Chapter 5 - THE BODY IN THE DESERT

Eli heard enough of Grant’s conversation to understand.

“Mom is dead?”

“No one has confirmed that,” Grant said quickly.

Eli pulled the blanket around Grace.

“Cole said he would make her disappear.”

Grant knelt beside the bed.

“The burned vehicle did not contain a body.”

“Then where is she?”

“We’re going to find her.”

The abandoned car belonged to one of Mara’s coworkers.

It had been reported stolen that morning.

Her purse had been placed inside deliberately.

Cole wanted investigators to believe she had fled or died.

Grant believed Mara was still alive because Cole needed information from her.

The stolen money had been transferred through multiple hidden accounts.

Mara may have changed the passwords or blocked the final transfer before Cole captured her.

That meant she still had value to him.

It also meant she was in immediate danger.

Grant asked Eli to describe every property Cole used.

There was their house in Mesa, a hunting cabin near Payson, a warehouse outside Phoenix, and an old citrus farm inherited from Cole’s father.

When Eli mentioned the farm, his voice changed.

“Cole told Mom nobody could hear screaming out there.”

Grant called his team.

Within twenty minutes, officers surrounded the citrus property.

They found an abandoned farmhouse, a locked equipment shed, and fresh tire tracks.

There was blood on the kitchen floor, but no sign of Mara.

In the shed, investigators discovered ropes, duct tape, medical sedatives, and one of Grace’s bottles.

Cole had been there.

He had moved Mara shortly before the police arrived.

Someone had warned him.

Grant ordered Deputy Travis Ransom detained, but Travis never reported for duty.

His patrol car was found behind a roadside diner.

The radio and onboard computer had been removed.

By sunset, photographs of both brothers appeared across local news stations.

The hospital moved Eli and Grace into a secure pediatric wing under false names.

I should have gone home.

Instead, I volunteered to remain for the night.

Eli trusted almost no adults.

For reasons I could not explain, he trusted me.

At eleven thirty, I stepped into the hallway to get coffee.

When I returned, one of the officers guarding the room was unconscious.

The second officer had vanished.

Eli’s bed was empty.

Grace’s bassinet was gone.

Written across the wall in black marker were six words.

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