“How could you do that to Ivy? West is probably scared to death!”
The deputies positioned themselves to cover both sides of the truck, their hands on their weapons but not drawing them.
“Rowan, let the deputies handle it.” Evan touched her shoulder, but she ignored him.
“Where is West?” she yelled at the driver. She put her face against her hands on the glass to peer into the back of the king cab. Inside the truck, Adam looked from deputy to deputy, clearly conflicted about what to do.
“Step back from the truck, ma’am,” the closest deputy told Rowan.
She turned toward him. “That’s him! That’s Adam Thornton. He took West.”
“Get back, ma’am. We’ll take care of it.”
Evan remembered that Adam had threatened Ivy with a gun. “He could be armed,” he said in a low voice to Rowan.
Her face cleared. She grabbed Thor’s harness and jogged to the driveway. Evan was right behind her.
She’s more worried about Thor getting hurt than herself.
Her family, more deputies, and the FBI agent came out of the house to find the source of the shouts. Ivy immediately tried to dart toward the truck, but her father stopped her. She turned an angry face his way and tried to break free. Rowan rushed to help him contain her.
“West isn’t in the truck,” she told Ivy. “I already looked.”
Ivy froze and searched Rowan’s face. “Where is he?”
Evan’s heart cracked at the sorrow and confusion in her tone. He glanced at Malcolm standing slightly removed from the family, watching the scene, confusion in his eyes.
“I don’t know. The deputies will get him out and ask.” Rowan put an arm around Ivy, and together the family watched as Adam got out of the truck with his hands on his head. Now there were four deputies around Adam. They ordered him to the ground.
“Ivy! Tell them I didn’t do anything!” Adam yelled at their group as he got to his knees.
“Where is West, you fucking asshole!” she shouted back.
“I don’t have him! I’m here because you left that screaming message about him on my voice mail. If my son is missing, I want to know what happened!”
“I don’t believe him,” muttered Ivy. “He hid him somewhere. Probably at a new girlfriend’s house.”
“If he’s hiding West, why would he come here, where there are a bunch of police vehicles? He’s too spineless to do that,” Iris said, disgust in her voice.
“True,” admitted Ivy.
“That’s Adam Thornton?” Special Agent Peterson asked Evan.
“Yes. That’s him.”
Special Agent Peterson looked at Ivy. “Before we heard the shouting, you’d started to tell me about a recent incident with your ex. What happened?”
Ivy launched into a description of how a drunk Adam had broken West’s window and then tried to stop the car as they left. The agent made more notes.
“Wait a minute.” Malcolm’s voice was quiet but caught everyone’s attention. His haunted eyes looked at Ivy. “Did he break West’s window two nights ago?”
“Yes.” She frowned. “How did you know that?”
Malcolm ran his hands along his scalp and pulled on two fistfuls of his hair as he turned away. “No,” he mumbled. “No, no, no.”
But not before Evan spotted a flash of horror and comprehension on his face. “Malcolm. What’s wrong?” he asked sharply.
Facing away from the group, the man shook his head, his hair still grasped in his hands.
His mother touched his back and walked around to face him. “What’s wrong, Mal?”
He continued to shake his head. “I can’t. I can’t say it.”
“What can’t you say?” she asked in a tender voice, her gaze worried. “You’re safe here.”
“No. No, I’m not. Liam will find me. You’ll find out what happened. I’ll have to leave.”
Evan exchanged a glance with Rowan. She looked as confused as he felt.
Malcolm knows something about the night Adam tried to break in.
The additional footprints.
Evan’s breath hitched as he recalled the forensic tech pointing out where someone had stood in the dirt bed.
Was it Malcolm?
“Who will find you, Mal?” asked his mother. “We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Liam will.” Malcolm turned away, pulling on handfuls of hair. “He’ll put me in the box. He won’t give me food for days,” he muttered.
Malcolm suddenly whirled and pointed at Ivy. “You’re my sister! That’s why he thought it was a perfect plan! I’d do anything he ordered to protect your son. He knows that. He was counting on that connection to control me.” His eyes were wide and his back stiff and straight, no hiding, no hunching over. Suddenly his face crumpled, and he covered it with his hands. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t know. I had no idea that was your house that night or that he wanted your boy.”
He knows who took West.
Evan’s vision went red. Everyone seemed to fade away but Malcolm. He went to grab Malcolm’s arm and order him to tell where West was, but Rowan gently caught his hand.
“You’ll scare him,” she said, holding his gaze.
She’s right.
He took several calming breaths as Rowan turned to Malcolm.
“Can you tell us how to find West?”
Malcolm panted like a dog, hyperventilating. “I can’t. I can’t.”
Thor suddenly appeared, pressing hard against Malcolm’s leg. Evan glanced at Rowan, who looked surprised. Malcolm squatted next to the dog, sinking his hands into the fur as he had earlier. Then he pressed his face against Thor’s neck, and the heaving of his chest slowed a fraction.
“I can’t tell you how to get there,” Malcolm said, his voice muffled against Thor. “But I can show you the way.”
45
“Absolutely not!”
Outside the sheriff’s department, Rowan watched Evan speak rapidly with SWAT team leader Vargas, his eyes hard, his posture stiff. Captain Vargas looked just as stubborn. Malcolm had stated he would only take them to where West was being held if Rowan and Thor also went. Then he’d shut down, burying his head in his knees and refusing to speak.
Vargas had an issue with a civilian and her dog on his scene. He’d already had a problem with Malcolm showing them the way instead of giving directions. He hadn’t believed her brother didn’t know street names and couldn’t estimate miles.
The more Rowan had talked with her brother, the more she’d learned about the huge gaps in his knowledge and social skills. He could read but could barely carry on a conversation. He knew little of current events or how to use the internet. The man who’d imprisoned him hadn’t allowed him in public until a few years before, and that had been so he could learn an electrician’s trade because they needed the money, but Malcolm had been forbidden to leave his sight or speak with anyone.
Remembering how isolated they had been for weeks after their kidnapping, Rowan wasn’t surprised at his lack of socialization or education.
Evan was arguing that she, Malcolm, and Thor would all stay far away from the action once they arrived.
“This man might be a killer,” the captain told him. “This isn’t an operation where a civilian’s dog goes looking for a missing child. We will address the threat first. Then look for the boy. Understood?” He glanced Rowan’s way and she gave a short nod.
Vargas was right. Thor wasn’t a police search dog who knew how to take down criminals. She needed to let the SWAT team do what it was trained to do.
He acknowledged Rowan’s agreement and strode away to his men.
Evan gave her a thumbs-up, a drawn expression on his face. They’d won, but there was a long, stressful day ahead of them.
Rowan glanced at Malcolm, who was sitting on a low brick wall, deliberately apart from everyone, Thor at his side. Her dog had stuck close to Malcolm for the past two hours, knowing he was needed. Rowan was surprised that Thor would leave her side for so long, but she was also very proud.
We’ll find him his own dog when this is over.