Eternal Hope

Chapter 7

Carter

Em’s version of panicking was to be productive or to be completely still. There were no nervous twitches or babbling unless she was caught off guard. Carter felt her withdraw from the world. Her mind preparing for horrible news as she raced across town to a gated community. Carter wanted to say something but didn’t know what there was to say. 

Comfort was not one of Carter’s strong points and barring a full-scale interrogation to get answers, there was nothing he could say. He already knew what her answer would be, “I cannot answer your questions right now Carter. I have to get to my son. Please be quiet. Thank you.” 

Quick. Firm. Succinct. That was Em.

So, Carter started thinking about all of the things that could happen and then planned how he would respond. First priority is Liam. Making sure that whatever is hurting or scaring him is taken care of. Quickly and with precision. Next would be to make sure that authorities were notified of the dead body. That call would be pivotal in making sure that Carter remained out of jail. Once dealing with the authorities was taken care of, he would need to confront Em. 

Carter kind of felt bad that he didn’t have any questions to ask her. It was pretty clear what had happened so far: an alarm was tripped at her house, for Em to jump straight to the idea that Liam himself was in trouble, that meant that it was a panic button or something that the toddler was taught to use if he got scared. That probably meant that the authorities were already in route, now that Carter was thinking about it. Well at least his first in person meeting with his son wouldn’t include him having just killed someone. That would probably traumatize the little munchkin. 

His thoughts turned to the last time they had ‘spoken’. Liam was a very quiet child. Brilliant but not wordy. So their monthly check in was mainly the teacher talking about Liam’s school projects and activities. Their last meeting Liam had looked straight at the screen and asked, “If I move will you still be my sponsor?” When Carter had told him that of course he would still sponsor him Liam had nodded like he had suspected this answer and gone back to staring out of the window. It was the only time they had spoken directly. The idea that he might not get to have a real conversation with that kid made his heart hurt. 

Carter gritted his teeth and willed the car to move faster. Em had to get there in time. So that Carter could kill whoever was scaring their kid. 

What should have been a twenty-minute drive was made in 11 and a half minutes. Em drove like a professional NASCAR racer sliding in and out of traffic and honking at the cars that wouldn’t move out of her way. Em had turned her flashers on and proceeded to drive like she had a pregnant lady about to give birth in the backseat. They arrived at a gated community with the gates wide open and red and blue lights flashing down the street.  Em screeched the car to a halt, blocking most of the street, and ran up to the house. Carter grabbed the keys and followed behind her. Em completely ignored the shouts of the officers, who were apparently not good at keeping up a boundary, and leapt into the house, her feet barely touching the stairs. Carter shoved past the same officers and took the steps in two leaps screeching to a stop in a foyer. 

There was an officer blocking the way upstairs. He stood one hand hovering over his gun, the other out to stop her. “Ma’am I’m going to ask that you go back out front and wait for information with everyone else.”

Emmersyn huffed with frustration, “Officer with all due respect, this is my house and my child should be somewhere in here, possibly hiding, and you will not stop me from getting to him. Now please move out of my way.” She then stepped around the man like he was a coffee table and proceeded to run up the stairs. The officer looked aghast, like he’d never had a mom on a mission lay down the law to him before. Carter just shook his head at the officer before following her up the stairs. 

Emersyn had entered what appeared to be the Master bedroom and headed straight for a blank board and batten wall. Emmersyn pushed firmly on a specific board in the center of the wall. Carter heard a small click before a section of wall swung forward to reveal a panic room door. She placed her thumb on a keypad, the light turned green, and the door popped open slightly. Small hiccups were all that they could hear.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” Em asked softly.

The hiccups stopped before becoming full blown sobs, “Permission granted.”

Em pulled open the door and crawled into the narrow room, wrapping her son close to her chest, and rocking him back and forth humming softly. Carter crouched at the door and watched quietly.

After a few minutes, Carter could hear the footsteps of the officers coming through the house. 

“Em, we need to know what happened.” Carter probed gently. He kept his voice quiet and his tone soft, not wanting to cause Liam any more upset.

Em nodded, and pulled Liam from her chest, gently wiping his tears with her thumbs, “Liam where is Nanny?”

Liam sniffled, “The bad man got her.”