Christmas Up in Flames

by Lisa Harris

  “We’re going to need as much key information as you can give us,” the detective said, “especially regarding the case you’re working on and the possible connection. Your mother has already provided basics like Owen’s weight, height, clothes he was wearing, identifying features, health issues and, of course, given us photos.”

  “What about an AMBER Alert?” Reid asked.

  “Unfortunately we don’t have very much information on the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle, which is crucial in assisting the public. But, with the information you have just given me regarding the possible connection to the Rocky Mountain Arsonist, we believe that the child is in imminent danger, and thus we will be issuing an AMBER alert as well as entering him into the National Crime Information Center system.”

  Claire nodded. “Okay. What else?”

  “We’re going to need you to fill out some paperwork.”

  “Whatever you need.”

  Claire started writing the information on the forms given her while her mother spoke to another officer again. Reid sat across from Claire, feeling lost. He was Owen’s father and yet he didn’t know anything about the boy. He reached for a photo that had been printed off and ran his finger across the little boy’s cheeks. He did have his mother’s smile and his father’s eyes. He’d told Claire he didn’t think he’d ever have a family, but now he’d just found out he had a ready-made one.

  Claire set down the pen and handed the detective the paperwork. “What do we do now?”

  “I’m being assigned to your case,” the woman said, “so I will give you my number so you can contact me. It’s standard procedure to do a search of his room even though he disappeared outside his house. It will help us with fingerprints and DNA.”

  “Of course.” A numbness swept through Claire. “Anything you want.”

  The detective scooted her chair back. “I know you believe that this is connected with a case you’re working on, and we will certainly follow that lead, but we need to know if there is anyone who might have shown interest in your child lately.”

  “No. No one, but I can’t just sit here. There’s got to be more I can do.”

  “Polygraphs are standard procedure.”

  “Fine. I’m happy to take one.”

  “You might want to also talk about offering a reward, asking for help from friends and family to spread the word with a website and social media. The more people who see his face, the more chances that someone will spot him.”

  “Done.”

  “And I’ll help, as well,” Reid said, “with anything.”

  Claire nodded at him. “Thank you.”

  He caught the fear in her eyes. Fear of not knowing where Owen was. Fear that she might never see him again. Reid knew he couldn’t understand everything that she was going through, but that didn’t mean the situation didn’t terrify him.

  Reid’s phone rang and he grabbed it out of his pocket. “I need to get this.”

  He stood up and moved away from the desk a few feet.

  “Griffin, what have you got?”

  “Couple things. One, we found the truck that hit you and were able to pull a couple partial prints off, but the reality of getting a match is a long shot.”

  “A long shot is better than nothing at this point.”

  “Second, they were able to get some of the missing footage off the security camera from the B&B. The cameras caught a two-second clip of someone leaving through the back door. Once the fire started it’s pretty clear what happened, when you combine Mike’s testimony with the physical evidence.”

  “Which means we have footage of our suspect.”

  “Yes,” Griffin said, “but once again, it’s not going to be easy to ID him. The footage is grainy and there isn’t a clear shot of his face.”

  “Can you send me what you’ve got? Maybe Claire will be able to recognize him.”

  “It’s possible,” Griffin said. “In the meantime, I’m sorry I missed you. I got your message that you needed to talk.”

  Reid moved farther out of earshot to the window overlooking the back parking lot.

  “Reid?”

  “Sorry... What I need to say really needs to be said in person, but I’m here in Denver and...” Reid hesitated.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I just found out that Claire has a son.”

  There was the expected silence while Griffin took in the news.

  “A son? Okay...well, that’s a surprise.”

  “That’s not the real news. I also found out that I’m the father.”

  “Wow... I have to say that isn’t what I was expecting to hear.”

  “Me neither, but he’s missing, Griffin.”

  “Missing?”

  “Yes.” Reid rubbed the back of his neck, forcing himself to stay calm while his heart raced. “We think it’s related to the case she’s trying to solve.”

  “The Rocky Mountain Arsonist? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I wish I was.”

  “Where are you right now?” Griffin asked.

  “At a police station here in Denver. We’ve been meeting with a detective who deals with missing people, though you can imagine who’s top of the suspect list.”

  “I’m afraid I can. What can I do?”

  “At this point, I don’t know...” Voices raised behind him, and he shifted his attention toward the commotion. “Hang on, Griffin. I’m going to need to call you back.”

  “Give me an update as soon as you know something.”

  “I will.” Reid hung up the call and shoved the phone into his back pocket. “Claire... Claire, what’s going on?”

  “We have a possible sighting of your son,” Detective Kaufman said.

  “Where?”

  “Someone called in and told us they’d seen a child matching Owen’s description about forty minutes south of here near one of the cabins. The couple didn’t think anything about it until they saw his photo and recognized him.”

  “He was alone?” Reid asked.

  “They didn’t see anyone else with him, but we can’t confirm that.”

