Chapter 7: Garrett Dennis Ware
The patrol units arrived in six minutes.
Ryan counted them from the front window — two cars, no sirens, which meant Tom had told them to come quiet.
They came around both sides of the house.
Ryan heard voices in the backyard, short commands, the sound of a struggle that lasted less than thirty seconds, and then nothing.
Tom came through the back door four minutes later.
He locked it behind him.
"He's in custody," he said.
Caroline sat down heavily in the kitchen chair.
"Is it him?"
"Garrett Dennis Ware.
Forty-seven years old." Tom set his phone on the table.
On the screen was a driver's license photo — the same heavy-shouldered man from the surveillance photograph.
"He had zip ties in his jacket pocket.
And a phone with your address already in the GPS."
Ryan looked at the photo.
"How did he know we had her?"
"We'll find out.
My guess is he's had eyes on this neighborhood since Caroline brought her home." Tom looked toward the living room.
"Is she okay?"
Ryan went to check.
Mia and Danny were still behind the couch.
He crouched down.
"It's over.
The man outside — they have him.
He's not going to come back tonight."
Danny looked up.
"Did they catch the bad man?"
"Yes."
Danny considered this.
Then he looked at Mia.
"Told you."
Mia didn't answer.
She was looking at Ryan with an expression he couldn't quite read — not relief, not disbelief.
Something more careful than either.
"He's been caught before," she said.
"I know." Ryan held her gaze.
"This time is different."
"Why?"
"Because this time, Tom has you.
And Tom has eight months of evidence.
And Garrett came to your location tonight, which means he just handed them everything they needed to hold him."
She was quiet for a moment.
"What about the others?
The men at the house?"
Ryan looked at Tom, who had appeared in the doorway.
"That's what tonight buys us," Tom said.
"His phone.
His GPS history.
His contacts.
We've been waiting for a reason to pull all of it.
He just gave us one." He crouched down to Mia's level.
"You said there were three men at the house where you were kept.
I need you to tell me everything you remember about that house.
Not tonight — you need to sleep.
But tomorrow morning, with someone you trust in the room, I need you to tell me everything."
Mia looked at Danny.
Then at Caroline, who had appeared behind Tom.
"Can Danny stay in the room?" she asked.
Tom glanced at Ryan.
Ryan nodded.
"Yes," Tom said.
"Danny can stay."
Mia pulled the blanket tighter.
"Okay."
Ryan got both children settled on the couch with proper pillows.
Caroline sat in the armchair across from them.
She didn't sleep.
Ryan could see her from the hallway — just sitting, watching them breathe, her hands folded in her lap.
He went to Tom.
"The grandmother.
Ruth."
"I'll call her at first light."
"Don't tell her over the phone.
Go in person, or send someone she can see face to face." Ryan paused.
"She's been waiting eight months.
She deserves better than a phone call."
Tom looked at him.
"You're right." He picked up his bag.
"I'll drive out there myself."
He left through the front door this time.
Ryan stood in the kitchen alone.
The vent cover was still sitting on the floor where he'd left it when he pulled Mia out.
He picked it up and set it on the counter.
He looked at the gap in the floor for a moment — the dark, narrow space where a child had lived for three weeks.
Then he went and sat beside his wife, and they watched their son sleep, and neither of them said anything for a long time.
At 4:47 in the morning, Mia spoke from the couch without opening her eyes.
May you like
"Thank you for not calling the police first," she said.
Caroline reached over and took Ryan's hand.
