Mason had never seen a slump in Lucas’s shoulders. His usual chipper greeting had been severely muted, and he looked like he’d been sick for weeks. “The FBI is sending more people,” Lucas said quietly. “I guess they have some sort of specialized team they pull from the other West Coast offices to respond to kidnappings.”

“The CARD team,” Mason answered. “Child abduction rapid deployment. They take this shit seriously. We all do.” He swallowed hard and thanked heaven again that it wasn’t his kid who was missing. He glanced at Lucas and felt instantly guilty. The man was staring at his ex-wife as she sobbed on Robin’s shoulder.

Mason didn’t know how their marriage had broken up. He’d never asked and now it didn’t matter. They had a little girl to find. The Oregon State Police would offer resources, but Mason couldn’t be one of them. As a family member, he couldn’t be an official part of the investigation. But he’d set a plan in motion to get around that rule. He’d already requested some time off. And God protect anyone who tried to tell him his help wasn’t needed.

“Tell me what happened,” he said in a low voice to Lucas.

Lucas glanced at the two women and then jerked his head for Mason to follow him into the breezeway between the kitchen and dining room.

“Henley has been staying with us this week. Usually I get her one of the two weeks of winter vacation, but her mom asked me to add this extra week while she got some work done. Henley left for the bus stop like normal at about seven thirty this morning. Robin watched her walk out the door. A few hours later, her mom called, asking if Henley had stayed home sick from school, because she was getting automated calls and emails that Henley wasn’t at school.”

“The school will contact you if your kid doesn’t show up?” Mason asked.

Lucas nodded. “You’re supposed to call in on a special line if your kid will be missing any part of school that day. I know we forgot once or twice with Jake when he stayed home sick, and so we got a bunch of notifications. It’s a good system.”

“But it still takes a few hours to process.”

“Well, they have to compare the attendance to the sick calls. That’s entered by hand. Discrepancies trigger the calls and emails.”

“What happened when Lilian called here?”

“Robin assured her Henley had gone to school and immediately called the school to confirm that she was there. I think Lilian called them, too. Henley’s homeroom teacher said she hadn’t shown up.”

“What about the school bus driver? What about the other kids on the bus? Anyone talk to Henley’s friends?” Mason rattled off question after question.

Lucas seemed to deflate more. “They’re working on all that.”

“Wait. How does Henley ride the bus if she doesn’t usually live with you?”

“We live in the same school district and have the same elementary school boundaries.”

“I didn’t know you lived so close to your ex. Has it always been like that?”

“Yes, Lilian has a place about five minutes from here. It’s really convenient for Henley. Lilian and I get along pretty well.”

“Is she remarried? Do they have more kids?”

Lucas shook his head, and his gaze went over Mason’s shoulder as the volume rose in the dining room. Mason turned around to see more people joining the group—judging by the dull suits, FBI agents. Good. No one knew more about child abductions, and the unique skills the FBI could offer to the local police were gold. Depending on its size, a police department might deal with one major child abduction over a decade. The FBI dealt with them monthly. Mason had never seen the CARD team in action, but he’d heard good things.

Mason turned back to Lucas. “Officially I can’t join whatever task force they set up, but I can help as a family member. I’ll be the family voice for the media and the liaison to the police and FBI. Let me do this for you guys. I’ve already told work I’m taking some time off. However long it takes to bring Henley home.”

Lucas started to refuse, and Mason put a hand on his shoulder, giving the man a little shake. “Listen to me. Your wife and ex-wife are gonna need you for support. You don’t have time to deal with the politics of the situation. I know how these guys work. Let me handle that. Everything I find out, I’ll immediately pass on to you. Robin, Lilian, and you are going to want to be in the center of the investigation, and that’s not going to help.”

Lucas’s eyes looked bleak. “Will they let you do that?”

“If you back me up. Make it clear you’ll step back a bit, and they might be more accepting.”

Desperation lurked in Lucas’s gaze as he looked into one of Mason’s eyes and then the other.

“I don’t know what to do,” he whispered. “I have to help. I have to know what’s going on. She’s my daughter, for God’s sake. I can’t just step back and do nothing.”

“You won’t be idle. They’re going to interview the heck out of all of you. Over and over. Everything you can tell them will help, but they’re not going to let you look over shoulders in the command center. I’ll do that and report back to you.”

“Command center?” Lucas’s voice cracked. “You think they’ll need—”

“They’ll set up something within the hour I’m sure. You need to let them do their job. That’s going to be your hardest role.” Mason frowned as he glanced back at the growing crowd.