Liam tugged at the collar of his shirt, looking like it was suddenly strangling him. “Shit.” He glanced back toward Norma, then tossed me the keys. “Go. I’ll stay here with her and talk to the police. I’ll say I was the one who found her.”
I hesitated. “You’ve got no reason to be here, though.”
“I’ll say I was meeting a potential client. We’ve all got alibis. We were at the funeral, there’s dozens of people who can ID us.”
I could see it all fitting together in his head, and as each piece slotted in, his nods became more insistent. “Go, Rowe. If Norma gave up where Ripley was before she died, Zye could already be out there, and Heath and Ripley are in very real danger.”
With Liam’s words ringing in my ears, I pushed his car as fast as I dared, getting us out of Saint View and back on the road to the cabin.
Mae gazed out the window. “This is just the day that keeps on giving, isn’t it?”
She wasn’t wrong. But I could barely breathe for all the adrenaline crashing my system. Liam’s car took a beating on the dirt road, kicking up stones that bounced off the undercarriage and the paint. Mae steadied herself with one hand on the door, the other on the center console, but didn’t say a word about my reckless driving. I knew she was as desperate to get back to Ripley and Heath as I was.
Finally, the little cabin came into view.
There was nothing amiss that I could tell. It was exactly the same as when I’d left it this morning. Normally Heath and Ripley would have appeared on the front porch, or from somewhere on the edge of the woods, ready to greet us. But not today. The house was deathly still.
A bad feeling spread through me. “Stay in the car.”
“Not a chance.” She had the door open and her seat belt off before I’d even fully stopped the vehicle.
I sprinted after her, catching her easily on the front porch, and we thundered up the stairs together.
Heath and Ripley peered up from the floor, Finding Nemo playing on the TV.
“Hi, Rowe! Hi, Mae! You’re back. Did you bring my Spider-Man? Can I call Grandma now?”
I glanced at Heath who just shook his head lightly. “I’ve been checking the windows but nothing.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Zip.”
Ripley tugged at my shirt, his sapphire-blue eyes staring up at me. Fuck, his eyes were so like Zye’s. Maybe snatching him wasn’t Zye’s game. What if he’d taken Norma out and then filed for custody through the courts? Without her as a viable family member with a stable home, a court might decide Zye could have custody of him. I had no legal claim.
I just desperately wanted him to be mine.
In my heart, he already was. His mother and grandmother had both been taken from him way too young. I wasn’t leaving him without a fight. I scooped him up from the floor and rested his butt on my forearm. “We can’t call Granny right now.”
“Why not? You said we could!” His eyes watered.
My heart fucking broke. “I know I did, bud. I’m sorry, I thought you could, but she’s…”
I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t tell a four-year-old that I’d let his biological father take another of the women from his life.
Mae stepped in, wrapping an arm around both of us. “She’s not feeling well right now, sweetie.”
I gazed up at the ceiling, not wanting Ripley to see my expression. How the hell were we going to tell him?
“Oh.” His shoulders slumped, but then he tapped me on the side of the face. “Did you get my Spider-Man toy?”
I nodded. “I did. Here.” I set him down and pulled the figurine from my pocket before handing it over to him.
He snatched it from my fingers with a whoop of delight and took off, flying it around the room. “Yes! I’ve been waiting for this one! I can’t wait to show my friend!”
I slumped down into one of the camping chairs, mentally exhausted to the point I wasn’t sure my legs would even obey my demands to hold me. “Remember, Rip. We talked about this. You can’t go back to daycare just yet. I promise you, as soon as I can, I’ll get you back with your friend.”
Ripley flew the Spider-Man toy in my direction. “That’s okay. I’ll just show my friend in the woods.”
All three of us stopped and stared at him.
I suddenly wasn’t so tired.
“Rip?” Heath asked quietly. “What do you mean your friend in the woods?”
“You know, the man? He talks to me sometimes when I’m playing.”
My blood ran cold. “What man, Ripley? Where?”
He ran over to the window and pointed to the back of the clearing. “We play down there, behind the trees.”
“Was he here today?”
Ripley nodded his little head. “Yep. I talked to him just before. He’s real nice. He said I can come stay with him whenever I want to.”
Mae stifled a cry.
I glanced over at Heath. He looked as panicked as I felt.
“I haven’t seen anyone,” he murmured. “But he does keep disappearing down the back there… Fuck!”
Ripley jumped at the harsh word, and Heath was quick to pick him up, reassuring him it was okay and that he and I just had something to do. But the worry between the three of us spilled over, and Ripley’s bottom lip quivered as Heath passed him over to Mae.
She held him tight to her chest, and her expression turned to one of fierce determination.
I knew in that moment she’d go to the ends of the earth to protect him.
He was her son now, too.
I hugged them both but pressed my lips to Mae’s ears so only she’d hear. “Close the blinds and lock the doors. There’s a G. U. N in the safe.”
She turned wide eyes on me.
“Do you know how to use one?” I asked.
“Jayela showed me a few times. We went to the shooting range. But where are you going?”
I smiled tightly at my son, hoping he wouldn’t see how forced it was. “I’m going to go find Ripley’s friend.”
26
Heath
We waited on the porch until Mae locked the door, the sound of the deadbolt sliding into place only giving me mild reassurance. “You sure about this? Are you really going to use that thing if Zye is out there somewhere, and it comes down to it?”