Find Her (Detective D.D. Warren #8)(46)

“So Pauline is leaning on family and friends to get her through, while Colin nurses his rage and rides the local investigators. Is he back to work?”

“Yes. Limited hours, but I recommended his return. Staying home isn’t good for him. Work is how he copes.”

D.D. couldn’t argue with that, given her own predilections. “Is the wife angry about that?”

“No. Like a lot of stay-at-home wives, she’s accustomed to the house being her domain. Her husband’s sudden appearance twenty-four/seven strained the patterns of their marriage more than it helped. Part of my job is to help a family understand that the more it deviates from its established rhythms during the time of crisis, the more everyone’s stress escalates. Normalcy is also an excellent coping strategy.”

“Does Rosa Dane agree with that?”

The victim advocate hesitated. “Rosa is a rare mentor. She listens to Pauline. She talks to Colin. I’ve . . . been impressed. Generally speaking, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s program . . .” Pam Mason made a noise in her throat.

“I’ve never worked with a family mentor,” D.D. confessed.

“The program has the best of intentions: Let parents who’ve already been through the worst offer support to families who’ve just entered the crisis. I’m sure the volunteer mentors receive some training for the role, but at the end the day . . . they’re laypeople, not experts. They’ve had one experience. Whereas someone like me”—Pam’s gaze flickered to Keynes—“like us . . . there is no such thing as one response to crisis. Our job is to appraise the family and identify the approach that is right for this one particular situation. Whereas the volunteer mentors . . . inevitably, they are operating from a place of their own trauma. Whatever advice they offer, suggestions they have, has more to do with who they are and what they went through than the family they are supposedly aiding. To me, they’re more inclined to try and fix whatever they perceive as having gone wrong in their case than help the new family through their own experiences. Now Rosa, on the other hand . . .” Pam frowned. “She’s the rare mentor who seems to be able to distinguish between her daughter’s disappearance and what the Summerses are now going through.”

“How often does she meet with them?”

“In person? Not often. Rosa lives three, four hours north, and given in the first four weeks, the media circus camped out on the Summerses’ sidewalk . . .”

“She speaks to them by phone.”

“Mostly. How often is hard for me to say. The Summers phone rings a lot.”

“But you’ve seen her, obviously.”

“Twice. First time she spent the day with mostly Pauline, quietly holding her hand.” Pam paused, regarded D.D. intently for a second. “That’s rare, you know. Just being with someone. I’m the supposed expert, and I’m not even that good at it.”

“You have a job to do,” D.D. countered. “That’s different.”

The victim advocate shrugged. “Second visit was at the five-week mark. Pauline was coming out of the worst of her funk. Rosa had more of a strategy meeting with both Summerses. Questions they should ask, rights they have, resources that are available to them. In particular, Colin wanted to know media strategies, how to make a personal appeal for his daughter’s safe return, that sort of thing.”

“I’ve seen a couple of those on the news,” D.D. agreed.

“Rosa’s advice was solid enough. Most of it was things we’d already told them, but I can understand it sounding better coming from someone who’s been there, done that. The biggest thing she repeated—which I appreciated—is that this is a marathon, not a sprint. If they really want to be there for their daughter, they need to come up with a way to stop living from minute to minute waiting for the phone to ring and settle in for the long haul. Come up with a system for family and friends to visit where it’s helpful but not overwhelming. Return to work, the everyday patterns of life. Ignore the press, unless it’s on their terms.”

“And her advice on managing the case detectives?” D.D. asked, because there had to be advice on investigator relations. Any family had issues with investigator relations.

“The detectives are not their friends or allies. They work for the state. If the Summerses really want to know what’s going on, they should hire their own private detective.”

D.D.’s eyes widened. “Did they?”

“Colin talked about interviewing candidates.”

“Lovely. More cooks in the kitchen. Bet the case agent will love that.”

Pam merely shrugged. “Do I think a private eye is magically going to make a difference in finding Stacey? No. Do I think it helps Colin feel more in control of the situation, and therefore ease some of his stress in the short term? Sure. Problem is, Rosa Dane had it right: This is a marathon, not a sprint, meaning eventually a PI’s lack of progress will be just as hard to take.”

“So when did they meet with Flora?” D.D. gambled.

“Rosa’s daughter? They haven’t, to my knowledge.”

“Did Rosa discuss her daughter’s experience?”

“Yes.”

“So they’re familiar with her case. Makes sense they might want to personally meet her, don’t you think? The walking proof that a young girl can disappear from a bar and still one day be found safe?”