pounding the pavement and turning over rocks to find answers.
Finally he couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed to get outside and do his own search before night fell with its deep darkness and secrets.
He strode into the kitchen to talk to Allison. She stood at the sink with her hands immersed in soapy water as she washed several coffee cups.
“I can’t just hang out here anymore. I need to go out and look for him,” he said.
He hated how white, how strained her features were. “I should come with you,” she said as she grabbed a towel to dry her hands.
He shook his head. “You need to stay here in case we get a phone call.”
“It’s important that you be here, Allison,” Wendall said from his seat at the table. “If Cody comes home, he’ll need his mother.”
“Yes, of course. You’re both right. I should stay here,” she quickly agreed. She twisted the towel so tight her fingers were white. “You’ll call if you find him?”
Knox shot the deputy a grateful look and then gazed at Allison once again. “Of course I will. I’ll be back later,” he said.
He left, torn between the need to be in the house and be an emotional support for her and his own need to do something...anything, to find his son. At least she had some friends here, he reminded himself as he walked out the front door.
Rather than take his car, he took off on foot to retrace the route that Cody would have taken from the bus stop. Although he knew the deputies and some of the other searchers would have come this way, he walked slowly, methodically checking not only the sidewalk but in the yards he passed, as well.
Was it possible Cody had chased a stray dog and had somehow fallen into a ditch or a hole and couldn’t get help? Had he seen something of interest and left the sidewalk and gotten tangled up in a vine or a bush?
When he reached the place where he’d found the backpack, he stopped. This was the spot where something unpredictable had happened. Had a car pulled up? Had somebody jumped out of that car and grabbed Cody? Had he dropped his backpack as some sort of clue or had it been torn off him in some kind of a struggle? The very idea caused a rising nausea inside him.
The asphalt of the street didn’t show a clue, nor did the yards he had passed. It was as if Cody had taken off his backpack and then had simply disappeared into thin air.
Kidnapped. There was no question in Knox’s mind that somebody had taken his son. But who? Had it been Chad or one of the Billings brothers? Or was it his mother?
The thought thundered in his brain. Was it possible that Livia wasn’t in Mexico anymore but rather right here in Shadow Creek? Why would she take Cody? It certainly wouldn’t be because of a grandmother’s love and desire to see her grandson. Livia didn’t do anything out of love.
Knox crossed the street and headed back to the house, once again checking yards for any clue that would lead him to his son.
When he reached the house, he frowned as he saw the local news channel van parked in front. That was the last damn thing they needed right now. That would only complicate things with throngs of people showing up just to watch whatever might be happening. But news reports might also unearth some witnesses, he reminded himself.
He pulled his keys from his pocket and got into his car. Very soon it would be too dark for any kind of a successful search.
He’d gotten Chad Watkins’s address from a reluctant Wendall earlier in the evening and it was there he headed. Jeffries hadn’t called to let them know whether or not he’d found and questioned the man.
He drove the streets slowly and attempted to shove away the black thoughts that attempted to choke him. The idea of somebody intentionally keeping his son from him, from Allison, shot an icy chill through him.
At least there were now dozens of people helping to search. And at least nobody had found Cody’s body. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as that thought filled his mind. He couldn’t go there...he just couldn’t believe that Cody might be dead.
Chad lived on the western outskirts of town. He saw the patrol car parked at the curb and an old Chevy in the driveway as he got to Chad’s address. Apparently Bud Jeffries was sitting on the house.
He pulled up behind the patrol car and parked. The house was small with a lawn full of weeds and overgrown grass. It screamed of a need for maintenance, the gray paint peeling and one of the gutters hanging off the roof. There were no lights on inside.
He got out of his car and approached the driver side of the patrol vehicle. Bud rolled down the window. Instantly the scent of onions and French fries drifted out.
“I’ve been here since I talked to you,” Bud said. His seat was reclined and he had a wrapper in his lap holding a half-eaten hamburger and a handful of French fries. The sight of the man enjoying a meal while his son was missing enraged Knox, but he carefully kept his temper in check.
“He’ll eventually wind up back here,” Bud said. “His car is here so he can’t have gone far.”
“Have you checked inside the house?”
“I knocked on the front door...knocked hard enough to wake the dead, or a drunk, but nobody answered.”
“Maybe you should go inside,” Knox replied.
“Can’t do that. I don’t have a search warrant and no real evidence to get one. I walked around the place and didn’t hear anything from inside. He’s probably passed out under a tree or in a bush. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Then why are you just sitting here feeding your fat face? “Do you plan to stay here all night?”
“I don’t know what plans I have from minute to minute.” Bud picked up a large plastic soda cup and took a drink. “I had a couple of my men check out Brad and Bob. They were both at their homes and were shocked that Allison would even think they could be capable of taking the boy. There’s no reason to believe they had anything to do with it.”
Knox looked at Chad’s house and then back at Bud. “Does Chad own any other property around town?”
Bud laughed. “That boy hardly owns this property. His parents lived here for years but they were killed in a car accident several years ago and Chad moved in. He owes back taxes and is barely hanging on here.”
“You’ll call us as soon as you speak with Chad?”
“I will.” Bud took another drink of his soda.
Knox wanted to reach through the window and pull the man out of the car by his ears. Why didn’t the sheriff feel a sense of bigger responsibility? A little boy was missing and night had fallen.
Without saying another word Knox got back into his car. The fact that he needed to turn on his headlights tortured him. Cody was someplace in the dark...scared and without his parents. How had this happened, and who was responsible?
