Page 86
“He’s fine,” said Josie, pulling her collar up and using it to wipe the sweat from her face. “But you can’t ever do anything like that to him again, okay?”
Wren nodded, getting teary again. “Can we stop at the ice cream place so I can get him a pup cup?”
Noah pushed himself up and hopped off the rock. “I think he would love that.”
Wren followed him but then reached up, offering her hand to Josie so she could keep her balance while she dismounted.
Josie trailed behind Wren and Noah as they walked back toward the high school, watching the two of them chat while she got her phone out so she could call their family and friends to let them know Wren had been found safe.
“Pretending to be asleep in your room,” Noah said. “That’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“I know,” Wren groaned. “I’m sorry. I tried it once at my dad’s. I even put pillows under the blanket to make it look like I was sleeping. It was so lame. He wasn’t fooled for a second, but he was hella pissed.”
“I bet.”
“So, are we going to talk about your dad or what? I mean, you can’t just drop something like that and never talk about it again.”
Noah laughed. “I guess not.”
Josie put in her passcode and then found Trinity’s name on her contact list. She pressed the call button.
“Did you know?” Wren asked. “That he was going to leave?”
“Not even an inkling,” Noah told her. “He was the perfect dad to us, to everyone who knew him, but in his mind, he was just counting down the days until he could leave.”
Trinity answered right away, her voice tremulous. “Tell me you found her.”
“We did,” said Josie. “She’s fine. We’re coming home.”
Fifty
Josie used her back to push open the door to the great room. In her hands was a cupholder with two blonde lattes from Komorrah’s and just the scent of them was giving her a high. Despite the fact that they’d found Wren safe and had the most constructive conversation they’d ever had with her, Josie hadn’t been able to sleep. Noah had passed out in seconds. She’d lain awake, listening to his even breathing and replaying every word of their discussion with Wren on Broken Heart.
It was a lot to process, and while Josie’s heart ached from all of Wren’s revelations, her mind kept coming back to the sketches of Dex. Wren’s fingertips lovingly tracing the portrait of him with each and every scar in stark relief.
I knew this guy. This was my dad and he was the best.
Josie was so absorbed in the memory and trying to figure out why that particular moment kept floating to the surface of her overwhelmed brain, she didn’t notice Turner until he spoke.
“Double-fisting it on your first day back, Quinn?”
He stood in front of the corkboard in his customary suit. This one was light brown. Josie grunted at him and plopped down at her desk. Instantly, something inside her unwound. It always felt good to be at work. Here, there was order and structure. Even the most complicated investigations unfolded in fairly predictable ways. Procedure dictated it. Work also gave her a good distraction from her own inner turmoil.
I knew this guy. This was my dad and he was the best.
“Wow,” Turner remarked. “You’re just pure sunshine this morning.”
Josie wrested one of the cups from the cupholder and sipped at her latte while her computer booted up. “Shut up, Turner.”
“Rude.” He pointed to the jar on his desk. There were at least ten dollar bills in it which meant Gretchen must have gone off on him recently. “Pay up.”
With a sigh, Josie fished a dollar from her pocket and stretched across the desks to tuck it into his jar. Turner smiled with delight. “You’re not even going to argue? This is going to be fun.”
“Shu—” Josie stopped herself from telling him to shut up a second time. Instead, she motioned toward the corkboard. “What are you doing?”
Gone were the photos of each victim and crime scene. Now a huge map of central and southeastern Pennsylvania took up the entire thing. It had been pieced together with printouts from Google Maps. A thumbtack marked the location of each victim.
“What’s it look like?” He turned to face the board again. “Arts and crafts.”
