“What’s there?”
“The arcade they like. They go there all the time.”
Freddie came in and looked to Sam. “What can I do?”
“Ethan is with a kid he goes to school with at Hardy Middle School. His name is Tomas. We don’t have his last name but need to talk to his parents. They were meeting another kid named Brecken at the arcade at the Wharf. Not sure where he goes to school.” She looked up at Freddie. “Where have I heard the name Brecken before?”
“Wes Hambly’s brother in the Audrey Olsen case,” Freddie said.
“Yes! That’s it. Thank you. Let me know what you find out about Tomas’s parents.”
“On it.” Freddie turned and left the room as quickly as he’d arrived.
“What else do you know that might be relevant?” Sam asked. “And keep in mind we need to know everything, even things that you might normally be tempted to keep private. This isn’t the time to be concerned about that. All cards on the table.”
“We’ve gone over everything before we called you,” Mike said. “We can’t think of anything out of the ordinary that might’ve led to this. You knew we’ve been butting heads with him, but things had been better since we’d agreed to give him a little freedom.”
In Sam’s opinion, that was the worst thing they could’ve done when he’d been acting defiant, but she kept that thought to herself. As someone whose kids were surrounded at all times by Secret Service agents, she was in no position to judge the choices other parents made.
“I need a recent photo of him.”
“We just got his spring school pictures back.” Tracy sounded relieved that there was at least one thing she could do to help.
“I have one in my wallet,” Mike said, reaching for his back pocket.
He handed her the wallet-size photo, and Sam took a close look at it. Ethan had light brown hair that became blonder in the summer, golden-brown eyes and an impish grin that produced a dimple on the left side. He’d grown up a lot in recent months and was starting to look more like a young man than a boy.
Sam loved him fiercely, and the sight of his adorable face nearly brought her to tears. She fought back the surge of emotion because it would only upset Tracy even more and handed the photo to Gonzo when he arrived. “Can you put out a BOLO for Ethan Hogan, age eleven, please?”
Gonzo took Ethan’s photo from her. “Yep, it’ll go out to everyone currently on duty, and we’ll post it to the NCIC.”
“What’s a BOLO and the NCIC?” Mike asked.
“A BOLO is a be-on-the-lookout alert,” Gonzo said. “And NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, which puts the notice that Ethan is missing out to law enforcement around the country.”
Tracy gasped. “You think he’s somewhere else?”
“We have no way to know, Trace,” Sam said. “We’re covering all the bases.”
“Will it be all over the news when he puts out the alert?” Tracy asked.
“Yes, but we want people looking for him.”
“Will he get in trouble if you find him doing something he shouldn’t be doing?” Mike asked.
“Like what?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know. The shit kids do.”
“I guess that depends on what he’s doing.”
“Sam, come on…” Mike’s voice had a pleading edge to it. “We don’t want to ruin his life. We just want him to come home.”
“Why in the world would you think he was doing something that could ruin his life when he checked out to get food and play video games?”
Mike shook his head. “He’s never gone missing before. I don’t know what to think.”
Gonzo came back into the room. “The Wharf is closed now, and Patrol is looking for Ethan in that area. Dispatch got a call from Tomas Cambra’s father, Joaquin, reporting his son missing.”
