Page 26 of Now and Then

Betty smiles and waves to them.

As the door closes, Luke shouts to me, “It’s time, Hunter.”

He’s right. It’s time to make these rumors a reality.

I pull my phone from my pocket and click on Sutton’s name, just one button away from calling and confronting her right this second. But I quickly shove my phone back into my pocket. I don’t get the luxury of figuring us out right now. Plus, this is something that needs to be done face-to-face, not through a screen she can hide behind.

Chris clears his throat. “I was thinking we should go check out the house on Magnolia Road again. Sure, we didn’t find anything the other night, but there’s that house across the street. You know, the little blue one?”

I nod, remembering. “Yeah, what of it? Pretty sure it was abandoned too.”

Chris wipes his mouth and sets his plate aside. “Maybe, but do you remember seeing boxes on the front porch?”

I nod.

“Kind of odd that an abandoned house would be getting deliveries, right?”

My fork pauses halfway to my mouth. The same uneasy feeling I had when Chief mentioned the place creeps over me.

“Yeah,” I say slowly. “Yeah, it is.”

Chris is already standing, anticipating my next move. “Not like we’ve got anything else to go on.”

I toss a couple bills on the table and grab my jacket. “Let’s go take another look.”

I grip the wheel as the SUV rattles down Magnolia Road, eyes scanning the cracked asphalt and overgrown lawns. Chris scans each house as we pass.

The tip we got from an anonymous call earlier in the week said a box truck had been coming and going at odd hours. When we’d originally been dispatched to check it out, there was no one in the neighborhood. We’d done a fairly quick preliminary search but hadn’t found anything worth notice.

I pull off the road, and we exit our Expedition. We creep alongside the back of the blue house. Chris and I circle the perimeter, scanning for footprints, tire tracks, anything out of place, but nothing stands out.

Even as we walk, Sutton’s name flickers through my mind. I shove it away.

“See anything?” Chris asks.

“Not yet.”

The yard is overgrown, weeds clawing up a broken chain-link fence. Nothing seems out of place until a sleek, black Cadillac catches my eye as it glides down the street, windows blacked out.

Chris stops and glances at me. “Pretty sure that could be the anything we’re looking for.”

“Agreed.” I motion with my head, and we step behind a large willow tree in the yard.

The SUV stops across the street from the house. A man steps out and opens the trunk—full of boxes and plastic buckets from Home Depot. He glances over his shoulder, too quick, and spots us. We calmly step toward him, badges visible.

“Afternoon, sir,” I say. “Mind if we ask you a few questions?”

He swallows and shakes his head. Nervous tension radiates off him.

“We were out here last week. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a box truck, would ya?”

He shakes his head again. “Uh, no, nothing.”

We ask him a few more questions. I pretend to jot notes, but really, I’m watching his eyes. Every micro-movement counts.

Once it’s clear this man isn’t going to give us much, we say our goodbyes, and head back across the street. Instead of unloading his SUV, the man surprises us and slams his trunk closed. He jumps in his SUV and drives down the street before we’ve even made it to our vehicle.

Something yellow falls from the bumper of his Cadillac.