Page 40 of Nick

18

Nick

“Someone is not telling the truth, and I hate to say this, but I believe it is the mother. I think she wants attention. Her husband divorced her, and her boyfriend doesn’t want a ready-made family. She feels left out, so she has to get rid of the two little humans who keep her from moving in with the boyfriend.”

“If we could get her to open up about where the kids are, then we can bring those kids home safely. Where the hell would she put them? Did she murder her children? It’s happened before.”

“I agree she doesn’t seem to be in pain as most mothers would be. I watched her walking around. She tries to squeeze a tear out when the cameras are around. I’m going to try something.

“She said they were all napping after swimming when she woke up. She came to this spot where she knew no one would be. Not one other soul around. The boys were gone. She hunted for hours before calling the police. Look around: do you see any spot where it looks like kids were playing? I saw their clothes piled up in the corner, but they were clean, with not one speck of dirt on them.

“It’s time to get her to talk. We both know she did something with the kids. I can’t believe the detective hasn’t come to the same conclusion that we have. Her dad must have thought something was off, or he wouldn’t have hired us.”

We walked over to where the family was sitting, and I could tell the ex-husband, Dale, was ready to pull his hair out. The wife, Sharon, said she was camping with the boys when they disappeared while she was sleeping.

“Sharon, can we ask you some questions.”

She sighed and frowned like she didn’t want to answer me. “I don’t understand why my father hired you guys. I have responded to all of your questions. How many more questions can you have?” Her ex-husband was standing next to us, as was her father. One of the detectives ambled over, not too close, just close enough to hear what we had to say.

“We’ve been busy looking around, and we can’t see any sign that the boys have been in this area.”

“What are you talking about? Their clothes are in the tent, along with their toys. My boys are very neat. They never make messes.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? The boys are messy. They tear everything up. I was thinking the same thing. There isn’t even a pile of dirt.”

“We went swimming, and they were sleepy. That’s why the dirt isn’t messed up. If you don’t mind, I have a headache.” She started walking away.

I had to catch her off guard. “Sharon, did you kill your boys?”

Everyone stopped breathing and stared at her. I saw the look on her face when she knew it was time for her to come clean.

“Did you fucking kill my boys? You bitch! I will kill you.” He charged her, and Asher reached out and grabbed him. “She killed my boys.”

“I did not kill them. They are locked in the basement. I wanted them to die down there because I couldn’t kill them. I wanted to, but I didn’t. Now you can get them. I don’t want them anymore. They are no longer my responsibility. I don’t know if they are already dead.”

“How long have they been in the basement,” I asked.

“A week, maybe longer. I can’t remember.” Sharon’s ex-husband walked over and slugged her in the face; no one did anything.

“You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Joseph and Walker Reynolds,” the police officer said, reading her rights to her, and that’s when she realized she would go to prison.

“You can’t arrest me. I’m free now. Daddy, do something.”

He turned and looked at his daughter with scorn, “You are dead to your mother and me. We have no daughter. Don’t ever try calling us.”

We could hear her screaming as we drove away, making our way to their home. Dale had already left. By the time we reached their home, the police and ambulance were there. Dale was holding both of his boys. All three were crying.

We walked to where they were. “How are they?”

“They are good. Sharon hasn’t been home since last Saturday. Walker said they had snack packs she bought at Costco for their school lunch.”

“We knew Daddy would find us, so I told Joey we could only eat a little a day because we didn’t know when we would get out of the basement.”

“I’m happy this turned out the way it did.”

“The boys are moving with me to Florida. We are finished with this state.”

It was time to go home. My phone was ringing when we got back into our rental. We were on our way to the airport. “Hey, Angel, what’s up?”

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