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“That’s great news, baby.”
“I know.” She leans down and kisses me quickly. “Sorry that I have to cut our show short, but I need to get their counter written up.”
“I don’t know how I’ll survive not knowing if they were able to rescue the little girl from her wayward kite.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon, and you can find out.”
“Don’t rush on my account,” I mumble and listen to her laugh as she gets up and walks toward the kitchen, where she left her laptop earlier. Looking at Storm, who has his eyes glued to where she just disappeared, I sigh, and he looks over at me. “Go on.”
He bounds off his bed and runs her way, and I look at the TV, then reach for the remote and turn on the football game I had started watching while Genevieve was on the phone earlier. Before she came in, climbed on top of me to lie down, and took the remote without even asking and switched the channel. Not that I gave a fuck, especially since her lying with me to watch a show meant I got the benefit of her soft, warm body on mine.
When my cell phone starts to ring from my duffel, where I forgot it when I came into the house, I’m half tempted to ignore it. I love my job, but knowing that Genevieve will be done with work soon and it will just be me and her for the rest of the evening, the idea of it being work calling me to come in fills me with frustration. Still, I get up and walk to my bag and dig out my cell. Not recognizing the number, I slide my finger across the screen and answer.
“Foster.”
“Um, hi, this is Sandie Scott. I’m Romey Tyson’s new case manager. Is this Wyatt Foster?”
“It is.” I take a seat on the edge of the couch. “I thought that Romey’s case manager was Paul Schultz.”
“Yes.” She lets out a long, tired breath. “It was, but he left our agency without notice, so we have all been scrambling to pick up all the pieces.” Well, that explains why I have been given the runaround for several days and haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone to give me any kind of information about Romey. “I’m really sorry about all this. I know how frustrated you must be.”
“I’m not frustrated, but I am worried that there is a girl missing and the people who are supposed to be checking in on her haven’t called back the deputy who is looking for her.”
“Believe me, I fully understand your frustration and won’t make any kind of an excuse for what has happened,” she says quietly. “That’s why I’m calling you tonight instead of Monday.” Well, at least there’s that. “I have reached out to Romey’s mother and checked with her to see if she has heard from her. She hasn’t, but I also reached out to the family that has temporary custody of Romey’s younger brother Ezra, and . . .”
“And?” I ask when she hesitates.
“He’s been missing for as long as Romey has.”
“Pardon?”
“He’s been missing as long as she has.”
“So you’re telling me that there are two children missing?”
“Yes.”
“How old is her brother?”
“He just turned eight last month.”
What the fuck?
“I didn’t think she had any siblings.”
“He’s her brother on her father’s side. They didn’t grow up together, and I’ve searched through the records handed over to me and can’t find anywhere that states they have had much contact.”
“Do you know if he’s run away before?”
“I have looked for that information but haven’t been able to find it in his file yet. And he was just placed with his current family a month ago, when his father was incarcerated.”
“Where does he live?” I ask, and she rattles off the name of a town about thirty minutes away. Thirty minutes isn’t exactly close, but nowadays there are so many ways for kids to get around without their parents, it wouldn’t be impossible for Romey to find a way to meet up with him. “Can you send me over the information you have on Ezra, along with the contact details of the officer who was assigned to his case?”
“Of course. Do you mind texting me your email address to this phone number?”
“I can do that, and this is the same number I can reach you at?”
“Yes, you can call me anytime, and by the end of the weekend, I should be able to go through both Romey’s and Ezra’s files more thoroughly, and if I see anything else that you should know, I will give you a call.”
