“So when I was thinkin’, I did it! I got really hot, but I just kept thinking about being the mouse ’cause there was nothin’ else to do. I walked all around the room but got real tired. I think I fell asleep.”

“When did you change back to you?” Charley’s voice held a calm softness, but Wyatt could see the burn in her eyes.

“In the dark. I was kinda cold, so I thought about bein’ me again. It kinda hurt, but not as bad.” He cocked his head at them as if to say ‘it was no big deal.’

Wyatt tilted his head. The boy didn’t experience pain while transforming?

“Transformation is a very tough process,” Charley said. Her voice sounded supportive, not angry or judgmental. “Especially when you change into an animal. People are easier because you’re already one of them, but animals-very little is the same. You’re very special to be able to do that, Chase. Very, very special.” Her gaze tracked to James.

“It makes you extra sleepy, and you have to rest for a while,” James added.

“I know!” His exclamation came with excitement. Chase slid off Sophie’s lap and stood, nearly bumped her in the chin as he did. “So I did it again the next night when they told me to go to sleep, and then I stayed under the bed like the mouse-alllllll night!” He all but jumped with giddy elation.

“Didn’t they see you the next morning?” Cael asked.

“Nope!” He stood with his little arms crossed against his chest. “They looked everywhere. While they were finding me, I went out the front door!” His smile would have warmed polar bears in a pond of freezing water.


***

The sound of the phone cut their conversation short. Charley whipped around to Wyatt. He flipped his cell open to speed-dial Detective Bland, who they’d not yet told about Chase’s reappearance.

“Go ahead,” Wyatt said.

She grabbed the handset from the base on the side table. Answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

“Is this Charley?” A flat voice, masked by the robotics of a computer, asked.

Charley’s entire body shook. “This is.”

“We will offer you a trade.” The caller took in a deep breath.

A trade? She opened her eyes wide at Wyatt, who remained in the room. Cael and James had disappeared to the office, or so Charley figured with their absence.

“Play along,” Wyatt mouthed.

Charley pressed a hitch in her voice. “Anything. You can have anything you want if you give me back my son.”

“Ah yes, the boy. We’ll return him-”

“Unharmed,” Charley interrupted.

“We’ll return him if, and only if, you meet uh-me, alone, at the arboretum as the night turns to morning of the last week day.”

Charley flipped her phone over so she could see the time. “Why not now? Why not right this fucking instant?” She pitched her voice up as if in hysterics.

The voice laughed. “You always get what you want, don’t you?” The sound turned to a sneer. “Well not this time. Friday. Midnight and no sooner. Nor later.”

“Where exactly?”

“By the gazebo, under the stars. Rain or shine, Charley. There will be no further instruction. Come alone.”

“You don’t know anything about him. He’s just a baby. Send him home, and I’ll meet you, now.” So I can kick your ass. “Do you want money? I have plenty. You can have it all. Tell me what I can do to get my son back!”

“Friday!” the voice blasted in monotone and hung up.

Despite the fact the entire conversation had been faked, Charley’s body vibrated with tension, rage and worry. “What do they want from me?”

She balled her hands into fists, pounded them against her thighs.

Wyatt stepped toward her but hesitated. “I don’t know, but I think we need to backtrack a bit.”

“What do you mean?” Charley took deep breaths in the hope of calming her need to throw something.

“I need to know everything there is about you.”

18

Wyatt wanted to yell at her, to tell her that the secrets she kept put her in her predicament. He realized, before he said anything, that he meant those words for whatever sizzled but fizzled between the two of them. Secrets kept her family safe but put him on the outside fringe.

“I can’t help you if I don’t have more detail,” he said.

Her head popped up, her eyes glossy with emotion he couldn’t read. “Where do you want to start?”

“Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you here? What did Cael show Chase? Why wouldn’t he already know? What does he know about you guys? Is he like you guys, for example?” Wyatt asked. I could go on and on and on.

James’s silent entry surprised Wyatt. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

Behind him, Cael rushed in. “Charley!”

They all turned to him as Wyatt banked the need to pull at his hair. At every turn, he found interruption.

Cael moved to Charley’s side. “Something’s going on.”

“Of course it is. I have to meet the-” She stopped, Chase’s wide eyes, trained on her. “Little ears don’t need to be a party to this conversation, let’s go down to the office.”

