by Lisa Regan
Noah shook his head. “I don’t know, but of the other two sets of prints, one set is found all over the house. The other set is only found on the front door and in the kitchen.”
“I’m guessing the set found all over the house is Rory’s,” Josie said.
“Right. But the other set—it could mean nothing. Maybe it was a delivery person or someone who only came over once. It could be unconnected.”
“I doubt that,” Josie said. “I don’t think Lorelei would have things delivered to her home.”
“We thought Lorelei was exceptionally private—that she had no visitors at her place—and then we found out that Pax was there regularly, and that Reed would go to get him,” Noah pointed out. “Hell, we didn’t even know about Rory until a few hours ago. We really don’t know what else Lorelei was doing out there or who else she entertained. Also, I did manage to find out Rory’s blood type from his birth records. Guess what?”
“It’s O positive. Same as the blood found on Lorelei’s truck,” Josie guessed.
“Yes.”
That put Rory right back at the top of their suspect list. Not that the list was very long to begin with.
Noah said, “When you saw him, did he look banged up at all? Have any scratches or lacerations?”
Josie shook her head. “No, but he was wearing long sleeves and pants. There was no way for me to tell. Hey, did anyone ever hear from Dr. Feist about the bloody footprints leading from the kitchen out the backdoor of the house? The barefoot prints?”
Noah nodded. “She confirmed they’re Holly’s footprints in Lorelei’s blood.”
“What about Emily?” Josie asked. “Any word on her?”
“Adam and Celeste took her. Ms. Riebe met with them and said she felt comfortable leaving Emily with them temporarily.”
“Great.”
A door slammed and the Chief appeared before them, arms crossed over his thin chest. “What the hell is this, Quinn?”
She brought him up to speed, watching as his face reddened with each word. “Gretchen’s going to need more people out in those woods,” he said. “If this kid is running around with a damn gun shooting at my detectives.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that, Chief,” Josie said. “I don’t think it was Rory who shot at me.”
Noah said, “You said you looked away from him, looked back, he was gone, and then came the shot.”
“Right,” said Josie. “But I’m not sure he could have circled me that quickly and gotten off a shot. Besides, he didn’t have a gun the whole time I saw him. Not in the house and not while I was chasing him.”
The Chief said, “What if he hid it out in the woods? Maybe that’s why he stopped at that spot. You thought he was catching his breath, but maybe he was getting you close enough so he could grab the gun and take a shot.”
Josie pictured the scene again in her mind. She tried to calculate how long it was between the time she looked back at the tree to discover that Rory was gone and when the shot rang out. Would it have been enough time? She was already full of adrenaline at that point. Time was meaningless. Things that took only seconds would have felt like an eternity, and things that took a long time would have felt instantaneous. The only real way to tell if the Chief’s scenario was possible would be to go back out to that spot, try to figure out exactly where she was standing, as well as the bullet’s trajectory and origin using the marks left on the trunk by the bullet.
“You’re not going back out there,” Chitwood said, as if he could see her mental calculations floating above her head. “Not tonight, anyway. Look, I’m going to call the state police and see if we can get some more bodies out in those woods. Maybe if there are twenty cops out there instead of just one, he’ll be less inclined to take a shot. Once we nab him, we’ll see if we can get him to talk.”
Something in the back of her mind was irking her. “Can you get someone to find Reed Bryan? If he’s looking for Pax and finds out he’s here, he’s going to be a real shitstorm. Maybe we can head him off at the pass?”
“Fine,” said the Chief.
Josie’s desk phone jangled. Noah lifted the ice pack. She put her foot down and leaned over, snatching up the receiver. “Quinn.”
Adam Long’s voice came over the line. “Detective Quinn?”
“Mr. Long.”
“Do you think you could come up to Harper’s Peak? We have a bit of a situation.”
Josie wondered if Emily was having another meltdown. She had no idea whether or not Marcie had prepared Adam and Celeste for her OCD.
