But I would do everything in my power to make sure Grace’s past was buried once and for all. That was, if we found her.
I hoped like a motherfucker that we found her and my daughter quickly because the excruciating pain spreading through my chest might kill me before I ever saw them again.
29
BRIAN
My daughter had been missing for exactly twelve hours. Grace had disappeared only three hours ago. I couldn’t comprehend the who, what, and why of it all.
At two in the morning, I was wide awake in a conference room at BPD, adrenaline keeping me on my feet as I focused on the massive wall monitor, my arms crossed over my chest, going through video footage from the traffic cameras around Faneuil Hall.
“See anyone you recognize?” asked Oscar, a gang-unit detective under Ted.
For the last ten minutes, he and I had been sifting through traffic cameras that showed Faneuil Hall.
“Not yet.”
Duke was right that Ted would move mountains to find Grace and Fran. He’d called in his team, got the traffic cam footage from the Department of Transportation from both around my building and Faneuil Hall, assigned each of his crew members a task, and was personally questioning Nora and Janet about Ryan Montgomery.
Duke was somewhere in the building, trying to reach his brothers.
All the Hart brothers blamed themselves for not having protected their sister when she was sixteen. Sadly, I understood their guilt and pain so strongly that I now knew why Duke was an overbearing brother. I’d never wanted to suffocate my daughter like Duke suffocated Grace. Now, I was wishing I had.
The door to the conference room creaked open behind me, and Oscar stopped the video when Janet appeared.
“Any luck yet?” Janet asked.
“We just started,” Oscar replied.
“Brian, Josh left me a message. He can’t get ahold of Ryan. His message said he’s been trying all night.”
“Let’s hope we find something on the video,” I muttered. “Keep going, Oscar.”
Janet came to stand beside me. Five minutes into the video, she let out a rush of air. “Can you rewind, Oscar?” She stepped closer to the screen.
“Did you see Fran?” My pulse went from fifty to one hundred in a flat second.
“I’ll play it in slow motion,” Oscar said.
“Stop.” Her brown eyes widened as she regarded me. “See him?” She pointed at a man standing at the back door of a white van parked near an entrance to Faneuil Hall. “That’s Josh.” She covered her mouth with her dainty fingers. “Can you zoom in?”
I’d seen the guy at the academy banquet only briefly, and with his ball cap and the angle of the sun, it was hard to make out the features of the man on the video.
“See his college ring?” Janet asked. “And the scar on his middle finger? That’s him. I’m sure of it. You don’t think—” Confusion washed over her.
“Are you thinking he’s responsible for Fran’s disappearance?” I asked, suddenly recalling Grace’s negative vibe from Josh.
Janet shrugged. “Nah, Ryan’s always said great things about him. He was probably there to pick up Ryan. Maybe his car broke down.”
“But Josh can’t get ahold of Ryan. Isn’t that what you just told me?”
Janet paled.
Oscar swiped a hand over his shaved scalp. “Just because this dude is at Faneuil Hall doesn’t make him guilty of anything. Maybe he was there looking for Ryan but couldn’t find him.”
“No.” Janet shook her head. “I didn’t call Josh until seven p.m., an hour after Ryan and Fran were supposed to meet us at my brownstone.”
My gaze bounced around the room that had plaques on the walls as I recalled the convo between Grace and me in the hotel room.
