Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,105
gaze on the floor. He looked utterly defeated.
Oaks and Josie looked at one another. She nodded for Oaks to proceed. “Mr. Ross,” he said. “We can’t leave your money in the drop locations indefinitely. We can leave it there for a few more days, but the high school will need their field back soon. What would you like us to do?”
Colin shook his head. “I don’t know. How can I make this decision? We don’t even know if Lucy is alive. My wife—” He broke off, tears gleaming in his eyes. He looked from Oaks to Josie. “What would you do?”
Josie shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t have children, Mr. Ross,” she said softly.
“But I saw you with your son the day Lucy disappeared. At the park,” he said.
Josie grimaced. “Harris is not my son. I was babysitting for a friend.”
He took that in, eyes back on the floor, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “My wife trusts you,” he said.
“Yes,” Josie said.
Oaks said, “Mr. Ross, we can’t make these decisions for you.”
“Do you think Lucy is alive?”
“We don’t know,” Josie said honestly. “But we’re not going to stop looking for her.”
“Do you think he’ll come back for the money?”
Oaks said, “I don’t think so, but again, we have no way of predicting what he will or won’t do.”
“He’s stopped calling. Your agents have had Amy’s phone charged and monitored this whole time.” He put his face in his hands. “My God, this can’t be over. My little Lucy. She can’t just be gone.”
Josie waited a moment and when he didn’t speak, she said, “There is another option.”
Colin looked up at her once more. She said, “We could put you on camera. Hold a press conference. You speak to him directly.”
“And say what?” Colin asked.
“Give him instructions,” Josie said.
Oaks said, “It’s not the worst idea. We have no way of making contact with this guy. We have no idea where his head’s at now that his entire plan has gone south.”
“The press is the only way to reach him right now,” Josie said. “You tell him what you want him to do. Maybe we can lure him in.”
“He can have the money,” Colin said. “I’ll deliver it somewhere and he can have it. I just want Lucy back.”
Oaks said, “We’ll hash this out then, sort the location and time, and contact the press. Why don’t you go home and clean up? Take a shower, change your clothes. When you get back, we’ll have everything ironed out, and we’ll prep you on what to say and how to say it.”
Colin stood up. “Yes, yes. I can do that.”
Josie said, “I’ll go with you. I’d like to bring a few items from Lucy’s room if you don’t mind. If this guy has even a shred of humanity left in him, maybe we can appeal to that. Remind him Lucy’s just a little girl and whatever beef he has with Amy, Lucy has nothing to do with that.”
Colin followed her to her vehicle, and they drove the few blocks to the Ross home. “The press is all gone,” he mused.
Josie said, “They’re stationed at all the other locations, hoping to catch something newsworthy. If they knew you were here, they’d be here.”
“Your officer, Mettner? He did a good job avoiding them when we left the hospital.”
“Mett’s a good man,” Josie said as they got out and walked to the front door.
Colin unlocked the door and let them in. The house was eerily silent, the odor of spoiled food filling its rooms. Josie wrinkled her nose. Colin said, “Must be food left out in the kitchen. We ran out of here the other day quickly, and I haven’t been back since.”
Josie motioned to the steps. “You go get ready. I’ll clean up in the kitchen.”
Colin walked to the stairs and stopped, his hand resting on the railing. “Detective Quinn, last night Agent Oaks told me that my wife… that she… that Amy isn’t her real name. That she used to go by a different name. Tessa something. Is that really true? She’s not who she says she is?”
Josie said, “Yes, it’s true. I’m so sorry.”
“Do you know what—what happened to her? Why she took someone else’s identity?”
“I don’t,” Josie said. “I’m sorry. She did allude to the fact that she had been in an abusive relationship. We’re trying to find out more about her past.”
“I didn’t know,” Colin said. “I never knew. She always had such bad anxiety. I tried to be empathetic, understanding, but I—ultimately,