She felt so guilty! What if Carter was dead somewhere? It would be her fault.
"I've called the police," Nancy said when Allie arrived. "They have cruisers out looking for him."
"If anything happens to him, this is your fault," Nancy said to Jack. "I will hold you responsible."
Her voice wavered, and Kate hugged Nancy. Still dressed in her nightclothes, Carter's mother looked more undone than Allie had ever seen her.
"Could he still be on the property?" Allie asked.
"We don't know," Jack said tersely. "Walter and Stefan are out searching."
"I'll drive around."
"I'll come with you," Jack said firmly as he followed her to the car. Allie didn't have the mental energy to protest.
"Does he have favorite spots he likes to go to?" Allie said.
"We checked the lot where the house fire happened," Jack said.
Allie drove past just in case. She used the high-powered flashlight she kept in her car to scan the property. The last of the debris from the house had been cleared away, and she didn't see any sign of Carter on the flat lot.
Jack looked at his phone as Allie started up the car. "Grant says he wasn't at the cemetery." He sighed. On the floor next to him, Margot whined. "I guess we should just drive around. Hopefully we’ll find him."
"The water," Allie said suddenly. "He took me to the park on the water."
"Oh God, what if he drowns himself," Jack moaned.
She sped to the park, and the brakes squealed as she screeched into an empty spot.
The car had barely stopped before Jack jumped out.
"I don't see him," he called, scanning the park.
Allie stepped out of the car and scanned the edge line down near the water.
"Maybe he flung himself over the edge," Jack muttered.
Allie ignored him. Margot jumped out of the car after her. She sniffed the air then barked and wagged her tail as she raced to a set of stairs Allie hadn't noticed in the darkness.
Allie and Jack ran after her. Down close to the water was Carter, sitting on the narrow strip of rocks.
"Margot? Hi, Allie. Dad?" Carter said, visibly confused when he saw them.
"Oh, thank goodness, you're alive!" Allie said as she and Jack hugged Carter.
"Of course I'm alive," he said.
"We have the entire fire department and the police and the state troopers looking for you," Jack said.
"What? Why?"
"You were missing!" Allie exclaimed and wiped away a tear that threatened to run down her face.
"Ugh, that is so embarrassing," Carter said. "You didn't call me?"
"You didn't answer your phone!"
He pulled it out of his pocket. "That's weird. I didn't get any messages." He waved it around in the air above him, and suddenly it let out a string of high-pitched beeps as a hundred text messages and missed call notifications came in.