  Reid picked up his coat off the back of the chair, feeling the urgency pressing against his chest. “Let’s go.”

  TWELVE

  Claire glanced at the dashboard from the passenger seat of her car for the hundredth time in the past forty-five minutes. Two o’clock. She pressed her lips together. Every minute that passed was another minute Owen’s life was in danger, another minute she wasn’t with her son. She’d convinced her mother to partner with a friend from their church who’d promised to help set up a social media presence and get the word out that Owen was missing. An AMBER alert had been issued. Local law enforcement had all been notified and Owen’s photo distributed. But what if everything they were doing wasn’t enough to find him?

  It still seemed ironic that it was Reid who sat next to her in the driver’s seat as they searched for Owen. And while Reid might never have met Owen, the tension he felt was palpable. His jaw was taut and his grip on the steering wheel tight, his frustration clearly as much with her as it was with the situation. Which was why they hadn’t really said anything to each other since leaving the police station.

  But what was she supposed to say?

  If she could take back hiding Owen from Reid, she knew now that she’d have already done it in a heartbeat.

  But it was too late for do-overs.

  “According to the GPS, we’re five minutes out,” Reid said, turning off the main road onto a dirt lane.

  Five minutes.

  She nodded, wishing her heart would stop pounding and her mind would stop racing. She still couldn’t fully take in what was going on. What if another five minutes was going to be five minutes too late?

  She pushed away the thought as Reid pulled in next to the s
tring of cars behind the cabin where Owen had been spotted. She jumped out of the car, searching for Owen as she hurried to where Detective Kaufmann stood talking to a uniformed officer.

  “Did they find them?”

  The detective turned to her and frowned. “Local PD have done a sweep of the cabin and the immediate area, but there is no sign of him yet. I’m sorry—”

  “We need to expand the search,” Claire said.

  “Unfortunately, we have no evidence that he was even here.”

  Claire took a step back, her mind spinning, as Reid moved next to her. She couldn’t deny that that woman was right. It was possible that their witness hadn’t really seen Owen. It could have just as easily been some other little boy playing outside their family’s cabin.

  “Who’s staying here?” Claire asked. She might not be a detective, but her role as fire inspector had trained her to know how to conduct an investigation.

  “An older couple on vacation,” Detective Kaufman said. “They claim they haven’t seen Owen or any children hanging around here, for that matter, but they’ve been inside all day, so it’s possible he was here and they missed him.”

  “And you’re sure this is the cabin where he was spotted?”

  Detective Kaufman nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  But that would lead them back to square one with no idea where Owen might be.

  “I found this back behind the cabin, under some snow.” One of the uniformed officers approached them, carrying a blue knit beanie with a red stripe.

  Owen’s cap.

  She grabbed the beanie and turned it inside out, looking for the tag she’d sewn on it so he wouldn’t lose it at preschool.

  Owen Holiday.

  She pulled the hat to her chest. “This is Owen’s. He was here.”

  But where was he now?

  “We’re already canvasing the area for witnesses, but houses are spread out here, and most people are inside because of the cold.”

  Claire turned slowly, studying the thick tree line around them. What had Owen been doing here? Who had brought him here? And where was he now? Nothing made sense.

  “Claire?”

  She felt Reid’s hand on her arm. “I’m fine. We need to expand the search. He has to be nearby.”

  “She’s right,” Detective Kaufman said. “But we’ve got less than two hours until dark. We’ll pair up and search these woods. You can get your assignment from me, and I’ll hand out radios to each team. He was spotted outside a cabin, alone, so we’re going to assume he walked out of here. People—even kids—tend to stay on trails, so we’ll start there. We’ll branch off and search a perimeter of trails. If we still don’t find him, we’ll widen the search even further. Are the two of you okay together?” the detective asked.

  “Of course,” Reid said.

  Claire caught Reid’s expression as the detective handed them the radio. She had no idea now why she’d thought that Reid would want nothing to do with her or Owen. Or why she’d kept such a huge secret from him for all this time.

  “Be extra careful out there. I spent some time on the phone with Captain Ryder, who explained more of the situation to me. Since we still don’t know who has been targeting the two of you, I want you to be extra vigilant. And while I’d like to keep you both locked up in protective custody for safekeeping, I have a six-year-old little girl. There’s no way I’d not be involved in a search if she went missing.”

  “Thank you.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Reid said. “Our only focus at the moment is finding Owen.”

  “Just stay in radio contact and you should be fine. We’re going to find him.”

  A truck pulled up with three firefighters from Timber Falls, including Shawn, as Claire and Reid headed toward their assigned trail.

  “We got permission to help with the search,” Shawn said, walking up to the detective.

  “Captain Ryder told me you were coming,” Detective Kaufman said. “We’ll get you set with radios and a map right away.”

  Claire waved her thanks as she and Reid headed off, grateful for the show of support.

  “The detective’s right, you know,” Reid said. “We’re going to find him.”

