Today the FBI would debrief Malcolm so they could find Liam, who’d held Malcolm captive. Rowan wanted him arrested too. And then tortured the way he’d tortured her and Malcolm.
She wanted him to pay. In pain.
Rowan had promised to be at Malcolm’s side for the interview and hoped he could handle the stressful discussion. He seemed so fragile.
Rowan hurled the ball as far as she could with the launcher as her phone rang. She checked her screen and saw the call was from her mother.
“Hey, Mom.” She watched Thor rocket across the grass. A black blur.
“I can’t find West! I went inside for a minute and—”
“Wait!” Rowan clenched the phone, her nerves hitting high alert. “He’s gone? What happened? Are you sure?”
“Your father is looking for him, but he was in the backyard on the swing set, and when I went back out he was gone! I called and called.” Tears were in her mother’s voice.
“Crap! And it’s not like him to hide,” said Rowan, her throat constricting.
Adam.
“I only left West for a minute to use the bathroom! He was in our own fenced backyard!”
“Hang up and call the police, Mom. Now.”
“I don’t want to bother them if—”
“Bother them! You can cancel the call if Dad finds him. And give them Adam’s address too and explain what happened the other night. Does Ivy know?” Thor returned with the ball in his mouth, dropped it at Rowan’s feet, and then sat, his ears and eyes stating he expected another throw.
“No. I called you first.” Her mom’s voice cracked. “I couldn’t tell her! She warned us—”
“I’ll call her.” Sweat beaded on the back of Rowan’s neck. “Is she at work?”
“Yes. Both she and Iris are at the salon today. Your father is furious. He said he’s going to kill Adam if he doesn’t find West.”
“Hide his keys—and yours too. Do not let him go to Adam’s house. That asshole has a gun. Let the police handle it. Hang up and call them now,” she repeated. Rowan ended the call. She hurled Thor’s ball again and then shakily called Iris, knowing her sister was the best person to tell Ivy.
“Hi, Rowan.”
Rowan heard the salon’s music and chatter in the background. “Iris, it’s important that you don’t look at Ivy during this call, and I need you to find a quiet place to talk.”
Her sister was silent for a second. “Okay. I’ll go to the break room.” Ten seconds later a door closed, and the salon sounds vanished. “What happened?” she asked sharply.
“West is missing. Mom just called me. Police should be on the way there by now.”
“West? Shit!” Iris’s voice rose. “I’m going to kill that fucking Adam!”
“We need to tell Ivy, but I know her first reaction will be to go to Adam’s.”
“Yeah, it will be. She’ll go skin him alive, the bastard. He’s only doing this to upset her.”
“You need to get Ivy’s keys. Do not let her go there. Can you take her to Mom’s? She shouldn’t drive anywhere right now.”
“I’m already in her locker and digging through her purse,” Iris said grimly. “I won’t let her get near Adam, but I can’t promise I won’t castrate him first.”
“Can the two of you leave the salon?”
“We’ll make it happen. Our clients will understand.”
“I’ll meet you at Mom’s.”
“Rowan . . . if something happens to West . . . Ivy will never be the same,” Iris whispered hesitantly.
“Nothing will happen. Adam won’t hurt his son.” Rowan swallowed hard as she remembered how she’d scoffed at Evan’s similar comment. She ended the call and knelt next to Thor, who was waiting for another throw. She gave him a big hug, imagining how she’d feel if someone took him away.
“Hey, boy. Let’s go look for our favorite nephew, okay?”
She strongly suspected Adam had taken West, but Thor could confirm that West hadn’t wandered somewhere in the neighborhood.
Adam won’t hurt West, right?
Twenty minutes later she arrived at her parents’ home as Evan pulled up. She’d called him on the way over, and he’d promised to be there as soon as possible. Two sheriff’s cruisers were parked on the street, and one deputy was talking to her parents in front of their home. She spotted two other deputies at the front door of a house farther down the street.