“There’s a girl missing. And David, she lives just a few miles away. Do you think . . . could it be . . .”
His gut knotted. Skirting her gaze, he strode to the briefcase he’d laid on his desk and opened it, reexamining the contents to make sure he’d have everything he needed for the upcoming meeting. “Claire.” His voice was as soft as he could manage. “Don’t do this.”
“I know the girl’s grandmother. We both attended Trinity Baptist in Saxon Falls. How can that happen here again? You don’t think Kelsey’s kidnapper . . . that he’s back?”
The last two words had his shoulders slumping. God, he was tired of this. Tired of being the strong one, tired of replaying this scene every damn time some girl forgot to tell her parents where she was going for a few hours. “No, I don’t.” Snapping the briefcase shut, he turned to face her.
“But what if it is?” His wife’s voice was getting that strident tone he recognized. And damn it, he didn’t have time for a scene.
“Claire!” His tone was sharper than he meant it to be. “This has nothing to do with Kelsey. Every bad thing that happens to a child in this country isn’t connected to her.” He had to draw a breath, difficult to do when his chest felt hollowed out. “It was seven years ago. You have to get some . . . distance.” God knew it was the only thing that had kept him sane. He’d spent months after his daughter’s disappearance on the edge of a yawning black and roiling precipice before he’d made a conscious decision to move away from it. With every passing year, he took another step back.
Claire remained teetering on the brink, arms wheeling. One wrong move would have her free-falling into that darkness. He’d given up thinking he could save her from it. Some days he thought she wanted to leap into the abyss.
Because he wasn’t willing to provide that push, he crossed to her, and she flung herself at him. His arms, stiff and wooden, were slow to slip around her.
Helplessness rose up inside him as he felt the shudder shake her frame. Every time he touched her, he was reminded of his failures. A better man would have found a way to help her heal from the trauma of losing their daughter. Instead, somehow he’d managed to lose both his daughter and his wife. He was a louse of a husband and not much better than a part-time father to Janie. But those weren’t the character flaws that kept him awake at night.
It was the spectacular way he’d failed Kelsey seven years earlier.
Special Agent Mark Foster
November 2
4:02 p.m.
Sleet pinged off the window behind Mark as he shifted awkwardly in the front of the interview room. As miserable as the weather had become outside, given the chance, he’d switch locations in a heartbeat. The crowd of journalists danced and bobbed before him as the reporters jockeyed for position.
“We’re here at the request of Saxon Falls Chief of Police Don Masterson to assist in the investigation in any way we can.” The booming voice of Ben Craw, senior agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, required no amplification to carry across the conference room inside the police headquarters. “Our first concern is to see that Whitney DeVries returns home safely.”
“Is this in any way tied to Halloween?”
“Will there be an Amber Alert?”
“Does she have a history as a runaway?”
“Did the girl have a boyfriend?”
Mark stood stoically at Craw’s side, grateful he wasn’t the one having to answer the questions lobbed at them like live verbal grenades. He did his best work in the field. Thrusting a microphone in his face was an open invitation for him to say something stupid, one he usually obliged. Craw was an old hand at this. He’d been with the state’s top investigative agency for nearly thirty years. Every day of it showed on his face.
“We have no evidence to suggest foul play at this time.” Craw raised his hands to halt the frenzy of voices before continuing. “All signs point to the girl leaving her home willingly. At seven forty-five Saturday morning, Mrs. DeVries woke up after tending to her ill son all night. She went to her daughter’s room to check on her. The inside screen on the girl’s bedroom window had been removed, and the window was open. She immediately woke her husband, a deputy with the local sheriff’s office, who commenced searching for her. Mrs. DeVries stayed home with her son, who was still sick.”
The reporters had quieted, all furiously scribbling. Mark figured they realized that further interruptions at this point were useless.
“Deputy DeVries alerted the police and spent the next few hours contacting several of Whitney’s friends from school, none of whom admitted knowledge to her whereabouts,” Craw continued. He was consulting no notes. The man’s memory for detail was uncanny. “At two o’clock p.m., a canine unit was brought in from Cleveland. The dog followed the girl’s scent to the Saxon Falls City Park, where it ended. That indicates to us that she may have gotten into a vehicle with someone. That’s a lead we’re actively investigating.”
Mark caught a glimpse of Shannon and Brian DeVries at the back of the crowd and mentally cursed. He’d specifically advised the parents against attending the press conference, as their presence was guaranteed to turn the event into a media free-for-all. He caught Chief Masterson’s eye across the dais, and the man’s brow furrowed. He’d seen them, too. All they could do now was brace themselves for the fallout. Craw was going to be pissed.
But even given his irritation with the couple, he couldn’t altogether blame them. His son, Nicky, was three, and Mark only could imagine how he’d feel if the boy disappeared. It was bad enough that his wife kept extending her and Nicky’s visit with her parents in Bowling Green. A one-week stay had already stretched into two. He missed the kid like crazy. If they caught a quick break in this case, he’d take a couple of days’ leave and drive over there to see him.
Imperceptibly, he shifted his weight. And while he was at it, he’d deal with his wife, Kelli. He had no idea what was going on in her head. He damn well hoped this stay was still just a visit. Getting a straight answer from her was getting increasingly difficult. For the last several months, their conversations had had a habit of degenerating into accusations and tears. Family life was never smooth sailing.
His attention wandered back to the DeVrieses. Mark knew from personal experience that in every marriage, there was always something going on beneath the surface. Which was why he and Craw were going to have to take a closer look at the DeVries family dynamics.