“Call my phone. We need the light,” Lexie said tensely.
The device lit from the floor several feet away. She picked it up and shined the flashlight toward the door.
It’s done. They’re in custody.
I wanted to celebrate with the news in Daniel’s text, but it was a hollow victory.
No Eric. Make them disclose his location.
We will.
We could use help in the search.
On it.
“They’ve been arrested.”
Lexie’s light swiped across the walls as she spun around. “How? Never mind. We have to find Eric.”
“I’ve asked for backup.”
“Eric!” she shouted when we were back out in the hallway. She moved to the apartment to the left and kicked that door. “Eric!” The desperation in her voice was nearly crippling.
Agony intensified at every empty room we checked. When is help coming? It felt like forever since I’d spoken to Teague.
Blinding light flooded the hallways. A momentary breath of relief slashed through me but was quickly replaced by the ever-present distress.
“Lincoln!” Teague’s voice floated up the center of the stairwell. “Backup is here. You found him yet?”
I leaned on the railing. “Not yet,” I yelled down.
“We’ll start down here.”
I shielded my eyes. Out the window, I could see the ladder of a fire truck and a fireman pointing a high beam light inside.
The interior of this building was worse than I thought. I wanted Lexie out of here so she wasn’t hurt, but didn’t dare demand that.
She kicked open another door with precision. I checked the kitchen while she searched the rest of the apartment.
“Eric!” I called. Had they knocked him out? Where is he?
“He’s not here,” Lexie said in frustration.
“Think for a minute. Does what your mother said have any significance? About making it hard on you?” In our haste, maybe we’d missed a clue.
“Everything she did was hard on us,” she said bitterly as she pushed past.
Where are you, Eric?
An hour later, with the help of NYPD and FDNY we’d searched the entire building.
No Eric.
I yanked on my hair and stared at the decrepit place. What if they had killed him?
I wouldn’t think that way.
Either we’d find him, or the police would get the Logans to talk.
Lexie ran back toward the building.
I raced after her. “You can’t go in there alone.”
“I’m not leaving here without him.” She threw my arm off her shoulder. “He has to be here. He has to.”
“Is there a basement or a rooftop area?”
“The roof. Oh my gosh, Lincoln. She locked us in a closet on the roof one summer. It was so hot.”
I took the stairs two at a time, risk of falling be damned. At the top of the stairwell, I smashed through the door with my foot. Cool evening air hit me in the face.
I searched for what looked like a closet and noticed a pile of chairs and furniture and anything one could think of to bar a door.
I threw everything out of the way as if it were weightless, finally revealing a door.
“Eric!” Lexie’s voice broke on his name.
I yanked on the handle and it was locked.
She reared back her leg.
“Wait. If he’s in there, he could be injured when we smash the door.”
She lowered her foot. “Eric.” She shouted more desperately this time.
We waited for what felt like an eternity.
“Sis?”
Relief swept hard and fast through me. We’d found him.
“Hang on, bow tie. We’re going to get you out of there.”
“Okay.”
I called Teague. “We found him. We need something to open a locked door.”
“What’s wrong with your foot?”
I drew in a breath for patience. “We don’t want to hurt him.”
“Cal’s a master at picking locks. He’ll have him out in no time.” His voice became muffled. “Yo, Cal. Get your lock set.”
“We’re on the roof.”
“Be careful up there, man. In an old place like this it could have some weak spots.”
As long as it didn’t before we were out of here, I didn’t care.
“Eric? Can you hear me?” Lexie crouched and pressed her face to the door.
“Yeah.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” he said urgently.
“If it’s bad, just go in there. If you can wait a little bit, we’ll find you one,” Lexie said with the gentleness of a mother. A good mother. Not their mother.
“My tummy hurts, sis. I can’t see. It’s dark.”
“It won’t be for long. A fireman is on the way to pick the lock.”
“Like Teague?”
“Just like Teague.” She sounded far more calm than I felt.
“Is Millie here?”
The dog. How had I let it slip my mind that he’d want her?
“She’s at home, waiting to see you as soon as we get there.”
“Over here,” I said the second I saw a figure come out of the stairwell into the moonlight.
It was the man my sister seemed to hate. If he got Eric out of this closet without so much as a hair harmed on his head, I’d show him some leniency.
“The fireman is here,” Lexie said before she moved away from the door to allow him to work.
He looked at the lock, opened his case, and selected the tool he wanted. “Hey, Eric. It’s Cal. We met the other night.”
“Hey, Cal.” Eric sounded so small and far away, but brave. Far more brave than I’d ever be.
“Had any Lucky Charms lately?” he asked as he worked.
The lock popped and the door opened.
“No.” Eric blinked, though he didn’t move from his spot on the floor.
“Need a hand up?” Cal extended his arm.
Lexie ducked under it and knelt in front of Eric. “You’re okay.” She brushed his hair back from his forehead.
“Yeah. Can I get out now?”
“Yes.” She shook her head as if to clear it and unblocked the door. “Yes, you can.”
I muscled between Cal and Lexie, lifting Eric to his feet.
He threw his arms around me. “You saved me.”
I held him tight. It was my fault he’d been through this hell. I didn’t deserve his praise.
“Glad you’re all right.” I patted his back.
Once he let me go, he went straight to Lexie. She hugged him long and hard, sniffling.
“I want to go home,” he said.
She scrubbed his hair. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lexie
I hadn’t let my brother out of my sight since his return last night.
My irrational fear that he’d be taken again consumed me.
He didn’t appear to be physically hurt, but mentally? I couldn’t think about what our parents had said to him. Or done to him. He’d often been crying when they’d pushed him into the cupboard when he was small. But how did they get him onto the roof? What did they threaten him with to get him there?