“Can I have some lunch?” Chase blinked a few times as the dust and dirt from his hair settled into his eyes.

Lily rushed over to him, picked him up and spun him in a circle. “You can have all the lunch you want after you have a bath.” She carted him up the stairs to fits of giggles.

“I’m really sorry, Charley,” Sophie’s tired voice came from the couch.

Charley knelt at her head. “It’s not your fault, and I will make these people pay for what they did.”

Sophie closed her eyes, snuggling further into Stuart’s lap.

“Now then, let’s go to the office, and we’ll figure out what to do next.” Charley pushed them all down the hall.

The moment they entered the room, she moved to the center, her hands on her hips. She emanated pure determination if ever Wyatt saw it on display.

“Before we begin, let me just say that I will do whatever it takes to get back at them. I also think they are total idiots because they don’t seem to know he’s missing.” Her hands shook in the air.

Cael walked to her, stopped her hands, his back to Wyatt. “We all will.”

“I don’t know about that,” Wyatt said.

“What?” She spun out of Cael’s hold.

“What if they know and are just playing along?” Wyatt shrugged as if the question were obvious and she should have already figured it out.

Cael moved to the desk, tapped a few keys, and glared at Wyatt over the edge of the monitor. “Can we get back to the call?”

Wyatt nodded him forward.

“By the way, the Detectives have it. Anyway, the caller’s voice… it changed. Still masked by a computer-”

“I figured that,” Charley said in a huff.

Cael’s smile reflected Chase’s youth, an excitement borne of news. “I know, but the best part of it was the tone. The lack of confidence.”

“I didn’t hear anything like that.” Charley’s statement came out flat as if she chastised herself for not picking up on it.

“You wouldn’t because you weren’t listening for nuance. Your focus was on playing the part-which you did like an Oscar winner, let me tell you.” Cael stopped. “It’s these little problems, these little clues that are going to help us kick their ass. I’m jacked Chase is back and ready as hell to see them fry for it.”

“Keep going,” Wyatt waved him forward. “And careful what you say.”

“You’re going to toe the line on this, Wyatt?” Charley’s accusatory tone threw him.

He jerked back, crossed his arms over his chest.

“Listen to this again.” Cael pressed play on the mini-recorder. “We’ll return him if, and only if, you meet uh-me…”

Wyatt stepped closer to the group. “Hesitation. There’s more than one. The voice started to say ‘us’.”

“Yes.” Cael slapped the desk with his hand. “Now listen to this.” He played another piece of the conversation back. “You always get what you want, don’t you?”

“This is personal. Completely, absolutely and without a doubt,” Wyatt said, but didn’t alter his stance.

“Exactly,” Cael agreed. He tilted his head up to Wyatt and twisted back to Charley. “They want you, Charley, like we already surmised, and whoever is behind it has a history with you, or us. That’s the frustrating part.” Cael knocked his fist against his forehead.

“We need to prep for Friday’s little mystery visit.” James shifted in his chair.

Wyatt held out his hands. “Whoa there, guys.”

Each of the three faces mirrored different expressions. Charley’s filled with anger, James’s with humor and Cael’s with curiosity.

Charley moved first. “What do you mean, ‘whoa’?” She took another step toward Wyatt.

James shifted back.

“I mean, you asked me to get involved, and I have, so we’re going to do this right, which means you three will not play a part in this.”

“Like hell we won’t.” Charley stood at his toes.

Wyatt wanted to wrap her in his arms. Instead, he maintained his stance. “We’ll find an agent to be you and send them to the park. That’s the safest thing once-”

“No,” Cael said. “One of us is going to have to do it. If these people know about us, they’ll know what we’re capable of.”

Wyatt glared at Cael, willing him to disagree again so he could bring his confidence down a notch or two. “It’s not safe for any of you to get involved at this stage.”

Cael stood, bringing himself to his full height. James moved to flank Charley.

“We’re trained for this, Wyatt. This is the kind of job we do each and every day,” Cael said.

“And I am now your boss. So what I say, goes.” He met Charley’s gaze as he spoke.

What had been simmering in her eyes boiled over. She poked Wyatt in the chest. “Cael’s right. This is what we do. I have to be the one to go, but I think we can probably go as a team-”