The Name Jax Had Buried
Chapter 02 - The Name Jax Had Buried
For several seconds, Jax said nothing.
Nora quietly locked the diner’s front door.
She turned the sign from OPEN to CLOSED.
Luke remained standing.
Jax stared at the photograph.
Emily.
He had not said her name aloud in years.
At twenty-five, Jax had been certain he would marry her.
Then one night, she vanished.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone disconnected.
Her mother claimed Emily had left the state.
Jax spent months searching.
Eventually, a letter arrived.
It said Emily had met someone else.
It said she wanted a different life.
Jax still remembered burning it behind his garage.
Now Luke stood in front of him.
“How old are you?”
“Eight.”
The answer confused him.
Emily had disappeared nineteen years earlier.
Luke could not be his son.
Jax felt relief.
Then guilt for feeling it.
“Where is your mother?”
Luke looked down.
“In the hospital.”
Nora moved closer.
“What happened?”
“She got sick.”
Jax leaned forward.
“Where?”
“St. Anne’s.”
Luke handed him the folded paper.
It was not a letter.
It was an address.
Beneath it, Emily had written three words.
Ask about Caleb.
Jax’s face changed.
Nora noticed.
“Who is Caleb?”
Jax looked toward the window.
“My brother.”
Nora frowned.
“I thought you didn’t have a brother.”
“I don’t anymore.”
Caleb Mercer had disappeared seventeen years earlier.
Police believed he had left voluntarily.
Jax never believed it.
Luke touched the photograph.
“My mom said Caleb knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
Luke looked frightened.
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Jax stood.
“Then we’re going to ask her.”
But when they arrived at St. Anne’s Hospital, Emily Carter’s room was empty.
A nurse checked the computer.
Then checked again.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Ms. Carter discharged herself this morning.”
Luke stared at her.
“No. She couldn’t walk.”
The nurse looked confused.
According to the chart, Emily had not left alone.
A man had signed her out.
The name on the form was Caleb Mercer.
May you like
Jax went completely still.
Because Caleb had been missing for seventeen years.
