“Arthur, you need to come home.”
“Why?”
“Mason is gone.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
“What do you mean, he’s gone?”
“He left the house.”
“When?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
I exchanged a look with Officer Torres.
Arthur lowered the phone.
“What happened?” I asked.
He stared at me.
“Mason disappeared.”
Officer Torres immediately stepped forward.
“Where did he go?”
Arthur’s wife gave an address.
A shopping center about three miles from the house.
Police officers were dispatched.
But before they could leave, another call came in.
The officer listened for several seconds.
Then she looked at me.
“They found him.”
Arthur exhaled.
“Is he safe?”
The officer’s expression was serious.
“Yes. But there’s a problem.”
“What problem?” Arthur asked.
“He was carrying the missing watch.”
Arthur’s mouth fell open.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Officer Torres added:
“And he wasn’t alone.”
Arthur looked confused.
“Who was with him?”
The officer hesitated.
“Two older boys.”
My stomach tightened.
“What older boys?”
She looked at her phone.
“Two boys from Mason’s school.”
Lucas suddenly whispered:
“Mom…”
I turned toward him.
“Those are his friends.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they were at the house earlier.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“Earlier?”
Lucas nodded.
“They were there when Grandpa yelled at me.”
I looked at Arthur.
“You said this was about a watch.”
He didn’t answer.
“Arthur,” I said quietly, “what exactly happened in that house?”
His face had gone completely white.
Finally, he whispered:
“I wasn’t there when Mason found the watch.”
“Then who was?”
He looked toward the floor.
“My wife.”
“And what did she tell you?”
“That Lucas had stolen it.”
I closed my eyes.
Everything was beginning to make sense.
Someone had accused Lucas.
Someone had planted the watch.
Someone had convinced Arthur to throw him outside.
But why?
Then Lucas suddenly spoke.
“Mom…”
I turned.
He was staring at Arthur.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
Lucas’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Mason told me his mom said Grandpa needed to blame me.”
Arthur’s head snapped up.
“My wife said what?”
Lucas began crying.
“He said she wanted you to believe I was a thief.”
Arthur stood completely still.
Then his phone rang again.
This time, he didn’t answer.
Because the name on the screen was his wife’s.
And beneath the name was a message preview:
We need to talk before Evelyn finds out what really happened.
I saw it.
Arthur saw that I saw it.
And in that instant, everything changed.
Because this was no longer about a stolen watch.
Someone had deliberately targeted my son.
And now we had evidence that someone inside Arthur’s own family had planned the entire lie.
I looked at Officer Torres.
“Can you preserve that message?”
She nodded.
Then I looked at Arthur.
“You wanted to know why I’m making this bigger?”
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
“This is bigger.”
Much bigger.
And before the night was over, we were going to find out exactly why they wanted Lucas blamed.
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