Vanishing Girls (Detective Josie Quinn #1)(12)

“As far as I know he’s still alive,” Josie said. “He was life-flighted to Geisinger Medical Center. From what I understand, his injuries are very serious. I don’t know what your relationship is, or was, but you may want to go see him.”

The woman gathered her composure, her face closing back down. She smoothed the apron down over her waist and legs. “We haven’t been together for almost two years. We broke up.”

“There was no answer at Mr. Spencer’s house,” Josie said carefully. “Does he have any other family or anyone we should notify?”

“I thought you were on suspension,” Solange said pointedly.

“I am,” Josie admitted. “I’m not here because I’m a police officer. I mean, I am, but I’m not. I’m here because I was there this morning. I was almost killed when that Escalade crashed.” Josie lifted her shirt slightly and turned so Solange could see the bruising already darkening the left side of her body. “Before Mr. Spencer lost consciousness, he said the name ‘Ramona.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

Solange shook her head. “No. I don’t know anyone by that name. Neither does he. At least, not that I’m aware of. Maybe he met someone since we broke up.”

The thought didn’t seem to sit well with Solange.

Josie said, “I’m sure you’re aware that with the Isabelle Coleman abduction, the department is stretched. I recognized Mr. Spencer from the local high school, and since I was there, and the last person he spoke to before he passed out, I thought maybe I’d talk to his next of kin personally.”

It wasn’t warm in the restaurant, but Solange started fanning herself with one hand. Her eyes looked everywhere but at Josie. “Oh well, he has no next of kin here. He has a sister in Philadelphia, Lara, but they don’t talk much. She’s… she’s always in a lot of trouble, you know, like with the law. He has a niece, June. She was living with him, but she ran away over a year ago and no one’s seen her since.”

“How old is June?” Josie asked.

Solange shrugged. “I’m not sure. By now she’s sixteen or seventeen. You’ll never find her though.”

“Why do you say that?”

Another shrug. “Because Dirk looked. Believe me, he looked. That girl doesn’t want to be found.”





Chapter Nine





According to Solange, June Spencer was a troubled girl. With her dad out of the picture, she had lived in Philadelphia with her mother, and by the time she was fifteen she had been expelled from four high schools, arrested a half dozen times, overdosed twice and tried to slit her wrists.

“Her mother isn’t much better,” Solange said, spreading her hands in a what-do-you-expect gesture. “That woman has been in and out of rehab more times than I can count, and don’t get me started on her criminal record. She might as well have a bench named after her down there in the Criminal Justice Center. It’s no wonder that June is such a hot mess.”

Josie bristled. She knew a thing or two about moms like that. If Solange was to be believed, she also knew that June had most likely been a helpless victim in all of the chaos: a child with no resources and no one to turn to, a captive audience to her own mother’s destructive lifestyle. Sometimes even an unwilling participant. Josie pushed those thoughts aside and focused on Solange. “How did June end up here?”

Solange started to roll her eyes and then stopped when she saw the seriousness in Josie’s face. “She was Dirk’s personal crusade. He didn’t want her turning out like his sister. They were both raised by a single mom who died of a heart attack when they were in their twenties so, besides him, June really has no family at all. It took some convincing, but he got his sister to let her come live with him on a trial basis. He wanted to adopt her.”

“His sister wouldn’t allow it?”

Solange shook her head. “No. That bitch is nothing if not spiteful. The only reason she even let June come up here was because she had to serve six months for probation violations, and child services told her if she didn’t sign over temporary guardianship to Dirk, June was going into foster care.”

“How long ago was this?” Josie asked.

“About two years ago. She had just turned fifteen.”

“Isn’t that how long you two have been broken up?”

Solange’s shoulders slumped. The bartender slid a coke across the bar to her, and she gave him a weak smile in return. With a pained look she said, “Yeah. Look, I appreciated that Dirk wanted to save his niece, I really did. But I’m, like, ten years younger than him. I wanted us to settle down, start our own family. That was our plan. Taking on a damaged, rebellious teenage girl was not something we had ever discussed.”

“So you left?”

“I tried to stick it out. I figured she would turn eighteen in a few years, and then maybe Dirk and I could start our life together, but I didn’t last that long. Dirk and I kept in touch even after I left; our break was supposed to be temporary, but at some point it became pretty clear that we were moving in different directions. Dirk asked me to keep coming around and be a ‘positive female role model’ for June, so I tried doing things with her now and then. I did my best to try to relate to June, for Dirk’s sake, but she was a closed book.”