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search party. Won't he be excited when he finds out?
An hour later, they were spread throughout the house, searching corners and hidey-holes, retracing and backtracking. Megan kept a steel grip on her composure and covered every inch, starting in the tower and working her way down.
He had to be here, she reassured herself. Of course, she would find him any minute.
It didn't make sense otherwise.
Bubbles of hysteria rose in her throat and had to be choked down.
He was just playing a game. He'd gone exploring. He loved the house so much. He'd drawn dozens of pictures of it to send back to Oklahoma so that everyone could see that he lived in a castle.
She would find him behind the next door she opened.
Megan told herself that, repeating it like a litany, as she worked her way from room to room.
She ran into Suzanna in one of the snaking hallways. She felt cold, so cold, though the sun beat hot against the windows.
He doesn't answer me,
she said faintly.
I
keep calling him, but he doesn't answer.
It's such a big house.
Suzanna took Megan's hands, gripped hard.
Once when we
were kids we played hide-and-seek and didn't find Lilah for three hours. She'd crawled into a cabinet on the third floor and had a nap.
Suzanna.
Megan pressed her lips together. She had to face it, and quickly.
His
two favorite shirts are missing, and both pairs of his sneakers. His baseball caps.
The money he'd been saving in his jar is gone. He's not in the house. He's run away.
You need to sit down.
No, I I need to do something. Call the police. Oh, God Breaking, Megan
pressed her hands to her face.
Anything could have happened to him. He's just a little boy. I don't even know how long he's been gone. I don't even know.
Her eyes,
swimming with fear, locked on Suzanna's.
Did you ask Alex, Jenny? Maybe he said something to them. Maybe
Of course I asked them, Megan,
Suzanna said gently.
Kevin didn't say anything
to them about leaving.
Where would he go? Why? Back to Oklahoma, she said on a wild, hopeful
thought.
Maybe he's trying to get back to Oklahoma. Maybe he's been unhappy, just pretending to like it here.
He's been happy. But we'll check it out. Come on, let's go down.
Been over every bit of this section, Dutch told Nathaniel.
The pantries, the
storerooms, even the meat locker. Trent and Sloan are going over the renovation areas, and Max and Holt are beating the bushes all over the grounds.
There was worry in his eyes, but he was brewing a pot of fresh coffee with steady hands.
Seems to me if the kid was just playing and heard all this shouting and calling, he'd come out to see what the excitement was all about.
We've been over the house twice.
Nathaniel stared grimly out the window.
Amanda and Lilah have combed every inch of The Retreat. He's not in here.
Don't make a lick of sense to me. Kevin's been happy as a clam. He's in here every blessed day, getting under my feet and begging for sea stories.
Something's got him running.
There was a prickle at the back of his neck. Rubbing it absently, Nathaniel looked out toward the cliffs.
Why does a kid run? Because