It was weak evidence. Evan hesitated to even call it evidence.
Focus. West is the current priority.
“Let’s go outside,” said Rowan. “I can’t just sit here doing nothing.”
Evan led her out front, and she took several deep breaths. “I feel like I need to be doing more to find West.”
Evan scanned the nearby homes. “I talked to the sergeant whose deputies did the initial search of the neighborhood. A lot of neighbors weren’t home. They checked a few camera views of those that were, but none of them showed a vehicle on the street in our window of time. They can check more cameras as neighbors come home. We’ll spot the vehicle,” he said with a confidence he didn’t feel.
“It was Adam,” Rowan stated firmly. “Find him and we’ll find West.”
The boy had been missing for two hours, but it felt like much longer. Evan was pleased with the law enforcement response. The neighborhood had been partially searched, Adam Thornton’s home had been visited, a BOLO was out for his vehicle, and the FBI had arrived.
“I saw a big green space with a lot of trees and brush about a quarter mile from here,” Evan said. “I’ll get a couple deputies to go through it.”
“I can take Thor down there. He’ll be faster and more thorough, and I’ll feel like we’re doing something.”
“Good point. I’ll go let the others know what we’re going to do.” Evan headed up the driveway.
“That bastard!”
Evan spun around at Rowan’s curse. She was striding toward a silver Chevy pickup coming down the road. Evan’s gaze dropped to the license plate.
That’s Adam Thornton’s truck.
Evan gestured at two deputies. “There’s your BOLO!” The men immediately jogged toward the truck, and Evan followed.
The truck parked behind a deputy’s cruiser, and Rowan yanked on the driver’s door handle.
“Unlock it, Adam!” she shouted. Beside her Thor paced back and forth, picking up on Rowan’s emotions. The driver said something to Rowan, but Evan couldn’t hear it.
“How could you do that to Ivy? West is probably scared to death!”
The deputies positioned themselves to cover both sides of the truck, their hands on their weapons but not drawing them.
“Rowan, let the deputies handle it.” Evan touched her shoulder, but she ignored him.
“Where is West?” she yelled at the driver. She put her face against her hands on the glass to peer into the back of the king cab. Inside the truck, Adam looked from deputy to deputy, clearly conflicted about what to do.
“Step back from the truck, ma’am,” the closest deputy told Rowan.
She turned toward him. “That’s him! That’s Adam Thornton. He took West.”
“Get back, ma’am. We’ll take care of it.”
Evan remembered that Adam had threatened Ivy with a gun. “He could be armed,” he said in a low voice to Rowan.
Her face cleared. She grabbed Thor’s harness and jogged to the driveway. Evan was right behind her.
She’s more worried about Thor getting hurt than herself.
Her family, more deputies, and the FBI agent came out of the house to find the source of the shouts. Ivy immediately tried to dart toward the truck, but her father stopped her. She turned an angry face his way and tried to break free. Rowan rushed to help him contain her.
“West isn’t in the truck,” she told Ivy. “I already looked.”
Ivy froze and searched Rowan’s face. “Where is he?”
Evan’s heart cracked at the sorrow and confusion in her tone. He glanced at Malcolm standing slightly removed from the family, watching the scene, confusion in his eyes.
“I don’t know. The deputies will get him out and ask.” Rowan put an arm around Ivy, and together the family watched as Adam got out of the truck with his hands on his head. Now there were four deputies around Adam. They ordered him to the ground.
“Ivy! Tell them I didn’t do anything!” Adam yelled at their group as he got to his knees.
“Where is West, you fucking asshole!” she shouted back.
“I don’t have him! I’m here because you left that screaming message about him on my voice mail. If my son is missing, I want to know what happened!”
“I don’t believe him,” muttered Ivy. “He hid him somewhere. Probably at a new girlfriend’s house.”
“If he’s hiding West, why would he come here, where there are a bunch of police vehicles? He’s too spineless to do that,” Iris said, disgust in her voice.