* * *
Michaela counted the cash box with a smile of satisfaction. It had been a good opening night and the evening wasn’t over yet. The haunted house wouldn’t close for another hour.
“Marion, go ahead and lock up these receipts in the safe. I’ll make a bank run in the morning.”
“Will do. Where’s Cal and Alex? And that gorgeous man that came with you tonight? Is he single?”
Marion was happily married so Mika knew the questions were only in fun. “That man is Jon Rudnick. He was in the Navy with Cal and no, he is not single. He has a girlfriend named Alison and he’s talked about her all night. As for Cal and Alex…Cal’s with Jon and Alex is with Kenny playing glow in the dark soccer with the other kids.”
Marion frowned and shook her head. “Charlotte came in here about thirty minutes ago to say goodnight. She had all three kids in tow. Alex can’t be with Kenny.”
“Maybe they haven’t actually left yet.” Mika handed the bag with the cash back to Marion. “I’ll just take a walk over to the field.”
The makeshift soccer field was next door to the warehouse and it only took a minute for Mika to walk there. There were plenty of lights from the warehouse and the adjoining parking lot illuminating the grassy area but the running and shouting boys were almost a blur. When they stopped for a moment she was able to scan for Alex and her heart stopped for a moment when she didn’t see him playing with the other boys.
“Jake!” Mika called, motioning to one of her son’s classmates. “Have you seen Alex?”
The little boy screwed up his face and shrugged. “He left a while ago. I don’t know where he was going.”
Another skipped beat of her heart but she pushed down the fear that was beginning to build. No mother liked her son to be out of her sight for long and she was no exception. “Thank you. If you see him tell him to come back to the haunted house.”
Jake scampered off and Mika turned back around and headed to the warehouse. Ten minutes later she’d scoured every inch of the property including the parking lot but to no avail. Pulling her cell from her pocket she dialed Charlotte’s number praying Alex had somehow gone home with them.
“Mika, I didn’t expect to hear from you. Is everything okay there?”
Settling into a chair in the ticket office, Mika nervously twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “I’m not sure. Is Alex with you?”
“No, when I picked up Kenny from the soccer field Alex said he was going to find you. I watched him head that way. Mika, what’s going on? Is Alex missing?”
Her fingers tightened on the phone as emotion strangled her ability to speak. “I can’t find him anywhere. I’m sure he’s around here but…”
Her words trailed away as she swallowed a painful sob. Charlotte was speaking to her husband in the background for a moment before she came back on the phone.
“I’m coming back there to help you look,” she stated. “You’re right, I’m sure he’s just playing somewhere but two will find him faster than one. Give me five minutes to get there.”
The line went dead and Mika stared at the phone trying to keep herself calm. Perhaps Alex had wandered off with one of his friends from school. She should go talk to all the other parents.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?”
Mika looked up to see Cal, his brows pulled down in concern. Licking her dry lips, she gave herself a mental shake. She wasn’t doing anyone any good in this state.
“I can’t find Alex. He’s not playing soccer. He isn’t with Charlotte and Kenny. And I looked all over. This isn’t like him.”
Lately Alex had been chafing at the restrictions but he knew the rules about being out after dark and they didn’t include the freedom to run around without his mother’s permission.
Mika might not be Alex’s biological mother but she had a mother’s instinct. Something wasn’t right.
Cal pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll call Sheriff Dan and then we’ll get organized and look for him. He can’t have gone too far.”
Alex could be alone and frightened somewhere. He didn’t like the dark all that much and still wanted a night light in his room. Mika needed to get to him as quickly as possible.
“I’ll look in the parking lot again and talk to the other mothers,” she said but Cal caught her arm keeping her from leaving the office.
“We need to organize a grid search, Mika. That way we know that no square foot has been overlooked. Just give me ten minutes and we’ll do this.”
She jerked her elbow away, anger rising in her chest and mixing with the fear already residing there. “Something could happen to him in ten minutes. I need to get to my baby, Cal. He might be hurt or alone.”
“That’s the exact reason we need to do this by the book.” Their gazes collided and Cal placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning forward so only she could hear his words. “I’m begging you to trust me, sweetheart. This is something I know, something I’ve been trained for. Let me help you.”
Her stomach was twisted into knots of growing terror but she swallowed hard and nodded, not trusting her own voice. This was his job, or at least it had been. If anyone could find a missing little boy it was Cal.
“I’m just scared. He’s my baby.”
“We’re going to get your baby back but you have to trust me, okay?”
Mika nodded and then Jon stepped forward, the affable man she’d met earlier wiped away and in its place an intense, focused military man. “I want to help. I can start gathering volunteers to search and getting them organized.”
“Do that. We’ll line everyone up shoulder to shoulder and send each group in four different directions.”
Shaking with fright, Mika allowed the man she loved to do the very thing he excelled at. She’d trust him with her own life and with Alex’s too.
It was the longest, most excruciating ten minutes of her life.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
Sheriff Dan took notes of what Alex was wearing and the last place he was seen. Charlotte had indeed showed up and Cal had put her in charge of keeping Mika somewhat calm. Right now the woman he loved was positively terrified and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be fine. However, he didn’t have that luxury at this particular moment.
