Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,1
her bottom lip, relaxed her grip on the slide and, in a jumble of thin, gangly limbs, began to slide slowly downward on her stomach. “Sorry, Mom,” she mumbled. Once she reached the bottom, her mother took one of her hands and dragged her out of the path of Harris, who slid down seconds later. Quickly, Josie scooped him up again, holding onto his wriggly body tightly.
Lucy’s mother caught Josie’s eye and smiled. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Josie said. “I’m just glad no one got hurt.”
The woman laughed. “Who knew playgrounds could be so dangerous, right?”
“Seriously,” Josie replied. The truth was that taking Harris to the playground took years off her life. There were far too many opportunities for him to stumble and hit his head on something; to fall off something and break a bone; to be inadvertently hurt by another child running too fast or climbing up the slide the wrong way.
“How old is he?” the woman asked as Lucy tugged at her mother’s hand, trying to pull her away to another part of the playground.
“Two,” Josie answered. “Almost three.”
With a wistful smile, the woman said, “Oh I remember when mine was two. What a great age.”
“Oh, he’s not—” Josie was about to explain that she wasn’t Harris’s mother, that she was only watching him for a friend, but Lucy whined, “Mom! I want to go on the carousel!”
Harris stopped wiggling in Josie’s arms. “Me too!” he said. “JoJo, horses again!”
Josie shifted him in her arms. “Again?” she said. “We already went on three times.”
Just the thought of it made the acid in her stomach churn. She’d been feeling peaky on and off for a week now, and three rides on the spinning carousel had certainly not helped.
“Mo-om,” Lucy said, now tugging her mother away from the slide and toward the opposite end of the playground where the shiny new carousel had been installed weeks earlier, thanks to the machinations of the mayor.
An amusement park a few counties away had gone out of business, and Mayor Tara Charleston had seen an opportunity to “enhance Denton’s lovely public park” as she phrased it when she convinced the city council to spend an exorbitant amount of money to have the carousel deconstructed, transported to Denton, and rebuilt inside the city park. At least the city had saved money by having art students from Denton University restore it. Now its bright carnival colors flashed in the afternoon sunlight as it spun, its horses rising and falling in concert with the jubilant music that played while it went round and round. Just looking at it from the playground area made Josie’s stomach turn.
“JoJo, please,” Harris tried again, squirming in her arms.
Before she could try to talk him out of it, a man’s voice said, “You’re Josie Quinn.”
Lucy and her mother stopped and turned back, watching as the man walked up from behind Josie and extended a hand. Josie had seen him in the park when they arrived, walking around the perimeter of the playground, talking on his cell phone. He was lean and tan with salt-and-pepper colored hair. In a blue polo shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of loafers, he looked as though he should be on a golf course rather than a playground, but the late April weather was warm enough for his light-weight clothing.
“I’m Colin Ross,” he told her, his hand still extended.
Josie shifted Harris in her arms so she could shake the man’s hand. Lucy and her mother walked up closer. Lucy’s mother looked from Colin to Josie and back. “Colin,” she said. “You know this woman?”
He turned to her and smiled. “Amy,” he said. “You don’t recognize her from the news?”
Tension knotted Josie’s shoulder blades. As a detective for the Denton Police Department, Josie had solved some of the most shocking cases in the state, many of which had made national news, but she still wasn’t used to her celebrity. Or notoriety.
Amy stared at Josie with uncertainty until, finally breaking the tension, Josie extended a hand. “He’s right. I’m Josie Quinn. I’m a detective with the police department.”
Amy’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God, you just solved the Drew Pratt case!”
Josie nodded, noticing that Colin was beaming at her. “My team solved the case, yes.”
Colin said, “She’s fantastic. Do you know who her father is?”
Josie opened her mouth to say that her father was dead but before she could, Colin said, “Christian Payne.”
A year ago, Josie had found out that she’d been kidnapped