“Anyone capable of drawin’ a sketch?” Reese asked the room.
Darius raised his hand. “I’m not a professional, but I can sketch a decent rendering.”
“Good,” Brantley agreed, then looked at Baz. “You two get started.”
Reese looked at Slade. “You think you could jot down who was at Moonshiners last night? Brantley and I can start talkin’ to people who might’ve seen the kid.”
Brantley said, “Good idea. Maybe someone saw him leave, and we can find out what kind of vehicle he was in.”
“White,” Baz said. “A four-door compact. That’s what he was drivin’ when I saw him at the store. I don’t know the make or model, but I know it was white.”
“It’s a start,” Reese said before glancing at Elana. “You can go back to town. The shops should be open now. Talk to the business owners. The deputies are probably there, too. Talk to them anyway. See if anyone remembers seein’ a redhead or…” He looked at Baz. “Can we get a basic description of Molly?”
“Blonde, short. She’s young. Looks it, too,” he muttered.
“A redhead with a blonde girl,” Reese finished for Elana. “Maybe they came in together.”
Baz spoke to Atticus and Slade. “She’s got pictures at her apartment. Or she did.”
Slade nodded. “If we find one, we’ll take a picture and send it out.”
“What are you gonna do?” Baz asked Brantley directly.
“First, I need to talk to Governor Greenwood. Find out where Dante is.”
Ah. To be fair, Reese hadn’t thought about Dante possibly being behind this. It didn’t surprise him that Brantley had. And though it seemed unlikely, it was a good lead to run down.
Reese could tell the team was confused, but he didn’t want to get into it with them. They had too much to do, and they were already wasting time.
“I’ll take Tesha with me,” Reese said. “We’ll start canvassing neighborhoods and checking out empty structures. Maybe they’re holed up somewhere nearby.” Reese looked at Luca. “Start trackin’ this kid. I want to know who he is and what we’re dealin’ with.”
It wasn’t a great plan, Reese figured, but at least they had a starting point. And hell, who knows, maybe Molly and the redhead took JJ back to her apartment for coffee and scones.
Not that he really believed that, but they could damn sure hope.
Chapter Four
9:40A.M.
“Tell me about your parents,” JJ said, hoping to find some common ground with Molly to keep the cheerful cheerleader at the forefront of Molly’s clearly broken mind.
“What about them?”
Well, shit. She didn’t think she was going to have to spell it out for her.
Start simple. She heard Baz’s voice in her head. It was the answer he’d given her once when she asked how you knew what to ask a suspect when you were trying to get information out of them. He said to start simple, make them feel comfortable. He said it wasn’t about intimidation; the goal was to get them to open up. Once they started talking, there was a good chance they would reveal something they didn’t mean to.
Taking a deep breath, JJ said, “What are their names?”
Molly shuffled her feet and tucked her hands in the pockets of her shorts. “Bill and Susan.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“Just one. A brother.”
“How old is he?”
“Almost six.” She smiled. “He’s so cute. My parents were so happy when he was born. They said they always wanted a boy.”
