Chapter 6 - The Boy Who Walked Out
Caleb was already running toward the diner's front door when Clare caught his shoulder.
"Where?"
"Grandma's greenhouse."
Clare stared at him.
"At the old estate?"
"Yes."
Evelyn's former home sat twelve miles north of the Holloway residence on land the family still owned.
The main house had been closed after her death, but Evelyn's greenhouse remained behind the west garden.
Owen had loved it there.
When he was smaller, he called it Grandma's glass castle.
"Why would he go there?"
Caleb looked guilty.
"Because I told him that is where Grandma used to hide when Grandpa was angry."
Clare's heart squeezed.
"How do you know that?"
"Ethan told me."
Daniel was already calling the guardian ad litem.
"Tell them we have a probable location."
Caleb shook his head violently.
"Do not tell Dad."
"Caleb, Owen is eleven."
"Dad will send Mercer."
"The guardian is not your father."
"Everybody tells Dad everything."
Clare crouched in front of him.
"I need you to trust me for ten minutes."
Caleb's eyes filled with anger and fear.
"That is what Dad says too."
The words stopped her.
She took a breath.
"Then do not trust me because I asked."
"Trust what I do next."
She turned to Daniel.
"Tell the guardian the location."
"Tell her not to notify Nate until we confirm Owen is there unless she believes she has a legal duty to do so."
Daniel nodded.
"And Mercer?"
"No."
Clare looked at Caleb.
"Not unless we need him."
Caleb's shoulders lowered by an inch.
Before they left the diner, Clare made Caleb eat half a grilled cheese sandwich he had ordered and never touched.
He protested that he was not hungry.
She told him panic did not count as nutrition.
Daniel paid the bill while pretending not to listen.
Caleb took three bites, then stared at the table.
"Owen has been weird since last night."
Clare looked at him.
"Weird how?"
"Quiet."
"Owen is quiet when he is scared."
"No, this was different."
Caleb rubbed his thumb along the edge of the plate.
"He kept asking Ethan whether being chosen could be bad."
Clare felt another sharp twist of guilt that did not belong to her and still hurt.
"What did Ethan say?"
"He said being chosen is only good if you get to say yes."
Clare looked toward the window where Daniel stood on the phone.
That sounded like Ethan trying to parent again.
"Did Owen say why he asked?"
Caleb nodded.
"He thinks Dad wanted you to pick him because he is the weakest."
Clare closed her eyes for one second.
"Owen is not weak."
"I know."
"Does he?"
Caleb did not answer.
Clare leaned forward.
"When we find him, do not tell him he scared everyone before you tell him you are glad he is safe."
Caleb frowned.
"Why?"
"Because fear turns into anger fast."
"Adults do that too."
"Yes."
"Dad does it a lot."
Clare looked at her son.
"So do I sometimes."
Caleb seemed surprised by the admission.
Then he said quietly, "I do too."
Clare reached across the table.
"That is why we practice doing something different."
Caleb let her take his hand.
For the first time since the divorce began, he did not pull away first.
They drove in separate cars.
Caleb rode with Clare.
For the first five minutes, he stared out the window.
Then he said, "Owen heard Dad yelling at Ethan last night."
Clare tightened her grip on the steering wheel.
"Yelling what?"
"I do not know all of it."
"Dad took Ethan into the library after you left."
"Owen sat on the stairs."
"He said Dad told Ethan he had embarrassed him in front of witnesses."
Clare's pulse accelerated.
"Did Ethan tell you what happened after that?"
"No."
"Did Owen?"
Caleb shook his head.
"He only said Ethan came upstairs later and punched his bedroom wall."
Clare looked straight ahead.
"Did Ethan hurt his hand?"
"A little."
"Why didn't anyone call me?"
Caleb's laugh was sharp.
"Who would call you?"
The question hurt more than it should have.
No one in Nate's house would call Clare if a child needed comfort and Nathaniel had decided she was the enemy.
That was the point of controlling access.
The old estate gates were closed when they arrived.
Daniel pulled up behind them.
The guardian ad litem, Marisol Vega, arrived less than a minute later in a gray sedan.
She was forty-three, compact, direct, and already irritated.
"No one goes inside alone."
Clare nodded.
"Fine."
Vega looked at Caleb.
"You are sure your brother knows how to get onto this property?"
Caleb nodded.
"There is a broken section of fence near the creek."
"How do you know?"
"We all know."
Vega looked at Clare.
Clare raised both hands.
"Apparently my children have had a more interesting life than I knew."
They walked around the stone perimeter until Caleb found the gap.
The path through the trees was muddy from the previous night's rain.
Clare ruined her shoes within thirty seconds and did not care.
The greenhouse appeared beyond a stand of bare maples.
Several glass panes were fogged from the inside.
Clare stopped.
"There is heat."
Caleb nodded.
"Grandma kept the system on all winter."
The door was unlocked.
Clare pushed it open.
Warm, damp air wrapped around them.
Rows of dormant citrus trees and winter herbs filled the space.
