I let her go, allowing her to reach into her car and pull out two coffees and a bag which I suspect holds my croissant.
She hands a coffee and the bag to me. “Shall we go inside? Would you rather I wait out here?”
“You can come in.” I raise the coffee cup in thanks.
She follows me up to the front door. I try the handle. It’s locked, but I have a key. My parents have a basic alarm set-up—however, it doesn’t go off when we enter. Likely, they were taken from here, then. Assuming they’d set the alarm before they were taken, this was a job done by pros who could disable it. Unsurprising, when I still suspect Point Ops.
Unfortunately, Point Ops hasn’t taken credit for the kidnapping.
I glance around for signs of a struggle. The runner in the entryway is crooked, which my mom would’ve fixed if she had the chance. Everything else in the entryway looks normal, though. On the wall hangs a mirror, and on one side of it, a photo of my parents on their wedding day. On the other, a photo of Kyle and me. I think I’m seventeen in the photo, so he’d be around six. The way he smiles up at me with chubby adoration hits me hard. Especially because mere seconds ago, I was kissing his wife in the driveway.
Fuck. This is a mind-fuck, and not the fun kind. Kyle is gone now, and Madison is free to kiss whoever she wants, including me. I just have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t a betrayal. It’s moving forward.
Madison walks ahead of me, into the family room. Not a lot of family stuff happened in here, other than me sitting on the couch to do my homework while Kyle watched cartoons.
I notice a new easy chair off to the side, and a built-in bookcase that wasn’t here before. But otherwise, the room appears untouched. Nothing alarming or out of place.
Madison has already gone into the kitchen. “Seth?”
“Yeah—did you find something?” I hurry in after her.
She holds up a piece of paper. “This is an itinerary for a trip.”
It’s a simple print-out, showing a calendar view, with different US cities listed on different days. If this is to be believed, my parents are somewhere around the Grand Canyon right now.
Yeah, right. No hotels are listed. If this were a true itinerary compiled by my mother, it would include hotel stays, confirmation numbers, and multiple restaurant reservations.
“This is fake,” I say. “I bet the kidnappers left it behind to throw off any concerns.”
“Is their car here?” Madison asks.
“Probably not, but we can look later. If I were making them disappear, that’s what I’d do. Put out a road trip itinerary, pack a few things into their own luggage, and haul them off either in their own car, or bring someone else to drive it with us.” I tap the itinerary. “Make it believable enough, and even if they’re missing work, nobody would think to call the police.”
“Have you?” She takes a sip of her coffee. “Called the police, I mean?”
“Nove is better trained for this.” I fish my croissant out of its bag and take a bite. The buttery, flaky pastry is perfect, and I’m delighted to discover it’s filled with chocolate. I take another large bite, set down the coffee and croissant, and head to my parents’ room.
Everything looks almost right. The bed is made, but not how my mother always did it when I was a kid. As a perfectionist, she always had the comforter straight, as well as the shams. Things are slightly off here, making me think Point Ops—if that’s who is behind this—grabbed them from their bed, then tried to make everything look normal afterward.
I pull back the duvet and see that the top sheet is wrinkled beneath it. My mother would never have done that.
Next, I go to their walk-in closet. I don’t know where they store their luggage, but this would be the logical place. I see no suitcases anywhere. Getting down on the floor, I touch a bare spot beneath my father’s dress shirts. Tiny indentations in the carpet tell me that a suitcase was stored here, but was recently moved.
“Does Nove make people disappear?” Madison asks in a voice that says she’s afraid of my answer.
“Not as a general rule, no.”
“That’s not really a no, then.” She sounds disapproving.
I turn to face her, placing my hands on her narrow shoulders. “We’re the good guys, Madison. I promise you. Anyone who disappears? They deserve it.”
“You aren’t a judge and jury. You can’t just hand out execution orders.”
“You’re right. But sometimes we don’t have the luxury of a justice system. Sometimes we have a job to do, and no one else is around to help the helpless.” I can see she’s still having doubts. “Everything Nove does, I firmly believe we would be not only exonerated, but applauded for, if it came to light. And we never go out with the intent of assassinating or disappearing anyone. I promise. We don’t take those jobs, and anyone who tries to hire us for something like that, we turn them down and let the appropriate departments know about the request.”
She stares at my parents’ bed. “When you find out who took your parents, will you disappear them?”
“I hope I don’t have to. I hope we can bring them in to the authorities and let the law take care of it. I’m not in the business of revenge.”
