Emily glanced from the kitchen to the family room. “Where are Jonathan and Peter?”
“They’re driving around to places Molly might have gone. We’ve phoned all the friends we found in her phone, but no one’s seen her.” Camille’s normally brilliant blue eyes were swollen and almost as red as her hair. “I’m so scared, Em.”
“Colin wants you or Jonathan to fill out a missing person report at the station. Will he be back soon?”
“So Colin thinks she’s missing, too.” That acknowledgement brought a flood of tears to Camille’s eyes. Picking up a box of tissues from the breakfast bar, she went into the family room and plopped down on the sofa.
Emily followed and sat beside her. “It’s just a possibility, Cam, and it has been twenty-four hours since she took off. Let’s go through the appropriate steps—it can’t hurt.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Make sure you bring a recent photo of her, too.”
Camille and Emily turned their heads at the sound of the front door opening and closing, and they heard voices coming down the hall. Jonathan and Peter had come through the doorway, with Maggie following close behind.
“Did you find her?” Camille shot to her feet as Maggie rushed to hug her.
Jonathan almost spoke, but his eyes grew watery and his lips trembled as he tried to form the words.
“No, no sign of her,” Peter replied, stepping in to answer. “But we’ll keep looking.”
“Emily said Colin wants us to come down to the station and file a missing person report.” Camille went to stand by her husband and he put an arm snugly around her shoulders.
“Then he can put her picture and profile out to all his officers and the state’s law enforcement agencies.” Emily rose from the couch and stepped closer to Camille and Jonathan. “We should move quickly on this.”
“Don’t forget the Amber Alert, too,” Maggie added.
“Sorry, these circumstances wouldn’t qualify,” Emily said. “But law enforcement can’t do anything until the report is filed.”
“Then what are we doing standing here?” Peter asked. “Let’s load up and get down there.”
Emily turned to Maggie and put her hand on her friend’s arm. “Maggs, I think you should stay here in case Molly returns on her own.”
“Would you please, Maggie?” Camille pleaded with sad eyes.
“All right.” Maggie released a sigh of resignation as she crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I’d rather come with all y’all, but I understand. Whatever I can do, Cam.”
“Staying here is a big help,” Camille assured her.
“Call us if she shows up,” Peter said.
Jonathan and Camille took their car and Emily invited Peter to ride with her. As they drove down the street, away from the Hawthorne house, Emily noticed the garage on the mysterious family’s home going up. The Mercedes was approaching from the opposite direction and beginning to turn into their driveway. Emily caught a glimpse of the inside of the garage before the car obscured her view. It looked like a normal family garage, she thought, fairly empty with a few boxes on shelves along the side wall. She noticed the back end of a bright red and yellow bicycle leaning against the shelving deeper into the space.
“See that house there?” Emily nodded in the direction of the house. “Where that car just pulled in?”
“Yeah.”
“Write this address down.”
Peter pulled a small notepad out of his jacket pocket and Emily handed him a pen.
“Five two three three Somerset Drive.”
He scribbled down the address. “Why did you want me to do that?”
“That’s the house where Molly and I saw the young girl from the hotel restroom. Later I saw that girl in the car that just pulled in, and I followed it down to the Jade Thai Spa. If I’m right about the prostitution ring, the woman who poses as the mother in that house is really the madam at the spa.”
Emily glanced over at him and saw he was furiously scribbling down what she was telling him.
“This will be great info for my story. After we take down this ring, Emily, I want to sit down with you and get all the details, no matter how small.”
“I’d be happy to do that, I just wish Molly hadn’t taken off yesterday. We can’t focus all our energy and resources on nailing these scumbags if we have to find Molly first. She couldn’t have picked a worse time to run off.”
“There’s never a good time for your kid to go missing,” Peter reminded her.