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Nathan swallowed. “Is it expensive? Because Mom’s not working anymore. She just... sits there. Drinking. I... I bag groceries on the weekend and Dad pays alimony, but...” He trailed off, looking ashamed.
Sam wanted to make things right, but he couldn’t. He could, however, get this kid into therapy. “It’s free, Nathan.” He gave the boy his New Horizons card. “Call this number and tell them that I sent you. They have a shuttle that’ll pick you up and bring you home.” It was one of the newer services they offered at New Horizons and one Sam had played a part in organizing. It had been immediately, wildly popular.
Nathan took the card gingerly. “Thank you.”
Sam waited for a few beats, then said, “You know who your sister left with.”
Nathan looked up, eyes flaring with panic anew. “I didn’t say that.”
“No. But reading body language goes with the shrink territory. Sorry.”
“I...” Nathan closed his eyes. “I told the cops back then. When she disappeared. I told them I saw a car lurking. But they didn’t believe me.”
“Why not?” Sam asked, because he sensed there was more to it.
“Because they said she ran away,” Nathan said bitterly.
“And?”
Nathan seemed to go limp. “They looked at the cameras from all the houses around us and didn’t see the car I described. They said I was making things up.”
“Why didn’t the car show up on the cameras?”
Nathan’s eyes opened. “You believe me?”
“I do. Why, Nathan?”
He sighed. “Because I said I saw it from my bedroom window. But I didn’t.”
Sam thought he understood. “Were you out of the house, too?”
Nathan nodded. “I was coming back from my friend’s house. We were playing video games and I lost track of time. I didn’t want to get into trouble, but I saw her—and the car—when I was two blocks away from home.”
“What kind of car?”
“Black Mercedes. New. Tinted windows.”
Sam’s heart started to race. “What time was this?”
“About two thirty. But...” Another sigh, this one weary, like the secret he’d kept for three years had worn him down. “The light came on when she got in. I only saw him for a second, but he was old. Like, older than my parents. His hair was gray and he wore glasses.”
Sam’s racing heart went into overdrive. Colton’s hair was coal black and he didn’t wear glasses. His partner, then. “Did you see his face?”
“Not really.”
Sam made his voice as gentle as he could. “Why didn’t you tell the police that you weren’t in your house? Your parents wouldn’t have been angry because you lost track of time, would they?”
Nathan made a wounded sound. “I snuck out after I was supposed to be in bed. My friend’s parents weren’t home. We drank their booze and smoked their weed. My father would have been so angry.”
“So you lied,” Sam murmured, hoping there was no judgment in his voice.
Nathan nodded, tears rolling down his face. “And then she didn’t come home. My parents were yelling at each other and I just... I wanted to hide. I’m sorry,” he ended in a whisper. “She wasn’t dragged into the car. She went on her own. Even told the guy ‘Hi,’ all cheerful and happy when she opened the door. I figured she’d come home. And she never did. This is my fault.”
Sam clasped the boy’s bony shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Hey, look at me, please.” He waited until Nathan met his eyes. “Like I told your mother, this is the fault of whoever took her. Not yours, Nathan.”
Nathan only shook his head miserably. “But it is. If I’d said something...”
“I hate to say this, but they might have still labeled her as a runaway. She left on her own. She wasn’t grabbed and dragged away.”
