the right track.” Emily took a bite of her turkey on whole wheat.
“It’s starting to look that way,” Colin agreed, chomping down on an all-meat marvel.
“Once Peter gets inside and has a look around, we’ll know more.”
“Actually, we’ll all get a look inside if Isabel’s able to get the FBI to loan us a micro-camera. We can hook up the feed to the media van and watch what’s going on.”
“That’d be great. We’ll get enough on those people to nail them to the wall.”
“Whoa! We don’t even know what’s happening in there yet.”
“We do to a point. My client’s husband admitted he accepted their offer for sex during his massage, so we know prostitution is going on. What we don’t know is if these girls are underage and possibly being forced to perform.”
He nodded his agreement as he took another bite.
“And if we can tie them to the murder of that girl—”
Emily was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket. She dug it out and saw it was Camille calling. “Hello, Camille.”
“Oh, Emily. I’m so glad I caught you. Something terrible has happened.”
“What’s happened?” Emily shot a concerned look at Colin.
“Molly didn’t come home last night.”
“Oh, Camille.”
“I know she was mad when we sent her out of the room. We didn’t want her hearing about murder and prostitution. I had assumed she went to a friend’s house to cool off.”
“You weren’t concerned when she didn’t come back last night, before you went to bed?”
“No, Molly’s a responsible girl. Jonathan and I were both exhausted, so we went to bed early. We assumed Molly would come home at a reasonable hour and we’d talk to her in the morning, but she never came home.” Emily could hear Camille attempting to stifle her sobs.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Maybe she stayed the night at a friend’s house.”
“I already called around to all her friends, but no one’s seen her,” Camille replied between sniffles. “What are we going to do?”
“Maybe Colin can put an ATL out on her car.” Emily looked at Colin again and he nodded.
“No, it’s still in the driveway. She must’ve taken her bike.”
“She couldn’t have gotten far on her bicycle. Does she have her cell phone?” Emily wondered if Colin could track her by it.
“No. I tried calling it but I heard it ringing in her room. She was so angry when she went out that she must have forgotten it.”
“Perhaps she went to see a friend you don’t know.” Emily wracked her brain for plausible possibilities.
“Anything’s possible,” Camille sadly conceded.
“I tell you what, Colin and I have a meeting this afternoon, but I’m free for the next couple of hours. Let me come over and we can talk this through, see what we can do to find her.”
“I’d really appreciate that, Em,” Camille said, sounding as frightened and as small as Emily had ever heard her. “I’m going to call Maggie and let her know.”
Colin drove Emily home to pick up her car so she could head to Camille’s house while he went to his office. He urged her to have the Hawthornes come in and file a missing person report.
“I will.” Emily unbuckled her seatbelt as Colin pulled into her driveway. “I want to get Camille settled down and see what we can do to locate Molly. It’s not like that girl to stay out all night and not let her folks know where she’s at. She’s headstrong, but she’s pretty responsible and level-headed.”
“Doesn’t sound like you think she spent the night at a friend’s house.” He reached out and took her hand.
She shook her head. “I’m worried, Colin. It isn’t like Molly to just run off.”
“I’ll be at the station all afternoon if you need me. Have Camille and Jonathan come in.”
“If we don’t find Molly soon, I will.” She climbed out of his Jeep.
“Don’t forget our meeting with Peter and the others at three—my office,” he called out before she shut the door.
“Not a chance I’d forget,” she replied as she waved good-bye.
CHAPTER 15
“Oh, Em! I’m so glad you’re here.” Camille greeted her at the door and threw her arms around Emily, holding damp tissues in one hand. “Come in, come in.”
“Any word from Molly?” Emily asked as Camille walked her to the open kitchen area.