Page 71 of Last Seen

Chapter Forty-Nine

Theo

Halley and Gray are playing in the backyard with Charlie.

The dog went crazy for the kid, not a huge surprise.

They are fast friends. Charlie makes Gray smile, and when they play, the clouds that loom over the boy dissipate.

Somehow, despite the horrors of his young life, they are seeing the possibility of a sunny child.

Theo is in his office, watching them cavort in the grass, when his phone rings. It’s Lincoln Ross in Nashville.

“Hey, man. Finally got me that evidence?”

Ross’s voice is tight. “Donovan, I gotta tell you something. You’re not going to believe it.”

“What’s that?”

“They brought Ian Brockton’s body to Nashville for autopsy at Forensic Medical so TBI could oversee. Somewhere between here and there, he vamoosed.”

Theo sits heavily. “What do you mean, he vamoosed? The guy’s dead. How does a dead body disappear?”

“They found fresh blood in the bag. Driver stopped to take a leak in Crossville, so the van was unattended for a little bit. They think he maybe wasn’t quite as dead as people thought.”

“No, no, that’s not possible. I saw the guy, Ross. He was dead. And I saw Cameron Brockton take his pulse with my own eyes, then the EMTs loaded him up. You’re telling me that many people missed a heartbeat?”

“It’s happened before.”

“Or someone on the inside lied. That seems to be the Brockville way.”

Theo realizes he never confirmed himself that Ian Brockton didn’t have a pulse. He believed the bastard’s brother when he said the monster was dead.

“Son of a bitch,” he says.