Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,72
she hide?
She got down on her hands and knees behind the nearest recliner chair.
Mettner appeared behind her, also suited up. “What are you looking for, boss?”
“A chrysalis,” Josie answered. There was nothing beneath the chair. She moved over to the loveseat. Nothing. As she lowered her head to the floor and peered beneath the last chair, she spotted a small green object. “I need a flashlight,” she called over her shoulder.
A moment later, Mettner handed her his cell phone with the flashlight app turned on. The beam shone on the green object—cylindrical and slightly curved. “Found it,” Josie said, her heart hammering in her chest. “I’m going to take some photos of this, then I need it processed. I’ll use your phone and you can text them to me. Lift up the chair, would you? Gently.”
Mettner pushed the chair forward, its hind legs coming off the carpet. Josie snapped a handful of photos before telling Mettner to lower the chair. She handed his phone back to him. Scrolling through the shots she’d taken, he said, “She used leaves this time. I don’t think we can get prints from this.”
“That’s not the point,” Josie said. “The point is that we know that there’s a good chance she’s still alive, and now we know this guy is armed with more than a knife.”
Thirty-Eight
Josie dropped Mettner off at the command tent. As the volunteers she had seen earlier came into view, Josie said, “You should take some of these people out to the cabin after Hummel’s team is finished processing it. Have them search the woods and see if they can find anything.”
Mettner nodded. “Good idea. It will give them something to do. Well, except the psychologist guy, I guess.”
Josie followed Mettner’s gaze to see Bryce Graham seated on a bench in the playground area, now speaking with one of the mothers that they’d talked to the evening after Lucy had been taken. It was Zoey, she thought, as she felt a small pinch of irritation. She didn’t know the guy, but it sure seemed as though he was using the Ross family tragedy to drum up more business for himself.
“He looks like he’s got plenty to keep him busy,” Josie remarked.
She drove the few blocks to the Ross home, circling the block twice to find a parking spot amongst all the press vehicles. The reporters on the front lawn attacked her with shouted questions as she made her way up the front walk. An FBI agent let her in. “They’re in the dining room,” he told her.
She heard Oaks speaking as she edged into the room behind him. “Remember what we talked about. The next time the kidnapper calls, I want you both to be ready.”
From their places at the other end of the dining room table, Amy and Colin Ross stared at him. “I asked for proof of life already,” Colin said. “It didn’t end well.”
Josie walked up beside Oaks. Colin and Amy glanced at her before returning their gazes to him.
“This is a negotiation,” Oaks said, “You don’t want to give him everything he wants right away, or he’ll keep asking for more. Do you have a million dollars?”
The couple looked at one another. Colin shifted in his chair. “Not readily available. I started liquidating assets the other day. I could come up with eight hundred thousand pretty quickly but the rest… it would take longer.”
“You still want to demand proof of life,” Oaks said. “You did well the last time, asking for it.”
“But he won’t give it to us,” Colin said.
“You don’t know that. He wants money. Our best chance of getting Lucy back is to try to come to some kind of agreement with this monster. Show him you’re willing to play his game.”
“I think this is a mistake,” Amy said, her voice tremulous. “Why are we taking chances with our daughter’s life?”
“Do we even have a choice?” Colin asked.
Oaks looked up at Josie. “Your Officer, Hummel, sent us over a list of the stolen guns as well as their serial numbers. Did you find anything at the hunting cabin?”
Josie took out her phone and pulled up the photos of the chrysalis.
“Oh my God,” Amy cried. “She’s still alive.”
Colin’s eyes glistened as he, too, looked at the photo. He said, “We don’t know that. We don’t know how long ago they were at this cabin.”
“That’s true,” Josie acknowledged.
“And now he’s armed,” Colin pointed out.
“He was always armed,” Amy said. “He killed Jaclyn and Wendy. The police said he