Chapter 2
I stared at the clock.
Eight minutes and forty-three seconds.
“Who will move him?” I asked.
Evan looked at his father again.
George answered before he could.
“It’s a company security procedure. You’ve activated it by mistake.”
I held the key against my chest.
“My brother is listed on your security screen.”
“Names can be entered incorrectly,” George said.
“Then why did Evan say Caleb is alive?”
He said nothing.
Vanessa walked toward the passenger door. I pushed the lock down before she reached it. She rattled the handle.
“Unlock it, Maya,” she said. “You’re making yourself look unstable.”
Her phone was still recording.
I thought of the video she had taken of me getting into the car. I thought of the worn-out sedan sitting in my name as a birthday gift.
“What were you planning to do with that video?”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“Don’t be absurd.”
Brooke stood by the garage, her phone hanging at her side. She looked as shocked as I felt.
Evan put both hands where I could see them.
“Maya, listen. The countdown calls a transport crew. They think the car belongs to our company. I can stop them if you let me use the console.”
“Why would they move Caleb?”
Evan swallowed.
I had loved him for five years. I knew the way he sounded when he lied about a late bill or a forgotten appointment. I had never heard him sound like this.
“Because he saw something he wasn’t supposed to see.”
I raised my phone and called the police.
George reached for the driver’s door. Evan caught his arm.
“Leave her alone.”
“You’re the one who brought the car here,” George snapped.
The dispatcher answered. I gave my name, address, and the words on the screen. I told her my missing brother’s name was there.
When she asked whether I was safe, I looked at the three people outside my window.
“I’m locked inside a car,” I said. “My husband and his family are outside. They know where my brother is, and they won’t tell me.”
Vanessa stepped back.
George turned toward the house.
I read the location and the countdown to the dispatcher. She asked me to stay on the line. Officers were coming to us, and she was passing the information to the team handling Caleb’s missing-person report.
Six minutes remained.
Evan moved around the car and crouched beside the window.
“You need to tell them not to send anyone to the address yet,” he said.
I gripped the phone. “Why?”
“The retrieval crew will see them.”
“Then tell me how to stop the crew.”
His mouth opened. George called his name sharply from the porch.
Evan looked over his shoulder.
That was all the answer I needed about whose side he was still considering.
My neighbor Nia stepped out onto her front porch. She had heard the shouting. I waved to her.
“Nia, please stay where you are and watch.”
She nodded and took out her phone.
Vanessa looked between us. “This is a family matter.”
“My brother is missing,” I said.
Brooke suddenly walked away from the garage and stopped beside her mother.
“Mom, did you know about Caleb?”
Vanessa’s face hardened. “Go inside.”
“No.”
George took out his phone. He turned his back to us and began speaking quietly.
The clock dropped below five minutes.
I told the dispatcher George was making a call. She asked for his description. As I gave it, Evan tapped on the window.
“I can cancel the order from inside,” he said.
“Tell me how.”
“There’s a red button below the screen.”
I glanced down. There were three identical dark buttons. None was red.
“You can see them from there,” I said. “Which one?”
He shut his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
The dispatcher heard him. She told me to leave the system alone.
At the end of the driveway, George opened the gate. A black SUV was approaching from the street.
I could not see the driver’s face.
Nia called from her porch. “Maya, I’m recording the plate.”
The SUV slowed, then continued past us.
George’s shoulders loosened.
A siren sounded in the distance.
The countdown showed three minutes.
Vanessa crossed to the car again. Her voice softened as if the cameras had only just begun filming.
“Maya, honey. This has all been frightening. Let Evan take you inside.”
I looked at her through the window.
“Where is Caleb?”
She glanced at the screen. Then she looked at George.
Brooke saw it too.
“You know,” she whispered.
George came back through the gate.
“Evan,” he said. “Get the key. Now.”
My husband did not move.
The first police car turned onto our street. George’s confident expression vanished.
The countdown reached one minute.
Then the dashboard speaker clicked.
May you like
A man’s voice replaced the recorded one.
“Unit responding,” he said. “Confirming pickup of Caleb Reed.”
