Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(35)

Oaks nodded. “I know, I know. I’m not entirely sold on the mother being behind this. But you agree the kidnapper had help?”

Josie nodded. “Yes. I do, and what better way to subtly find out the intimate details of a family’s life and routine than to get close to the nanny?”

“Well, we’ll see if it leads to anything once all the evidence is processed and analyzed,” Oaks said. He looked toward the street where Dr. Anya Feist, Denton’s medical examiner emerged from her truck, striding toward the front of the building with a grimace on her face. Josie waved to her and she stopped walking. She raised a brow, pointed to Josie and mouthed, what happened to your face? Josie waved back and mouthed, don’t worry about it, before watching Dr. Feist disappear into the building.

“I’ll get back to the Ross house,” Josie said even though the task ahead of her weighed heavily on her shoulders.





Twenty-One





Amy took the news of Jaclyn’s murder exactly as Josie had expected—her hysteria reducing her to a loose-limbed pile of grief on the dining room floor. She reached out, and Josie got down on the floor with her and held her close. Colin had taken the news in stunned silence but with each passing moment, the lines in his face deepened with tension. Josie could see him clenching his jaw. While Josie tried to calm Amy again, Colin left the room, returning a moment later with a glass of water and a Xanax.

He thrust both toward Amy. “Take this,” he said roughly.

Amy took the pill and then Josie helped her up and sat her in one of the dining room chairs. Colin paced around the table while the FBI agents in the room tapped away on the keyboards of their laptops, headphones on. Josie had no idea whether they were listening to anything on their headphones or if they wore them simply to avoid the awkwardness of watching a grieving woman break down.

Josie gave Amy a few minutes, hoping the Xanax would dull the edges of the horrific news long enough for her to ask some questions. When her eyes grew dim and vacant, Josie said, “I know this is the worst possible time, but I need to ask some questions.”

“Of course you do,” Colin said. “Questions and more questions. I have a question. Where is my goddamn daughter?”

Josie said, “We’re doing everything we possibly can to find Lucy.”

Colin scoffed. “Well, you’re doing a piss-poor job of it. Go ahead, ask your questions.”

Josie addressed Amy. “Before Jaclyn went away, did she ever say anything to you about having a guest at her apartment?”

Amy shook her head. “No.”

“Did Amy ever take Lucy to her apartment?”

“No. They came here after school. Sometimes Jaclyn would take Lucy to the playground but mostly they came here.”

“Did Lucy ever meet any of Jaclyn’s friends, that you know of?”

Amy shook her head. “No. Not that I’m aware of. Jaclyn picked her up from school and brought her home. Sometimes if Lucy finished her homework before dinner and the weather was nice, they’d walk down to the playground together.”

“Was Jaclyn attentive, would you say?” Josie asked. “Was she the type to keep Lucy in her sight at all times or do you think she might sit on a bench and scroll on her phone until Lucy had finished playing?”

“She was always attentive when I saw them together,” Amy said. “Obviously, I don’t know what she was like when she was alone at the park with Lucy. I assume she played with Lucy and interacted with her like always.”

“But you don’t know for sure,” Colin said, his voice low and edgy. There was a coldness to his tone that Josie hadn’t heard before.

Amy’s eyes tracked him as he paced on the far side of the room, the table between them. “What?” she asked.

Colin pointed at her. “You left our daughter with a stranger every single day. You let her go off with a stranger, and you have no idea how this woman treated her.”

“What are you talking about? Jaclyn wasn’t a stranger,” Amy protested. “Jaclyn was our nanny.”

“Yes,” Colin spat. “You just had to have a nanny, didn’t you?”

“Colin, I—”

“You and your fucking anxiety. You had to have a nanny because you couldn’t possibly handle those two hours between school and dinner with your own goddamn child, could you?”

Amy put her hands to her chest, looking stricken.

Colin kept going, his movements more frenetic now. He pointed a finger at her. “Her murder is on you, you know that?”

Josie stood up, her tone a warning. “Mr. Ross.”

He ignored her, his words still directed toward his wife like knives being thrown across the room right into her heart. “You had to have a nanny, and because of you, she’s dead. How old was she, Ame? Twenty? Twenty-one? I bet her family wishes she never met us. She could have worked at a restaurant or been a lifeguard or something like that. But she was here, doing what you should have been doing and now she’s dead.”

Amy said, “I loved Jaclyn. I would never put her in harm’s way.”

“But you did.”

“What? How was I supposed to know Lucy would be taken from us? How was I supposed to know that this sicko would hurt Jaclyn?”

He waved a dismissive hand in her direction, his face twisted and pinched as though he had eaten something sour. “What the hell do you do all day, Ame? You’re here all day. Lucy goes to school at eight-thirty. Jaclyn picks her up. What’s the matter with you? There are single moms out there working multiple jobs, caring for multiple children and they don’t need nannies.”