“Yara’s on that,” I said. “She’s trying to track down anybody that goes to school with Violet. Unfortunately, Vi’s only been in Silverville for about a month, so I don’t know how many friends she’s made. It’s also the weekend, so it’s not like you can make an announcement at school.”
“Yeah,” Aiden said. “But it’s Silverville. There are phone trees upon phone trees. I’m sure if Yara activates it...”
“I don’t think Violet went back over to the valley. If she’s running away, she would go in the opposite direction, which means Spokane, which just isn’t smart, but she is smart. My guess is she’s here in town somewhere,” I said, going with my gut.
The panic I felt was one unknown to me. I’d been worried about family members before, but not like this. Violet was a scared teenage girl on her own in the middle of a blizzard. “She’d seek shelter,” I said. “She’s smart. But where?”
“Put yourself in her shoes,” Pierce said tiredly, reaching for a cup of coffee. He took a deep drink and grimaced. “Ugh, this is crap.”
My chest compressed. “We have to find her.”
“I have everybody on duty out looking, but nothing,” Pierce said.
I had already figured out where I’d go. “I’d go back to Silverville, where it’s safe, but my gut feeling is that’s not what she did. She’s not at my office. She’s not at Aiden’s house. We checked Donna’s, and we checked Smiley’s. She’s not anywhere.”
“Okay,” Pierce said. “Once you get about three hours of sleep, when dawn comes, it’ll be a lot easier to look. I’d check by your office again. She doesn’t have a key to get in, does she?”
“No, but we have keypads now. I don’t believe she has the code, though. Plus, we searched the whole building.”
“I would look there again,” Pierce said. “On your way home, and then... I don’t know. I really don’t. But don’t worry, we’ll find her.”
Aiden nodded. “Thanks for the help, Pierce.”
“You’ve got it.” He nodded at me. “Like I said, you need to concentrate on this and get Basanelli another lawyer soon. If nothing else, call Clark.” He brightened. “Hey, did you call Clark? Check his place?”
“Of course,” I said. “I also called Oliver, just in case.”
“Doesn’t he have a little crush on her?” Aiden asked.
I thought about it. “Yeah.”
Aiden nodded grimly. “We’re heading out to Oliver’s on the way home. We’ll check the office, and then his home. If we find anything, we’ll call you, Pierce.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep on it until then. Talk soon.”
Aiden and I left the police station and drove back to my office, where we keyed in the code and searched the entire building. Violet was nowhere to be seen.
We then drove outside of town toward McLerrison’s farm. McLerrison was a widower who’d had Oliver arrested for riding dirt bikes on his property. Once I’d introduced them, I’d figured they were both kind of lost and lonely, so Donny took Oliver in. What Oliver didn’t know was that Donny had also put Oliver in his will, and Oliver would inherit millions someday. Hopefully in the far, far, far future.
The lights were already on, which was suspicious. I knocked on the door, and Donny McLerrison opened it, his overalls worn and his gray hair under a blue cap. “Anna Albertini, what are you doing out at this time of the morning?”
He pulled us inside, and I introduced him and Aiden. “I’m looking for Violet. Why are you up so early?”
“I am a farmer. I’m always up early,” he said. “Come on in.”
We went inside. “What about Oliver?”
“He usually gets up early, too, but he’s sleeping in. Why?”
Man, I hoped Violet was hiding somewhere in the warm farmhouse. “Could you get him for us, please?” I asked.
Donny stared at me. “Is everything okay?”
“No, but he’s not in trouble.”
“All right.” Donny lumbered to the back of the farmhouse and returned with a sleepy-looking Oliver.
His red hair was all over. He wore faded sweats and no T-shirt, showing his newly muscled chest and ripped abs. The kid had met his goal. Panic lit his eyes. “Anna, what are you doing here? What’s wrong?”