Thankfully years of training had kicked in and Cal felt confident they would find Alex nearby cold, scared, and alone but safe and sound.
“I’ve done a preliminary inventory and so far no children here at the festival are unaccounted for,” Jon stepped back into the office, his demeanor all business. Cal was reassured that his friend was helping. He needed someone he trusted so he could bounce ideas around. “The volunteers are also ready. The local hardware store is sending over their entire stock of flashlights so we should be well equipped.”
With a grim smile Sheriff Dan shoved the pad back into his jacket pocket. “I’m going to defer to you two young men on this since you have more missing person training than I do. Just tell me what you need from me and I’ll make it happen.”
Sheriff Dan had been the head lawman in this town for as long as Cal could remember. In fact, when he’d moved back he’d been shocked to see Dan still wearing a badge. He had to be seventy if he was a day.
“I’d like your deputies to run the grid search while Jon and I search those woods over there.”
Dan nodded but stopped in front of Mika on the way out. “Now don’t you worry about this, Micheala. We’re going to find your boy. Your man knows what he’s doing and this ain’t the first lost child I’ve located in all my years here in Applewood. They’re usually fast asleep under a tree somewhere having lost all track of time.”
Cal liked hearing that he was Mika’s man. It felt good to belong to someone even if it was under shitty circumstances like these. But then Cal had no intention of not finding Alex safe and unharmed.
“I know. Thank you, Sheriff.” Mika gave him a watery smile and sniffled, a wadded
up tissue pressed to her red nose. “I know we’ll find him.”
The sheriff strode out of the office and back to the deputies and volunteers while Cal checked his cell again to ensure he had plenty of battery power.
Ten minutes were up and it was time to get going.
“Mika, I want you to stay here in case Alex comes back. Jon and I are going to search those woods on the other side of the soccer field.”
Her back ramrod straight, Mika pressed her lips together, her fists clenched at her sides.
“Fuck you, Cal. I’m not waiting around while my son is missing. It’s been ten minutes and now I’m done sitting here with my thumb up my ass. I’m going to look for Alex.”
Cal’s mouth dropped open at Mika’s salty language. She rarely dropped the f-bomb but it only showed him that she was scared to death and needed a physical outlet for that fear. He could give her that although that hadn’t been his original plan.
“Fine. Charlotte, can you stay here? If Alex shows up you can call Mika’s phone. Mika, is your phone fully charged?”
His abrupt change of attitude must have shocked her. She stood there for a moment, her forehead wrinkled and her head tilted to the side in confusion, but then she seemed to grasp that he’d given in and she nodded, holding out her cell for his inspection.
After a cursory glance he grabbed two flashlights, handing one to Jon. “Then let’s go. It’s already completely dark and the temperature is beginning to drop.”
Alex had been wearing a jacket but the wind was starting to pick up.
The three of them hiked across the field and into the small wood right next to it. Cal easily found the trail and they took turns calling to Alex as loudly as possible, then listening for any reply he might make.
Mika was holding up well although her expression was stoic. She didn’t say much as they walked but he could tell she was barely holding herself together. The realization slammed into him that at one point in his life he’d expected this woman to leave Alex with her parents and come to him in Chicago. There was no way she could ever have done that. When they’d placed that baby in Mika’s arms he’d been hers from that moment since her sister wasn’t capable of caring for him.
Her staying hadn’t been because she didn’t love Cal enough. She’d simply loved Alex too much. And damn if that didn’t make her even more lovable.
They came to a fork in the trail and stopped, their ears perked for any tell-tale noise.
“Jon, this is where we’re going to separate. If you follow that trail it will take you to the right corner of this wood.”
Jon had GPS on his phone and he noted their current location with a nod of his head.
“I’ll call you if I find anything.” Jon reached out and squeezed Cal’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”
“Thanks for being here and helping.”
“You guys throw a hell of a festival.”
Mika placed her hand on Jon’s arm. “Thank you so much. I mean it.”
“Any time, and I mean that too,” Jon replied before quietly heading down the right fork.
Cal and Mika took the left, alternating calls with silence, their voices growing hoarse from the yelling and the cold. He could see that Mika’s demeanor had grown bleak as time passed although he’d checked his cell phone and they hadn’t been out even forty-five minutes yet.
“How are we going to find him if he’s in here? I can hardly see a thing.”
Cal grasped her icy hand in his and rubbed the fingers to warm them. “When I was Alex’s age I used to play in this wood almost every day in the summer and after school when the weather was good. I know it like the back of my own hand and I doubt it has changed that much except that the trees are thicker and taller.”
More had changed but he didn’t want Mika to worry. Enough was the same that there was no danger of them getting lost. They could concentrate on the more important task of finding Alex.
“Alex!” Mika called, her voice sounding loud in the night quiet. “Alex!”
It was then that Cal heard a distinct whine and he stopped, immediately holding up his hand when Mika would have called to her son again. He waited for what seemed like an eternity and then heard the whine again right before a distinct bark.
A dog. Hopefully Alex and a dog.
“Alex!” Cal bellowed louder than before, his throat almost raw. “Alex!”
