Page 81 of From the Embers
He continued to cry, the sobs ravaging his small body cutting me to the quick. Bree stood across the room, tears streaming down her cheeks, but neither of us knew what to do.
And quite honestly, the hardest part was that there wasn’t actually anything left to do at all.
We just had to wait and pray they found her.
After a few minutes, Bree took him from my arms, and together, they lay down on the bed. Evelyn had set up two of her guest rooms for us, and originally, I was going to bunk with Asher while Bree was going to take Madison. But he needed his mom for a little while.
And I needed a quiet moment to remember how to breathe.
I stopped at the other guest room and peeked inside. Madison was already out, sprawled out across the bed. She was old enough to realize her best friend was gone, but she was oblivious to the fear and panic that was circling like a vortex around us all. As I watched her sleeping, not a worry in the world, I was enormously grateful that at least one of us could rest.
Ever so quietly, I closed the door to her room, pulled my phone from my back pocket, and then sank to the floor. I must have had a million text notifications. Word had gotten out when police had activated the Amber Alert and everyone from old bar buddies to Levee and Sam had been texting me, offering any assistance they could provide. I’d replied to none of them. I didn’t need a casserole, a beer, or, in Levee’s case, a bodyguard.
I just needed Luna. I had no idea how I would survive the night without her.
Clicking the green call button twice, I lifted the ringing phone to my ear. I didn’t even have to dial his number. He was the only person I’d called all day. Detective Hoffman and the members of the APD who were hanging out at our house in case the asshole tried to come back were great. But I knew that the FBI taskforce was hard at work across town.
“Agent Garrett,” he answered.
“Please tell me you have something new?” I begged.
He sighed. “How ya holding up, Eason?”
“I’m not. You gotta give me something here. I’m falling apart.”
After humming sympathetically, he said, “We haven’t found Luna. Let me just start by saying that.” Another rusty knife of reality stabbed me in the gut. “But I was actually just about to head your way. We got a hit on that number from the note. It’s not a banking account number. It’s to a private cryptocurrency account. Anonymous owner, virtually untraceable.”
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“But, while we can’t track down the owner, we did run it through some of our databases and got a lead on another cryptocurrency account who received funds from your guy’s account a while back.”
My heart stopped and I sat up straight. It wasn’t Luna, but it was at least something. “That’s good, right?”
“It’s a jumping-off point, that’s for sure. Do you know anyone by the name S. Barton?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell. Why?”
“Because less than twenty-four hours before your house exploded, the man who kidnapped your daughter sent him half a million dollars.”
My heart stopped and a cold chill rolled over my body. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me right. I’ve got guys on it. I’m swinging by the police department to pick up the fire inspector’s report and then I’m on my way to you. Hang tight. I’ll see you and Bree in thirty.”
He hung up, but my mind raced faster than ever. It could have been a coincidence. People all around the world had been living their lives, making transactions, buying and selling anything and everything under the sun both before, during, and after the fire.
But what were the chances those people would later kidnap my daughter?
I paced the hallway for what felt like an eternity but probably measured closer to ten minutes before Bree finally came out of the bedroom.
One look at me and she went on alert. “What’s wrong?”
I stopped and gripped the back of my neck. “Agent Garrett is on his way.”
In the narrow hall, she rushed the few steps toward me. “Did they find her?”
I shook my head, unable to even say the single syllable of truth. “They were able to find someone who had received money from the ransom account. Half a million dollars within a day of the fire.”
“What?” she gasped. “That’s—”
“Suspicious as fuck,” I finished for her. “Some guy named S. Barton.”
“Who’s that?”
Unable to stand still, I resumed my pace up and down the hallway. “Hell if I know. Garrett said they are looking into it but—”
“Wait.” She narrowed her eyes on a blank space above the door. “Barton.”
“That’s what he said.”
She snapped her fingers twice and then, without another word, barged into the room Madison was sleeping in.
