“No.”
The word was simple.
Flat.
Final.
Coyle’s smile tightened.
“Sir.”
“Mr. Coyle.”
“Yes?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“You wake her up, and I’m going to have a problem with you.”
“You don’t want me to have a problem with you.”
Coyle looked around the diner.
Counting witnesses.
Jack saw it.
Darlene saw it.
Everyone saw it.
“Sir, I don’t want this to become confrontational.”
“I’m just here to do my job.”
“Emma is a ward of the state.”
“She walked away from a licensed group facility without permission.”
“I need to bring her back.”
“She wasn’t allowed to walk away.”
“That’s correct.”
“And yet she did.”
“For 11 hours.”
“In the dark.”
“And nobody at your licensed facility noticed.”
“Not at midnight.”
“Not at 2:00.”
“Not at 4:00.”
“Not at 6:00.”
“That’s correct too.”
Coyle didn’t answer.
“Am I right, Mr. Coyle?”
“There appears to have been a lapse, sir.”
“A lapse?”
“Yes.”
“A seven-year-old child walked into the desert.”
“And your facility didn’t notice for nine hours.”
“That’s a lapse.”
“Sir, I’m not here to defend the facility.”
“I’m here to retrieve the child.”
“Well, Mr. Coyle.”
“You’re not retrieving her.”
“Not today.”
Coyle’s expression changed.
The friendly worker disappeared.
And something more serious appeared.
His hand moved toward his jacket pocket.
Jack noticed instantly.
“Mr. Coyle.”
“Yes?”
“Take your hand out of your pocket.”
“Slowly.”
“I want to see it.”
Coyle looked at Jack.
Jack looked back.
After a moment, Coyle slowly removed his hand.
He was holding a phone.
“I’m going to have to call law enforcement, sir.”
“You do that.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said you do that.”
“You call whoever you want.”
“Because while you’re waiting for them to arrive…”
“I’ll be making some calls of my own.”
“And by the time a deputy walks through that door…”
“There will be a lawyer sitting in this booth with me.”
“And she’s going to have some very interesting questions for you.”
“Questions about a 13-year-old boy.”
“Questions about the lady with the clipboard.”
“Questions about nine hours where nobody noticed a missing child.”
“You still want to make that call, Mr. Coyle?”
For the first time, Coyle looked afraid.
Coyle’s face changed.
The confidence disappeared.
The color drained from his face.
His hand holding the phone went still.
“Sir?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know about…”
“She told me, Mr. Coyle.”
“She told me everything.”
“Every piece of it.”
“Every detail between bites of pancakes because nobody at your facility was listening.”
“So she walked 11 hours in the dark to find somebody who would.”
“And she found me.”
Coyle stared at him.
“My name is Jack Carter.”
“Write it down.”
“I…”
“Write it down, Mr. Coyle.”
Coyle slowly wrote.
“Now you’re going to turn around.”
“You’re going to walk out of this diner.”
“You’re going to sit in your car.”