CHAPTER 4

Thursday, 8:18 PM

The drive to the ranch went much too quickly. All the way there Matt tried to figure out what to say, how to tell a sixteen year old kid that his mom was dead. His only living relative was gone.

Parking behind the house, Matt shut off the engine and sat for a moment, dreading going inside. Hopefully Catey and the twins were already in bed. He went in through the kitchen and walked down the hallway to the den. CJ looked up worriedly from the book that she had been trying to read and knew without a doubt that her husband didn't have good news. She closed the book and looked over to where Brian stood looking down at the line of trophies, ribbons, and pictures that filled the case that Bill Houston had built.

Matt crossed the room quietly and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Slowly Brian turned to face him; one look at the face of the man told him that he didn't have good news. "No..."

"I'm sorry." The detective's voice was hardly more than a whisper.

"Where is she?" Brian's voice shook.

"They've got her downtown – at the Coroner's Office."

"I want to see her."

"No..." He saw that Brian was about to argue with him. "No, Bri. You don't want to see her."

"She's my mom!" He lashed out and hit Matt's chest, his fists pounding on the man who had been there for him and helped him find his mother before and who now reached out and pulled the boy into a hug as the tears fell from his eyes. "She's my mom." CJ went to the pair, silently hugging both of them. In the doorway of the den Madre Rosa and Sheila now stood, both silently crying as they heard the news. After several minutes the teen finally quieted down and CJ took him by the hand leading him toward the couch.

"What..." Hiccuping, he tried to dry his eyes. "What am I supposed to do now? How do I.."

"We'll take care of everything, Brian." CJ patted his hand.

"Was it Zach Young?" He looked to Matt who after hesitating for a minute finally nodded. "Where is he?"

"We don't know right now. But there's an APB out for him. And we've got his partner that was involved in it already."

"I want to see him..."

"Brian, you know that isn't going to happen – at least right now. Look..." Houston chose his words carefully. "I know you're hurting right now, bud – and you're mad as hell. I am, too. And I promise you that we will get Young. Every cop in the state is looking for him right now."

"Why didn't somebody tell us that he was getting out of prison? If we had known, we could have...I don't know. We could have done something."

"I don't know the answer to that; but I do know that Sheriff Martinez is looking into it."

"That does a lot of good - "looking into it"! It isn't going to bring my mom back!" He got up and stormed out of the den, running up the stairs.

Matt started after him but was stopped by Madre Rosa. "No, hijo. He needs some time. Nothing you can say right now will take away the hurt."

"She's right, hon." CJ was now by his side. "I think you need to get some rest." As he started to argue with her she silenced him with a finger to his lips. "You said yourself that every cop in the state is looking for him right now. Let them do their part." Reluctantly he agreed and the pair went upstairs.

A while later after hitting the shower, Matt came into the bedroom and sat down on the side of the bed as CJ entered the room after checking on the kids. Sitting down next to him she took his left hand in hers. "Now tell me exactly what happened." She listened as he went through the events that had taken place the night before.

"It's awful, CJ. There's no way he can see her. Her face is..." Shaking his head he looked down.

"I'll talk to him in the morning. I just peeked into his room and he's asleep. You need to get some rest, too."

After an hour of tossing and turning, Matt finally went to sleep and woke up again at 5:00AM. After sliding out from under CJ's arm, he got dressed and went down to the kitchen. While waiting for the coffee to brew, he looked out the kitchen window and saw that one of the trucks that was used on the ranch was gone. Knowing that ranch foreman Marty Hoffmann was usually up and about by then, he called the man's cell phone. "Hey. Who's gone down there?"

"Uh..." Marty walked through the bunk house and did a quick check. "Houston, we're all here. Why?"

"Oh, boy..." He turned and went up the steps two at a time and looked into Brian's room. The bed was empty and the boy was nowhere to be found. "Brian's gone. He must have taken the truck. Damn it!"

"Why would he take the truck?" Marty hadn't heard about the boy's mother and as Houston told him what had happened he let out a big breath. "Where do you think he would have gone?"

"I'm not sure. Kinda keep an eye out for him. Gotta go." Going back into his own room, he woke up CJ and told her what was going on and then tried to call the boy's cell phone but got no answer.

"Do you think he might have gone to the apartment?" She quickly began gathering her clothes together and got dressed.

"Don't know. I know he's got a learner's permit, but he doesn't have his license yet. I'm going to try to track him down. Talk to you later." Giving her a quick kiss he left the room and went back down the stairs while dialing Chuck and went out and got behind the wheel of his department SUV. "Chuck, I know it's early but we've got a problem." He informed his friend of what was going on. "I'm going to check the apartment first; can you try to run a check on his cell phone?"

"Yeah, yeah..." The detective was putting on socks. "I'll call down and get somebody started on it."

