Chapter 6 - The Man Who Vanished Eight Months Earlier
For several hours, everyone believed the same terrible thing.
Luke Bennett was dead.
Sarah was not told immediately.
She was recovering from septic shock.
Doctors warned that unnecessary emotional stress could endanger her fragile condition.
Emma knew only that police were looking for “the babies’ daddy.”
She had met Luke.
That surprised Rachel.
“He lived with us.”
Emma explained.
“For a little while.”
“Was he kind to you?”
Emma smiled for the first time when someone mentioned him.
“He taught me to ride my purple bike.”
“What happened to him?”
“Grandpa said he ran away.”
The smile disappeared.
“Mommy cried in the bathroom.”
At Mason Ridge Quarry, investigators searched until after midnight.
The dark stain inside Luke’s truck tested positive for blood.
DNA confirmation would take time.
There was enough blood that detectives feared serious injury.
Yet they found no body.
Search dogs followed a scent from the truck toward a gravel service road.
It ended near tire tracks.
Someone had removed Luke from the quarry.
Or Luke had left in another vehicle.
Detective Ruiz returned to Frank’s financial records.
There were payments.
Many.
For years Frank had paid people to solve problems.
Some legitimate.
Some questionable.
Private investigators.
Security consultants.
Towing companies.
A former deputy.
A man named Curtis Vann received $18,000 three days after Luke disappeared.
Daniel knew the name.
Curtis had worked corrections years earlier.
He now ran a small private transport company.
Police reached his house before sunrise.
Curtis opened the door in sweatpants.
When he saw the warrant, his face changed.
“I don’t know where Frank is.”
Daniel had not asked.
“Interesting.”
Curtis sighed.
“What do you want?”
“Luke Bennett.”
Curtis stopped breathing for half a second.
That was enough.
“I don’t know anyone named Luke Bennett.”
Daniel showed him a photograph.
Curtis glanced at it.
Too quickly.
“Never seen him.”
They searched the house.
In a desk drawer, officers found prepaid cellular phones.
Receipts.
A handgun.
Nothing directly connected to Luke.
Then Melanie searched the transport van.
There was an old clipboard beneath the passenger seat.
Most sheets recorded legitimate jobs.
Prisoner transportation.
Medical transfers.
Private security.
One entry had no name.
Only a date.
The night Luke vanished.
Pickup:
Mason Ridge Quarry.
Drop-off:
Riverbend Bus Depot.
Fee:
$18,000.
Daniel carried the clipboard inside.
Curtis took one look and sat down.
“Frank said the guy attacked Sarah.”
“Luke?”
“He said Luke was violent.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing like you’re thinking.”
“Then tell me.”
Curtis rubbed both hands across his face.
“Frank called.”
“Said his daughter’s boyfriend had gotten drunk and attacked him.”
“When I reached the quarry, Luke was hurt.”
“How badly?”
“Head wound.”
“Conscious?”
“Mostly.”
“Who injured him?”
Curtis looked away.
“Frank.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You transported an injured man for eighteen thousand dollars and didn’t ask?”
“Frank told me Luke was dangerous.”
“What did he tell you to do?”
“Drive him to Riverbend.”
“Then what?”
“Put him on a bus.”
“Where?”
“Denver.”
“Why Denver?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Luke agree?”
Curtis hesitated.
Daniel stood.
“That hesitation is the difference between a ride and kidnapping.”
Curtis swore.
“He was scared.”
“Of Frank?”
“Yes.”
“Did Frank threaten him?”
Curtis stared at the floor.
“He said if Luke came back, Sarah would lose Emma.”
Daniel felt anger rise.
Not wild anger.
The colder kind.
“Did Luke believe him?”
“Frank had photographs.”
“What photographs?”
“Emma leaving school.”
“Sarah at the grocery store.”
“The house.”
“Frank told Luke he had people watching them.”
Curtis looked sick.
“He told the kid that Sarah didn’t want him anymore.”
“Then he handed him a letter.”
“The forged letter.”
“Probably.”
“What happened at Riverbend?”
“I bought the ticket.”
“Luke got on the bus.”
“Did you see where he went after Denver?”
“No.”
For the first time in eight months, police had a trail.
It was old.
But it existed.
Luke Bennett might be alive.
Daniel called the Denver police department.
Bus records were mostly gone.
Security footage had long since been overwritten.
But Luke had used his own name at a shelter two nights after the trip.
From there, another clue emerged.
He had received treatment at a charity clinic for a concussion and broken rib.
Then he vanished again.
The clinic had one emergency contact.
A sister.
Hannah Bennett.
Hannah lived in Oregon.
She answered Daniel’s call at 6:12 a.m.
“Luke?”
Her voice immediately broke.
“Did you find him?”
Daniel sat straighter.
“You haven’t spoken to him?”
“Not for months.”
“When was the last time?”
“December.”
That was two months after the quarry.
“What did he say?”
“He said he was in trouble.”
“He said he couldn’t go back to Sarah because someone would hurt her little girl.”
“Did he say who?”
“No.”
“He sounded terrified.”
“Do you know where he was?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did he ever mention Frank Dalton?”
Silence.
Then Hannah whispered:
“That’s the man.”
“What man?”
“The one Luke said had police in his pocket.”
Daniel looked toward Melanie.
“What else did Luke tell you?”
“He said if anything happened to him, I should look inside Dad’s old toolbox.”
Hannah lived three states away.
But she still had the toolbox.
Her father had died years earlier.
Luke sometimes stored documents there.
She opened it while Daniel remained on the phone.
There were socket wrenches.
Old photographs.
A fishing license.
Beneath everything lay a sealed envelope.
Hannah opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Luke.
This handwriting contained mistakes.
Including the word separate.
He had spelled it incorrectly twice.
Hannah began to cry as she read.
Luke wrote that Frank Dalton had ordered him to disappear.
He wrote that Frank threatened Emma.
He wrote that he had been collecting proof of Frank’s financial crimes.
May you like
And in the final paragraph, Luke included a sentence Daniel did not expect.
If Sarah ever finds out what happened to her mother, Frank will kill her too.
