Chapter 4 - THE SILVER WATCH
I stared at the drawing, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm.
Sheriff.
Sheriff Miller had been the lead investigator on Noah's case. He was a close family friend, the man who had comforted Caroline when she couldn't stand, the man who had organized the search parties.
Why was Noah drawing him in this hidden room?
I stuffed the drawing into my jacket pocket and ran back out to the hallway. Meredith was finally crawling through the broken glass of the French doors, her hands bleeding.
"Where did he take him?" I grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "Where does Greg go?"
"I don't know!" she wept. "He has a hunting cabin near the state line. Maybe there. But Caleb, please, you have to believe me—Greg isn't working alone."
"I know," I said coldly. I pulled out my phone and dialed Caroline's number.
She answered on the second ring. "Caleb? How's Lily?"
"Caroline, listen to me very carefully," I said, my voice trembling with adrenaline. "Get out of the house. Right now. Go to the neighbors and lock the door."
"What? Caleb, what's wrong?"
"I found Noah's shoe. He's alive, Caroline. Meredith and Greg took him."
A sharp, agonizing gasp came through the speaker. Then, complete silence.
"Caroline?"
"Caleb," she whispered, her voice tight with panic. "Sheriff Miller just pulled into the driveway. He's getting out of his cruiser."
My blood froze.
"Don't open the door," I commanded. "Caroline, do not let him in!"
"He's knocking," she whimpered. "He says he has an update on the case."
"Run!" I screamed.
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone. I was an hour away in Virginia. Caroline was in North Carolina with the man who had apparently orchestrated my son's disappearance.
"Why Miller?" I turned on Meredith, backing her against the wall. "What does a county sheriff have to do with this?"
Meredith was hyperventilating. "Greg was laundering money, Caleb! Millions. Through his hedge fund. Miller caught him two years ago, but instead of arresting him, he blackmailed him. When Greg took Noah... Miller found out. He realized how much leverage he had over us. Over your family's land."
It all clicked into place. My parents' farmhouse sat on five hundred acres of prime development real estate. Miller had been trying to force my father to sell for years to a shady developer he was allied with.
They hadn't just stolen a child. They had stolen an heir to manipulate a fortune.
"Get up," I told Meredith, grabbing her arm. "You're coming with me."
I grabbed Lily, strapped her into her car seat in my truck, and shoved Meredith into the passenger side. I slammed my foot on the gas, tearing out of the gated community.
As we sped onto the highway, my phone buzzed. An unknown number.
I put it on speaker.
"Hello, Caleb." Sheriff Miller's voice was calm, almost soothing.
"If you touch my wife, I will kill you," I said, my grip on the steering wheel turning my knuckles white.
"Caroline is perfectly safe," Miller replied smoothly. "She's sitting right here in my cruiser. But I think we need to have a little family meeting. You see, Greg is a liability. He panicked. But I have your boy now."
"Let me speak to him."
"Soon," Miller said. "Come to the old logging mill on Route 9. Alone. If you call the state police, or if you bring anyone else, you will never see your wife or your son again."
He hung up.
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I looked down at the center console. Next to the cup holder sat the heavy silver pocket watch my grandfather had given me. It was broken, stuck at 7:15. The exact time I last saw Noah.
I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. I wasn't going to call the police. I was going to finish this myself.
