“And how do we prove that?”
“They’ll dust the phones for prints, Mrs. Hogan,” Nate said. “If Brecken or his father sent those texts, their prints will be on the phones.”
“Unless they wiped them away.” As the daughter and sister of cops, Tracy knew the deal. “And if they did, Ethan and Tomas will own those texts.”
“There’re other ways they can determine who sent them,” Nate said. “There’ll be an examination of the video from where the boys were taken by the Mayfields. When they can prove the texts were sent after the boys were abducted, that’ll prove the boys didn’t send them. We’re a long way from knowing the full story of what went down. Ethan and Tomas say they never texted Luna on Saturday. They’d met her before, and Ethan said he really liked her, but they hadn’t spent much time together. If Brecken knew Ethan liked her and that maybe Luna liked Ethan, too, that might’ve been enough for Brecken to see an in with her through Ethan. With both boys telling the same story, that’ll matter.”
Nate’s words had calmed Tracy somewhat. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Mike came down the hallway toward Ethan’s room, carrying a cup of coffee. He shook hands with Nate and kissed Brooke’s cheek before going into Ethan’s room.
He knew Tracy wanted to strangle him, which was why he never so much as glanced at her.
“What can I do?” Brooke asked.
“You should get back to school,” Tracy said. “You need to be there with your semester ending so soon.”
“I can’t leave you guys like this. How do I think about anything else?”
“You have to,” Tracy said. “Your acceptance to Princeton is on the line. Go back to school, finish strong and come home for the summer. That’s what I need you to do, honey.” Tracy hugged her eldest child. She’d been so young when she had Brooke that, in many ways, they’d grown up together. “I so appreciate you coming. Having you here made all the difference, but you have to go back and finish.”
“I don’t want to,” Brooke said, weeping. “I want to be here with you guys.”
“I know, but there’s nothing you can do here that’s more important than finishing your school year.”
Brooke pulled back from the hug. “Will you be okay?”
Tracy wiped the tears off her daughter’s lovely face. “Of course I will.” She told Brooke what she needed to hear, but after the past forty-eight hours, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be okay again. “I’ll feel much better if you’re where you need to be.”
“What about Abby? Should I go pick her up from Nana?”
“I’ll ask Nana to bring her home later today, after we get Ethan settled.” Tracy smoothed her hands over Brooke’s silky long dark hair. “I’ll never forget you guys coming home to be with us when we needed you.” Her glance took in the tall, handsome Secret Service agent who was in love with her daughter. “We appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”
Brooke hugged her again. “I love you so much, Mommy.”
She hadn’t called Tracy that in years.
“I love you, too. Go see Ethan and then get on the road. I’ll be waiting to hear you’re home safely.”
“I’ll make sure she gets home safe,” Nate said.
Tracy released Brooke to hug him. “I know you will. Thank you for your steady presence these last couple of days. It’s meant a lot.”
“If there’s anything I can do, you have my number,” Nate said. “Feel free to call if you have questions or just need to talk.”
“Thank you,” Tracy said. “That’s very kind of you.”
While they went in to say goodbye for now to Ethan and Mike, Tracy stayed in the hallway, her head back against the concrete wall. It was all she could do not to bash her head against that hard surface until she lost consciousness. That would be better than having to think about what might be ahead for her son and their family.
Mike walked out with Brooke and Nate. Tracy hugged them both again before they left.
As Brooke walked down the long corridor that led to the elevators, she cast a tearful look back at her parents.
They waved to her.
“I’m glad she’s going back,” Mike said.
Tracy walked around him and went in to see to Ethan.
