Sam was rattled by the idea of a CSU search of her sister’s home. “I’ll move them to Celia’s house.”
“Good idea. They can’t take anything with them. No phones, no devices. All that has to stay there for the investigators, with the codes and passwords written down.”
“Right.”
“Sam.”
“Yeah?”
“You can’t be the lead on this. Tell me you know that.”
“I do, but I have to help, or I’ll go mad. Please don’t say I can’t help.”
“You can provide peripheral support, but we have to play this by the book so we don’t fuck up a potential prosecution, if it comes to that, which I hope to God it won’t. But you know the drill.”
“Yes, okay. I’ll stay in the background, but I have to be able to support my sister and her family.”
“I have no objection to that as long as you cede to the Missing Persons detectives and let them do their jobs with no territorial shit, you got me?”
“Yes, sir. Who’s their commander again?”
“They fall under Captain Ruiz.”
Fuck. She’d had a previous encounter with the captain that hadn’t gone well, at least as far as Sam was concerned.
“I’ll call Missing Persons right now and send them and CSU to Tracy’s.”
“Thank you.”
“Keep me posted if you hear anything.”
“I will.”
* * *
Tracy was frantic with worry. Ethan had been difficult lately, full of attitude and secrecy about his friends and what they were up to when they were out together. Ethan had pleaded with them to let him go with his friends by Metro to the mall, the skate park, the arcade and to get food. She’d thought he was too young to run around the city without adult supervision.
She and her husband, Mike, had argued about it.
“He’ll be with his friends,” Mike had said. “He’ll be fine.”
“He’s too young to be set loose,” Tracy had replied. “I’m not at all comfortable with this.”
“Trace, his friends have already been doing it for a while now. If we hold him back from doing things his friends are allowed to do, he’ll resent us.”
“He’s eleven. Not fifteen. It’s too soon.”
“He’ll have his phone, and we can track him. We’ll make that nonnegotiable.”
“What will you say when Abby wants to be running the streets at eleven? Will that be okay, too?”
For a second, Mike had seemed uncertain. Abby was his angel, his little girl and best pal. “That’s different. She’s a girl.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Let’s face it. A lot worse things can happen to her than could ever happen to him.”
Tracy had stared at him incredulously. “Is that what you think? Have you watched the news lately? No one is safe in this world, let alone kids.”