“What’s the problem, Adam?”
“It’s just that, well, Emily is missing.”
Twenty-Four
Josie stood in Celeste and Adam’s parlor again, hands on her hips as she and Noah watched Celeste pace frenetically before the large picture window. Black six-inch heels sank into the thick oriental carpet as she moved back and forth. A sleeveless purple wrap dress clung to her angular frame. Strands of her hair had come loose from her chignon, floating around her head no matter how many times she slicked them back. Josie watched her reflection in the glass. Outside, there was only darkness punctuated by the lights of the resorts downhill. In the distance, Josie saw the strobe of blue and red police lights. Celeste followed her gaze and froze in place. She waved a pale arm toward the window. “Would you tell them to turn off the lights? Jesus. I don’t want police vehicles on this property. I’d have Tom do it, but he’s out in the woods looking for Emily, too.”
Noah said, “With all due respect, Ms. Harper, we’ve got a missing eight-year-old girl last seen here on these premises. She’s vanished only a day after her older sister was found murdered on Harper’s Peak’s grounds.”
Celeste’s voice shook. “I’m well aware of what’s been happening in the last twenty-four hours, but I have a resort to manage. I have guests. They paid for a certain standard of luxury, and police vehicles do not meet that standard.”
Josie said, “Our priority is to find Emily Mitchell. You’ll have to handle any issues relating to your guests.”
Celeste glared at Josie. “This was not my idea. It was my husband’s. Now he’s out there with Tom and half of my staff and the police looking for that girl while I’ve got a business to run. How am I supposed to do this?”
“Emily Mitchell could be in danger,” Noah pointed out.
“That is not my problem or my fault,” Celeste spat. “That girl walked out of here. We spent the entire afternoon trying to make her comfortable and getting her settled in. Do you know what she did?”
Neither Josie nor Noah responded.
Celeste walked past them, toward the coffee table bracketed by couches. Josie noted that several pieces of copy paper were spread across its glossy wooden surface. Some were cut into shapes and others had been used to draw butterflies and what looked like renderings of Emily’s stuffed dog. A pair of scissors rested on one end of the table. There were easily four dozen crayons. These had been lined up precisely according to color. A row of greens, a row of blues, reds, yellows, et cetera. Josie hid her smile.
Noah said, “She colored?”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “No. That was Adam’s idea. We don’t know the first damn thing about children, you know. He got the crayons from a staff member. We made do with printer paper. He thought he’d have craft hour, or something. Well, he left her alone. We have work to do. He was needed in the main building, so he went there. Emily cut almost every tufted button from our couches!”
Now Josie’s eyes traveled the length of each of the Chesterfield sofas, noticing that they looked much puffier than they had this morning. Without the tufted buttons, the couches looked somehow naked and incomplete.
Celeste said, “Who does this?”
When Noah spoke, Josie could tell that he was just barely holding in his laughter. “To be fair, there are a few buttons left on the arms of the couches.”
“Do you know what she told me when I asked her why she would do such a thing?” C
eleste went on, ignoring Noah. “She told me that she had to cut them off because she was afraid she would choke on them.”
Josie and Noah stared at her. Noah’s eyebrow kinked. “Are you sure that’s what she said?”
Celeste huffed. “You think I got that wrong? Yes, that’s what she said.”
Josie knew it was an exceptionally odd thing for anyone to say and do but she suspected it had something to do with Emily’s OCD. She’d have to ask Paige or an OCD specialist about it later. Or she could ask Emily, hopefully, when she found her.
“Did you ask her what she meant by that?” Josie asked.
“Why would I? It doesn’t matter. She destroyed our property!”
Before Celeste could continue, Josie changed the subject. “How do you know she walked out of here?”
“When Adam left, I was here with her. I had to take a call. It was… a rather long one, but I was only in the kitchen. She’s not an infant. I thought she’d be fine in here for a little while, so I didn’t worry about it. Except that when I came back, she was gone. The front door was open. She’d taken that ratty old stuffed dog with her, and my tufted buttons!”
