Missing Child by Patricia MacDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

looking for him.’ Noah listened for a minute. ‘Well, if you want to come back up here, sure, but there’s nothing you can do. I’m sure your parents would appreciate it. No. Really. I’d tell you, but I don’t know anything. But thanks. Yeah. That might be a good idea. We’ll keep in touch. Thanks, buddy. Bye.’
    ‘Emily’s brother?’ asked Caitlin dully.
    Noah nodded. ‘He’s at work. He found out about it when they received the Amber Alert at the station where he works.’
    ‘Does Haley know?’ Caitlin asked.
    Noah sighed. ‘I imagine Dan will call her.’
    An officer leaned in and spoke to Caitlin and Noah. ‘Mr and Mrs Eckhart, Detective Mathis will be here shortly to accompany you.’
    ‘I feel like we’re wasting time,’ Noah said bitterly.
    ‘I promise you, sir, no effort is being spared.’
    ‘I know. I just keep going over this in my mind. What happened this morning?’ Noah turned to Caitlin. ‘What happened exactly?’
    Caitlin looked back at him. ‘What do you mean? I told you.’ She could tell that the officer was listening. ‘I drove him to school and he went running into the building. I saw him go in.’
    ‘You didn’t go in with him?’ Noah demanded.
    ‘I went in,’ said Caitlin. ‘Of course I went in. I wanted to see his project. But he was ahead of me. He was impatient to get inside.’
    ‘Because of the festival,’ said Noah.
    ‘That’s what I thought. But . . .’
    ‘But what?’ Noah stared at her.
    ‘Well, I went over to his class’s display. I saw Mr Needleman. And I looked at his project.’
    ‘Geordie was there,’ Noah prompted her.
    ‘No. The kids weren’t necessarily stationed by their projects. They were running around. They were all excited,’ said Caitlin.
    ‘Where was Geordie?’ Noah asked.
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Caitlin quietly.
    ‘Did he show up? Did you see him before you left?’
    ‘Stop it,’ said Caitlin. ‘You sound like you’re cross-examining me. I waited for him. I looked for him . . .’
    ‘And then?’
    ‘He didn’t come by the class display. I was surprised he wasn’t there, too. You know how he loves to show you what he’s done. Get a compliment about it. I thought he’d be there any minute. I waited as long as I could . . .’
    ‘And then you left,’ said Noah. ‘Without seeing him.’
    ‘I assumed that maybe he ran into a friend and got distracted . . .’
    ‘So you just left,’ Noah said.
    Caitlin did not reply.
    ‘Why didn’t you go and find him?’ Noah cried. ‘He’s only a little boy. Why didn’t you make sure . . .?’
    ‘He was in his school. I assumed he was safe in his own school,’ Caitlin cried.
    ‘You assumed.’
    ‘I thought he was fine. I watched him go into the school,’ Caitlin protested. ‘I don’t know what happened.’
    ‘He could already have been taken. While you were standing around over there making small talk,’ Noah cried.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Caitlin beseeched him.
    ‘Sorry doesn’t do me any good. Sorry doesn’t bring him back,’ Noah snapped.
    Caitlin absorbed his anger like a punishment, and felt a wave of guilt wash over her like a filthy tide. And then, to her own surprise, she emerged, sputtering, from the wave, and was suddenly furious. He didn’t seem to realize, or care, that she was suffering just as he was. ‘How dare you say that to me, Noah? It could have happened to anybody. You would have done the same thing in my place, and you know it,’ Caitlin accused him.
    For a moment they glared at one another.
    Then Noah turned his eyes from her angry gaze. He frowned, and seemed to think over what she had said. Finally, he sighed. ‘You’re right. I know you’re right,’ he said. ‘I probably would have done the same thing.’
    All her anger melted away. ‘Noah,’ she pleaded, reaching for his hand.
    Noah shook his head.
    ‘What?’
    ‘He’s my child,’ Noah moaned. ‘He’s my son.’
    Caitlin was shivering, although the station house