Page 155 of Sing with Me

“Detective Jeong is already in Atlanta, but he’s going to follow up on it.” Malik was about to walk away when he turned back. “Speaking of the detective, he wants you to bring a change of clothes for Elisa.”

“Okay.”

Diehl brushed his teeth and packed his toothpaste and toothbrush. The suitcase of clothes he had brought over from Brinley’s beach house was still conveniently packed. When Cara washed his clothes for him, he put the folded clothes back into the suitcase. As such he didn’t have to do anything but find his toothbrush and toothpaste.

He hadn’t planned on staying at Mom’s house long. He wanted to get back to Brinley’s house for his own space. Now he wasn’t sure if that house—so close to a public beach—was safe for his two kids.

Perhaps he was only paranoid.

Thousands of children had been brought up on St. Simon’s Island for decades without abduction problems.

Diehl left his bedroom to wake up Ethan.

He reminded himself to text Dad when it was closer to daybreak. And Skye too, although he did not want to wake her before her upcoming long day at the food festival.

Before he reached Ethan’s bedroom, he stopped at Elisa’s room to get some clean clothes for her. He packed several sets of clothes, a couple of pairs of shoes—she had worn her favorite on Friday—and her favorite stuffed animals, which he picked up from her unmade bed. He put all that into Elisa’s pink rolling carry-on.

Then he found a small tote bag in the closet, into which he tossed her toothbrush and toothpaste, together with a change of clothes for the hospital—because he didn’t think it made sense to take the carry-on to the hospital. He rolled up the tote bag and stuffed it into his own backpack with his laptop and power cable inside. It fitted in the larger compartment.

It dawned on Diehl that he hadn’t thanked God for answering his prayer.

He dropped to his knees and closed his eyes. “Lord Jesus, forgive me for forgetting. Thank You for answering my prayer. They found Elisa. I don’t know what condition she is in, but as long as she is alive, we can sort out the rest. I pray that You will catch the people responsible. Don’t let them get away with it. In Your Holy Name, I pray. Amen.”

“Amen!” Malik’s voice was sure and clear.

Diehl’s eyes popped open. “You’re a believer?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I had no idea.”

“We only talk about work.”

“And you worked on Sunday morning.”

“No choice, but I watched my church’s service on livestream.”

“How long was the service?”

“An hour.”

“You could have gone to church and come back,” Diehl said.

“You could’ve too, sir.” Malik smiled.

“Well… I stayed up all night.”

“So did I, sir.”

“I went to the evening service, though.”

Malik nodded. “My church doesn’t have an evening service.”

“Then come to mine. It starts at 5 p.m. And ends just in time for dinner.” Diehl wondered if he should have referred to Seaside Chapel as his church when he hadn’t joined it.

“Miss Brinley has invited me before.” Malik turned toward a noise.

In her silk pajamas, Mom rolled her giant suitcase toward them. “Let’s go, boys.”

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