Page 29 of Silent Echo

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

A gent Preston’s phone rang and Charlotte held her breath.

“Yes, okay. You’re sure? All right.”

She turned to Charlotte with a bleak look.

“They weren’t on the bus.”

“What? How is that possible? I thought they were tracking her phone.”

“They were. She put it in someone’s bag. She must have known we were on to her. We can only assume she took another bus, or maybe she left the station. Unfortunately, we have no way of tracking her.”

Charlotte’s heart sank. “You were right. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t interfered—”

Agent Preston put a hand on her. “No, stop. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even know Sebastion was alive. I know I was tough on you, but this isn’t your fault. Everyone found out the truth when I went to talk to them anyhow. It was most likely her sister.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“As I said, there’s an Amber Alert. We’ll also send agents back to her sister’s to see if we can monitor her phone. We’re going to do everything we can to find him.”

Charlotte didn’t miss the look of defeat in Agent Preston’s eyes. “But there’s no guarantee, is there? In fact, it’s very likely I’m never going to see my son again, isn’t it? I need to call Eli and tell him what’s happened.”

“Yes, and you should go home. But I don’t want you to give up. Penelope’s going to mess up, and when she does, we’re going to find Sebastion.”

But Charlotte knew in her heart that those were just empty words. They had lost the element of surprise. Penelope was smart and determined. It was going to take a lot more than luck to find her.