166|His Light

Austin was up at the crack of dawn. Not that he'd slept. How could he when he couldn't get his mind to shut down and stop reliving the horrific day he'd had?

At some point between coming to bed and Marybeth falling asleep in his arms, a plan had slowly begun to form itself. And it was that plan, more than his strained relationship with his father, that had kept him awake. It wasn't anything solid. But it was still a plan, and vague as it was, he had to get cracking on it. So as soon as the birds began to chirp outside sometime after 4:00 AM, he jumped out of bed, took a leisurely shower, and headed to his study to make a few calls.

Seth was first on his to-do list, and he didn't sound too excited to hear from him when he eventually picked up after Austin's fourth attempt.

"Mr Hawthorne, do you know what time it is?" Seth grumbled. "Someone had better be missing, or your money was stolen. Those are the only acceptable excuses for calling me like this at the crack of dawn!"

"But it's 4