Chapter 5 - Ethan Was Gone
I called 911 before I finished reading the note.
Rebecca arrived before the first patrol car left the driveway.
Victor arrived ten minutes later.
I stared at him from the porch.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard Ethan is missing.”
“From who?”
His expression faltered.
“Police called me.”
The detective behind me shook his head.
“No, we didn’t.”
Victor looked at him.
Then at me.
I felt something inside me break.
“You knew.”
“Claire.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
I walked toward him.
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
“Where is my brother?”
Victor raised his hands.
“I swear I don’t know.”
“You told me to stop involving Ethan.”
“That doesn’t mean I took him.”
“Then how did you know?”
He looked trapped.
Finally he said, “Someone called me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Number?”
“Blocked.”
The detective took his phone.
Victor protested.
Nobody cared.
A statewide child abduction alert went out.
Security cameras from the neighborhood showed a dark SUV leaving our street at 10:18 p.m.
No visible plate.
Ethan had apparently walked out willingly.
That terrified me more.
Someone he knew had taken him.
At 11:03 p.m., my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Claire?”
Ethan.
My knees nearly collapsed.
“Ethan!”
“I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
His voice was whispering.
“A woman picked me up.”
“What woman?”
“She said Mom sent her.”
My stomach turned.
“Mom didn’t send anyone.”
“I know.”
“Can you see anything?”
“A bridge.”
“Anything else?”
“Red lights.”
Then another voice came through.
Female.
Older.
“Claire Hayes.”
“Who are you?”
“You’re looking for Evelyn Carter.”
Every person in the room froze.
I put the call on speaker.
“You’re Evelyn?”
The woman laughed softly.
“No.”
“Then who are you?”
“I’m the reason Evelyn disappeared.”
Victor’s face changed.
I saw it.
The woman continued.
“Your brother is safe for now.”
“If you hurt him—”
“I won’t.”
“Then bring him back.”
“Not until you listen.”
I gripped the phone.
“Talk.”
“Your father discovered Victor was not stealing company money for himself.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“He was paying someone.”
“Who?”
“A woman your father believed died twenty years earlier.”
Silence.
The caller said the name.
“Rachel Hayes.”
Victor whispered, “No.”
I looked at him.
“Who is Rachel?”
He did not answer.
The woman on the phone did.
“Your father’s first wife.”
My heart stopped.
My father had been married before Mom.
I had never known.
The caller continued.
“And Rachel had a son.”
I looked at Victor.
His face had lost all color.
“What son?”
May you like
The woman answered.
“A son Michael Hayes spent seventeen years pretending didn’t exist.”
