“But what if I go to another foster home?” Cameron asked. Marty’s throat ached at that, because he knew exactly how Cameron felt. The unknown, the fear that at any moment your life would be ripped apart once more.
“You’re going to stay here. I’m not going to let you go anywhere else.” He saw Grant in the doorway and caught his gaze. He expected caution, but what he saw was gentleness and huge blue eyes filled with care. “You’re safe here.” Marty rocked him until he settled Cameron back down into bed. He went right back to sleep.
“Hey, are both of you okay?” Grant asked.
“Yeah.” He slowly got up and made sure the covers were pulled up before leaving the room and closing the door part way.
“You’re so good with him,” Grant said softly.
“Once I was where he is now. I know the fear and worry. He wants to be good just so I won’t reject him. And yet he wants to know if what I’m saying is real or not. I bet the damned people in that last home treated him poorly. They scared him and didn’t feed him enough. I want them out of the system and away from other kids. But if I make a stink, then other children just won’t have a home. So is a shitty place better than no place at all?”
“What are your plans as far as Cameron is concerned?” Grant asked.
Marty turned to him with a determined stare. “I’m going to do the very best I can for him. No matter what.” He just needed to figure out what that looked like.
Chapter 10
GRANT WOKEto Marty wound around him, pressed right close. It was nice not waking up alone. He didn’t want to move and was just happy for a few minutes, until he turned his head and looked at the bedside clock. “Shit,” he whispered and carefully got out of bed.
“What?” Marty whispered.
He’d forgotten to set an alarm. “I have to be to the station in half an hour,” Grant said as he leaned over the bed. “And I need to go home to get fresh clothes and things.” On top of that, the last thing he wanted was for Cameron to find him in here buck-ass naked, and it was pretty clear that the boy was stirring in the other room. Grant pulled on his clothes and kissed Marty before hurrying out and down the stairs, where he got his equipment. Dexter was asleep on the floor near the sofa until Grant woke him and led him to the car, where Dexter stretched in the back as Grant shut the door. “I know. I wanted to stay too. But we have a job today.”
Grant hurried to his house, showered fast, and changed clothes before rejoining Dexter in the air-conditioned car and heading to work. As soon as they were in the station, he fed the dog and made sure he had water before going to his desk to check on any developments.
“No promising leads so far,” Red said as he stopped by. “The story started running at seven this morning, and we’ve checked out the leads we got. One guy reported his neighbor because he hoped the guy would be the kidnapper, and then he’d have to move out and he could sell the house to his mother.”
“People will do anything,” Grant scoffed.
“Yeah. But as more people get up and watch the local news, it’s going to get interesting.” Red gave him a thumbs-up, and Grant returned to clearing his emails. There had been no information on the whereabouts of Mikey, and that was really getting under his skin. A little boy didn’t just disappear. He had to be somewhere.
“I want to check that empty house we searched the other day,” he told Captain Robards once he was up-to-date. Just like the places where they’d found the other boys, it was near where he had disappeared, and they had already searched it once. “I was wondering if Atlas and Evie were available to join us. I want to cover all the damned bases with this one.” His frustration was showing, and he knew it.
“It follows the pattern, but I don’t know how long it will be before our kidnapper changes what he does. He has to know that we’re actively pursuing him and that we have at least in part an accurate description. So be careful.”
“We will,” Grant agreed and went to find Atlas before leaving the station. They met at the house in question, where the real estate agent sat in her car in front. “Please just unlock the front door and then get back in your car,” he told her. “Don’t go inside, and don’t approach the house again. We are only here to search the residence, nothing more.”
“All right.” She walked up to the house and keyed the code into the lockbox, then handed the key to Grant before she got back in her car.
He unlocked the door and went inside, then cleared the house room by room before bringing in Atlas and the dogs.
“How do you want to do this?” Atlas asked.
“You take this level, and I’m going to search the basement. While you’re up here, see if you can find an entrance to the attic.”
“Got it,” Atlas said as Grant led Dexter to the basement stairs. They went down cautiously, but it was mainly an open space with a single door to the furnace and water heater room. The foundation walls were visible all around without any breaks. It seemed pretty clear that there wasn’t any hiding place down here. The floor was solid as well, so no trap doors. He let Dexter sniff around before heading for the stairs.
“The attic entrance is in one of the bedroom closets,” Atlas told him. “But this place is as clean as any home I’ve ever seen.” They opened the hatch, and Grant climbed up to a view of the rafters and insulation. So, in fact, nothing at all.
“There’s no place to hide anything up here. Let’s check the garage and get out of here.”
The dogs checked everywhere on the property before Grant and Atlas locked up and returned to their cars. Grant was about to let Dexter in back when he got a call that cameras had detected movement in the school just down the street. “Principal reports that the building is locked and no one should be in there.”
“We’ll check it out,” Grant said, and he and Atlas drove the block and a half to the school. The principal was out front and let them in.
“Do you need me to come inside?” he asked.
“No,” Atlas answered, and they entered the building, leaving the dogs in their vehicles. Their footsteps echoed on the floor as they walked the empty hallways. They began at the far end of the building and worked their way toward the entrance. Finding nothing, they retrieved the dogs and walked them through each room.
