“Yes.”
My heart quickened.
“What was it?”
He whispered:
“A little orange tube.”
***
Owen described a waterproof container about the size of a flashlight.
Ben had given it to Caleb shortly before the trip.
He told both boys that if anything strange happened, they should remember where it was hidden.
Caleb placed the tube inside an old trail marker near the creek.
Marker seventeen.
The same number that appeared in Ben’s notebook.
I stared at Owen.
“Do you remember where?”
He nodded.
“By the fallen cedar tree.”
Detective Ellis arranged for investigators to search the area.
We didn’t go with them.
I stayed beside my son.
For five years, I’d imagined what I’d do if I ever saw him again.
I thought I’d ask a thousand questions.
Instead, I found myself watching him eat breakfast.
The way he held his fork.
The way he pushed strawberries into the syrup.
The way he smiled shyly when Lucy told a joke.
