“Goodbye, Brooke.” I can almost hear him smiling on the other line. “Or should I say, see you later.”

Through the phone, I can hear my son’s voice. His laughter. I might never hear him laugh again.

“Shane!” I cry. “Please—”

But it’s too late. The line is dead.

I try calling him back, but it immediately goes to voicemail. Shane isn’t bringing Josh back. I don’t know where he is, but he knows I have figured out his game. I have lost my advantage. And even if he comes back eventually to try to hurt me, he’ll be smart about it. He’s going to wait a long time—until the heat is off.

For some reason, the thought of facing off against Shane doesn’t scare me. What scares me is what’s going to happen to my son. I can’t let that monster get away with this.

I grab onto the railing of the stairs to haul myself to my feet. The second I try to put weight on my right ankle, it screams in pain. It’s definitely sprained, possibly broken. I’m afraid to pull off my boots to assess the damage, and it won’t do any good, anyway. It won’t help me find Shane and Josh.

I type 911 into my phone with shaking fingers. He won’t get away with taking Josh. There will be an amber alert, they will find him, and Shane will go back to prison. He doesn’t even have a car—he may have taken my keys, but the Toyota is still right here. The police will find them. I’m sure of it.

Except when I try to connect the call, it won’t go through. I squint down at the screen of my phone.

No service.

It’s almost too much of a coincidence that my service cut off just when Shane hung up with me. Does he have some sort of blocker to prevent cell phones from working? Is that what he and Tim did that night eleven years ago, to ensure none of us could call for help?

What am I going to do? If I have no cell service and no vehicle, my best bet is to walk to the main road. But I’m not sure I can even put weight on my ankle.

I have no choice though. Even if I’m walking on a broken ankle, it doesn’t matter. I have to do this for Josh. I can’t let that monster steal him and do God knows what to him.

I put some weight on my right ankle. The pain is almost blinding, but I push through it. For Josh. I’m doing this for Josh.