He hated to go back to Allison’s without bringing Cody home. He didn’t want to see the fear, the utter misery in her eyes. He also wasn’t ready to mention the possibility that his mother might be behind it. Right now he couldn’t figure out a motive for her and Chad was a far more likely suspect.
Once again he drove slowly, looking at each of the houses he passed, wondering if Cody was in one of them. Could he trust Bud that the Billings brothers didn’t have a hand in this? Was it possible Chad was holed up someplace with Cody?
He finally got back to Allison’s house. Most of the cars that had been there earlier were now gone, and the news van was just pulling away. People had to get back to their own lives, tuck their children into bed with extra hugs and the gratefulness that it wasn’t one of their own missing.
Wendall Kincaid’s patrol car was still parked in front of the house, along with another one, and Thorne’s truck also remained.
He walked into the house to the scent of fresh coffee and voices coming from the kitchen. Wendall had been joined again by Deputy Jim Baker. Allison’s home phone sat in the center of the table with what looked like an ancient recording machine hooked up to it. The two deputies were chatting with Thorne and Mac, who both leaned with their backs against the counter.
Allison sat at the table, a cup of coffee before her as she stared out the window into the darkness of the night. She turned to look at him when he entered the room. For a brief moment hope leaped into her eyes, but it quickly died as he silently shook his head.
“Knox, we’ve walked the streets and checked yards, and we finally came back here because we don’t know what else to do to help,” Mac said. His dark brown eyes radiated concern and deep compassion.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done, but it’s getting late. I don’t know where else to tell you to search. Go home,” Knox said.
“Are you sure?” Thorne asked. “You know we’ll stay as long as you need us.”
“I know that, but I’m positive,” Knox replied. “I’ll walk you out.”
The three men left the house in silence. “You’ll let us know if there’s anything else we can do?” Mac asked when they reached their vehicle.
“I will,” Knox replied.
Thorne clapped a hand on Knox’s shoulder. “You know we’re here for you.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.” A cold wind of desperation swept through him. “The hardest part is this helpless feeling I have. I don’t know where else to look for him. I don’t know who might have him and why.”
“You’ve got two good men in there helping out,” Mac replied. “Wendall and Jim are good at their jobs.”
“Unlike their boss,” Thorne added darkly.
“Jeffries is sitting on Chad’s place,” Knox replied. He tamped down his irrational anger at the thought of Bud feeding his face and relaxing in his car seat.
“You think Chad is behind this?” Mac asked.
Knox hesitated. “I don’t know. If he’s the drunk everyone talks about, I’m not sure he’d be coherent enough to pull off a kidnapping. I just hope like hell my dear mother isn’t behind this.”
Even in the darkness of night, Knox saw the surprise on the other men’s faces. “Why would Livia have anything to do with this?” Mac asked.
“Who knows why she does what she does?” Knox replied, aware of the bitterness that crept into his voice.
“She’d be a fool to come back here,” Thorne said. “She’d find no help whatsoever in this town. Everyone here hates her. They even took her name off that fancy hospital she built.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right,” Knox said. “Now go on, get out of here.”
“Are you coming back to my place?” Thorne asked.
“Not until my son is home safe and sound,” he replied firmly. A few minutes later he watched until their taillights disappeared from view. He turned around and stared at the house.
The porch light was on...a beacon in the surrounding darkness. But there was no light inside of him. There was nothing but darkness and a growing rage against whomever had taken his son.
He now prayed for a ransom demand. He now wanted to believe that Cody was the victim of a kidnapping for ransom and not some sort of stranger abduction. Those rarely got solved and almost never ended happily, but he and Allison might have a fighting chance against somebody who wanted to bargain for Cody’s return.
He entered the house to find Allison seated on the sofa. Her face was wan, her eyes burning with intensity. “I refuse to cry,” she said. “If I cry, it means something bad has happened and I can’t allow my thoughts to go there.”
Knox sat next to her and took one of her hands in his. Her fingers were icy and trembled against his. “This is all my fault,” she said. “I should have never fired Chad.” Her lower lip quivered and she reached up with her other hand to worry a small strand of her hair.
“We don’t know for sure that Chad is responsible for anything yet, and you can’t blame yourself for firing a man who drank on the job.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m so afraid, Knox.”
“I know.” God, he felt so helpless. “Sheriff Jeffries is sitting on Chad’s house. We should know if Chad is responsible for this before the night is over.”
They remained on the sofa as the night deepened, holding hands, with their love for Cody binding them together. The soft voices of the deputies in the kitchen were the only sound in the house.
Knox didn’t even know what a ransom demand would look like. Would it come as a text on Allison’s cell phone? Would a note be put in the mailbox? How would a kidnapper contact them?
“Let’s go get some coffee,” he said when it was almost midnight. He knew neither of them would sleep through this long night.
Allison nodded and together they got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen. Wendall and Jim still sat at the table, their faces lined with tiredness.
“Don’t you have men to spell you?” Knox asked as he poured two cups of coffee.
“We aren’t going anywhere until Cody gets home,” Wendall said.
Allison took her coffee cup and sat at the table. Knox sat next to her. Her inner strength amazed him. Other than her brief breakdown earlier, she’d remained relatively calm throughout the long hours that had passed.
Knox burned with frustration. There were no clues to follow, no discernible leads and only a weak motive at best. The recording and tracing wires were hooked into Allison’s phone and all they could do was wait. And if a ransom call didn’t come in, then Knox would lose hope.
The minutes ticked by and with every one Knox felt a tightening in his stomach. There was no silence as great as that left behind by a missing child.
And then the phone rang.