Chapter 2 - THE EMPTY DRIVER’S SEAT
Search lights swept across the ravine while rainwater rushed between broken branches.
Natalie stood near the damaged pickup as the crash investigator measured the driver’s seat.
“This isn’t positioned for Andrew,” he said.
Andrew Cole was five feet nine.
The driver’s seat had been pushed almost completely back, far enough to accommodate someone several inches taller.
The blood on the passenger airbag suggested Andrew had not been driving.
A second smear marked the inside of the driver’s door, but it was smaller and already diluted by rain.
Two people had likely been inside the truck.
Only one appeared seriously injured.
A search dog followed a trail from the passenger side toward the lower part of the ravine. Forty yards from the vehicle, the dog stopped beside flattened grass and a torn strip of dark fabric.
Beyond that point, floodwater had erased the scent.
Near the driver’s door, investigators found a cigarette butt, an orange plastic lighter, and a partial boot print pointing uphill toward the road.
Someone had climbed away from the crash.
Natalie searched the cab again.
Behind the passenger seat sat an empty pharmacy bag dated four days earlier. The receipt showed children’s antibiotics, electrolyte packets, crackers, and canned soup.
Andrew had reached the pharmacy.
He had bought Ashley’s medicine.
The medicine itself was missing.
On the back of the grocery list, written in smaller handwriting, were six words:
Danny—Mill Creek turnout. Bring what you took.
Natalie photographed the message.
At University Hospital, Ashley woke beneath warm blankets with an intravenous line taped to her arm. Buddy rested beside her pillow.
Her first question was about her father.
Natalie pulled a chair close.
“We found his truck.”
Ashley’s eyes widened.
“Was Daddy in it?”
“No.”
Relief crossed her face before fear replaced it.
“Then he’s coming home.”
“We’re still looking.”
Ashley stared at Buddy.
“Uncle Danny said Daddy was stupid for trusting people.”
Natalie kept her voice calm.
“When did Uncle Danny say that?”
“He came over before Daddy left. They yelled in the kitchen.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“Money for my doctor.”
Ashley picked at a loose thread on Buddy’s paw.
“Daddy said Uncle Danny took it. Uncle Danny said he was gonna put it back.”
“Did your uncle leave with your father?”
Ashley shook her head.
“He left first. Then Daddy got a message and said he had to meet him.”
This was the first indication that Andrew’s disappearance involved someone from inside his own family.
Daniel Cole was Andrew’s older brother.
Police records showed a suspended driver’s license, two arrests for prescription fraud, and a recent probation violation that had not yet resulted in a warrant.
His listed address was a weekly-rate motel near the interstate.
Natalie and Detective Marcus Hale reached the motel shortly before dawn.
Daniel opened the door wearing jeans and a sleeveless undershirt. He was taller than Andrew by nearly five inches.
His right cheek carried a fresh bruise.
A shallow cut crossed his left hand.
“What happened to your face?” Marcus asked.
“Slipped in the shower.”
“Where were you Sunday night?”
Daniel leaned against the doorframe.
“Here.”
“Can anyone confirm that?”
“The guy at the desk.”
The clerk could not.
Daniel claimed he had not spoken to Andrew in months. When Natalie mentioned Ashley, he lowered his eyes and said his brother had always been overwhelmed.
“He loved the kid,” Daniel said, “but love doesn’t make somebody responsible.”
Natalie watched his cut hand.
“Did Andrew lend you his truck?”
“No.”
“Did you take money intended for Ashley’s medical care?”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You’re listening to a sick seven-year-old now?”
“I’m listening to everyone.”
They could not arrest him based on suspicion and an old cigarette lighter. Before leaving, Marcus requested access to motel security footage and Daniel’s phone records.
In the parking lot, Natalie noticed mud packed into the tread of Daniel’s boots.
The same pale red clay covered the shoulder of Mill Creek Road.
An hour later, a detective searching Andrew’s house found a receipt beneath a stack of bills.
Three weeks earlier, Andrew had deposited $3,840 into a fundraising account established for Ashley’s medical testing.
The account balance was now eleven dollars.
Bank access records showed that nearly all the money had been transferred from Andrew’s account using Daniel’s phone.
Ashley’s father had not driven into the storm simply to buy groceries.
May you like
He had gone to recover the money his brother had taken from a sick child.
And Daniel had lied about seeing him.
