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woman who wept in front of her and Jackson when their father ran off one morning.
    “Hi, Mom,” Susan said.
    “Hi.” The voice wasn’t even the same. There wasn’t any strength or conviction behind it.
    “Did Jackson come by?”
    Her mother nodded. “Jackson looks good.”
    “When? This morning?”
    The question clearly confused her. She squeezed her eyes shut and frowned.
    Susan didn’t want to push. “I saw him the other day too, Mom. You’re right. He does look good.”
    If you consider the stench of alcohol on him and the lines at his eyes that shouldn’t be there good.
    The strain on her mom’s face disappeared. “I miss him. I miss Daddy.”
    “Daddy’s long gone,” Susan said.
    “This is his fault. Everything is Dad’s fault. I remember. The car outside. The water.”
    Her mother’s voice trembled and the strain reappeared. A tear appeared at the corner of her eye.
    Susan kept fighting to keep her composure. Her eyes burned. She put a hand on her mother’s arm.
    “It’s okay, Mom. It’s going to be okay.”
    “Dad should have stayed away. I told him. We told him.”
    Susan let her own tears flow. Nothing made sense, and it hurt to watch. She wanted so desperately to just be able to have one more normal conversation with her mother. Just some time to say good-bye and have her mother know she was loved.
    But that wasn’t going to happen. Her mother had disappeared months before.
    “Maxwell Carter,” her mom said. “Maxwell Carter.”
    The name sounded so familiar. Was it a relative of Franklin’s? Why had she heard it before? “Who are you talking about, Mom?”
    But her mother just shook her head slowly and leaned back against the pillow. The grip she’d had on Susan’s hand relaxed. There wasn’t much more to talk about today.
    “I love you, Mom,” Susan said, and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Just hang on a little longer. I know Jackson wants to tell you too. You need to hear it. And he needs to say it.”
    Susan left the room, then reached into her bag. Taking out her cell phone, she checked it to see if Franklin or Jackson had called. She’d had it on silent so she could talk to her mother without interruption; now she turned the ringer back on. No one had called, but the phone rang almost immediately. It was a number Susan didn’t recognize.
    She answered anyway.
    “Listen to me carefully,” a voice said. “I have your husband. He is safe. For now. Instructions will follow. No police.”
    And like that the line went dead.
     

Part Two

Susan Carter
     
CHAPTER 14
     
    JACKSON WASN’T PICKING UP HIS PHONE. SUSAN Carter dialed again and got his voice mail again. Where the hell was he?
    The parking lot closed in on her, or at least that’s how it felt. The cars were too close and she couldn’t see her own. She was wandering in circles. Her BMW had to be here somewhere. She had gotten here somehow.
    “This is Jackson Donne. I can’t get to my phone right now. Please leave a message.”
    Beep!
    “Jackson, this is Susan. Where are you? Call me, please.”
    Her hands shook hard and she couldn’t close her cell phone. It was getting hard to breathe. The corners of her vision started to fade. She called Jackson again.
    “This is Jackson Donne. I can’t get to my phone right now. Please leave a message.”
    Beep!
    “Please, Jackson. This is an emergency. Call me back.”
    His cell phone wasn’t on. Where was he? She was getting light-headed now. They’d taken her husband.
    They? Who was they?
    And now Jackson was missing. Had something happened to him too? The sounds of traffic from Berdan Avenue rattled in her ears. Tears flowed from her eyes. She couldn’t breathe. It felt like an elephant was standing on her chest.
    Beep!
    “Jackson! Pick up your goddamned phone!”
    She hadn’t even realized she’d called again until she heard the beep. Susan didn’t know what else to do. Now she felt the asphalt tilt beneath her, and her vision clouded completely. She