“You don’t actually know that she left of her own volition,” Josie pointed out. “You don’t have cameras out front?”
Celeste huffed. “Not out here. This is our private residence. Private being the operative word. In all the years I’ve lived here—my entire life—we’ve never had an issue. Until now. It had to be Lorelei’s little girl, didn’t it?”
Keeping to the task at hand, Josie asked, “Did you look for her when you realized she was no longer in the room and the door had been left open?”
“Of course I did. I’m not a monster. I walked around the perimeter. I called for her. When I couldn’t find her here, I went down to the resort area and searched. I spoke with Tom and the two of us asked several of the staff to help. Once I located Adam, I asked him as well. When we could not find her on the premises, Adam called you.”
“You didn’t actually see her leave though,” Josie clarified.
Celeste returned to the front window, taking a moment to gaze outside. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t. My God. Who knew having children was so fraught? She’s eight years old. It seems like they should be easier to manage. Lorelei came to us when she was nine, and while I always despised her and all that she represented, as a child of that age she was fairly well behaved.”
“How long ago did she go missing?” Noah asked.
Celeste looked up toward the ceiling. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a half hour ago. Forty-five minutes? I spent some time looking for her before Adam called you.”
Josie said, “Do you still have Emily’s duffel bag?”
Without looking at them, Celeste motioned over her shoulder. “Upstairs, third bedroom on the left. She didn’t take that with her.”
Josie nodded to Noah and he disappeared upstairs, returning moments later with one of Emily’s shirts. “I’ll get this to Sandoval,” he said.
“Tell her to prioritize finding Emily,” Josie said. “I’m not even sure if Gretchen found anything of Rory’s for Rini to scent, but even if she did, put her off him for now. I want Emily found safely. We’ll deal with Rory later. Call and ask the Sheriff’s office if they can spare another K-9 unit. Once they get here, they can search for Rory.”
“You got it,” said Noah and walked out the front door. From behind Celeste, Josie watched him recede through the front window.
Bitter laughter drifted over Josie’s shoulder. “That’s your future husband?”
“Yes,” Josie said. “You know that.”
“You’ve got him well-trained. He follows instructions precisely, doesn’t he?”
Josie’s head reared back slightly. “He’s not well-trained, nor is he following my instructions. We’re colleagues. We’re just on the same page.”
“On the same page,” Celeste muttered. “If only my parents had been on the same page. We wouldn’t be standing here, would we?”
Josie didn’t answer. She was too busy watching two figures shuffle up the walk from the resort area to Celeste and Adam’s house. One of them had a familiar gait and pushed a walker in front of her. What was her grandmother doing here?
Josie left Celeste at the window and went outside. Sure enough, Lisette was steadily making her way toward the house. Behind her was Sawyer. Josie walked to meet them, but Lisette didn’t stop. Instead, she kept motoring toward Celeste’s door, even as Josie asked questions. “Gram, what are you doing here?”
Lisette smiled as Josie fell into pace beside her. “Some of us were booked to stay at this beautiful place for your entire wedding weekend, dear. Myself included.”
Behind them, Sawyer muttered, “She wouldn’t go back to Rockview.”
“Why should I?” Lisette said. “I was meant to stay the weekend here. Even if my granddaughter didn’t get married, I still fully intend to make the most of this rare treat.”
In the dim light coming from Celeste’s house, Josie saw her grandmother wink. Celeste met them at the door. A cell phone dangled from one of her hands. “Just come in then. Do what you must. I’ve got guest issues to attend to. It’s a disaster with Tom off looking for that child and not carrying out his usual duties. Let me know when you’re done here, would you?”
“I’ll need to sit a spell,” Lisette said as she pushed into the living room. She took a moment to stare at the couches before sitting down. “Interesting what she’s done here, isn’t it?”
