Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,20

stopped in several times during the day but spent most of the day at the police station, coordinating the officers he had left to handle the routine issues that arose in the city. By the time the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the horizon, no sign of Lucy had been found anywhere in the city.

Most people had gone home. Only a handful of dedicated volunteers, state police officers and sheriff’s deputies remained to assist Denton PD. Josie’s team was left despairing, standing around the command tent facing Amy and Colin with no more answers than they had had the day before.

“How does this happen?” Colin asked. “She was right out there. She was on the goddamn carousel. Detective Quinn, you said yourself that children don’t disappear into thin air.”

“What are you saying?” Amy asked, her voice shaking. She had been strangely silent all day. Josie wondered if she was taking something for her nerves. Josie thought about what it would be like to have a child of her own and for that child to be missing. She would need drugs just to keep breathing, let alone to stay calm.

Colin raked his hands down his face. “I’m saying she couldn’t have wandered off. We would have found her by now. The K-9 officer said she could have gotten into a car.”

“But why would she get into a car with someone else? Why would she run away? You saw her,” Amy said. “She jumped down off the horse and ran away. She ran away. Why?”

Josie again thought of Lucy’s excited movements, how she’d moved with purpose, the same way little Harris ran when he saw his mother after a long day with Josie or with his grandmother. Josie said, “Please don’t take offense to this, but I have to ask: is Lucy your biological child? Both of you?”

The two parents stared at her. Gretchen picked up the line of inquiry. “We didn’t get into this yesterday because the assumption is that Lucy wandered off and simply got lost. But since we haven’t found her or any sign of her, we need to ask questions now. We have to know if there are other parents involved. Is Lucy a result of your marriage or did one of you bring her from a prior relationship?”

“Oh,” Amy said. “She’s ours. Neither of us had children before we were married.”

“How about grandparents? Is she close to either of your parents?” Josie asked.

Colin said, “Amy’s dad was never in the picture and her mom passed away before we met. My parents live in New York City. We take Lucy there to visit them three or four times a year.”

“They don’t come here?” Gretchen asked.

“They don’t like it here,” Amy blurted. “It’s not ‘urban’ enough for them.”

Colin shot her a cautionary look, and Josie had the feeling the two of them had had this argument before—clearly his parents and his wife didn’t always get along.

Josie asked, “How about aunts and uncles? Do either of you have siblings who are close to Lucy?”

Amy shook her head. “I had two sisters. One died in a car accident along with my mom. I haven’t spoken to my other sister since the accident. That was over twenty years ago. We… never got along. I don’t even know where she lives now.”

“What’s her name?” Josie asked.

“Renita Walsh,” Amy said. “Although if she got married, it may have changed.”

“Younger or older than you?”

“Two years older.”

“Have you ever tried to contact her?” Josie continued.

Amy shook her head. “No. Like I said, once Mom was gone, there was no reason for us to keep in touch. I went to New York City. I don’t know what happened to her after that. Colin has a brother, but he’s a bigwig at some company in Hong Kong. We see him once a year, if that.”

“What about Lucy’s friends? Does she have many friends at school?” Josie asked.

“She has a couple of girls that she really likes,” Amy answered. “I can give you their names.” She took out her phone. “I can give you their mothers’ names and numbers as well.”

Josie nodded toward Mettner who walked over to Amy with his own phone, pulling up his note-taking app so he could take down the information.

“Why are you asking this?” Colin said. “You think someone we know took Lucy?”

“Not necessarily,” Josie said. “I think she saw someone as the ride ended and that she was in a hurry to get to that person. I’m wondering who it was and