Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(61)

“He looks like he’s got plenty to keep him busy,” Josie remarked.

She drove the few blocks to the Ross home, circling the block twice to find a parking spot amongst all the press vehicles. The reporters on the front lawn attacked her with shouted questions as she made her way up the front walk. An FBI agent let her in. “They’re in the dining room,” he told her.

She heard Oaks speaking as she edged into the room behind him. “Remember what we talked about. The next time the kidnapper calls, I want you both to be ready.”

From their places at the other end of the dining room table, Amy and Colin Ross stared at him. “I asked for proof of life already,” Colin said. “It didn’t end well.”

Josie walked up beside Oaks. Colin and Amy glanced at her before returning their gazes to him.

“This is a negotiation,” Oaks said, “You don’t want to give him everything he wants right away, or he’ll keep asking for more. Do you have a million dollars?”

The couple looked at one another. Colin shifted in his chair. “Not readily available. I started liquidating assets the other day. I could come up with eight hundred thousand pretty quickly but the rest… it would take longer.”

“You still want to demand proof of life,” Oaks said. “You did well the last time, asking for it.”

“But he won’t give it to us,” Colin said.

“You don’t know that. He wants money. Our best chance of getting Lucy back is to try to come to some kind of agreement with this monster. Show him you’re willing to play his game.”

“I think this is a mistake,” Amy said, her voice tremulous. “Why are we taking chances with our daughter’s life?”

“Do we even have a choice?” Colin asked.

Oaks looked up at Josie. “Your Officer, Hummel, sent us over a list of the stolen guns as well as their serial numbers. Did you find anything at the hunting cabin?”

Josie took out her phone and pulled up the photos of the chrysalis.

“Oh my God,” Amy cried. “She’s still alive.”

Colin’s eyes glistened as he, too, looked at the photo. He said, “We don’t know that. We don’t know how long ago they were at this cabin.”

“That’s true,” Josie acknowledged.

“And now he’s armed,” Colin pointed out.

“He was always armed,” Amy said. “He killed Jaclyn and Wendy. The police said he stabbed them.”

The sound of a cell phone ringing interrupted the moment. Amy’s body visibly trembled, but it wasn’t her phone that rang. Oaks pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and swiped the Answer icon. “Oaks here,” he barked into it. He listened for a moment, then said, “You’re sure?” He stood up, frowning. “Yes, send it over. Now, please. Thank you.” He hung up and looked at Amy and Colin. “Everything’s fine,” he told them. “I just need a word with Detective Quinn, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Colin said, as his wife nodded.

Josie followed Oaks out to the backyard. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“I just got a call from one of my agents in New York. Amy Walsh died when she was twenty-two years old.”

“What are you talking about?” Josie asked, feeling her heart double tap in her chest.

Oaks pulled up a document on his phone and showed it to Josie. It was a death certificate issued by the state of New York for Amy Walsh dated 1997. As she scanned the words on the tiny screen, Oaks said, “Cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma.”

Josie found the words and kept reading. “Manner of death: accident.”

“That’s not Amy Walsh in there,” Oaks said.

“She stole someone else’s identity. The yearbook photo was just close enough that someone taking a casual glance might buy it.”

Oaks blew out a long breath. “No wonder she failed the polygraph.”

Josie turned away from him and began pacing the yard. “I still don’t think that she had anything to do with Lucy’s abduction.”

Oaks scratched the stubble on his chin. “I didn’t peg you as na?ve, Detective Quinn. I’ve read about you. Seen you on television. You’ve seen the worst this world has to offer. You don’t believe that woman in there is capable of staging her own daughter’s kidnapping?”

Josie stopped pacing and stared into his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“It would explain how distracted she’s been. You said yourself: every person you and your team spoke to about her said she was often distracted.”

The word called to mind the footage that Josie and Noah had watched that morning. “She’s been distracted, yes, but not because she staged Lucy’s kidnapping. Remember I told you about what Noah and I saw on the footage from the arcade? Amy had no idea that man was stalking them. Besides that, we have access to all of her records: banking statements, phone records, email. Access she gave to us willingly. If she was truly planning this we would have found some evidence by now.”

“I think we need to take her in. Interrogate her.”

“No,” Josie said. “Not yet. She’s cooperating with us.”

“She’s lying about who she is, Quinn.”