She peeked out the front door. Trina’s car was gone. That wasn’t unusual; she often worked late. But Adam’s car was gone too. Had he gone out to run an errand? If so, where was Cami?
“Cami?” Megan walked into the kitchen. “Camille?”
She pulled her phone out of her purse and saw that she had three missed calls. Two from Cami and one from Trina.
She called Trina first. “Hey! What’s going on? Where are Adam and Cami?”
“Cami is with me. Adam was supposed to pick her up at the library after practice, but he didn’t show up, so she called you, but you didn’t answer, then she called me. I was leaving work anyway, so I went to pick her up.”
“Where’s Adam? Have you called him?”
“Cami called him like three times. Straight to voice mail. I’m pissed at him because I was talking about going out for a drink with some friends when Cami called, but I called him too and also got voice mail.”
There was a knot in the pit of her stomach. “Did he call you back? Where is he?”
“I don’t know. We’re on our way home, but we swung by the school and all the cars are gone.”
Megan took a deep breath. “Okay, he probably had a commitment and he forgot to tell us. Let me try calling and I’ll call you back.”
“Do you want me to go by any other place? Maybe call his friends?”
His friends like Ethan Dusi?
Who had seen her in his father’s bed that morning?
Megan cleared her throat. “Can I talk to Cami real quick?”
“Let me give her my earpiece. Just a sec.”
There was a beeping sound as Trina handed her Bluetooth earpiece over to her sister.
“Hey, Mom.” Cami’s voice was small.
“Hey, baby.” Megan took a deep breath. “Were Adam and Ethan Dusi talking at school today?”
“Um… yeah. Maybe.” Cami’s voice was small. “I don’t know. Adam’s on the other side of the building, you know?”
“Right.” Cami didn’t sound like she was holding anything back. “You okay?”
“I think something’s wrong. Adam’s never forgotten to pick me up before, Mom. If he forgets he has to do something, he always texts me.”
“Yeah.” Megan’s mind was racing. “I’m gonna hang up and call him real quick okay? I’ll call Trina back. Just come home.”
Megan immediately hung up and called Adam’s phone. Just as Trina said, it went directly to voice mail. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, she opened the Find My Family app on her own phone and looked for Adam’s signal. The kids knew she had their phones tracked; it wasn’t a secret, and they weren’t ever supposed to turn location tracking off. Ever.
Adam’s phone was registering at Moonstone Cove High at 2:36 that afternoon. A circle spun next to his name.
No location found.
Megan called Rodney. He picked up after two rings.
“Megan, I’m glad you called. Angela was thinking—”
“Is Adam at your house?” She had no time for Rodney or his girlfriend.
“Adam?” He covered the phone with his hand and indistinct muttering was all she heard.
“Rodney, is Adam with you? Yes or no.”
“No. Stop yelling. He’s not here. He probably just took off with one of his friends and—”
Megan hung up on Rodney and set her phone down on the counter with shaking hands.
No.
No no no no no no.
Something was wrong. Adam didn’t forget to pick up his little sister. Not once had it ever happened. He didn’t turn off the location tracking on his phone.
Across the counter, a vase full of spring daisies cracked and slumped to the side as the water poured across the granite.
Megan breathed in. She breathed out. She picked her phone up, careful not to crush it between her fingers. She called Adam again and left a message.
“Adam, it’s Mom. I’m worried, buddy. Call me. Call Cami. Call Trina. We need to know you’re safe.”
She called Nico next.
“Hey. How did it go with—”
“I don’t know where my son is, Nico.”
He was dead silent. “What can I do?”
“Ask Ethan if he told Adam about us.”
“He better not have,” Nico muttered. He was walking and Megan heard Beth in the background.
“What’s going on, Dad?”
“Did you see Adam Carpenter at school today?”
“No. I don’t have any classes with—”
“Did your brother? Ethan!”
Megan’s heart was racing. She saw headlights pulling into the driveway and ran to the door. It was Trina’s red Toyota. She stayed at the door, watching her girls drive into the garage as Nico was yelling at his son on the other line.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal!” Ethan was saying. “We have speech together, and Adam joked about you asking his mom out. He thinks you’re cool, Dad. He wasn’t mad when I told him or anything. He smiled and shit. We all think you and Megan are cool.”
“What did I tell you this morning? You and I are gonna have a conversation later, but right now Megan doesn’t know where Adam is. Did he say anything to you? Did he say he was going to a friend’s house? To a girl’s house?” Nico turned his attention back to the phone. “Megan, I’m so sorry. I’m going to talk to Ethan. I can’t believe—”
“He’s a kid, Nico.” Megan was numb. “He didn’t think it was a big deal. Can you call all the kids on the basketball team you can think of—?”
“I’ve got Coach Dillon’s home number; I’m calling him right now. He’ll call the boys on the team. Was Adam seeing anyone? A girl? A guy—?”
“Not that he told me, but Beth is in his class and she might know.”
Cami and Trina came barreling into the house.
“Mom, did you find him?” Cami ran to her and hugged her around the waist. Trina, quickly taking the measure of her mother’s expression, got her phone out and started making calls.
“We don’t know where he is yet, but we’re going to find him, baby.” She kissed the top of Cami’s head. “Mama’s gonna find him. Nico, I have to go. Can you give Coach Dillon my number?”
“We’re not talking about that right now.” Trina must have been talking to her father. “Have you given him any money?” She paused. “I just know what you offered me. If you gave him half that amount, he could be halfway across the country and heading back to Atlanta right now, Daddy.” Trina’s accent was getting stronger and stronger, a sure sign her temper was fraying.
A family picture fell off the wall near Megan.
“Shit.” She had to calm down before her house started falling apart. What was she supposed to do now? Should she call the police? Would Adam be in trouble if she called the police? She pressed the number for Drew’s mobile phone.
“Megan?”
Another picture fell off the wall. Megan let Cami go and walked to her backyard. “Drew, I don’t know where my son is.”
The detective took a deep breath. “You called him?”
“Nothing. Straight to voice mail.”