Lost in Time(31)

His mother, Claire, stood in the dining room to the left, clutching a phone in her hand. “I’m calling the police.”

Elliott held out a hand. “Don’t. He’ll resist, and they’ll arrest him—”

The boy bolted then, through the kitchen, throwing the door open and slamming it into the wall.

Elliott gave chase, and Sam, eying the broken glass, stepped through the room, falling in behind his friend. When he reached the deck, Charlie had already crossed the backyard and was bounding over the wooden fence into a neighbor’s yard.

Elliott bent down, placing his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. “I need you…” he whispered.

Sam wasn’t sure if Elliott was addressing him or calling for strength from a higher power.

Elliott reached into his pocket, drew out a car key, and handed it to Sam. “I need you to drive. I’ll get out and run him down when we find him.”

Sam didn’t mention his bare feet. He merely followed Elliott to the garage, got behind the wheel, and drove the streets and blocks of the neighborhood, stopping at Charlie’s friends’ homes as Elliott worked the phone, calling other parents to see if his son had shown up there.

As the night wore on, the stress of not finding the boy seemed to weigh on Elliott. At 3 a.m., they stopped at an all-night coffee shop and bought large cups of the steaming, caffeine-laden liquid that would see them through the night. Thankfully, Elliott had gone in, sparing Sam the awkwardness of padding through the café in his bare feet.

They sat at a red light, sipping coffee.

Elliott’s eyes were glassy, staring straight ahead. “We’re losing him, Sam.”

“We’ll keep looking—”

“No. Us. Me and Claire. I can feel Charlie slipping away. The drugs are changing him.”

“He’ll straighten up.”

Elliott took a long pull of coffee. “I wish I could find that person who gave him that first pill. They killed him, Sam. They took his life when they did that. They threw him in the sea, and I feel like he’s drowning, and I can’t get to him. I’m just watching from the shore as the tide carries him out. I’m scared he’s already too far gone.”

Sam didn’t know what to say. The light changed, and he drove into the night.

Those hours spent prowling the empty streets were like the sea Sam swam across now. Dark and scary and hopeless and, most of all, unavoidable. It was a road he had to travel—for the sake of his family.





TWENTY-FOUR


When the car dropped Adeline off at Daniele’s home, she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Just inside the front door, Daniele stood waiting for her.

“She knew,” Adeline said between breaths. “She practically caught me.”

Daniele placed her hands on Adeline’s shoulders. “Breathe. You’re probably imagining it.”

Adeline closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not. She. Caught me.”

“Did you see—”

Adeline held her phone up. “I got it. She’s the killer. She has a whole bedroom set up like a murder board. She’s tracking people. Dates. Pictures. Crazy stuff.”

Daniele took the phone and moved to the study off the foyer that she used as a private office. She plugged Adeline’s phone into her laptop, downloaded the photos and video, and then deleted them from the phone.

“Hey, I wanted to keep those.”

“You can’t. Not on your phone.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

Adeline realized why: because if Constance was the killer, her next move would be to try to find out what Adeline had discovered. She might hire someone to hack her phone remotely.

“What happens now?”

“They’re coming over. At six p.m.”

“Who? Constance?”

“Yes. And Hiro and Elliott. We’re going to meet in the basement.”

“About?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Absolom Two.”

Daniele exhaled. “No comment. The point is, this is an opportunity for us.”

“How?”

“When the three arrive, they’re going to leave their phones on the kitchen island.”

“To make sure no one is listening.”

“That’s right.”

Daniele held up a small white item. “When we’re in the basement, plug this into Hiro’s phone and wait for the LED to turn from red to green.”

“What is it? Spyware?”

“Nothing that intrusive. It just tracks his movements.”

“Should I use it on the other phones—Elliott’s and Constance’s?”

“No,” Daniele said quickly. “Constance, as you said, might be suspicious now. And I know Elliott is.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s hired a private investigator to follow me.”

“Are you in danger? Are we?”

“Maybe,” Daniele said quietly. “I’ve hired a private security firm to watch the house.”

*

In her bedroom upstairs, Adeline watched from the window as Elliott, Constance, and Hiro arrived.

One question nagged at her: why would Elliott hire someone to watch Daniele? There was only one good answer: he thought she had killed Nora. If that was the case, it meant he hadn’t killed Nora.