Chapter 16
Rebecca wrung her hands together and tried to figure out what was going on based on Jay’s phone call to his sister. This much she knew: his nephew, Bridger, was missing, and it had something to do with his bus.
Jay hung up and turned to look at her. “If you were a seven-year-old boy, where would you go after school?”
“Tell me what you know already. What’s the school saying?”
“His teacher said he was in the bus pickup area after school. He made it there at least.”
“So he got on one of the busses. Maybe he just got on the wrong one. How long ago did school let out?”
“At three.” He glanced at the car clock. “Over an hour ago. They should have found him by now. Shannon’s leaving for the school as soon as we can get to my house. Hopefully, he’ll show up at home in the meantime, and all this will be an overreaction. But if not…” He gripped the steering wheel hard and gunned it to make it through the next light as it turned to yellow.
Rebecca wished she could reassure him, but the best she could do right now was be silent support.
He got out his phone and started making calls to other parents he knew. Most of them had already heard from Shannon, and Jay had to tell them Bridger was still missing. Listening to it was terrible. She could only imagine what Jay had to be feeling.
Jay was more than an uncle to this kid. That was coming through loud and clear.
Different scenarios ran through her head. On the bus home from her first day of school in third grade, she’d been talking too much and missed her stop. She remembered the panic, the pain in her stomach. She’d been afraid to tell the driver, thinking he’d yell at her. But all he’d done was laugh and drive her back to the school. Mom picked her up fifteen minutes later. She was the one who yelled.
“Jay, whatever happened, don’t get too mad at him.”
“You think he’s fine then?”
“I do.”
He nodded. “Thank you for being here.”
She glanced at him, biting her lip. “So, why am I here?”
Her words brought the tiniest bit of a smile out of him. “Things go better when you’re around.”
“You can’t mean that. I’m sure things were a lot less complicated before Marlise hired me.”
“Not really. With Clarissa in the office, things were never less complicated.” He pulled into his driveway, bringing their conversation to an abrupt halt.
Shannon darted out of the house and threw herself into Jay’s arms. “They’ve radioed all the drivers. Nobody knows where he is, and all they do is apologize. The police said they’d send someone soon, but I don’t know how soon that is. They think he’s asleep on the back of a bus or something. But they’ve checked all the busses.”
“Do you want me to go to his school?” Jay asked.
She shook her head against his chest. “They’re calling parents to see if he went home with anybody and checking the school to see if he got left behind. I need to go.”
“Wait.” Rebecca knew Jay would go insane sitting here waiting. “Is there a map of all the stops the bus made? Jay or I could go retrace them.”
Shannon stared at her, probably momentarily confused as to what Rebecca was doing there or who she was. She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Um, yeah, the principal took a picture of it and sent it to me. Hold on.” She dug her phone out of her purse and pulled up the photo. “I’ll forward it to you, Jay. And thank you, whoever you are.”
***
Jay wanted to hug Rebecca. Smart, smart woman. But after today, he’d likely never hug her again. That was a sad thought.
Keys in hand, he unlocked the front door for her and then jumped back in his car with the bus route.
If Rebecca could think analytically, then so could he. It was time to stop acting emotionally and solve this. It would make no sense to go wandering the neighborhood freaking out. He called Bridger’s school and asked to be transferred to the principal. “Is Bridger friends with any latch-key kids? Any of the parents still at work who are on this bus route of his?”
For privacy reasons, she obviously didn’t want to give out addresses, but Jay pressed her, reminding her she’d have bigger problems than privacy if they didn’t find him, and she finally caved. “I never sent you these, and you better delete the addresses after today.”
“Of course.” He hung up and waited for the email to come through. It would take time to match up houses with bus stops, time that beat a rhythm in his chest, pressing down on him. He got in his car, and as soon as he had the list, he backed out of the driveway and headed toward the nearest one.
