Chapter 5

A reporter's instinct for a sensational story always moved faster than human compassion.

Russ ran with the camera on his shoulder, terrified of missing a second of it.

Caught among them, I drifted back into the hog pen with the crowd.

I didn't know what my mother saw, but every trace of life seemed to leave her. Her knees gave way, and she collapsed.

My father froze too and caught the rail before he fell.

I leaned around him to look.

I hadn't seen a mirror in seven years. So this was what I had become.

Years of starvation had reduced me to skin stretched over bone, almost a skeleton wearing flesh.

The back of my skull had collapsed inward, and the hogs had torn the flesh from part of my right calf.

Russ dropped the camera, covered his mouth, and crouched in the dirt retching.

Dana stared with one hand over her mouth. Even years of professional training couldn't produce a single word.

My mother crawled forward like someone possessed and pulled my body into her arms. "Caleb! How did this happen? Who did this to you?"

Her scream nearly tore her throat open, and mud and blood covered her clothing.

I stood beside her and tilted my head. "You did, Mom."

And Mom, how could you abandon your dignity like this? It was terribly improper.

My father's knees struck the ground with a heavy thud, and he inched toward my body.

He buried his face in his hands while his shoulders shook as though they might break apart.

I found it almost fascinating. My parents actually seemed to care.

Mara's face turned white.

Her legs could barely support her as she tried to kneel. "I don't know. I don't know how he became like this. He was fine a moment ago. No one touched him.

"And he was so thin because he slept around and caught some disease. That had nothing to do with me."

Dana's eyes filled as she watched my parents. "To search for so many years and lose him the moment he was found... This is unbearable."

Russ lowered his voice. "Caleb may have been a terrible kid, but he was still Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne's biological son. They finally found him, and now he's gone.

"Maybe this was punishment for everything he did. He behaved recklessly, destroyed his health, and became too weak to stand before falling onto the shovel."

Pressure filled my chest, and my fists clenched. None of that was true.

On the ground, my mother held my body with both arms, her eyes wild. "I want every security recording. Even if you didn't strike the final blow, you failed to protect him. I will kill you."

Mara stopped breathing for a second, dropped to her knees, and struck her forehead against the ground.

"Please forgive me. I swear this wasn't my fault."

Seeing her terrified brought a little relief. If my spirit had been able to touch her, I would have torn into her myself.

"Wait."

Elliot seized my father's arm. "Dad, you can't review the recordings. At least not now."

His eyes darted as he leaned close to my father's ear and lowered his voice.

"The reporters are still here. If anyone learns that you and Mom staged Caleb's kidnapping, sympathetic people may call it desperate parenting, but Hawthorne Meridian's competitors will turn it into a scandal.

"Public opinion is easy to manipulate. The company's stock price and reputation could collapse overnight."