Chapter 2 - MARGARET KNEW
Sarah called Margaret Carter from the parking lot.
Luke’s mother answered on the second ring.
“Sarah—”
“You knew.”
Silence.
Sarah pressed the phone harder to her ear.
“You knew Luke was missing.”
Margaret exhaled.
“I knew there had been an incident.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Twenty-eight hours.
Margaret had known for twenty-eight hours.
Sarah looked at Emily in the back seat, already asleep from exhaustion, one wilted flower still trapped in her fist.
“You let me bring her here.”
“I didn’t tell you to.”
“You knew we were waiting.”
“I was trying to confirm the facts before frightening everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“Sarah, please. The Army had not declared him dead.”
“I didn’t ask if he was dead.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“And I wasn’t going to tell a two-year-old her father was missing when there was still a chance he would come home.”
Sarah nearly screamed.
Instead she said:
“You didn’t have to tell Emily. You had to tell me.”
Margaret went quiet.
Then:
“I made the decision I thought was best.”
That sentence sounded exactly like Margaret.
Calm.
Certain.
Always able to turn control into responsibility.
Sarah hung up.
Ten minutes later, Luke’s older brother Nathan called.
He sounded shaken.
“Sarah, I’m sorry.”
“You knew too?”
“Late yesterday.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Mom said casualty affairs was handling notification.”
“They weren’t.”
“I know that now.”
Sarah heard something in his voice.
Not only guilt.
Pressure.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Nathan paused.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t.”
“Sarah—”
“Luke is missing. Your mother hid it. You hid it. Do not make me drag the rest out of you.”
Nathan finally said:
“There’s a company vote tomorrow.”
Sarah stared through the windshield.
“What company vote?”
“Carter Logistics.”
“I don’t care about Carter Logistics.”
“You might have to.”
Luke’s grandfather had built the trucking company. Luke and Nathan inherited voting interests through the Carter Family Continuity Trust.
Sarah had always treated it as Luke’s family business.
Luke went to quarterly meetings.
Sarah stayed home.
Nathan continued:
“If Luke cannot communicate, his branch representative may be able to vote.”
Sarah’s breathing slowed.
“Who is his branch representative?”
Another pause.
Nathan said:
“Mom thinks she is.”
“Thinks?”
“She used to be.”
Sarah looked down at the wilted bouquet on the seat.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
Nathan answered:
“Luke changed it.”
