The Lost Bones (Widow's Island #8)(3)

“She went directly to the FBI?” Tessa asked sharply.

“No.” Cate pressed her lips together as she thought. “The case started with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. A young woman reported her three-year-old daughter had been kidnapped by the father. The three of them lived together in a small house near Oso, Washington, which is about an hour north of Seattle. It’s not really a town; it’s too small for that. It’s more like a community . . . the type of area that has a general store, a gas station, and not much else. The FBI was contacted two days after Jade Causey disappeared.”

“Why so long? I thought the FBI immediately jumped on missing-children cases,” Bruce asked.

“They do, but the sheriff’s office was familiar with the dad, Rich Causey. They assumed it was a simple domestic dispute and that he hadn’t gone far with his daughter.”

“Assumed.” Tessa looked furious.

“Exactly,” said Cate. “The mom, Kori Causey, had tried to convince them that Rich had no intentions of returning the girl, but no one believed her.” Cate grimaced. “Kori was young—only twenty-five—and Rich was nearly twenty years older. One of the responding deputies had been a drinking buddy of Rich’s and assured the other law enforcement that Rich would never leave his wife or hurt his daughter.”

“But the daughter was sick,” Henry pointed out. This was the part of the story from the news article that he couldn’t wrap his head around. “And Rich didn’t believe in modern medical care—especially for children.”

“He kidnapped his own daughter to keep the mother from taking her to the doctor?” Tessa looked stunned.

“I’ve come across it a few times,” said Cate. “Especially in some of the more rural areas. Either modern medicine goes against their faith or they simply don’t understand it, so it’s easier to simply refuse.”

“Who isn’t willing to try everything when their kids are ill?” asked Tessa.

“Too many people,” answered Cate. “Anyway, from Kori’s description back then it sounded like Jade might have had measles. Runny nose with a fever, and then a rash showed up.”

“Isn’t measles something kids normally get?” asked Bruce.

Henry tightened his jaw. “It didn’t used to be normal thanks to vaccinations, but we’re seeing a resurgence of it. One to three in a thousand will die from it. Maybe that doesn’t sound like many children, but it’s too many when it’s your child.”

“How sick was Jade?” asked Tessa.

“Kori had said that Jade wouldn’t wake up at one point,” continued Cate. “The child was still breathing, and she could feel a heartbeat, but she couldn’t get the girl to respond. Kori was about to take the girl to the hospital, and her husband refused to let her go. Kori said she was on her knees pleading, and it made him angry. They’d already been arguing for a few days about Jade’s condition. Rich claimed Jade would pull through and that Kori just needed to wait it out.” Cate paused, blinking rapidly. “Kori had told me that she knew her daughter would die even if they made it to a hospital. She simply knew.”

“What happened?” asked Bruce.

“By the time we got the case and I met with Kori Causey, Rich and Jade had been missing for two days,” said Cate. “Kori was hysterical one moment and then would fall into deep despair the next. She kept begging us to find Jade but was convinced we never would. She said Rich knew how to vanish into thin air, and that is exactly what he did.”

Henry gestured at the article. “This was published three weeks after the kidnapping. It said you had no leads.”

“That was pretty much true. We dug into every aspect of Rich Causey’s life. No one knew—or no one would tell us—where he might have gone with Jade. I spent months on this case. I couldn’t find anything.” Cate picked up the box and looked closely inside. “I’ve often wondered if both Rich and Jade were dead. This jawbone is a pretty firm sign that Jade didn’t survive . . . along with that notation on the article.”

“What notation?” asked Tessa, sliding the newspaper closer.

Henry flipped it over. Someone had printed in pencil along the top. Tessa read out loud, “‘Jade didn’t make it, and now I’m worried he’ll do the same to my baby. Please help me.’”

The room was quiet for a long second.

“What the hell?” asked Bruce. The young deputy crossed his arms and glowered. “It sounds like Rich Causey is still causing problems with women and their children.”

“What if the penciled message is old?” asked Tessa. “The newspaper is seven years old—we don’t know that the message is new.”

“Maybe it’s not,” said Cate. “But the FBI needs to know about this immediately.”

“I agree,” said Tessa. “I’ll see that my office provides whatever support they need.” She tilted her head as she studied Cate. “You okay?”

Cate met her gaze, and Henry saw the pain in her eyes. “This was a tough case for me. Kori and I connected on a personal level. I lived in her house for two weeks, never letting her out of my sight while a team worked the case. She treated me like a sister. Now I feel horrible that I haven’t been in touch with her in over two years. I used to call or email her every few months and let her know that we hadn’t forgotten her daughter and were still looking for new leads.” She grimaced. “I haven’t done it since . . .”