Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,7
of it.
Logan poked his head in behind her. “That belongs to my boss,” he said. “It’s in case he needs to tighten things up or whatever.”
On closer inspection, Josie saw that the bag was old and well-used. Its zipper hung open, and inside she could see a few wrenches and screwdrivers. She turned to Logan. “Is the door always open? Does it lock?”
“It’s always open,” he said. “I mean, as far as I know. No one really comes in here. No one even notices the door, I don’t think.”
Josie took one last look around, but she didn’t see any sign of Lucy, or any sign that any person had recently been inside the column. Stepping back out, she took Harris from Gretchen’s arms.
“JoJo, I’m thirsty,” he said.
“I know, buddy,” she said. “I’m going to call your mom to come get you. She should be on her way to my house right now.”
They thanked Logan, instructed him not to let anyone else inside the perimeter and walked over to the small crowd of parents. The uniformed officers hadn’t yet found any signs of Lucy on the photos and videos the parents had provided. While Josie contacted Misty and asked her to come to the park instead of Josie’s home to pick up Harris, Gretchen got consent from the parents to address the school-age children. She had them sit on the grass in a circle and she told them that a little girl named Lucy had gotten lost in the park after riding the carousel. She passed around Josie’s phone with the photo of Lucy on the screen. Josie watched them hand the phone around the circle. She estimated the youngest of them to be four years old and the oldest somewhere around ten. Three of them remembered seeing Lucy at the playground. One even remembered seeing her on the carousel ride with her mother, but none of them had seen her once the ride stopped.
As the gathering of parents and children dispersed, Misty DeRossi appeared at the playground’s main entrance. Josie’s boyfriend, Lieutenant Noah Fraley, trailed behind her, moving rapidly on a pair of crutches. It had been about a month since he broke his leg jumping from the upper window of a burning building.
“Mommeee!” Harris cried, reaching for Misty as she got closer. She took him from Josie and hugged him tightly.
“Noah wanted me to bring him,” Misty explained. “I was already at your house when you called me. You sounded like something was wrong.”
Noah reached them a second later. “A kid went missing?” he asked.
Josie explained the situation to both of them.
Misty said, “Are you sure she just ran off?”
All three of them had been deeply scarred by the missing girls’ case that had rocked the city of Denton three years earlier. Any reminder of it was difficult to process. “I don’t know,” Josie answered honestly. “But I want to stay and help with the search.”
“Of course,” Misty agreed.
They said their goodbyes and she headed off with Harris. Noah stood in place, leaning on his crutches. Josie said, “You didn’t have to come.”
He smiled. “I can find a way to make myself useful.”
Josie spotted a bench near the entrance to the play area. “Come on,” she told him. “You can monitor who goes in and out while we search.”
Five
Josie had just left Noah on the bench when Mettner returned with Colin in tow. Lucy’s father’s face had paled by two shades since Josie last saw him. She knew immediately that his daughter had not somehow made her way home.
“She’s not there,” Mettner confirmed.
“Where’s my wife?” Colin asked.
Josie gestured toward the forested areas behind her. “She joined the search. We’ve got a dozen officers out there looking for Lucy right now. If she’s wandered off, we’ll find her.”
“What if she didn’t wander off?” Colin asked, voicing the question that had been running on a loop in Josie’s head since she heard those first few strained, desperate notes in Amy’s voice as she called out for Lucy.
Josie opened her mouth to give some stock police response, but Colin just walked away, off to join the search himself. The three of them watched him go.
Mettner said, “Apparently he travels a lot for his job.”
“Well,” Josie said. “That explains their little spat over Lucy’s sense of direction—and the need for a nanny. Did he mention what the wife does for a living?”
“She’s a stay-at-home mom,” Mettner answered. “She doesn’t work.”
Noah interjected. “Did you say she has a nanny? She must do something. I