“Maybe.” She shrugged. She didn’t laugh but didn’t grimace either. I knew I was close to earning her trust.
Before leading her to the room, I grabbed my bag, a notebook, and my phone.
“Hope you don’t mind one room. I figured it’d be safer.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” she said, but pink tinged her cheeks despite there being two beds.
“Take whichever one you want.”
She nodded, looking at the two and settling on the one closest to the door.
I switched the bathroom light on. “If you’d like to shower, you can go first,” I offered.
Alyssa silently stood and made her way to the bathroom. She’d barely closed the door when I knocked. She opened it, slightly startled.
“Here.” I handed her my shower gel and a new toothbrush I’d found at home.
“Thanks,” she whispered, shutting the door.
Lying in bed later that night, I tried to think of something to say to her, but it was lost on me when I heard her cry.
What do you say to someone who has lost everything?
You say nothing.
But you damn well do something about it!
ChapterTwenty-One
Alyssa
The First Time
My daughter was missing, and I sure as hell needed to keep a clear head, so when Malcolm offered me bourbon, I shook my head. But, unlike other missing children cases, the police hadn’t swarmed out to my suburban home. No, instead, I had two pig-headed Morgan men in my living room promising me Gracie would be found, but she’d be found their way.
What I wanted to do was tell them both to fuck off and let me deal with this the legal way. I had contacts, and they would find my girl in no time, but instead, I popped a few anti-anxiety pills and waited for news, a blanket wrapped around me.
Malcolm disappeared to the kitchen, returning with a cup of coffee, and I wrapped my arms around the mug, letting the warmth seep through my fingertips. I’d picked up my cell phone so many times to make the call, but I was afraid.
What if Malcolm was right and they really did harm Gracie if we involved the police?
What if they shipped her off to some foreign country, and I never saw her again?
All sorts of frightening images flashed through my mind causing bile to rise from my stomach. I was paralyzed, a sitting duck. Somebody took my daughter. No matter how many times I repeated the words, it never made sense.
Why would anyone do such a thing?
Gracie was ten.
She would never leave with a stranger.
She would have put up a fight.
The cell phone Gracie’s father insisted on her having was off. Her friends didn’t remember seeing her leave with anyone.
It was all his fault.
I looked across at my husband, his face ashen. He was supposed to pick her up but was late, as usual. But instead of going home with her best friend, Hayley, Gracie had wandered off.
