It wasn’t the ideal situation, but I’d take what I could get.
“All right,” I said, turning toward Willow. “You spent time with Audrey. Did she ever mention feeling unsafe? Or did she tell you about anything strange she might have found? Or a secret she may have been keeping?”
Willow hesitated, then shook her head. “No. At least not to me.”
Aiden nodded, satisfied.
“What about Logan?” I asked.
Willow’s expression shifted—not much, but enough for me to notice she’d stiffened.
“Logan?” she repeated.
“You’re close friends with him, right?”
She glanced at her father, then back at me. “I guess so.”
“He’s missing,” I said. “No one has heard from him in days.”
I studied Willow’s face, noting the news I’d just told her didn’t seem to come as a shock.
Aiden leaned forward. “Logan is a strange kid. You shouldn’t waste time on him.”
Willow gave him a frustrated glance.
“He isn’t strange,” she said. “People say things about him that aren’t fair. He keeps to himself, but he’s a good person.”
“Do you know where he is now?” I asked.
Her breath caught, almost imperceptible, but enough to expose her.
She knew something.
But she remained quiet.
“Willow, if you know where Logan is, I can help him if he’s in trouble. I can protect him a lot better than he can protect himself.”
Aiden looked at his daughter, then at me. “That’s enough questions. You have no right coming in here and implying my daughter knows something about the kid’s whereabouts.”
“I’m not implying anything,” I said. “I’m trying to find him, to make sure he’s safe.”
“Good luck with that,” he said. “We’re done here.”
Aiden shot up, standing in front of me like a blockade.
I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Willow. “If you think of anything I should know, anything at all, please get in touch with me. And I meant what I said about Logan. I can protect him. I’m not here to get him in trouble. I’m here to get him out of it.”
Willow reached for the card, but Aiden snatched it instead.
“She won’t be getting in touch,” he said.
He glanced out the window, eyes wide as he cursed at a car parking in front of his house, which gave me just enough time to reach into my pocket again, pulling out a second card. I slipped it into Willow’s hand.
“Time for you to go, Detective.”
I stepped through the doorway, and before I reached the porch step, the door slammed behind me so hard the frame rattled.
I walked to my car with the heavy certainty that Willow was hiding something, not about Audrey, but about Logan.
