Find Her Alive (Detective Josie Quinn #8) - Lisa Regan Page 0,34
how am I going to do this?” She looked toward the back door. “Annabelle keeps asking where Nanny went. I don’t know what to tell her. Shit.”
More tears streaked her face and her rocking increased. Josie knew there was nothing she could say. There were no answers, no comfort she could give. The road ahead of Monica and her little girl was thorny and fraught with grief. Josie sat with her until she composed herself, and stood up, ready to go back inside. Before they went in, Josie handed her a business card. “My cell number is on there. Call anytime. Day or night.”
Monica studied it before putting it into her back jeans pocket. “Thank you.”
Josie said, “Now I’ve got to get to work.”
Nineteen
They arrived back at Denton PD headquarters after seven in the evening to find the press crowding both the front and back entrances of the building. Two WYEP vans sat out in front of the building. Several reporters milled around on the sidewalk, converging on any police officer who entered or exited. There was no chance of them sneaking in unnoticed. Gretchen kept one hand firmly wrapped around Josie’s arm as they waded through a sea of shouting people and into the back entrance. They took the stairs to the second floor, where the desk phones were ringing off the hook. Noah and Mettner were seated at their desks, receivers pressed to their ears. Josie’s phone buzzed with a text. It was her friend Misty.
I just heard. Let me know if I can do anything. I’m here for you.
Josie ultimately settled on a simple reply:
Thank you. I’ll keep you posted.
Misty immediately responded with a heart emoji.
Noah hung up his desk phone and gave her a quizzical look. She held out her phone so he could read the text exchange. “The press has gone insane over this,” he said. “We’ve been fielding calls almost since you left.”
“What are we telling them?” Josie asked.
Mettner hung up as well and said, “That Trinity is missing, and that foul play is suspected given the fact that although her phone and purse were found inside the car, other personal items were taken. We’re keeping Nicci Webb’s remains under wraps for now.” He looked around at all of them. “That means no one mentions them or Webb to anyone who is not on the Denton PD staff—everyone got that?”
They nodded. Noah said, “You’d better spread the word. Don’t want any of these patrol guys going home telling their wives and their wives telling their… you get the idea.”
“I’ll handle it,” Mettner assured him. “This is delicate, but I want to try to use the press coverage to our advantage since there’s no avoiding it. WYEP already ran a few spots as breaking news. They’ve got it up on their social media pages. I’m going to have to do a press conference at some point, but for now, let’s just keep working the case. What did you guys get from Detective Loughlin?”
Gretchen and Josie sat down at their desks. Gretchen gave him and Noah a rundown of everything they’d learned about Nicci Webb and her disappearance. She also recapped their meeting with Monica Webb, concluding with, “Heather’s going to send over a copy of her investigative file, although she says she doesn’t think there’s anything in there that will be helpful to us.”
Mettner furiously typed notes into his phone as Gretchen spoke. “We’ll have to see if we can find a connection between Trinity and Nicci Webb on Trinity’s end,” he muttered.
“Yes,” Josie agreed. “Did you talk to Hummel?”
Mettner nodded. “He told us about the message in the car and the comb, yeah. He uploaded photos to the file. Also, I got in touch with Trinity’s co-anchor, Hayden Keating, as well as one of her producers.”
“That’s great,” Josie said. “Did they say anything? Have they heard from her recently? Did they know what she was working on?”
Mettner stopped typing into his phone and shook his head. “No. They haven’t heard from her in over a month. They didn’t have anything to offer. But they’re sending out a crew with Keating. They’ll be here in a few hours. We can talk more with them then.”
“What about the canvassing?” Josie asked. “Of the other occupied cabins?”
“I’m sorry, boss, but it didn’t turn anything up. Only four of the other cabins were occupied. No one heard or saw anything. None of those people even knew that number six was occupied.”