The sound was faint but Cal heard it. Apparently Mika did as well because she grabbed his arm and started charging down the path. Cal had to rein her in, slowing her down so he could listen.
“Easy, babe. Don’t run off on me,” Cal warned, keeping his voice low. “We stay together.”
“He’s there! I know that’s my baby.” He could hear the tears in her voice and tried to keep her steady. This was the break he’d been hoping for since the little boy had gone missing.
“Keep calling to us, Alex! Keep yelling so we can find you!”
“We need to follow his voice,” Cal whispered urgently. “Focus in on that. We’re close, I can feel it.”
It was hard to believe he could hear anything over the blood rushing in his ears like a tidal wave but another faint call came from just ahead along with several loud barks.
With a bead on where the sounds were coming from Cal sped up with Mika right by his side. There was a clearing just ahead and his gut was telling him that was exactly where Alex was located. They didn’t need to call to Alex anymore as the dog was now howling its head off and making Cal’s job almost too easy. When he broke through the brush and into the clearing, he almost screamed with relief when he saw Alex sitting on the ground next to a tree with his arms around a small, dirty puppy.
“Alex!” Mika bolted ahead and snatched her son up into her arms, rocking him as tears coursed down her face. The puppy whined indignantly at being ignored but promptly sat down as if waiting for his turn to be cuddled. “Alex, we’ve been looking for you everywhere! You know you’re not supposed to be out after dark by yourself!”
Alex allowed the bone-crushing hug for a short time but then began wriggling to be free.
“Mom! You’re squishing me.”
Mika loosened her hold but didn’t let go, instead leaning back so she could run her gaze from tennis shoes to the cowlick in Alex’s short brown hair, assessing for any injury small or large. Other than a few tearstains and a lot of dirt, the boy appeared to be unharmed.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Her hands ran down Alex’s arms and legs urgently and Cal was mesmerized by the mother’s love glowing on her face. He’d been such an idiot to leave and miss this, the nurturing yet fiercely protective side of her. She’d been like a momma bear tonight protecting her cub and it was unbearably beautiful to behold.
Alex denied being hurt and Cal knelt down to check for himself, his own throat tightening up at the thought of anything happening to the young man. Cal had loved Mika for years but Alex had wormed his way into Cal’s heart in a matter of weeks.
“You okay, buddy?” Cal pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to Jon and also the sheriff so they could call off the search. “We were worried about you. How did you end up here?”
“I was heading to find you, Mom, but then I saw Henry and we played for awhile. I followed him here but then it got dark and I couldn’t find my way back. So I sat down and waited for you to find me. I knew you would.”
Mika slapped her forehead and groaned but Cal simply smiled and helped the boy to his feet. “Henry, huh? Did you give him that name or does he belong to someone?”
“I gave him that name. I found him playing in the bushes by the soccer field. I think he likes me. Can we keep him, Mom? Please? Please?”
The boy certainly knew when to pick his moments. Mika was so damn relieved and grateful to find Alex safe and sound she might just actually let him keep the puppy.
Mika still had one arm around Alex but she rubbed the back of her neck with the other hand, a sigh escaping her lips. “He might have
a family that loves him.”
Alex shook his head vigorously. “He doesn’t! He doesn’t have a collar or anything and he’s real lonely. Please, Mom. I’ll take good care of him. I’ll walk him and feed him. I promise.”
Cal had to muffle his chuckle at Alex’s earnest plea. Cal had made the very same one when he was about the boy’s age and it had been for another stray canine that had wandered into the yard. Of course he’d fallen down on that promise and his mother had often done the feeding and the walking but Cal had loved that dog for fifteen years before he’d had to let him go to the Rainbow Bridge. He hoped Mika would give in but he wouldn’t interfere. If she didn’t allow Alex to have the dog Cal would take the pup in himself. He loved animals but had always worked too many hours to have one.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this but if he doesn’t have another family then I guess he can stay.” The boy’s face split into a grin and he jumped into the air with a shriek of unbridled joy. “But you will help take care of him, Alex.”
“I will, Mom. Can he sleep on my bed?”
Mika closed her eyes in abject surrender before opening them again and nodding. “After he has a bath. You and he both. You’re filthy and he smells.”
Cal scooped up the wriggling puppy in his arms and received a few wet, doggy kisses for his trouble. “How about we get back to the warehouse and out of the cold. I bet this dog could use some dinner.”
“I’m hungry, too,” Alex piped up clearly untroubled and unscathed by his adventure after dark. Cal and Mika, on the other hand, surely had sprouted more gray hairs and lost a few years off their life.
“Of course you are. Hiking in the woods makes everyone hungry,” Mika agreed, her features starting to relax for the first time in over an hour, although Cal was sure she would break down later when it was safe. Once Alex was tucked safely into bed she was going to need someone to hold her and chase the nightmares of what might have been away.
By the time they reached the fork in the trail Jon was there waiting for them, a grin on his face. He took the squirmy puppy so that Cal could lift an exhausted Alex up for a piggyback ride. They hiked as quickly as possible back to the haunted house where the sheriff and a crowd of people were there to greet them.
Unwanted Danger Page 9
