The Last Child

Joh

But not Joh

Jack’s bike.

That he said was stolen.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Joh

Hunt was huddled with the others by the cars. Nobody was looking, so Joh

The bike was real.

Joh

All of this was real.

Hunt was listening to one of the firefighters. “The bike went in first and jammed in the bottleneck. Looks like the body went in after. Without the bike, it might have gone all the way down. Another six hundred feet, all that water.” The fireman shook his head. “We’d have never found it.”

“Is it Alyssa?” Hunt looked to the medical examiner.

“It’s a girl,” Moore said. “Approximately the right age. I’ll check dental records tonight. First thing.”

“You’ll call when you know?”

“Yes.”

Hunt nodded. He looked for Joh

“Oh, no.”

Hunt got Joh

“I shouldn’t have let you come,” he said, but no one answered. Hunt knew his reasons, and knew, still, that it was a mistake. He was too close. Emotionally engaged. His head moved again. “I shouldn’t have let you come.”

They were halfway back to town before Joh

Hunt turned as he drove. Joh

Joh

Hunt pulled the car to side of the road and stopped. He put the transmission in park and killed the engine. Joh

After a minute, Joh

“You’re going to be okay,” Hunt told him, and his voice was comforting. He walked Joh

Joh

“Better?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me about the bike.”

Joh

“And you’re certain that this is Jack’s bike?”

“Yes,” Joh

Hunt looked from Joh

“What are you saying?” Katherine was stretched to the breaking point. Joh

“Maybe it was not an abduction.”

Wind licked in the open window.

“Maybe Jack lied.”

Hunt turned off the interior light and pulled back onto the road. He rolled his window up and it made the same electric-motor noise as the winch. When Hunt’s phone rang, he stared for long seconds at the caller ID. His foot was steady on the gas. “It’s Detective Cross,” he said, and lowered the phone as his eyes rose to the rearview mirror. “It’s Jack’s father.”

“What are you going to do?” Katherine asked.

The car ran smooth. “My job.”

Hunt answered his phone. He listened for a few seconds. “No. I’m tying up some loose ends. Nothing important.”

Joh

“No,” Hunt said. “I don’t have any information on that. No. He was at the Merrimon house the last time I saw him.”

A pause. Joh

“Yes,” Hunt said. “I will absolutely let you know.” Hunt said goodbye and hung up the phone. Eyes in the mirror. Dash lights on the side of his face. He caught Joh

Joh

“I don’t know yet, but I will.”

She settled back and they rode in silence for a long time. Joh

But the bike.

Jesus, the bike.

Joh

Hunt rolled into town, lights rising up on the roadside, stars fading out. Traffic thickened. “Our house is the other way,” Joh

“It’s a crime scene. It’s sealed.”

The street widened out and Hunt turned onto the four-lane that bent around the edge of town. He pulled into the parking lot of a low-end chain motel and Joh

“I don’t want to go back there. Not even once. Not ever.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Hunt said.

“What about Social Services?” Her voice was bleak.

Hunt put the car in park and turned off the engine. The red light was bright on the glass, and it was quiet in the car. Hunt turned in his seat, looked at Joh