“Me too. But I know you have Cameron, and he has to come first. That’s as it should be.”
Marty knew that was true, and yet part of him pushed him back into his old single ways. It would be so easy to ask Grant to stay and spend the night with him. It was what he wanted. But he was a parent now and had responsibilities that he had never thought of before, and on top of that, everything was so new with Grant. “I keep wondering sometimes if life will ever go back to the way it was, and then Cameron does something like trying to go down the slide the wrong way and I realize it’s never going to happen. My life has changed in lots of ways.”
“I’d say that was a good thing.” Grant took his hand.
Cameron raced over, skidding to a stop. “You can play too.”
“I’m too big for the slide,” Marty told him with a smile. “But you play with Dexter and enjoy yourself. Show Officer Grant how high you can swing.”
Cameron jumped on the swing and began to pump his legs, going higher and higher. He was having so much fun, and Marty grinned.
“Did you teach him to do that?”
“No. He did it on his own.” Marty was getting tired, and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked out the message. “Would you watch him for me? I have a client whose having an issue that I need to take care of.”
“Of course,” Grant answered. Marty hurried inside to his office and logged into the system. One of his clients’ jobs had stopped completely, and he checked the code and found the issue. Unfortunately, this was one of the steps in their processing that held up everything. He managed to work around it before requesting that they restart the process at the beginningof the step that had the issue. Marty watched the system to make sure it finished that part the program before logging off.
When he checked the time, he realized he had been working for two hours. The time had flown by. Leaving his office, he heard talking and followed the voices.
“I’m making a helaphant,” Cameron said.
“I’m making a tiger,” Grant said as Marty walked into the room to find a pile of Legos that seemed to have grown overnight.
“Did you get more?” He was starting to wonder if the bricks were breeding.
“A few more of the guys at work brought some in, so I added them to his stock,” Grant said as he worked on his tiger. “What do you want to make?”
“How about I make dinner?” he quipped and went to the kitchen. Grant and Cameron were still having fun, and it seemed Cameron had worn Dexter out, because he lay stretched out on the kitchen floor. Marty put down a bowl of water for him and then began peeling potatoes. Cameron loved two things most of all: mashed potatoes and french fries. So tonight it was pork chops and mashed potatoes with green beans.
He got everything ready and the potatoes boiling as he heard Grant’s phone ring. He spoke softly and then came into the kitchen. Dexter sat up, and Grant got him into his harness. “I have to go. There’s another little boy who has gone missing. His parents just called it in. He was supposed to go to a friend’s after school and didn’t show up there or at home.”
“Of course. You find him.” Marty hoped that it wasn’t the same guy that had taken Cameron, but his gut told him otherwise. This was too coincidental in his mind that they had found both Bobby and Cameron and now another child was taken. “If there’s anything I can do, you let me know.”
“I will.” He kissed him hard and held him a second before backing away and hurrying out the door. Marty closed it and went to check on Cameron.
“Where’s Mr. Grant?”
“He and Dexter had to go to work. But I’ll play with you after dinner. Okay?” He tried not to let the worry bubble up from the pit of his stomach, but he couldn’t stop it.
Chapter 8
GRANT DROVEdirectly to the home of the family reporting the missing little boy. He pulled up in front and knocked on the front door. It opened and a harried father looked at him. “Thank god you’re here. I called almost an hour ago. I’m Chuck Deaver.” He opened the door wider to let him in. “My wife has been calling the school and all Mikey’s friends to see if he’s there. The school says he was there, and that he left the school and was supposed to get on the bus.”
“Okay. I’m Officer Grant Webster, and this is Dexter. Let’s take this one step at a time. Are you sure he didn’t get on the bus?”
He stepped back and flopped defeatedly into a chair. “He always sits with Nathan. He lives next door. The two of them are best friends. So Nathan’s mom came over to ask why Mikey wasn’t on the bus after school. Our two families look out for each other’s kids. My wife nearly panicked and began making calls. Now she’s out looking for him, making sure he isn’t walking or didn’t get lost somewhere.” His phone rang, and he snatched it up from the table next to him. “Did you find him?” The hope that flashed in his eyes dimmed quickly. “Arlene, the police are here now… okay.” He hung up. “She wants to keep looking.”
“Where does your son go to school?”
“Mooreland Elementary,” he answered. “We’re right on the border and asked the school district to let Mikey go there. The official cutoff is literally the house next door, but this way Mikey gets to go to school with Nathan.” His foot bounced on the floor.
Grant got on the phone to the school and was told that the teacher and principal were waiting. He gave the father one of his cards and asked for photos of Mikey, and was given both printed and electronic ones. “Stay here and call me right away if you hear anything or if Mikey comes home. I need to speak to the school.” He radioed in confirmation of a missing child and left the house with Dexter and a piece of Mikey’s clothing that had been worn recently and not laundered. While Dexter was not a bloodhound, he could recognize scent.
Grant phoned the Captain Robards as soon as he got back in the car. “Captain, this fits the pattern of the other kidnappings,” he said right away. “I’m on my way to the school. Can I get backup to stay at the house in case they are contacted?”
“I already sent another unit to that location. Use Dexter to try to track the child and see if you can find anything.”
“I’m on it.” He put on his lights and siren and made his way as fast as he could across town, pulling up in front of the school five minutes later.
