Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(54)

Colin said, “I do remember her talking about that. Do you think he had something to do with her disappearance?”

“We’re looking into it,” Josie said. “The school had booked a man named John Bausch. The real John Bausch is a man in his sixties, but someone contacted his office and canceled the presentation. Then this guy showed up at Lucy’s school and gave a presentation.”

“What are you saying?” Colin said, tension drawing his shoulders upward.

“I’m saying that this man impersonated the real John Bausch, which in itself is a red flag. He would have met Lucy. She would have shown great interest in his presentation, I’m sure.”

“She did,” Amy croaked. “She said he was the best visitor they ever had.”

“And neither of you remember seeing him after that? Lucy never pointed him out to you anywhere? You never ran into him?”

“No,” Amy said. “She didn’t. I’m sure she would have if she’d seen him.”

Colin added, “I only remember her telling me about the school visit. She never mentioned him after that.”

Josie put her phone away. “We’re dealing with a two-month period here. Is it possible that Lucy could have seen him or been around him without either of you knowing it?”

Colin remained silent. Josie guessed it was because he wasn’t home often enough or long enough to have taken Lucy places on his own.

Amy took a long moment to think about it. “Well, I guess when she was out with Jaclyn. I’m sure I would remember if she’d been talking to a strange man while we were out somewhere.”

“Where did you take Lucy in the last two months?”

Colin stared at his wife expectantly.

Amy said, “I already told you this. School, the park—that’s it. We had a routine. We don’t live terribly exciting lives.”

“Did you take her grocery shopping with you?”

“Well, sure, sometimes.”

“Ever go to the mall?”

“Yes, a couple of times. They have that new arcade place—you can eat there and play in the arcade. One of her friends had a birthday party there several months ago and then I took her there again more recently—just the two of us. But Lucy is only seven. I don’t let her out of my sight when we go out.”

Josie thought of the man Ingrid Saylor had seen at that party, helping Lucy at the skee-ball machine while Amy got change. “Not even for a few minutes?”

“No, I mean, not really.”

“Can you get me approximate dates? When you went to the mall? Since that birthday party?”

“I guess so. I can try. If I look at my bank statements—or you can. We gave the FBI access to all of our accounts. I have a debit card that draws right from the bank account Colin set up for me. I usually take out a certain amount of cash each week, but I do sometimes use it as a credit card instead of taking out cash, so the arcade would probably be on there.”

“What about the grocery store? Do you use the card there or cash?”

Amy shrugged. “It depends. Why? What are you thinking?”

“It’s a long shot,” Josie said. “Most places don’t keep their CCTV footage very long, but I might have my team ask for footage from the arcade and the grocery store for the dates you were there with Lucy to see if this guy was following you.”

Colin said, “I’ll go get the bank statements. I can make a list of places where Amy used the card in the last two months.”

“Thank you,” Josie said.

Once he was back inside, Amy plopped back into her chair. “Do you think this man was stalking us? All this time? Watching Lucy?”

Josie touched her stomach as a wave of nausea rushed over her. Heat stung her face. She hoped she wouldn’t throw up in front of Amy. “I don’t know,” she said, willing the feeling to pass. “But I do think it’s extremely likely. This kidnapping was well-planned and executed without a single mistake. If the kidnapper had made one, we would have found something by now, but we haven’t.”

Amy hugged the stuffed unicorn to her chest. “It’s so creepy. So disturbing. I can’t believe this. This—this monster was stalking my baby all this time and I didn’t even know it. What kind of mother doesn’t notice someone stalking her seven-year-old?”

Josie sucked in several deep breaths and the nausea began to recede. Again, questions of whether or not a baby—her very own baby—was growing inside her crowded her mind, but she pushed them aside. She had to focus on the case. She thought of what Oaks had said to her at the station.

“Amy,” Josie said. “I need you to listen to me very carefully. This man who has Lucy is targeting people close to you in order to make contact with you.”

“He’s killing them to get to me?” Amy said.

“He’s using their phones so that we can’t trace him so long as he leaves the scene before we get there, and he’s killing them so they can’t identify him—but also, I think, because it will hurt you. This whole time we’ve been looking more closely at Colin, but Colin had less contact with Jaclyn than you, and I’m guessing he barely knew Wendy.”

“He only met her once or twice,” Amy agreed.

“What we need to know is, who will he target next?”