“As are mine. Is Charles good to go get the phones?”
“Yeah, she’s booked and will hopefully be back late tomorrow night. She’ll be flying for the first time.”
“Oh wow. Is she okay with that?”
“She says she is.”
“You want me to go with her?”
“I appreciate that, but I’m going to let her do it. She says she can handle it, and I need to give her the chance.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind, I’ll go with her.”
“Thanks, Freddie.” She went to sit behind her desk to call Tracy while he went to the pit to report the new information to the others.
Tracy answered on the third ring. “Hey.”
“How’s it going?’
“Pretty good. The boys are being discharged this morning.”
“That’s great news.”
“Have you heard anything about Luna?”
Sam didn’t want to tell Tracy that news. “Are you with Ethan?”
“He’s in the bathroom.”
“Trace…”
“Oh God. Don’t tell me she’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry to have to tell you that.”
Tracy let out a wail full of pure distress. “Oh, Sam. What in the world? These kids are babies. She was thirteen.”
“I know. It’s horrifying.”
“Her poor mother. I talked to her last night and saw her on the news pleading for her daughter’s safe return…”
Tracy’s sobs echoed through the phone, bringing new tears to Sam’s eyes.
“Other missing kids were found, too,” Sam said as Tracy gasped, “which is the one good thing to come out of this, that they’ll be reunited with their families.”
“What does all this mean for Ethan and Tomas?” Tracy asked hesitantly. “Are they in trouble?”
“Not that I know of. From what they told us, they were used as pawns in a much larger scheme.”
“It’s unbearable. Every bit of this is truly unbearable.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry.”
“I’m enraged, Sam. I can’t imagine how I’ll stay with Mike after this.”
“Don’t say that when everything is so raw. Take some time.”
“What time do I need to recognize that he allowed something that ended up changing our lives forever, and not in a good way? If only he’d listened to me, our son would’ve had nothing to do with any of this. Now his name is permanently linked to the murder of a young girl. It’s beyond horrifying.”
