Page 26 of Ethan's Command

“Maybe, but maybe he didn’t realize when he saw it what he was seeing. Does that make sense?”

She shrugged. The reality was she’d been wondering the same thing, but hadn’t wanted to question Liam because it would bring the whole incident up again. She bit her lip as anxiety rose in her chest.

“He knew you were talking to his friends tonight. He’s got to know there’s something more going on,” Ethan added.

Brooklyn glanced down at the floor. She didn’t want to admit it, but she knew Ethan was right. It was time they spoke to her nephew again. “Maybe in the morning…” she swallowed the rest of the words. Ethan stared at her, but he didn’t have to speak for her to know she was being silly. They needed to talk to him now. The sooner the better. The more information they had the closer they could get to finding out the truth about all this.

“Fine.” She sighed and went over to Liam’s room. She knocked on the door. “Liam are you still awake?” she called softly.

“Yup,” came the quick response. Her heart lurched in his chest. His response had been so quick that she knew he’d been lying there wide awake, worrying.

“Can you come out and talk to us for a second?”

“Sure,” came the muffled voice again. Brooklyn went back to the counter and took a seat on a stool. Ethan offered her a smile as he leaned against the island.

“What’s up?” Liam asked as he settled on the stool beside Brooklyn.

She studied his face. He was trying to act like everything was cool, but the worry in his eyes was clear. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder and then cleared her throat to try and get rid of the lump that had suddenly manifested. “I spoke with Keoni and Nakoa tonight.”

“I know.” Liam glanced at Ethan and then looked back at Brooklyn. “How come?”

“Because today at the police station, they arrested the boys who were responsible for taking those other kids for a joyride.”

Liam frowned. “I don’t understand, Aunt Brooklyn. That’s good, right?”

“The boys they arrested weren’t the ones that tried to grab you.” Her heart broke as the ramifications of that statement sunk in for Liam. His eyes grew wide and his lips tightened intoa frown. She squeezed his shoulder again. “Ethan is keeping us safe, and we have the cameras. And look, Mojo is beside you. You’re okay.”

Liam glanced down at the dog. “I guess… but who would want to kidnap me? It’s not like we have money or anything.”

“We don’t know, buddy, but we’re going to find out.” Ethan moved to lean on the counter across from Liam. “Can you think of anything that was out of the ordinary in the last few weeks? Anything at all?”

“Is that what you asked my friends?” Liam asked.

Ethan nodded.

Brooklyn sighed. “I didn’t want to scare you, but I can see now it was silly of me not to talk to you first.”

Liam nodded. “I understand, but I don’t remember anything strange.”

“Nothing at all?” Ethan nudged.

Liam concentrated for a long moment, then shook his head. “I didn’t see anything or anyone unusual. Other than Ren being sick, it’s been the same as always.”

Brooklyn rubbed her face and tried to gather her thoughts. “Nothing out of the ordinary? Nothing at all… no matter how small?”

Liam cocked his head. “Um…no…well I mean I thought I lost my backpack on Monday so that was unusual I guess. I normally keep it right beside me when we’re at the cafe but when Dad came to get me, I couldn’t find it. I almost had a heart attack cuz it had all my science fair stuff in it, but I found it. It was on the bench seat over by Keoni and Nakoa under everyone’s jackets. I have no idea how it got there though.”

Brooklyn’s shoulders slumped. On the one hand, she was glad that nothing scary stuck out to Liam, but on the other, they had no leads and nowhere to go with this.

“Okay then, bud, time for bed. If anything comes to mind let me know.” Brooklyn gave him a smile as he slipped off the stool.

“Come on, Mojo,” Liam said and the dog followed him back to his room.

Brooklyn put her head down on the counter for a moment and wrapped her arms over it. This was all too much. She needed to call her brother and get him to fly home. He should be here to deal with…what? A sudden thought occurred to her. “Maybe we’re overthinking things,” she said as she sat back up.

“In what way?” Ethan asked.

“Well, we didn’t see the van today. Maybe whoever was driving has gone. Maybe they decided not to bother with Liam again.”

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