Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(43)

“What about these?” Josie asked as she came to a section filled with drawings of various bugs—what looked like beetles, ladybugs, bees, some bugs Josie couldn’t identify and butterflies. She immediately recognized Lucy’s picture because she had seen a version of it in Lucy’s room already. It was an adult stick figure in brown clothing with a net holding the hand of a small, blonde female stick figure. Butterflies flew overhead.

“We had a bug expert here a couple of months ago,” Violet said.

Josie raised a brow. “A bug expert?”

Violet smiled. “Oh, the kids loved him. He’s actually a beekeeper. Lives about an hour from here, halfway between here and Philadelphia. He brought beetles, tarantulas, a Madagascar hissing cockroach, some ladybugs, butterflies and a stick bug. He travels all over the state visiting schools.”

“How long was he here?” Josie asked.

“Oh, only a couple of hours. He’s got a pretty polished presentation.”

“Did he seem as though he took a special interest in Lucy?”

“No, not really.”

“Do you have his name and contact information?”

“I gave it to the FBI,” Violet said. “They wanted a list of all visitors to the school in the last six months.” She walked back over to her desk and shuffled through some papers until she found what she was looking for. She handed Josie a scrap of paper with a name and number written on it. The name was John Bausch. Josie took out her phone and snapped a photo of the details. “Did you take any photos when he was here?”

Violet took out her own phone. “A few, yes, although they were mostly of the kids and the insects.”

“You’re allowed to take photos of the children?”

“Oh, yes,” Violet said. “The school sends home a waiver at the beginning of the school year that parents have to sign giving us permission to take photos of the children during school activities. We usually have a few families who don’t want their children’s photos taken, but this year we had permission for the entire class. We are only allowed to share photos we take on the secure district website and app, which only faculty, staff and parents are able to access. I don’t have them on my phone anymore, but I can show you through the app.” She swiped and scrolled through her phone until she found the series of photos and handed it to Josie.

Josie swiped through the pictures until she came to a few photos of John Bausch. In each one of them he was either in profile or his head was bent down toward the children. He was young, perhaps mid to late twenties, with thick brown hair and a clean-shaven face. He wore a pair of khaki pants and a tan polo shirt. Josie wondered if Bausch was the adult in Lucy’s drawings. “Can you send these to me?” Josie asked.

“Well, I can’t,” Violet said. “But I can talk to the principal. There may be some legal issues—”

“A warrant,” Josie said. “I can get one of those within the hour and have it sent over to the principal.”

“That would work,” Violet agreed.

Josie handed Violet a business card, urging her to call if she thought of anything that might be useful.

She walked back over to the wall and tapped a finger against Lucy’s butterfly drawing. “Do you mind if I take this?”

Violet hesitated for a moment and then said, “Sure, I guess.”





Twenty-Seven





Josie and Oaks stood in the Rosses’ backyard, the only place on the premises where they could speak without being overheard by Amy or Colin. Oaks looked as though he still hadn’t slept. A patchy gray beard had grown in along his jawline and chin. His arms were wrapped tightly over his chest as he regarded her. “You knew we interviewed the teacher, and you went to see her anyway. Are you second-guessing my team, Detective Quinn?”

“No,” Josie said. “On the contrary, I think your team is doing a fine job, and you’re covering way more ground than my team could ever hope to cover in such a short amount of time.”

“Then why did you go to the school?”

She couldn’t entirely explain it. It was her instinct driving her, and she wasn’t even sure where it was going to take her. “I just needed to talk to someone close to Lucy besides her parents,” Josie said. “Violet Young told me that Amy often seemed distracted.”

“You were looking for something you could use to try to get Mrs. Ross to open up to you,” Oaks said.

“Sort of,” Josie said. “The fact that the kidnapper knew about that teddy bear—the one with the recording feature—and got into the house to use it, unseen, is really bothering me.”

Oaks nodded. “It’s bothering me as well.”

“I can’t shake the thought that whoever took Lucy got close to her. Somehow.”

“Yesterday you were insistent that whoever was staying with the nanny was that person,” Oaks pointed out.

“Yes,” Josie said. “I still think that’s the most likely scenario, but I feel like we are missing something. How did the kidnapper get enough access to Lucy to convince her that she should leave her parents? Enough access to put this plan into place; a plan where she would retrieve a sweatshirt from inside the carousel, put it on to avoid being noticed, and run off to this person? Someone who got close to the nanny could have done it. Someone who routinely approached Lucy at the park whenever the nanny took her there and was on her phone. But school was the only place where Lucy was completely out of her mother’s sphere of influence.”