“To be fair, we did catch Tamryn unaware. How’s Brooke?”

“Blocking,” Win said. “Which is probably good. Right now, she is very focused on why her former au pair has returned to the United States.”

“Does she have any theories?”

“Not a one. So what’s your next step?”

“We keep gathering information,” Myron said.

“Whoa, slow down with the specifics.”

“Nancy Moore keeps insisting that the boy we rescued is her missing son, Patrick.”

“Correct.”

“So I’m wondering if these photographs of Paul will change her mind at all.”

“Is that where you’re headed?”

On the left, Myron spotted the Moores’ house. When he pulled into the driveway, he saw the Lexus sitting in the garage.

She was home.

“I’ve just arrived.”

* * *

Myron didn’t bother with the front door. The garage was open so he headed toward the Lexus. When he saw the door between the house and garage had been left open, he grew concerned.

He leaned his head in and shouted, “Hello?”

Nothing.

He stepped inside and crossed the kitchen. From upstairs he could hear a rustling sound. He wasn’t armed, which was stupid, but so far there hadn’t been much need for weaponry. He took the steps slowly.

Whoever was upstairs was not trying to hide their movements.

Myron reached the top step. The rustling was coming from Patrick’s room. He approached the door slowly, sliding his back against the wall, which might or might not be effective in cases like this. It was hard to say. He reached the door, waited a second, took a quick peek inside.

Nancy Moore was tearing the room apart.

“Hello,” Myron said.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and spun toward him. Her eyes were wide, almost maniacal. “What are you doing here?”

“Everything okay?”

“Does everything look okay?”

It did not. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t get it, do you? You think . . . I don’t know what you think. I was trying to protect my son. He’s fragile. He’s been through so much. How do you not get that?”

Myron said nothing.

“Do you know what it took for him to do what he did today? To relive the horror of what happened to him? To Rhys?”

“It had to be done, Nancy,” Myron said. “If it had been the other way, if Rhys had come home—”

“Brooke Baldwin would have done what was best for her child, not mine.” Nancy stood upright. “Make no mistake about it. A mother protects her child.”

Whoa.

“Even at the expense of another?”

“Patrick wasn’t ready to talk. We knew that. We just wanted to give him enough time to get his strength. What’s a few more days after ten years? Dr. Stanton was right. It was too much for him. And then, as if it wasn’t hard enough to get through that, as if it wasn’t hard enough to tell Brooke that Rhys was dead, you”—she pointed an accusing finger at him—“go after him. Patrick ran away because of you.”