  Claire silently walked beside Reid through the woods down the trail leading south away from the cabin, praying he was right. Panic bubbled inside her as her feet crunched on the dry pine needles. They might still have a couple of more hours of light left, but before long the sun would shift behind the mountains and the temperatures would begin to drop. She had no idea if Owen was by himself out here or locked up somewhere. And either scenario horrified her. She pulled her pink scarf tighter around her neck. How had they gotten here?

  Someone had taken her son.

  She didn’t know what they wanted or how long it was going to take to find him. Or if she was ever going to see Owen again.

  She scanned the tree line surrounding her, looking for any movement. The not knowing was more terrifying than anything else. Working as a firefighter, she’d seen the devastation when someone lost a loved one in a fire. The truth was, they had no idea where Owen was. The beanie could be nothing more than a false lead, but nothing was going to stop her from turning over every stone until she found her son.

  “Why would he have been out here alone?” Claire asked, knowing she was asking questions Reid couldn’t answer. “Did he run away and escape from the arsonist? Or maybe, for whatever reason, the arsonist just left him here.”

  But why? Nothing made sense.

  “I wish I could answer. Does Owen like hiking?”

  “We’ve done quite a lot of short hikes, mainly trails around Denver. Places like Lookout Mountain and Golden Gate Canyon State Park.” She buttoned the top of her coat in an attempt to block the wind. “I taught him what to do if he got lost, that he needed to stop walking, stay put and make a lot of noise so people could hear him.”

  But if he’d escaped and someone was chasing him?

  She’d thought she’d done everything right. How could things have suddenly gone so wrong?

  “This isn’t your fault,” he said, as if he could read the guilt she was feeling. “None of this is.”

  “But this is different, Reid. He isn’t just a five-year-old lost in the woods, trying to get home. Someone took him and we can’t just assume that whoever did is gone. They could have moved him. He could be miles from here by now.”

  “Or he could be right here somehow. We’re not going to stop looking until we find him.”

  Panic built in her chest until she could barely breathe, as they called out his name. This was every parent’s worst nightmare. And, somehow, she’d just gotten caught up in the whirlwind. How was she supposed to deal with this when terror was messing with her ability to cope? Reid stopped beside her, then flashed his light into the brush toward an outcropping of moss-covered rocks.

  “Did you see something?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. Just a flash of color.”

  Her heart stopped as she searched the rocky landscape. Her mother had dressed Owen in a black T-shirt, jeans, his red jacket and his favorite beanie. Now, without his beanie, she was worried he was going to be too cold.

  God please... I know none of this took You by surprise, but I don’t know how to deal with losing my son. And if we don’t find him...

  Reid moved off the trail while she stayed a few steps behind him. He bent down, then held up a hat. “Sorry. Someone lost a hunting hat.”

  It wasn’t Owen.

  She fought back the tears. She was supposed to be the strong one when it came to responding to an emergency. But this...this was unraveling her. The fact that they would involve her son. And then there was Reid. She couldn’t even imagine what he thought about her, but for the moment, their only focus was finding Owen.

  Her child.

  Their child
.

  She glanced at Reid, feeling the tension that had settled between them continue to tighten as they kept walking. She knew he was going to need time to work through the shock of the situation, but this...this silence between them was deafening.

  How had it come to this? Had she really thought she was going to go the rest of Owen’s life without Reid ever finding out? Guilt that she’d shoved away for so long engulfed her. But try as she might, this wasn’t something she could take back or change. God might be able to redeem the irredeemable, but she would have to carry the guilt of what she’d done for the rest of her life.

  The crack of a gunshot echoed around them. Reid stumbled beside her. She reached out to grab him as she tried to discern where the shot came from.

  “Reid...”

  “I think I was hit.”

  * * *

  Adrenaline surged as Reid struggled to keep his balance. He searched the surrounding forest for movement. His brain struggled to connect the dots, but the shot he’d heard had been followed by a searing pain in his side.

  She wrapped her arm around him. “We need to get to cover. Now.”

  Reid leaned against her as she pulled him toward an outcropping of rocks, pain shooting through him with each step. “I don’t think it’s serious.”

  “If you were shot, it’s serious. You’re probably in shock.” She helped him lean back against the rock, then crouched next to him, and pulled out her radio. “Shots fired in grid two. I repeat, shots fired.”

  The radio crackled. “Roger that. We’re tracing your phone’s GPS for your location.”

  “Reid’s been shot.”

  “Sending backup your way now. Stay down and out of sight. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage.”

  Reid struggled to get up, despite the order. “We need to find out where the shooter is.”

  “Stop.” She pushed against his shoulders. “Did you not just hear what he said?”

  “He’s still out there, Claire, and he can’t be far. Besides, we’re sitting ducks here.”

  “That might be true, but neither of us are armed. And on top of that, I can’t have you bleeding out in front of me. It’s hard to see, but I need to see how bad it is.”