Josie waited until Lisette was firmly seated on one of the couches with Sawyer beside her before repeating, “Gram, what are you doing here?”
“Word spreads like wildfire on this resort,” Lisette said. “We all know you’re looking for a little girl. I saw her.”
Josie perched on the coffee table and leaned in toward her grandmother. “When? Where?”
“A couple of hours ago,” Lisette explained. “I was down at Griffin Hall with everyone else. I’d managed to get away from the crowd for a little while.” She gave Sawyer the side-eye. He just shook his head. “I was walking around outside in the garden in front of Griffin Hall, and I saw this little girl. She was up this way, actually. She had on a blue shirt and gray sweatpants. Her pockets were bulging. In her arms was a little stuffed dog. I might not have paid it any mind at all except she reminded me of you, dear.”
Josie splayed a hand across her chest. “Me?”
Lisette smiled. “Yes, you and your little stuffed dog, Wolfie. You probably don’t remember. He disappeared when you were six.” At this, Lisette leaned forward and traced her warm fingertips over the scar on Josie’s face.
Josie swallowed. “He didn’t disappear. Where was the girl going? Was she with anyone?”
Lisette said, “As far as I could see, she was alone. She walked right off into the woods.”
Josie stood up. “Do you think you could show me where?”
“Let me rest a minute, dear, and we’ll walk back toward Griffin Hall. If I recall correctly it was about halfway between here and there.”
“You said this was a couple of hours ago?” Josie asked.
“Yes. I mentioned it to the staff at Griffin Hall, and they said they would call the private residence. If your team is here then she obviously hasn’t been found yet.”
Josie said, “You’re absolutely sure it was a couple of hours ago. Not just one hour?”
“Yes. I’m old but I can still tell the time, dear.”
Why would Celeste lie? Josie wondered. Or had she been on her call far longer than she originally told them, and simply lost track of time? It would be easy enough to determine if she lied by speaking with the staff member that Lisette had talked to and finding out what time they’d called the residence.
Josie fired off a text to the rest of the team, letting them know there was a discrepancy in the timing of Emily’s disappearance. Noah texted back that he would track down both the staff member and Celeste and ask them about it.
Sawyer disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of water, which he handed to Lisette. “I figure when Celeste said ‘do what you must,’ she meant it was okay to raid her fridge.”
Lisette shrugged and took a sip. A few minutes later, she was on her feet, shuffling toward the door.
The path from the residence to the resort buildings was only partially lit by solar-powered lights sunk into the ground on either side of the strip of asphalt. Every few feet, Lisette stopped and peered into the night. Then she said, “A little further.”
Sawyer said, “Lisette, I know you’re trying to be helpful but from what I’m hearing, there are already searchers in the woods. Maybe it would be best if you just came back to the hall for now and tomorrow morning, in the daylight, we can try to pinpoint where you saw this girl go into the woods.”
“I’ve got to get back to Griffin Hall no matter what, haven’t I?” she replied. “Why not show Josie where I saw this child?”
Josie said, “The dogs do like to work from the last place the person was located.”
“The dogs can work from the house then,” he said. “That’s the last place she was located before she walked into the woods.”
Lisette raised a hand in the air. “Now you two, stop it. There’s no harm in me showing Josie where I last saw this girl. It will only take a moment. We’re passing by it on the way back to Griffin Hall anyway.”
Sawyer made a noise in his throat. Josie looked over and saw his eyes gleaming in the dim light. She realized then that he was just concerned about Lisette making it all the way back under her own steam. Josie was surprised she’d made the walk to the private residence without assistance. She’d be paying for it the next day. Josie said, “It’s a long walk, though. Why don’t you and I stay here and try to find that spot while Sawyer sees if he can get the staff to bring around a resort car to take you back?”
“Sure,” Lisette said. “That sounds good.”
Josie knew she must be getting tired when she didn’t argue. Lisette waited until Sawyer was out of earshot to say, “He’s a good boy, but he hovers a lot.”
