With an apologetic glance in her direction, Sly reached down and unhooked his radio from his belt. Maria said nothing. She was proud of Sly in his new role as sheriff. If it meant buzzes during supper, she didn’t mind. As much as she wanted Sly all for herself, Maria was more than happy to share him with Hamlet when the townsfolk needed their sheriff.
Sly lifted the radio to his mouth. “I’m here, Rick. What do you need?”
“I know you’re off duty, but something’s come up. About two hours ago, we received a report that there was an unknown car cruising up and down the streets—”
“It wasn’t unknown,” Sly interrupted, cutting off his deputy. Maria could hear the humor mixing with exasperation in his voice as he explained to Ricky, “Maria’s brother came back to visit.”
The hum on the radio died for a moment, as if Ricky had taken his finger off of the button. A second later, it was back, and Ricky grumbled, “De Angelis is home?”
“Affirmative.”
“Still driving around that flashy Mustang?”
Maria let out a long, clear laugh. Tess snorted, hiding her own humor behind her hand. Lucas slouched in his seat, jutting his chin in defiance of anyone who poked fun at his baby.
“It’s a yes on the vehicle, too,” Sly told his deputy.
“Then that’s not the car. Phil would’ve known the doctor’s car,” Ricky said, referencing the self-proclaimed postmaster of Hamlet. Phil had the first house on the gulleyside of Hamlet and, apart from delivering the mail while riding around in his repurposed golf cart, Phil Granger also fancied himself the first line of Hamlet’s defense. “He called Willie at the station house and reported an old-looking rusted Buick with a leaking exhaust. He’s never seen it before.”
“Okay. So we’ve got an outsider. Just keep an eye out for them.”
“It’s worse than that, Sly. A second call came in to the station house about five minutes ago. Mike Johnson. She patched him to my radio and he told me that sometime around 8:15 this evening, his son slipped out of their house. They were having a holiday party and didn’t notice he was missing for close to fifteen minutes. A witness said they saw Liam Johnson climb into a car that matches the description of the outsider vehicle Phil Granger called in. No one’s gone in or out of town since, but Liam is still missing.”
Maria let out a short gasp. There was a clock perched over the rangehood of the stove and her eyes sought it out. It was already 8:40. Liam had been gone for twenty-five minutes.
Sly’s expression went from bemused to dead serious in a heartbeat. “What are we doing so far about this?”
“I’m pulling up to the Johnsons’ place right now. I’ve already buzzed Ethan and he’s coming over. Mike is out searching, and a couple of the people who were at their holiday get-together have already formed groups and are heading out on car and on foot, looking for the boy.”
Because not finding him wasn’t an option.
“Good work, Deputy. When you get there, take lead on the searches. You know how to do that, and we don’t want anyone else getting lost. Send Ethan down Phil’s way, in case the outsider tries to head out of Hamlet. I’ll be right there.”
“Understood, Sly.”
The crackle of the open line went silent.
Sly immediately stood up from the table, attaching his communicator to his belt as Maria jumped up to join him. Now that her brother was aware of their close relationship, she found it a lot easier to show her affection for Sly. Without even pausing to think how Lucas would react, she grabbed Sly’s upper arm in a familiar, possessive grasp.
“I’m coming with you,” Maria told him. “I know the Johnsons and Ter is an old friend of mine. I have to help.”
Sly placed his larger hand over hers, the warmth of his skin doing just enough to calm her frantically beating heart.
How could this be possible?
Then again, up until a couple of years ago, Maria never went to sleep with her doors locked. And until a few months ago, she never thought Hamlet would be the site of not one, but two vicious murders. An abduction at Christmas was just one more awful thing that she couldn’t deny was happening.
Poor Therese. Poor Mike.
Poor Liam.
“Let me get my coat,” she said throatily, giving Sly’s bicep a squeeze.
“Hold on, sweetheart.” Patting her hand comfortingly, Sly looked across the table where Lucas was sipping on his glass of water. “Doc, your old place was mountainside, right?”
Maria watched as Lucas placed his glass down, crossing his arms over his chest. Though her brother looked for all the world like he couldn’t be bothered, Maria picked up on the little things. The dark expression in his normally light eyes, the pull of his lips into a thin line, the way he tapped his boot in a slow rhythm against her kitchen tile like a ticking time bomb.
Lucas was absolutely livid.