The Loner (19 page)

She didn't see Will.

Well, she'd known in her heart not to expect a miracle, though she always hoped for one. At least she was home now and soon would have the comfort of friends at her side—rather than hostility from her husband.

Brakes squealed and the wheels slowed. Caroline was second off the train. One car ahead of her, Logan was the first. Ignoring him, she ran toward Ellen. "Any news?"

"No, I'm sorry." Lines of concern creased Ellen's full face. "I'm so sorry, Caroline. We were responsible for Will and—"

"Stop it. This is not your fault." Caroline wrapped her friend in her arms and hugged her as tears pooled in both women's eyes.

Behind her, she heard Logan ask, "I take it you are the Glaziers?"

"Dan Glazier," Ellen's husband said, extending his hand for Logan's handshake. "My wife, Ellen."

"I'm Logan Grey. I'm Will's father."

"Well, now," Ellen said with a smile. "Of course you are. He looks just like you."

Dan said, "Pleasure to meet you. Sorry it's under these circumstances."

Logan accepted the welcome with a nod. "I have a number of questions. Is there somewhere we could speak privately?"

"You're welcome to come to our house," Ellen offered.

Caroline debated just a moment before saying, "Mine is closer. The sooner Logan can begin his search for Will, the better."

Dan Glazier nodded. "You'll want to speak with my boy, I'm certain. He's the last person who saw Will before he disappeared."

"Is Danny in school?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, I'll stop and get him and bring him to your place."

So, without exchanging a word with her husband, Caroline led the way home.

Even though she knew Logan would want to go through the story step-by-step, Caroline's concern and curiosity caused her to pepper Ellen with questions about the search for Will as they walked. Hearing of the outpouring of support from townspeople overwhelmed her, support echoed in the well-wishing of friends and acquaintances who stopped them on the street. Everyone expressed their worry and concern for Will and offered their encouragement, which in turn gave Caroline a measure of comfort. If good thoughts and prayers could keep her son safe, then Will would be all right.

With the delays, the walk home took a little more than ten minutes. As they arrived at the two-story house painted in Suzanne's favorite color of robin's-egg blue, Caroline's gaze swept the gabled roof, the dormer windows and the wraparound front porch and waited for that usual sense of homecoming to descend. It didn't come.

Ellen slipped her arm though hers in support as they stepped up the front walk and onto the porch, Logan trailing silently behind them. Caroline blew out a heavy breath, unlocked the front door and walked inside her home. Her empty, lonely home. "This is harder than I expected," she murmured. "Is Sly at your place?"

"Yes. If I had known we'd be stopping here, I'd have brought him over to welcome you properly. Let's put the teapot on, shall we?" Glancing over her shoulder, she added, "Mr. Grey? Will you join us in the kitchen?"

"No." His gaze had focused on the stairs. "I want to take a look at the boy's room."

Ellen waited until Logan had disappeared upstairs and she and Caroline were alone in the kitchen to say, "Glory be, Caroline, I've never seen such an ugly look on such a handsome face. What is going on?"

Caroline gave her friend an expurgated account of recent events as she filled the teapot with water and placed it on the stove. "He despises me, but that doesn't matter. Will is all that matters."

Ellen wrinkled her nose. "Well, I don't like it. He might have a right to be a bit peeved, but honestly, Caroline. Your motives were pure. And that tornado... How frightened you must have been."

"Ellen...I had relations with him."

Ellen nearly dropped the cup she was holding. After a moment of shocked silence, she whispered, "Before or after the truth came out?"

"Before."

"Oh, Caroline."

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It just.. .did."

"You're still in love with him."

"No!"

"I know you, Caroline. You wouldn't have done that with him if you didn't have feelings for him."

"You're right." Caroline's shoulders slumped and she grimaced. "It's all a mess. Honestly, I can't put a word on what's in my heart right now. The tornado changed everything. I was scared, Ellen, but Logan was so protective. I trusted him. I knew in my heart that he'd keep me safe."

"What does your heart tell you about Will? Do you think he'll find him?"

"I'll find him." Logan strode into the room carrying a ball glove. "Is this what he headed home to get? It was sitting on a shelf in his bedroom."

