What if the one person who would come searching for them couldn’t find them?
“Oh, sweetie,” her mother cooed, plopping onto the floor beside her and taking her into her arms. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
Her mother sounded so confident, but it was easy to feel that way when he wasn’t looming over you. When her mom touched her hair, she winced. Her scalp was still tender. Everything felt tender. Even her soul.
“What if he can’t find us?” she whispered.
Beneath her cheek, her mother’s heartbeat raced. “We’re going to get out of here. I promise. Whether he finds us or not. We’re going to be okay. I promise.”
She made a noise of agreement because she knew that’s what her mother needed to hear, but the older she got, the more she understood that promises were as worthless as the miles they’d tried to put between themselves and their monster. They weren’t getting out of this without giving up more than he’d already taken.
She wasn’t sure she had anything left.
TWENTY-TWO
Josie’s temple bumped against the passenger’s side window of Noah’s SUV, jarring her awake. Rubbing the side of her head, she yawned. Outside, everything was draped in shadows that not even the occasional streetlight could chase away. The clock on the dashboard said twoa.m. They’d be in Turner’s old jurisdiction within the next hour. Josie had already contacted the Alden Police Department to let them know she and Noah would be questioning one of their residents. After that, she’d called Dani Schwarber’s aunt, Turner’s former colleague, Detective Annette Miller. She’d instructed them to meet her at a twenty-four-hour diner before they questioned Dustin Emmer.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Noah said.
“I slept.”
He chuckled. “Forty-five minutes doesn’t count.”
“It’s something. I promise to go home when this shift is over.”
Josie’s parents had come over to stay with Wren so Noah could pick up an extra shift now that they were down a team member. Misty and Harris would relieve them in the morning. Josie grappled with a low-level guilt. They hadn’t even had guardianship of Wren for a year, and they were already handingher off to relatives and friends due to work. Though Noah would point out that they hadn’t had to do that very often and that it was normal to rely on loved ones for help.
“What is it?” he asked, doing that husband thing that gave him a sixth sense whenever she was remotely anxious about something.
“Not important,” she said.
She sensed him shooting glances at her, but he decided not to push.
The hum of the local radio station had been nothing but white noise since they left Denton. They’d turned it down so they could listen to chatter on the police radio. Their colleagues were working tirelessly to follow any leads that arose. The staffing level was almost double what it normally was, with plenty of officers pitching in to try to find Turner’s family while also handling the normal issues that arose in the city.
Noah reached over and turned up the car radio. In a smooth, emotionless voice, a woman launched into a news report about the disappearance of Dani Schwarber and Cassidy Turner, directing listeners to their social media platforms to view all relevant photos. Several still photos of the suspect from the video footage had been released to the press. Josie had also pulled some candid shots of Dani and Cassidy from Turner’s phone. Calls from the public offering tips would start soon, she hoped. The geofence warrant they’d managed to get three days after the fact wasn’t helpful. Then again, more criminals were getting wise to the fact that their electronic devices gave them away. In addition, Google had recently changed the way they treated their users’ location history to ensure more privacy, which made it more difficult for law enforcement to find their device in a geofence perimeter.
Josie picked Turner’s phone up from the center console and went back to perusing its contents, which she’d been doing onand off since they began their drive to Alden. It was strange, having this window into his personal life. She felt like some kind of emotional voyeur. The texts between him and Dani started out fine and later devolved into an argument. It was as reliable as ocean tides. She reread some of the exchanges from the past three weeks between Turner and Dani. In the days leading up to their date, they’d been flirty.
Turner began with:Are we still on for Friday? Sandman’s?
Dani:Yes! Can’t wait. Our first date in how long????
Turner:At least a year. Meeting you for lunch so you can ream me out for my latest offense doesn’t count.
Dani:Is this really how you want to pre-game?
Turner:You’re right. Sorry. I really am excited.
Dani:Wear the blue shirt.
Turner:I’ve got lots of blue shirts.
Dani:The one I bought you for Christmas the year Cass’s Elf on a Shelf was tragically killed in a scooter accident.
Turner:That elf had it coming.
Dani: Are you suggesting it was foul play?
