Page 3 of SEAL's Angel
“How long has your son been missing, Mrs. Randolph?”
Dawn glanced at her watch and couldn’t believe it was almost five already. “About an hour and a half. He should have been home around three-thirty.”
“Do you work outside the home?”
“Yes, I’m the office manager at Bailey’s Insurance Agency, but I’m sure you already knew that. Can’t we focus on finding my son? It’s getting dark, and he’s out there all alone. He might be hurt…” Dawn’s voice was ragged with worry. But she couldn’t bring herself to put into words the horror that slithered through her mind.
“We’ve got patrols out searching.”
“You do? How do you know what he looks like?”
“We got a copy of his photo from the school. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re doing everything possible to find your son.”
Dawn nodded and breathed deeply through her nose. If she lost it, it wouldn’t help Chase. “I should have figured you’d go to the school.” The comment was more for her benefit than his.
The pounding of little feet on the stairs alerted them to the imminent arrival of her daughter, Cindy, with her babysitter, Janey, on her heels. A few seconds later, Cindy slid to a stop in the living room, her eyes wide as she caught sight of the police officer.
“Mommy, the police are here. Oh, are you going to find Chase?” Cindy walked over to the cop, intrigued by the tall man in the blue uniform.
“I’m sorry, Dawn. She saw the car outside,” Janey apologized.
The teenager was distraught, and Dawn felt horrible she hadn’t considered what Janey was going through. Guilt was a horrible thing.
“It’s okay.” Dawn grabbed her nine-year-old and hugged her. “You’re doing a fantastic job. If you hadn’t been on top of things, it could have taken us a lot longer to realize Chase was missing.”
Janey nodded, but her face was pale and drawn.
Spencer smiled at Cindy. “Yes, we’re going to find your brother. But do you think you can go upstairs while I talk to your mommy? When we’re done, I’ll come up, and you can show me your brother’s room. I’ll give you a sticker for helping.”
“I love stickers, but I just want you to bring Chase back. He’s mean to me sometimes, but I love him anyway. I don’t want him to be gone.” Cindy’s bottom lip quivered as the words poured out of her little mouth. “So, hurry up, okay? He can’t miss dinner. It’s taco night, his favorite.”
“We’ll find him. He can’t miss taco night.” Spencer gave her a gentle smile.
It seemed to be enough for Cindy, because she smiled and then charged upstairs with Janey behind her.
“You sure have a way with kids,” Dawn said, surprised her little girl had listened.
“I’ve had lots of practice from three grandchildren who keep me on my toes,” Spencer said with a grin. It changed his demeanor and eased some of the tension in Dawn’s shoulders.
“Now, how about you tell me what’s going on with your son?” he asked as he looked down at his notes. “How old is Chase?”
“Eleven. His birthday was last week.”
“Has Chase gotten into trouble lately? Fights at school? Arguments with his friends? Anything like that?” Spencer wrote in his notebook, then met Dawn’s eyes. His humor was replaced with laser focus.
“No, nothing like that.” Dawn had the urge to squirm under his gaze, but she’d done nothing wrong and refused to act like it.
“Are you sure? Your daughter mentioned him being mean to her…”
“That’s just normal sibling stuff. She tags along after him, and it frustrates him. I don’t think there’s an older brother on the planet that doesn’t feel the same way.” Righteous indignation colored her words.
The photo of Chase still sitting on the coffee table caught her eye. Where was he? Was he hurt? Scared? Dawn slid her hand through her wavy hair, needing to do something.
The cop scribbled in his notebook some more. “I get it, but there had to be some reason for this? Has he ever run away before?”
“No, not really. I mean, when he was four, he was mad because I wouldn’t give him cookies before dinner. He went into his room, got his backpack, and said he was going to live with his uncle. But he didn’t actually go anywhere.” The memory of Chase’s little face scrunched up and so angry because he couldn’t have the cookie made her smile.
“Where is his uncle now? Could your son have gone to his house?”
