“Yes, she’s on her way. I promise you that.” Grant turned to the firefighters. “Let’s get him out of here and to the ambulance so they can look him over while he waits for his parents.” Mikey clung to him, so he called Dexter, who followed him back through the school and out the front door.
“Mikey!” A cry went up and Mikey struggled. As soon as Grant set him on his feet, Mikey ran to the woman, who hugged him and cried tears of fear and relief. “I love you.”
“Mommy! Daddy!” he cried too as a man joined them and held them both. Grant stood watching the reunited family and feeling a desperate need to see Marty and Cameron.
He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text.We found him. He put the phone away as the EMTs took over, guiding the small family to the ambulance.
“We need to get the scene processed,” Atlas said from next to him.
“Yeah. Have them bag and tag everything, and be sure to get fingerprints off the cover, the bolts, and the area of the tank near the cover. Those bolts were rough, so maybe our kidnapper scraped himself on them.”
“I’m on it,” Atlas said before returning inside.
“Are you the one who found him?” Mikey’s mother asked as she walked over from the ambulance.
He patted Dexter on the head. “It was him. He found Mikey before we even realized he had.” He stroked Dexter’s head. “I’mjust happy we got to him and that he’s going to be okay. Let them take him to the hospital so he can be fully checked out. We don’t think he was in the school for very long.” But he had no idea how the boy had been treated before he’d been put in the tank.
“We will. I just wanted to thank you for bringing him home to us.” She smiled and then hugged him. “You don’t know what you did for us.”
“I’m glad he’s safe and back with you and your husband,” Grant said, not quite sure how to react.
She bent over toward Dexter. “Is it okay if I thank him too?” she asked.
“Dexter would love that.” Grant told him to sit, and she gently stroked Dexter’s back.
“Thank you both.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she straightened up and returned to where Mikey was waiting for her. Grant sighed before waving to Mikey and then getting back to work.
AFTER HOURSof work, they found plenty of evidence both inside and outside the tank. There was also the door that had been jimmied in order to gain access to the school. They had evidence, but Grant had no idea if any of it would lead anywhere. Mikey’s parents had given their permission to take some of his DNA for comparison and elimination purposes as well as his fingerprints, so now it was a matter of sending everything to the lab and waiting for the results.
When Grant left the hospital, Mikey was sleeping while sitting on his father’s lap.
“Thank you for everything,” both parents said.
“I’m just glad he’s back safe and sound,” Grant told them before leaving the room and heading out. He thought of going home, but that was the last thing he wanted. Being alonefrightened him at the moment. He didn’t want to go back down the road his thoughts and worries would take him, so he drove to Marty’s and sat out in his car. He wasn’t sure if he should knock or text, but just sitting there in the car made him feel better.
Grant jumped at the tap on his window. “What are you doing out here?” Marty asked.
“Just thinking, I guess.” He didn’t like all the old feelings this case was dredging up, things he had thought were long dealt with.
“About what?” Marty said as Cameron came racing out of the door.
“Can Dexter come out back to play?” Cameron smiled hopefully.
Marty smiled. “Do you want to come in?”
Grant nodded and got out of the car. He opened the back and let Dexter out. After taking off his harness, he followed Cameron into the backyard.
“I take it you found Mikey and he was okay?” Marty asked.
“The bastard locked the boy in an old unused water tank and screwed him in. I’m not sure how much more air he had left, but I doubt there was enough in there to last much longer. Once we realized where he was, thanks to Dexter and Evie, we were able to get one of the old caps off and let air inside.” He followed Marty into the house and collapsed into one of the chairs. “Evie and Dexter were the ones who did the finding. I nearly discounted what they were trying to tell me. I thought they had to be wrong.”
“But they weren’t,” Marty said.
“No. They were right, and we needed to pay closer attention to what they were telling us.” They were still no closer to figuring out who the hell this guy was. “But something was different this time.”
“Yes. He’s getting more desperate, and the time between taking the kids is getting shorter. I’m afraid he’s going to try to go for another kid very soon. His mania is becoming more desperate and his need is growing greater.” Marty seemed pretty sure of himself.
“How do you know?”
