Mission: Without a Trace - Nicole Edwards Page 0,18

picture I have of her,” Rob said softly.

Brantley looked at the picture of Lauren with a couple of other girls, all of them grinning widely, as though they were happier than they’d ever been.

“She disappeared shortly after that,” Rob noted.

Brantley detected the pain in his voice. It was the same inflection he’d heard when he had spoken to Lauren’s mother. Despite the apparent problems they’d had between them, both of Lauren’s parents loved her very much and they were still suffering after all these years.

“I was a little surprised to get your call,” Rob told them, motioning them into the family room. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve managed to get anyone to give me information on her case.”

“We just recently took it over,” Brantley admitted, lowering himself to the sofa.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Reba offered.

“We’re good, thanks.” He turned his attention back to Rob. “Both Reese and I grew up in Coyote Ridge. We’ve recently been assigned to a task force created by Governor Greenwood. We’re lookin’ into missing persons cases. The governor mentioned this one specifically, so we decided it would be the first one we focused on.”

Rob was staring back at him, and if Brantley wasn’t mistaken, there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“I haven’t seen Gerard in years,” Rob said, his voice low, as though it took effort to project it. “Not since shortly after Lauren’s disappearance. He still calls from time to time to check in.”

“If you don’t mind, sir, maybe you could walk us through what happened the day Lauren went missing,” Reese suggested.

Rob’s eyes turned glassy. “Of course.” He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “It was a normal day, I guess you could say. I woke up that morning, left for work while Lauren was having breakfast.” He smiled at the memory. “Frosted Flakes. Her favorite. She had a bowl every morning.”

Brantley listened intently as he continued to explain how he had gone to work and was on his way home when Ellen called him to let him know Lauren hadn’t made it.

“She thought maybe I’d picked her up that day. I figured she had gone to a friend’s house.”

“Did she normally do that?” Reese inquired.

“Not unless she was at Corinne’s. But she did have a lot of friends and she was starting to hang around more people. Part of high school, I figure. It’s when kids blossom, establish the basis for who they will be.”

Brantley nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“By the time I got home, Ellen was frantic. She’d called the police. They were checking in with the school, reaching out to her friends. Corinne had stayed home sick that day, so Lauren hadn’t gone over there.”

“Do you know if she had a boyfriend at the time? Or did she have a lot of interactions on social media?”

“She had the regular accounts, but we had the log-in information. We were relatively strict about her online interactions, what with the dangers and all. I looked through her accounts, didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but I gave all that information to the police at the time.”

“What about boys at school? Did she like someone in particular?”

Rob’s eyes narrowed. “No. Lauren wasn’t interested in boys.”

Brantley was curious as to the statement. Ellen had said something almost identical. And he got the feeling they didn’t mean because she wasn’t at that age yet. Something in their tone.

“She preferred her friends over everyone. And she was into her schoolwork. Most of her friends were focused on what college they would eventually get into. I think it was a game they played. Who could get the best grades.”

Wow. If Brantley’d had friends like that, imagine where he might’ve been today.

“Were any of her friends boys?”

“No.” Rob’s gaze lowered. “Like I told you, she didn’t date, didn’t talk about boys. Probably had something to do with the fact Ellen forbid her to. Said she had no time for boys in her life and she could focus on that when she was finished with her schooling.”

A little harsh, but it went along with the way Ellen had reacted to Brantley’s question.

“We heard she stayed after school to work on a project,” Reese said. “Do you happen to know which class the project was in?”

“No.” Rob’s eyes lowered. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t as involved in her school as I should’ve been. I didn’t help her with her homework, didn’t even check to make sure she’d done it. I left all that to