Page 70 of The Woman with the Handcuffs

“Yeah,” she agreed, exhaling hard. “But if he’s not here, if his body isn’t here, where the hell is he? People don’t just… disappear. If he didn’t go into the woods, what happened? Did someone have car trouble? Did he go with them and something happened?”

“I don’t have answers for you. Maybe we should go back over the tractor. See if there is anything we missed. And your father’s phone. Maybe my brother can uncover things you can’t.”

“Zeno? The hacker?” she asked.

“Yep. He can do wonders with this kind of shit. I should have thought to give it to him before we left the city.”

She nodded at that, her head hanging, trying to hide her face.

“Caitlin…”

There was a small sniffle.

“Cait,” I tried again, moving close enough to snag her chin with my thumb and forefinger, forcing her head up. Even with the dying light, I could see the tears shimmering in her eyes. “Come here,” I said, sliding my hand to the back of her neck and pulling her against me.

She tried to keep herself together for a minute or two. But it wasn’t long before her arms were closing around me and her soft sobs were rocking my body.

I didn’t know what to tell her. I couldn’t exactly say she didn’t have anything to worry about. Who the fuck knew what happened to her old man at this point?

All I could think of to tell her that was true was, “You’re gonna get through this.” And, “It’s okay. I’m right here.”

The tears wet through my shirt before she finally stopped crying and pulled away, wiping roughly at her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“I guess we should get back. Before it gets any darker.”

And with that, we made our way out of the woods and back to the tractor.

“Do you mind if I maybe… get on the CB and talk to my father’s friends while you drive?” Caitlin asked once we’d pulled away from the curb.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

It seemed like the truckers were the biggest part of Daniel’s life. It made sense to speak to them. While she talked, I was going to listen between the lines, try to tell if there were things the other truckers were implying without saying, things maybe Caitlin wouldn’t pick up on. Especially as it pertained to his mental health or any stress he might have been feeling.

I didn’t plan to do such a big chunk of driving the first day. Some part of me wanted to drag out what was left of this road trip. But when Caitlin got on the CB, she lit up at first. It was clear that she was connecting with old friends, people she’d known basically her whole life. That light fell away, though, whenever she had to inform some of these people that her father was missing.

Daniel’s friends had a lot to say, since many of them talked to him a few times a week.

The thing was… no one implied anything was wrong.

“He was his old self,” was what everyone had to say.

I could tell Caitlin was starting to get to her max after talking to a woman named Mona.

“Hey, why don’t you call it a night?” I asked, seeing her lower lip quivering.

“I knew I wasn’t wrong about him being his normal self. No one thought any different. If anything, they seemed to think he was excited about life.”

“Yeah.” I hadn’t heard anything that raised any red flags either. “Do you have access to your father’s bank accounts?”

“I… no. No. But I could probably guess his passwords. He usually uses the same ones for everything. Why?”

“I’m curious if all his money is sitting there.”

“The money from you?” she clarified.

“Yes. If not, where is that money?”