“Th—”
He broke off, and I heard a woman say, “Before he leaves, you need to send a photo of me with my number, son. He’ll be freaking out and wondering if you’re really where you say you are. That way, he has a photo and extra contact details if you don’t answer because the cell tower goes down. You never know when something’s going to happen like that.”
“He’s a cop,” he told her. “He’d find you anyway.”
Normally, his confidence in me would have made me smile, but I couldn’t find one thing to smile about at that moment.
I wanted to rip his dad’s head off for doing whatever he’d done to hurt him so badly that he’d run away and put himself in danger. Some kids might enjoy the drama afforded to them by their age, but Cody wasn’t one of them. He’d also been excited about spending time with Neil, so something had to have gone badly wrong for this to happen.
“That might be the case, sunshine, but I want him to have that extra peace of mind. Take the photo now, and I’ll shout out my number to you when you send it. Also, send him one of those location pin thingys the phones can do these days. My grandbaby, Alice, she sends me them when she visits and heads out with her cousins. You know how?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.”
Muting my end, I gently shook Evie’s shoulder. “Baby, wake up.”
When her eyes fluttered open, and I knew she was waking up, I began pulling my clothes on as I explained what I knew so far.
By the time I said where he was, she was jumping out of bed and running across the room to pull some clothes out of the drawers.
“Cody wouldn’t do that unless it was bad, Alex. I have to go.”
Catching her as she went to run past, I pulled her into me. “Evie, if he hears you freaking out, he’ll get upset. I know it’s hard, and I’m as scared as you are for him, but you need to be calm when I unmute this call, okay?”
Taking a shaky breath, she nodded and gestured to my phone. “I can do it. Unmute the call.”
Hitting the screen, I watched her as I spoke. “’Kay, bud, I’ve got your mom. We’re going to hop in the car, but I want to keep our phones connected. Just in case.” I nudged her arm and gestured with my chin to the door.
As we made our way through the house, I asked, “Have you got enough battery to do that? Would the lady let you put it on charge somewhere in the store?”
“It was dead when I got here so she told me to plug it in immediately and to call my parents. I think she’ll be good with me keeping it charging.”
“Absolutely,” the lady replied in the background. “Ain’t no way I’d want you to drop that call with your folks if I can stop it. They’d go out of their minds.”
I was starting to like the woman and how sensible she was.
Pulling my keys out of my pocket, I unlocked the door with the fob as we hopped over the fence and opened the passenger door for Evie.
“I’m passing you to your mom now, Cody. The line might go a bit funny as it attaches to my car, but it fixes itself pretty quick.”
As I jogged around to the driver’s side, I heard Evie talking to him, and I knew it was costing her to remain as calm as she was. In her shoes, I’d have been losing my mind.
No matter what she asked him, he wouldn’t say why he’d run away and insisted he’d do it when we got there.
About thirty minutes into the journey, I held my hand out to her. “Have you got your phone on you, honey?”
I couldn’t remember if she’d picked it up or not, but apparently, she had because she passed it over, not once asking why.
Yeah, I’d happily use it to tear that bastard in two, but that would be counterintuitive to what needed to happen here. Legally, he had a right to know where his son was, but firstly, I was going to update DB.
He answered on the third ring, sounding groggy. “Dad?”
“Got a situation, son. Cody called about forty minutes ago, saying he’d run away from his dad’s. He’s safe, so don’t panic, but we’re headed to get him now.
“He lives in Smithville, and remember that truck stop we used to stop at on the way back from your grandparents’ house? That’s where Cody’s holed up.”
“Fuck me,” he hissed. “He had to have been walking for hours, Dad.”
“Right. I’ll keep you updated, but just in case we get a flat or something happens, I need you to be aware, so you can take over getting to him. Can you do that?”