"Yes."

"So he never made it home," Caroline observed, her gaze locked on the worn and tattered baseball mitt. The memory of the visit to the General Store with Logan floated through her mind and her heart twisted.

"It's hard to tell. I see no obvious signs of struggle or intrusion, but this isn't my house. You'll need to take a look around and see if you notice anything different or out of place."

Well. Apparently he was speaking to her again. At least to give her orders. Caroline smothered the urge to stick out her tongue at him, reminding herself that she needed him and his expertise more than ever.

"Mrs. Glazier, was your husband at your house when the boys decided to play catch?"

"No, he was still at work."

"Then I'd like to go ahead and get started. Would you please describe the events as they happened, providing as much detail as you can recall?"

Ellen nodded and took a sip of her tea, collecting her thoughts. "Storms blew through three afternoons straight. While rain is always a blessing in this part of the world, it does tend to make the children stir-crazy. When the boys came home from school, they were raring to go. They intended to take the horses out onto the prairie for a run, when another boy from school came by the house with word that their friends were gathering at the school yard to play baseball. Our boys decided to go."

"What time of the day was this?" Logan asked.

"Between four and four-thirty."

"Will and your son left the house together?"

"They did. Danny said they walked together as far as the Baptist Church before splitting up."

"I'll ask your Danny to describe what happened after that," Logan said. Glancing at Caroline, he asked, "Do you have a street map of town?"

"No, but I can draw one."

He nodded, then addressed Ellen once again. "At what point did you learn that Will had gone missing?"

"Well, not until Danny came home looking for Will a couple hours later. He'd never showed up at the school yard and they played the game without him. At that point, Danny, his father and I started looking for Will around town. We figured he had met up with another friend and decided to do something else. That sort of thing has happened before. No one grew particularly worried until he failed to come home at dark. When he wasn't home by ten, we called out the sheriff."

Ellen reached for Caroline's hand. "I'm so sorry we didn't realize sooner that he had disappeared. I feel so awful, Caroline. He was my responsibility."

"Please stop, Ellen. I would have done the exact thing you did. I've never thought twice about allowing Will the freedom to roam. Artesia is—or has been, anyway— a safe place for our children. How many times have our boys gone off on an after-school adventure and lost track of time? You had no reason to think this was anything different."

Ellen blinked back tears and squeezed Caroline's hand, a silent thank-you. Logan continued his questioning, asking details about the search. Ellen was describing the search grids when Dan and Danny arrived.

The boy took one look at Logan and fainted dead away.

He knows something.

Logan sat back and waited while Caroline and the Glaziers fussed over the boy. For the first time since arriving in town, he harbored a measure of hope. The boy knew something, and once he pried the information out of him, Logan would have a place to start looking. Will was still alive; he knew it in his bones.

Ellen Glazier gave her son a glass of water as his father helped him into a chair. "Have you eaten today, son?" Dan asked after Danny had gulped down half a glass of water.

"No, sir. I'm just not hungry."

"Ellen, fix Danny a sandwich." As his wife bustled to make their son a sandwich, Dan Glazier continued, "Son, I know you are worried about Will, but making yourself sick over it isn't going to help. I know you want to help."

"Yessir."

"Then you need to eat."

"Yessir."

Dan nodded, then said, "Now, introduce yourself to Will's father, Mr. Grey."

Danny set down his glass and rose to his feet. He wiped his hand on his shirt leaving a smudge of dirt behind, then held it out to Logan. "Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm Danny."

Logan shook his hand and wondered if anyone else noted that the boy didn't meet his eyes. "Hello, Danny. I understand you are my son's best friend."

"Yessir."

Ellen Glazier set a ham sandwich in front of her son, and Logan gave him time to eat. For a kid who wasn't hungry, Danny chowed down on his food, disposing of half the sandwich in three big bites. When his mother set a glass of milk in front of him, he drained it in a single gulp.

Logan grinned at Danny's father. "What is he like when he
is
hungry?"

The adults all smiled, and when Logan judged the boy to have boosted his constitution adequately, he said, "I'd like you to tell me what happened when you and Will left your house to play baseball that afternoon."

