“Daddy! Did you come home?”
“No, not yet. Your mommy and I still have some things to do in Decatur before we can come back.” He loved that she thought of Myrtle Beach as home.
“But I miss you, and I want to play baseball with you.”
“And we will. I’ll be home in a few days.”
“How many days is a few?”
Talking to young children was tricky. He didn’t want to commit to how many because he didn’t know. It depended on what happened in the next few hours. “Uh, no more than a week.”
“A week is a long time, Daddy.”
“I said no more than that, but I’m hoping it’s sooner because I miss you.”
“Okay. I miss you, too. Can I talk to Mommy?”
She would ask that. “Mommy’s not here right now, but I’ll tell her to call you as soon as she can.”
“Where is she?”
“At the grocery store.” He hated lying to his daughter, but he didn’t have a choice. “I have to go, Princess. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Daddy. Sooooo much.”
“Let me talk to Harlow now.”
“Okay.”
“Hey,” Harlow said, coming on the line. “Has Grayson landed yet?”
“Should be any minute now. Is Livie behaving herself?”
“She’s a sweetheart, Cooper. I love having her here, and she and Tyler get along famously.”
“Good. I just wanted to say thank you for keeping her. Knowing she’s safe with you in Myrtle Beach is a great weight off my mind.”
“Don’t you worry about her. Just go find her mommy and bring her home.”
“That’s the plan. We’ll let you know as soon as we have her back.”
A Gulfstream landed as he disconnected, and he walked out of the FBO’s lobby to wait for Grayson. As soon as Grayson exited the plane, they got in Cooper’s truck. He already had the address to Schroder’s cabin in his GPS, and according to the GPS, they had an hour-and-a-half drive. They were already two hours behind, and he didn’t let himself think of what Kendall might be going through. If he went there, his emotions would distract him, and that wouldn’t help her.
“I have some more intel,” Grayson said.
“Let’s hear it.”
“Schroder took a leave of absence. Claimed a family emergency.”
“Which put him in the wind, with no one wondering why he’s not showing up for work.”
“Exactly. There’s more, and this part might explain his actions. I don’t know, but it’s disturbing. Schroder had a sister who died under mysterious circumstances thirty years ago. There was an investigation, but nothing could be proved, so her death was listed as undetermined.”
“Was there a report? Anything that hinted at what happened?”
“Both the father and the son were suspects. They alibied each other. The detective on the case is retired, but I was able to talk to him on my way here. He said the family was extremely wealthy, but they were strange. The mother seemed afraid of her husband, and the boy, young Schroder, gave him the creeps. As for the father, his word was the law in the family.
“He talked to the neighbors on the street, and they said the family was odd. It was only Schroder and his sister, and they were rarely seen. They didn’t play outside like the other kids in the neighborhood, and they were homeschooled.”