Matt left the ranch and went toward the apartment while monitoring the traffic on the police radio. No mention was made of anyone being pulled over in the vehicle. He didn't want to report it as stolen and get the boy into trouble.

Entering the parking lot of the apartment complex, he drove through looking for the white pickup; it wasn't on the property. "Brian, where the hell are you?" He left the lot and went towards the Sheriff's Office as his phone rang. "Yeah, Chuck?"

"Parker checked the cell phone's GPS. He's in the neighborhood where you found Lisa last time – just down the street. But the house that Young was using then is gone – the city tore it down a month or so after he was arrested."

"Alright, I'm headed that way."

"I've already got a unit going there."

"Just tell 'em that..."

"I've told them to take it easy on him. They're going to hold him until you get there."

"Thanks." Matt hung up and hit the siren, thankful that the traffic was still light. When he turned the corner onto Richardson street he saw the boy standing in front of the ranch truck arguing with the two deputies who had located him. "Brian..." The boy turned to see him. It was obvious that he had been too busy arguing to notice the SUV that had pulled up behind them. He immediately hung his head and got quiet. "Guys, I sure do appreciate your help." He shook with the two deputies who then went back to their vehicle and left. He leaned against the hood of the truck, still trying to figure out what he should say to the kid. Neither spoke for a minute and stood staring at the empty lot where Young's house had once been. Deciding to try to lighten the mood a little, the cowboy spoke. "Ya know, that place looks a lot better with all those weeds than it did with a house on it." Cutting his eyes over to the boy he saw a slight nod. "So..." Turning he faced the sixteen year old. "How are we going to get this truck back to the ranch?" His answer was a shrug as the boy turned away from him. Not knowing what else to say, he pulled out his phone and called Marty, asking him to send someone over to pick up the truck. Reaching inside the vehicle, he pulled out the key and locked it up. "Let's go." Brian remained where he was. "Bri..." He watched as the teen began walking down the street. "Get in the truck." He was ignored once again and walked after the boy, taking him by the shoulder and turning him around. "I said get in the truck."

"No."

"What in the hell do you think you're going to accomplish here? Young isn't here."

"Well maybe I can find somebody who knows where he is." The angry look the kid shot him cut him to the bone.

"We've got folks trying to do that right now."

Brian yelled at him. "They don't seem to be doing a very good job of it, do they?"

"We're doing everything we can right now..."

"Bull! They all think she started doing drugs again and..."

"No – they don't." He tried to steer the boy back to the SUV but Brian snatched out of his grasp. "Brian, get in the truck. Now."

"Go to hell!" The fist that connected with Matt's face took him by surprise. He stood motionless for a few seconds, the shock of what had just happened completely stopping him before his anger kicked in and he grabbed the kid by the arm, this time gripping down on him.

"I don't care how mad you are at me, you're getting in the truck and going home." The two struggled for a minute, but Matt's strength won out and he held the boy by both of his arms. "Brian, I'm sorry I couldn't find your mom alive, but she was already dead before we even knew she was missing. There just wasn't anything we could do."

Brian began sinking down to his knees as he burst into tears. "It isn't fair!"

"I know it isn't, but sometimes life just works that way." He knelt down next to the boy. "I'm sorry. God, I would give anything if this had never happened, if Young hadn't been released. The fact is that he was and what happened happened. We can't go back; we can only go forward. And you and I both know that your mom wouldn't want you wandering around down here. Now come on..." He eased Brian back to his feet and took him to the SUV, closing the door and going around to the driver's side.

"I'm sorry." Snuffling, the boy wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his t-shirt. "I never..."

"Don't worry about it." Matt started the engine and made a u-turn, heading back toward the ranch. A few minutes later his phone rang. "Hi, Babe. We're on the way home."

"Thank goodness." CJ gave a relieved sigh. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah..."

"I'll see you in a little bit. Love you."

"You, too." Stopping at a red light he looked over at the boy. "CJ was awful worried about you."

Shaking his head, the boy looked out the passenger window. "I want to see my mom."

Matt didn't answer, but kept driving. After a minute of trying to decide what to say he quietly began. "Bri, you really don't want to do that."

"Is she...is it really that bad?" He looked over at Houston.

"It would be better if you just remembered her like she was." Stealing a glance at the boy he saw the mix of emotions that he was going through. "I know that sounds stupid to you, but believe me..." He stopped as his voice cracked. The boy looked at him again as he regained his composure. "It's for the best."

They rode along in silence until Matt put the SUV into park behind the house and cut the engine. "Look..." He turned in the seat to look at the boy. "I know you're hurting like hell. I understand that. But you've got to understand that you need to stay here – stay safe."

"I want to help."

"And I appreciate that. But look at it: right now I could be working to find the son of a bitch and instead I'm back home."

"I'm sorry."

"I promise you – if it's the last thing I do, I will catch Zach Young."