Danny stopped chewing midbite. Then he swallowed hard. "Sure thing, Mr. Grey. We was going to play ball."

"We
were
going to play," his mother corrected.

"Will hadn't brought his mitt along to my house, so he wanted to go home to get it. I went on to the school and we started playing without him." He set down his sandwich and added, "I was mad at him for being so late. I thought he ditched me for something more fun."

"I understand," Logan responded. He did not, however, believe the boy.

Caroline asked, "Did he seem upset about anything, Danny?"

"No, ma'am." He darted a look at Logan. "He was looking forward to meeting his pa."

"Was he really?" Logan resisted the urge to glare at Caroline. She'd be expecting it, and he found he preferred to keep her guessing.

He was rather curious about how she had intended to pull off that feat when she'd first instigated her plan. At some point she would have had to tell him she'd sent him looking for Ben Whitaker rather than his son.

That was a question for another time, however. Now he needed to deal with young Danny, so he addressed the boy's father. "I'd like to walk the route between here, the schoolhouse and your home, and I'd like your son to act as my guide. Is that all right with you?"

"Sure. Anything we can do to help." Dan slapped his son on the shoulder. "Right, Danny?"

"Right," the boy replied, though his smile looked a shade sickly to Logan.

"Caroline, while I'm gone I need you to search this house from top to bottom looking for anything at all that is missing or out of place. Check everything from Will's dirty clothes hamper to the number of pickle jars in the pantry. See if he might have taken anything with him."

"All right."

"Is there anything you'd like us to do?" Ellen Glazier asked.

Logan nodded. "I need to speak with your sheriff and any other official who was involved with the search. Perhaps you could arrange a meeting with them for me? Say in about an hour?

"Be glad to handle it," Dan replied.

"Thanks. Danny, you ready?"

He nodded and stood and shuffled out the door. The minute they stepped outside, Danny shoved his hands in his pockets. He scuffed his shoes with every step. Logan might not be an expert on kids, but he knew how a guilty teenage boy acted. He could all but hear Nana Nellie's voice in his mind.
What has your dauber down, Lucky? Pick your feet up and stand up straight.

"So, you like baseball?" he began as they turned north onto the street. "What position do you play?"

"Catcher."

Logan pursed his lips and nodded sagely. "Important position, catcher. You must have an arm."

"I can throw," the boy replied, shrugging.

"What sort of arm does Will have?"

"He's all right, but he's real good with a bat. Will is strong. He can hit a ball like nobody's business."

Strength is good. The boy might need it.

At the first intersection, Danny paused. "Do you want to see the school or my house first?"

"The school yard, I believe. Unless..." Logan stuffed his hands in his pockets, too, and adopted a casual tone. "You know, when I was about your age, my best friends and I had a special place. A secret hideout. I don't suppose you and Will have a spot like that?"

Danny Glazier blinked. "We have a fort, but he's not there, Mr. Grey."

"You checked it?"

"Um...yeah."

Another lie. "I'd still like to see it. I might pick up a clue or two. I'm a range detective, and I'm excellent at tracking people. Did you know that?"

He nodded. "Will has newspaper clippings about you. Did you really track the Burrows gang all the way to Wyoming?"

Logan thought of the scrapbook he'd found in Will's room. That he'd shared the stories with his friend gave Logan a warm feeling inside. "I did. I'm smart, Danny, and I'm very good at what I do. I could track a minnow through a swamp. On top of that, I'm the luckiest man in Texas. I will find my son. You can count on it. Show me your fort, Danny. I'll keep your secret."

The boy frowned and tugged at his earlobe. Logan pressed the point by adding, "You can trust me."

After a long moment, the boy sighed heavily. "It's down along the creek that runs behind Will's house. It's not really a fort...more just a shack we've built from scraps. We go down there and gig frogs and catch crawdads. If my ma finds out about it, she'll tan my hide. She worries about snakes."

"Women tend to do that." Logan held the rest of his comments and questions as he followed the boy across a stretch of vacant lots toward a tree-lined creek bank. At the first sight of the shack, he grinned. The structure looked eerily similar to something he, Cade and Holt had built years ago.