Two of a Kind (Fool's Gold #11)(87)
“He left a note saying he ran away,” Gideon reminded her. “He wasn’t abducted.”
“I agree.” The older woman drew in a breath. “Boys do love to explore. There are so many trails in the mountains. Caves and old shacks. We have a lot of ground to cover. I’ve already put a call in to Max Thurman. Two of his older service dogs used to work for the DEA. They’re trained to find items based on scent. I wonder if they could help locate Carter.” She sighed. “We really need an organized Search and Rescue operation in this town. I’ll have to put that on the budget agenda for next year. But first things first. Let’s find your boy.”
The front door opened and Justice, Angel and Ford walked in. They were dressed in black and carrying backpacks. Felicia raced to Justice, who pulled her close.
“We’ll find him,” he said. “I promise.”
“I want to believe you,” she admitted. “I’ve never looked for a child. I’m not sure where to start first.”
Patience stepped into the house and hurried to Felicia. “We start by calling his friends and talking to their parents.”
“I’ve done that,” Felicia said, relieved she hadn’t wasted time with a useless task. “I spoke to all of them except for Kent. He didn’t answer his cell. I left a message for him, and none of the other parents have seen Carter.” She bit her lower lip. “Why would he do this?”
“That’s for later,” Patience said firmly, leading her back to the dining room. “First we have to find him.”
Felicia nodded, even as she fought tears.
More police officers arrived, along with a few state troopers. They started to divide everyone up into teams. Police Chief Barns pointed at Felicia. “You’ll be staying here.”
“No way,” Gideon said, before Felicia could say anything. “She’s coming with me. She’s as capable as anyone here, and she knows Carter the best.”
“Thank you,” she told him.
He put his arm around her shoulders. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared, too. When we find him, I’m locking him in a shed until he’s eighteen.”
She managed a slight smile. “I wish we could.”
Gideon’s jaw clenched. “Damn kid. Fine. I’ll admit the shed is a little extreme, but he’s going to be grounded or something. This is irresponsible.”
“I know. That’s what confuses me. He’s mature most of the time. I wish I understood what was going on.”
The front door flew open, and Kent Hendrix stormed in. “Where is he? Where’s my son?”
Felicia’s stomach churned harder and faster. “He’s not at home?”
“He left me a note that he was staying here tonight. Reese’s been over here a couple of times, so I didn’t think anything of it. Until I got your message.”
Ford crossed to his brother. “Reese is missing, too?”
Police Chief Barns groaned. “All right, people,” she said to her team. “We’re looking for two boys and they could be anywhere.”
* * *
“THEY’RE ON THE move,” Carter said, watching the screen on his laptop. It had taken him some doing, but he’d managed to tap into the GPS on Felicia’s cell phone a few days before and could now track her.
They were stretched out in sleeping bags in the caves on the Castle Ranch. They had lanterns, a cooler, an extra battery for the laptop and a portable Wi-Fi hot spot. The challenge was staying close enough to the front of the caves to get a signal, but far enough back so they weren’t detected.
Fortunately, the only person who came into the caves was Heidi Stryker. She used the caves to age her goat cheese. But according to Reese, she only checked every couple of days, and the space she used was on the other side of the opening. To avoid her, they’d gone north instead of south at the fork.
Reese rolled onto his back and grabbed a fruit snack. He opened the package and tore off a strip. “How much trouble are we going to be in, you think?”
“Tons,” Carter said, watching the small red dot moving on the screen. “You heard the police scanner. Half the town has turned out to look for us.”
“Wicked!”
“You didn’t have to do this,” Carter reminded his friend. “You could have stayed home.”
“And let you have all the fun? No way. Plus, once you get Gideon and Felicia married, I’ll know you’re staying around permanently. High school in two years, my friend. Then we get all the girls.”
They bumped fists, then wiggled their fingers.
* * *
THE SEARCH PARTIES all started from Pyrite Park. A member of CDS was part of every team. Consuelo had joined them, giving them one more professional to help the townspeople. Gideon didn’t know what to think about the sheer number of people who had turned out to aid in the search. Even Eddie and Gladys had come along to find the boys.
People he didn’t know kept coming up to him and patting him on the back as they promised they would find the missing kids. He felt numb—almost disconnected. The attention was uncomfortable but necessary, he reminded himself. They had to get Carter back.
He couldn’t figure out why the kid had done it. Sure, there’d been some adjustments, but he would have sworn things had been going okay. Carter knew Gideon was his father and that he wasn’t going anywhere. Felicia made everything feel like a family event. What more did Carter want?