Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,61
other wore a blue T-shirt that said 60 Is the New 40 in bold white letters. Julie was shorter and heavier than her daughter, with shorter, lighter hair, but they shared the strawberry freckles. Jerry double-clicked on the profile photo to reveal the date and caption. “This is from about three years ago. As you can see from the caption, they were celebrating Julie’s sixtieth birthday.” The caption read, “Best birthday gift possible. My beautiful daughter is back with me. So happy to have her home again!”
Grace raised her hand, but didn’t wait to be called on. “Would it be a spoiler to ask where Summer was before that?”
“If we knew, I would tell you. So, that’s mystery number one. Onward.” Jerry speed-scrolled through hundreds of typical social media posts: pausing to point out Julie’s regular mentions of her daughter, including a few pictures of the two of them together at the meal-delivery nonprofit called God’s Love We Deliver.
“I brought an extra sous-chef with me for my regular Tuesday shift in the kitchen,” Julie had captioned one of the photos. “Click here to donate to an important cause!”
Jerry continued scrolling before stopping suddenly on a post from four months earlier. “Now this is where things get interesting.”
Instead of a personal photograph, the post was of white cursive text against a dark blue background. Mothers Don’t Sleep, it read. They Just Worry with Their Eyes Closed. It was posted with the caption, “SO TRUE!”
Laurie noticed Ryan drop his pen to the table, taking a break from the notes he was scribbling intensely, as if he had been assuming that nothing promising could come from a so-called mommy-meme. He was wrong. The key was to read the replies from Julie’s friends.
Katie Lundt: Julie, I want to think you’re kidding, but this doesn’t sound good?
Beth Trainor: LOL, honey, but I agree with Katie. You’re worrying us. Is Summer okay?
Julie then replied: She has made some choices that are… well, I don’t understand them.
Katie Lundt: But is everything OK?!
Julie: I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer, so now she left the house to stay with Toby (half brother). Long story, but, honestly, I’m concerned. Pray for me and my daughter, please. I can guide her but I can no longer control her. Why do they have to grow up so fast?
Laurie would never understand people who engaged in intimate conversations on the internet. If she had to guess, Julie Carver never imagined that a total stranger would end up scouring her social media for a glimpse into the most private details of her family.
Ryan’s pen was back in hand, furiously at work on his legal pad. “It sounds like there was a falling-out,” he said. “And the timing is right. Starting around six months ago, Summer ramped up her prison visits to Gunther to twice a week. Her mother may not have been happy about her daughter’s newest friend.”
“That’s exactly what we think,” Jerry said. “Since this post four months ago, there’s no indication that Julie has seen her daughter even once. In fact, there’s no direct mention of Summer at all. On Mother’s Day, a few people posted notes to Julie that they were thinking of her and wishing her better days with her children, so it would appear that they’re still on the outs. And Summer’s profile says she has a brother named Toby. It seems he’s a half brother, and not Julie’s son.”
Ryan squeezed the bridge of his nose. “It’s still really thin. All we really know is that Summer supports Gunther and has had some falling-out with her mom. A big leap from that to kidnapping. Do we have any reason to believe Summer’s capable of that?”
Jerry clicked off the overhead projection as Laurie explained that she had called Jennifer Langland, the Long Island detective in charge of Johnny’s case, the previous night.
Grace shook her head, not trying to veil her displeasure. Her long red fingernails gleamed as she raised an adamant hand. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve never met the woman, but from everything I’ve heard, she is convinced we’re on a wild-goose chase with Gunther. Just have your father do his thing. The NYPD can run Summer through every database known to man. Done!”
Grace wasn’t wrong. Langland was clearly skeptical of Gunther’s involvement in Johnny’s abduction, but she was also the investigator in charge. She was Laurie’s first stop unless it became clear they needed a Plan B.
“I think I caught Langland at a good time,” Laurie said.