The Brother Who Went Missing
Chapter 16 - The Brother Who Went Missing
Claire nearly crashed the car.
“What do you mean Owen is missing?”
Alvarez spoke quickly.
Owen had been at Claire's sister's house during a court meeting.
He had left through the backyard.
A neighbor saw him getting into a car.
Thomas Reed's car.
Claire looked beside her.
Eli had gone completely pale.
“He knows,” Eli whispered.
“What?”
“He knows I'm scared of him.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“Why would he take Owen?”
Eli's answer came immediately.
“To trade.”
Claire felt sick.
Thomas wanted money.
Not custody.
Not family.
Leverage.
Police issued an alert.
Daniel arrived at the command center twenty minutes later.
Claire saw him across the room.
For one second, all her anger disappeared beneath a much older fear.
They had lost one son once.
They would not lose another.
Daniel approached.
“Tell me what to do.”
Claire looked at him.
“No secrets.”
“Never again.”
Thomas called at 7:41 p.m.
He wanted two hundred thousand dollars.
Cash.
No police.
Then Owen's voice came through.
“Mom?”
Claire's knees weakened.
“I'm here.”
“I'm okay.”
She heard Thomas shouting in the background.
Then Owen said something strange.
“Tell Eli I found Captain Blue.”
The call ended.
Claire looked at Eli.
“What does that mean?”
Eli's eyes widened.
“Thomas kept June's things in an old motel.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
Eli closed his eyes.
Owen had given them a clue.
Captain Blue.
Thomas had taken Owen somewhere connected to Eli's past.
Eli remembered a faded sign.
A broken swimming pool.
A railroad crossing.
Alvarez narrowed the location to three abandoned motels.
Police found Thomas at the second.
Owen was inside.
Alive.
Terrified.
But unharmed.
When Claire reached him, he ran into her arms.
Daniel stood behind her crying openly.
Then Owen saw Eli.
He pulled away from Claire and hugged his brother.
“I found your rabbit.”
From beneath his coat, Owen produced something blue.
Old.
Dirty.
Missing one button eye.
Eli stared at it.
Then he began to cry.
For the first time, he called Claire by a name she thought she might never hear.
May you like
“Mom.”
Claire collapsed to her knees and held both her sons.
