“Is Tyson going to be okay?” Daphne had gotten too big for nap snuggles, but she leaned against him on the porch swing.
“Don’t you worry. They’ll find him.” If he was out there. Kidnappers could have taken him anywhere by now. But where could they go with a reluctant teenage boy?
He almost missed what Daphne said. “The postman brought Tyson a big envelope today.”
“Oh?” The statement took him by surprise until he remembered another package delivered to the house, a package with catnip for Dom. They’d never found out who sent it. “What was inside?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. He took it to his room.”
Could it be important? “Did Tyson open it?”
“Dunno. He left like five minutes later. Which is weird, cause when we were walking up the driveway from the bus, he was saying he had homework to do before he could play online with Jeremy.”
Wouldn’t be the first time Tyson skipped doing it, though. “Do you remember if the envelope said who it was from?”
Again, another roll of her shoulders.
Could this be connected to his brother’s disappearance? “Have you told Ray or Mom?”
She shook her head. “Ray was busy fixing his computer, and Mom was crying.”
They rocked in silence for a few kicks of the feet before Daphne peered up at him. “Do you think the bad men got him?”
His heart stopped. “Why would you say that?”
Before she could reply, Mom came outside. “Daffy! There you are.” Relief warred with panic in her voice. “I thought you were watching a movie.”
“I didn’t feel like it anymore,” Daphne admitted, hugging her tiger tighter.
“Oh, sweetheart. I know you’re worried. Come on. I’m sure Dominick and Maeve will find him.” Mom didn’t say it meanly. Didn’t even direct it at him, yet the guilt hit him hard and fast.
He should be out there searching, too, but then he wouldn’t have heard Daphne’s story.
A mysterious envelope. It begged looking into. Stefan went to Tyson’s room, ignoring the Do Not Enter Or Die! sign.
This was a matter of life and death.
Upon entering, he saw many of the things he expected in his brother’s room. Posters with sports stars. A few smaller ones of hot girls. The walls were painted red, white, and black. Colors for the local hockey team. Go, Sens, Go!
A scratch in a spot showed the pink layer underneath. Growing up, this had been Pammy’s room, because Mom had insisted a young lady needed space away from smelly boys. She was right. The fart contests growing up did get to epic smelly proportions.
The attic didn’t get converted until Dominick moved and insisted on sending parts of his paycheck home to help out. The kids insisted Mom take it over as a master bedroom suite with its own bathroom. The old master turned into another bedroom and lost a few feet. The bathroom on the second floor turned into two. Girls and boys. Guess which was grosser? But the one his sisters shared endured the most yelling. Women took their beauty seriously.
The bedspread was a patchwork collection of old clothes. The stuff Tyson would have outgrown. Mom always had a blanket going, using the clothes that couldn’t be handed down but still had some life left to them to endlessly create patchwork blankets.
Stefan kept his in the chest in the living room for the nights he needed a hug.
A scan of Tyson’s dresser showed nothing untoward. Cologne and deodorant. A hairbrush with an open jar of gel beside it. The dresser drawers revealed a brother tidier than expected. His clothes were not only rolled but organized by color.
“Should have known there was something up with the kid.” Stefan did the same thing. A sign of the pacing anxiety within.
It wasn’t until the bottom drawer that he paused. Jeans neatly rolled and upright, perfect for the grabbing. Except for the ones at the back sitting a little higher.
He pulled them out and found an envelope underneath. The contents proved to be freakier than the expected drugs. Pictures. Images that slugged Stefan in the gut because he recognized the place and yet didn’t.
I’ve never been there. So why did his mind flash to a room with no windows but many machines and a medical bed such as the one the little boy in the picture was strapped to? A small child—no more than a few years old—with arms, legs, torso, and even head bound to a cushioned surface. Eyes closed.
Even that young, Stefan recognized Tyson.
Oh fuck. His stomach clenched. What sick bastard had sent this to his brother?
And worse, what did they know?
He rifled through all the images. On the back of the last one—of Tyson dangling from an elaborate exercise system—he discovered a hand-written note: Answers? Along with a time and an address.
Stefan glanced at the clock on his phone. Barely enough time to make it even if he sped.
He had to try.
He pounded down the stairs, startling his mom who exclaimed, “What is it? Where are you going?”
No time to stop. “Airport!” He ran for his bike and prayed.
Please let me reach Tyson before it’s too late.
16
Despite splitting up in the woods, Nimway and her pack ended up skunked, as the boy’s trailed ended on a busy road. No way of knowing which way he went or how far. They also couldn’t go any farther as wolves. They’d need to resort to more human measures. They sprinted on four fleet feet back to the house, pausing at the edge of the forest only long enough to shift and put on clothes. Nimway’s phone still showed no signal.
As she neared the house, it was to be met by Nanette Hubbard wringing her hands. “Thank God you’re back. You have to go after him.”
“Who?” She blinked as she realized Nanette must mean Stefan. His bike was no longer parked in the driveway. “Where did he go?”
“He yelled something about an airport and took off just minutes ago.”
She wanted to curse. “The airport.” It made sense. If the boy were taken, then they would probably fly him out. “Did he head for MacDonald Cartier?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?” Mrs. Hubbard chewed her lip.
Maybe wasn’t good enough. Nimway knew of at least a dozen other smaller private airstrips, all within an hour or so from here.
She wondered if Stefan had a reason for suddenly aiming for the airport. “Mrs. Hubbard, did Stefan talk to anyone while I was gone?”
The woman sniffled. “Just his little sister, Daphne.”
A conversation with the youngest girl, led to her discovering what Stefan had learned and why he’d moved so quickly. The envelope of pictures had been left on the bed. They turned Nimway’s stomach, and the elder Hubbard, who’d followed her, turned white.
“Can I see?” Daphne asked with an innocence even hardened Nimway wanted to protect.
“No. Oh God no,” Mrs. Hubbard exclaimed.
“Why not? I’m the one who knew about them.” The girl pouted.
The elder blinked at the youngest. “And should have told me. Why didn’t you?”
Daphne, a girl with big eyes, shrugged. “I didn’t know it was important.”
“Actually, you’ve given us the biggest clue so far,” Nimway declared. With an address in hand, she barked orders at Dayna and Jack, who took off so quickly she forgot to tell them she needed a lift.