At the far end, beneath an old wooden potting table, two sneakered feet were visible.
"Owen."
Clare crossed the greenhouse quickly.
Her son crawled out before she reached him.
His cheeks were red from crying.
He wore no coat.
Clare pulled him against her.
"What were you thinking?"
Owen held onto her so tightly that his fingers hurt.
"I could not stay there."
"You could have called me."
"Dad took my phone."
Vega stepped closer.
"Why?"
Owen looked at her suspiciously.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Marisol Vega."
"The judge asked me to make sure people listen to you and your siblings."
Owen looked at Clare.
"Is she Dad's?"
"No."
"Is she yours?"
"No."
Vega answered for herself.
"I work for the court, not either parent."
Owen studied her.
Then he looked back at Clare.
"Dad took my phone because I asked why Ethan had to sign papers."
Clare's heart skipped.
Daniel moved closer.
"What papers?"
Vega raised a hand.
"Let me ask."
She crouched so she was level with Owen.
"Tell me what you saw."
Owen rubbed his nose on his sleeve.
"Dad had Ethan in the library."
"There were papers on the desk."
"Dad kept saying Ethan had already signed once, so refusing now made no sense."
Vega's face remained neutral.
"What did Ethan say?"
"He said he wanted his own lawyer."
Clare closed her eyes briefly.
"What happened then?"
Owen looked down.
"Dad got mad."
"How?"
"He yelled."
"Did he touch Ethan?"
Owen hesitated.
Clare felt the entire greenhouse become silent.
"Owen," Vega said gently, "you are not getting anyone in trouble by telling the truth."
Owen's mouth trembled.
"He grabbed Ethan's shirt."
Clare's stomach turned.
"Where?"
"Here."
Owen touched the front of his own collar.
"Did Ethan get hurt?"
"I do not know."
"Dad let go when Mr. Mercer came in."
Daniel's expression hardened.
Vega asked, "What did Mr. Mercer do?"
"Nothing."
That answer was somehow worse.
Clare hugged Owen again.
He leaned into her.
Then she felt something hard inside the front pocket of his sweatshirt.
"What is that?"
Owen pulled away.
"I took it."
"Took what?"
He reached into his pocket and removed a small black flash drive.
Daniel swore softly.
Vega looked at him.
"Language."
Daniel nodded.
"Fair."
Clare stared at the drive.
"Where did you get that?"
"Dad's desk."
"Owen."
"I know."
He started crying again.
"I was looking for my phone."
"The drawer was open."
"The drive had our names on it."
Clare took a step back.
A white label was wrapped around the drive.
E / C / O.
Ethan.
Caleb.
Owen.
Vega held out her hand.
"Do not plug that into anything."
Owen gave it to her.
"I did not."
"Good."
"We will preserve it and let the lawyers deal with whether anyone can examine it."
Clare looked at Daniel.
"Can Nate accuse Owen of stealing?"
"He can accuse a child of anything if he wants to look terrible in front of a judge."
Owen whispered, "I did steal it."
Daniel crouched beside him.
"You took something from your father's desk."
"That is a problem."
"It is not a problem we are going to solve by lying about it."
Owen nodded miserably.
Vega stood.
"We need to notify both parents that Owen is safe."
Clare's body tensed.
"Does he have to go back?"
"The current order says he resides at the marital home."
Owen grabbed Clare's sleeve.
"No."
Vega's face softened.
"I can request an emergency modification based on what you just told me."
"But until a judge changes the order, I cannot simply move you."
Owen began shaking his head.
"Please."
Clare knelt.
"Look at me."
He did.
"I am not leaving you alone in this."
"I need you to do one hard thing for me."
"What?"
"Tell Ms. Vega everything."
"Even things that make me mad."
"Even things that make Dad mad."
"Even things that make you mad at me."
Owen wiped his face.
"Then what?"
"Then we let the judge see the truth before anyone gets to rewrite it."
Owen nodded once.
Vega called the court from the greenhouse.
Daniel called Nate's attorney rather than Nate directly.
Caleb sat beside Owen on an old bench while Clare found a wool gardening blanket and wrapped it around both of them.
For five minutes, they looked like little boys again.
Not heirs.
Not beneficiaries.
Not subjects in some succession plan.
Brothers.
Then a distant engine broke the quiet.
Caleb's head snapped up.
Clare looked toward the windows.
A black SUV appeared beyond the garden wall.
Then another.
Vega ended her call.
"Who told him?"
Daniel's face darkened.
"I notified counsel sixty seconds ago."
"He could not have arrived that fast."
Clare looked at Caleb.
Caleb looked at Owen.
Owen went pale.
"Dad knew I would come here."
The greenhouse door opened.
Aaron Mercer entered first.
Nate came in behind him.
He was not wearing a coat.
His eyes went directly to Owen.
Then to the flash drive in Vega's evidence bag.
May you like
For the first time since the divorce began, Nathaniel Holloway looked genuinely afraid.
