Vanishing Girls (Detective Josie Quinn #1)(75)

“Sure. There’s an agent in the Philadelphia office I’m friendly with. I… wait. What the hell is going on?”

“I need you to call them. As soon as we hang up. Also, I need you to get Noah Fraley.”

“He was just discharged from the hospital,” Trinity said.

“Great. Get him and bring him with you.”

“Bring him where?” Trinity asked.

“I’ll tell you,” Josie said. “But you have to do exactly as I say. No exceptions, no deviations.”

Josie pictured one of Trinity’s perfectly groomed brows arching. “What’s in it for me?”

“The story of a lifetime.”





Chapter Sixty-Four





They had a few hours of daylight left, by Josie’s calculations. She was worried about what would happen when it got dark. She didn’t want to be in Gosnell’s house in the dark, but turning on the lights before help arrived would be risky. If any of Gosnell’s associates showed up Josie would be forced to defend herself and Rena.

“How long till they get here?” Rena asked, quaking, from the kitchen table. She had tucked her knees against her chest, toes curled over the edge of the chair. She kept tugging the corners of the blanket tighter and tighter around her. It wasn’t cold in the house, but Josie knew she was in shock.

Josie stood in the doorway. She had opened the curtains in the living room so that from where she stood she had a partial view of the driveway. “It might be a few hours,” she said honestly.

Rena frowned. “I don’t understand. If you’re the chief of police, why do we have to wait hours for help to come? Why did you ask for the FBI?”

Josie hung her head. “It’s a long story,” she said. “Which I am happy to tell you while we wait. But first I need to know, how long were you in that bunker?”

Rena’s body began rocking slowly back and forth. “I have no idea. What’s the date?”

“March twenty-third.”

One of Rena’s hands snaked out from beneath the blanket and covered her eyes. “Oh my…” she squeaked.

“When did you—when is the last date you remember?” Josie asked softly.

“October. It was October fifth. I was at the hospital. Oh my God. I can’t… I can’t believe it. I knew it was long. It felt like forever, but the drugs… So much is a blur. I don’t… I don’t…”

Hysteria raised her voice two octaves. Josie crossed the room, pulled out a chair and sat down next to Rena. “Hey,” she said softly. “You’re safe now. Rena, it’s going to be okay. Why were you at the hospital in October?”

Rena didn’t speak for a long moment. When she looked up at Josie, tears streaked her thin face. “F-f-for rehab. I… I’m an addict, okay?” She extended an arm and, for the first time, Josie noticed the track marks pitting the soft flesh in the bend of her elbow. “It was my third time. I had checked myself in. I drove myself there, did two weeks until my insurance stopped paying, so I left. I was looking for my car in the parking garage and this lady came walking past me. She asked if I needed help so I said yeah, I’m looking for my car. And that’s the last thing I remember.”

So, similar to Ginger’s story.

“I’m sorry,” Josie said. “I’m so sorry. Do you remember anything about the woman?”

“She was dressed in scrubs, like a nurse. Older, like, maybe in her sixties. She said her name was Ramona.”

So, Sherri Gosnell had lured her.

“What hospital?” Josie asked.

Rena told her, but Josie didn’t recognize the name. “It’s in a small town outside of Pittsburgh,” Rena added. Then her eyes widened. She looked around frantically. “Oh my God, where am I? Where the hell am I? Is this still Pennsylvania?”

“Yes,” Josie said. “You’re still in Pennsylvania. But you’re about a hundred and fifty miles away from home.”

“Oh my God.”

“I’m so sorry, Rena,” Josie said. She got up to check the living room window. Nothing yet. Relief warred with her anxiety. Trinity and Noah couldn’t get there fast enough.

Behind her, Rena said, “So now you tell me. Tell me where I am, and how you found me.”





Chapter Sixty-Five





Daylight was fading by the time Josie and Rena heard the first crunch of tire over gravel outside. They’d drunk every bottle of water in the fridge and raided the Gosnell’s cabinets, finding some potato chips and crackers to chew on. Josie could tell by the way Rena picked at the chips that she had even less of an appetite than Josie did, but both their stomachs growled with hunger and Josie urged her to eat, if only to pass the time. “I don’t know when we’ll have a chance to get real food. Once the FBI arrives, things are going to move pretty quickly,” Josie told her. They ate what they could. Josie’s throat felt dry and scratchy from talking, but it kept her anxiety away, kept her from thinking about Ray and the chief lying dead and cold and alone in the bunker.

They both sprang up from the table when they heard the cars. More than one, Josie realized as she darted into the living room. She watched as the first rounded the last curve of the Gosnells’ driveway and came into view. Her entire body unwound with relief as Trinity Payne’s Honda Civic pulled up alongside the chief’s Jeep. Behind it were two black Chevy Suburbans and one boxy white van with the FBI logo emblazoned on the side of it above the words Philadelphia Field Office Evidence Response Team.