Vanishing Girls (Detective Josie Quinn #1)(62)

With the miles stretched out before them, Josie kept talking, peppering June with questions and reassurances, desperate for her to understand that she was on her side. Until, at last, exhausted and out of things to say, she fell silent and they drove the rest of the way with only the blast of the heater filling the cold void between them. As she pulled up on a remote mountain road near the hospital where Carrieann was parked in her SUV, Josie shot one last glance at June, but the girl’s eyes were closed.





Chapter Fifty-One





Josie unfastened her seat belt and turned her whole body toward June, lightly touching her forearm. “June, wake up. We’re here.”

June opened her eyes and looked straight past Josie, watching Carrieann walk toward her door with the wariness of a cat.

“That’s my friend, Carrieann,” Josie said. “June, I have to ask one last time: did you see Isabelle Coleman? Can you tell me anything about where you were held before you came to be with Donald Drummond?”

Carrieann rattled Josie’s door. Josie wanted to keep trying to get more information from her, but it might take forever. Josie didn’t have forever. Especially after what she had just done. With a frustrated sigh, she opened her door and got out.

“How’d it go?” Carrieann asked, glancing behind Josie. “That her?”

“Yeah, that’s her. I shot someone.”

Carrieann kept her eyes on June. “You kill him?”

“No.”

Carrieann shrugged. “No worries, then.”

Josie was trying to decide whether she was joking or not when Carrieann stepped past her and climbed into the cab of the truck. “Name’s Carrieann,” she told June.

The girl stared back, unblinking.

“Where’s Lara?” Josie asked.

“She wouldn’t come with me. I’m going to meet up with her now.”

“Carrieann, thank you for doing this. You don’t have to—she could be dangerous,” Josie said, lowering her voice so June wouldn’t hear.

“You said that earlier,” Carrieann reminded her, matching Josie’s voice with her own whisper. “At the hospital. And I told you I’d do whatever it takes to find out what really happened to my brother. I’m not afraid of that girl.”

“Maybe you should be.”

Carrieann raised a brow. “I can be vigilant without being afraid. You stop worrying now. I’ll handle this.”

“Please be careful,” Josie implored. “Don’t let anyone see her.”

“You got it.” Carrieann gave her one last meaningful look. “I’ll be back in the morning after I get these two stashed away on my farm. Don’t get killed while I’m gone.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Josie watched Carrieann drive off with June until the taillights of her truck disappeared into the night.





Chapter Fifty-Two





She had promised Carrieann that she wouldn’t return to the hospital, but Josie couldn’t leave without seeing Luke one more time. The nurse let her stay an extra ten minutes. It had only been a day, but he already looked thinner. She touched his cool skin and carefully avoided the mess of tubes and wires so she could lean in to kiss his cheek and whisper, “I’m sorry,” before a nurse ushered her out.

Before leaving, she took a quick scan of the waiting room to make sure Lara wasn’t in there, only to find two troopers sleeping in chairs and a handful of worried relatives. Josie was about to turn away and leave when the sight of Trinity Payne on the television caught her eye. She stood outside the Denton police department, hair whipping in the wind, microphone in hand. Along the bottom of the screen scrolled the words: “Prisoner Taken.” Josie had to get close to the television to hear what she said.

“… there was only one officer on duty in the holding area this evening when a masked gunman stormed the back door, shot Officer Noah Fraley and kidnapped June Spencer…”

A masked gunman?

Guilt was a sharp pain in her chest. Noah had lied. She shot him, and he lied for her. If ever there was a sign that he wasn’t involved, it was this one, perfect lie. But why had he reached for his gun, she wondered? Why hadn’t he tried to convince her that he was innocent, instead of trying to handle her?

You wouldn’t have believed him, a voice in her head confessed.

Then a horrible thought struck her. What if he had been reaching for his gun to surrender?

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she muttered to herself.

But it didn’t matter. At the time, she had no way of knowing if he was an enemy or not. She had done what she had to do and June was safe.

Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She ducked out of the waiting room and down the hall as she pulled it out and looked at the display before answering.

“Ray.”

“Where is June Spencer?” he asked.

“Last I heard she was in a holding cell in the basement of Denton’s police building,” Josie said.

“Are you really going to do this?”

“Do what?” she said, with a little more feigned innocence than she had intended.

“Lie,” he growled, his voice growing louder.

She laughed. “Are you really going to do this? Lecture me about lying? You?”