The boy looked down at the sheet again. Tears slid down his cheeks.
Will said, “It’s okay to talk to me, buddy. Whatever happened to you, it wasn’t your fault. You’re just a kid. And your mommy and daddy love you so much. They want you back home. That’s all they care about. No matter what the bad men did to you, they will always, always love you.”
The boy kept his head down. His mouth moved. He had to think about how to turn sounds into words again. “What about Benjamin?”
Will glanced up at Sara.
She asked, “Is that your brother?”
The boy nodded.
Will said, “I’m sure he wants you back, too. Even if you fought with him or didn’t get along, none of that matters. Benjamin wants you back home with him.”
The boy finally looked up at Will. “He’s not home,” he whispered. “He was in the basement, too.”
Sara felt her heart stop. She was too paralyzed to speak. Another boy, a brother, still out there suffering horrible cruelties. Or, worse, not still out there, but lying somewhere in a shallow grave.
Will was obviously considering the same possibilities. He visibly struggled to keep his calm. “Benjamin was in the basement with you?”
The boy nodded his head. “The bad man took him away.” Will’s cool started to slip. His voice cracked. “Can you tell me your name?”
The boy didn’t answer.
Will said, “I met a little boy last night, and he knew the name of his school. Do you know the name of yours?”
The boy still did not answer. He was getting scared again, worried that he’d said too much. He slid down the bed, pulled the sheets up over his head.
Will opened his mouth to say more, but nothing came out. He didn’t want to give up, but he didn’t know how to keep going, either.
Sara rested her hand on the boy’s arm. He was shaking. They could hear his cries through the bedcovers. She told him, “It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t have to say anything else for now. You were very brave to tell Agent Trent what you did. And you’re still safe. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
Denise Branson cleared her throat. She was standing in the doorway.
Sara told the boy, “We’re going to leave you alone for now, but we’re all here if you need us.” Sara stood up. She motioned for Will to follow her. “I’ll be in the kitchen, okay? You don’t have to talk anymore until you’re ready.”
Sara left the room, though she felt like part of her heart stayed with the boy. His brother had been taken, too. Why hadn’t they found him at the house? Where had he been taken?
Sara told Will, “I’ll try again in a few minutes.”
Will pulled out his phone. The glass was shattered, but the phone seemed to be working. Sara assumed he was calling Faith, but then he said, “This is Agent William Trent. I need a national alert issued immediately on the authority of Deputy Director Amanda Wagner. Two missing brothers, both disappeared on the same day, possibly more than a week ago. No name on the first kid, but he’s around seven years old, has dark hair and brown eyes. The second kid is called Benjamin.”
Sara told him, “Or Ben. Or Benji.”
Will’s expression showed absolute shock. He almost dropped the phone. “What did you just say?”
She knew that he wasn’t good with nicknames. “Benjamin is sometimes shortened to Ben or Benji.”
“Benji?” Will braced his hand against the wall. He seemed stunned.
She asked, “What is it?”
“Give me your keys.”
14.
Will pushed the needle on the BMW’s speedometer past one hundred as he sped away from Lila’s farm. She lived only a few miles from the interstate. He barely slowed for the turn. The tires skipped across the road, but the BMW stayed upright. Will cut off a lane of cars as he merged onto the interstate. He was going fast, but it didn’t feel fast enough. He shot past the exit for Macon General. The engine screamed as he gunned it harder.
He was coming up on the exit that led to Cayla Martin’s house when his phone finally rang. Will drove one-handed as he answered, “Did they get him?”
Faith said, “They can’t find Cayla Martin’s street.”
Will cursed under his breath. “What about the cops who knocked on her door last night?”
“They’re both off-duty. Neither is answering their phones. They’re probably asleep.”
“Send somebody to wake them up.”
“Don’t you think I did?”
Will tried to tamp down his frustration. “They have to find the house, Faith. Tell them to send out a helicopter.”
“The state highway is thirty miles through that zip code, Will. We’ve called the road crews. We’ve called the park service and waste management and the post office and the middle school. We’ve got three cruisers out there already. They’re trying.”
“It’s a dirt road. There’s a trailer park and—”
“We’ll find it.”
“Tell them to look for me. I just passed Macon General. I’m taking exit twelve now.”
The phone was muffled as Faith relayed the information. She came back on the line. “Cayla Martin was seen at the hospital half an hour ago. She was picking up her paycheck. Her car is still in the parking lot, but we can’t find her.”
“Did they check the employee entrance? She goes out there to smoke.”
“Hold on.” Again, Faith put her hand over the phone to talk to the dispatcher. “They’re checking now.”
“Did you find an Amber Alert on two missing brothers?”
“We’ve got nothing.”
“That’s impossible,” Will argued. “Two brothers went missing on the same day. Why didn’t we hear about it?”
“Maybe the police thought it was a parent abduction?” Faith pointed out the obvious: “Something like that wouldn’t make it on the news cycle unless there were bodies.” She asked Will, “Are you sure the boy wasn’t making it up? Kids that age lie about everything. Maybe the other kid was a cousin or friend, or—”
“He wasn’t lying,” Will said. “And you don’t believe in coincidences. Benjamin’s not a common name around here.”
“You’re right,” Faith admitted. “Amanda’s talking to the Mounties.” The Canadian federal police. “Their news doesn’t trickle down much unless you’re in a border state. She thought maybe the boys came from up there.”
“What about the French-speaking parts?” Will asked. “The Mounties don’t serve those areas.”
“Did either of the boys sound French?”
“Maybe they’re bilingual. I don’t know, Faith. Just tell her to call everybody.”
Faith said, “I’m sending her a text right now.”
Will was silent, waiting for her to type it out. His head was spinning. He didn’t know how this had happened. Benjamin had been right there in front of him. He’d practically begged Will to help him. He’d said he’d been taken a month ago. Will had thought the kid meant taken away from his mother by the police, not abducted by a sadist.
Big Whitey.