Hush Little Girl by Lisa Regan (first e reader .txt) 📗

“Nothing,” Gretchen said as they stood in that final room.

They lowered their weapons. Josie stepped back into the hallway and called out Emily’s name. Gretchen followed suit. No response.

“Attic?” Gretchen asked.

They searched the rooms upstairs until they found a small, pull-down door in the ceiling of Lorelei’s bedroom closet. Gretchen climbed up the rickety wooden steps until her head disappeared into darkness. “It’s just a crawl space. I don’t see anything.”

Josie asked, “Do we need a flashlight?”

Gretchen labored back down to the floor and pushed a hand through her hair. “No. Right at the top there’s a quarter-inch-thick coating of dust, undisturbed. No one’s been up there in a while.”

“You heard the noise when we were on the steps, though, right?” Josie said.

“Yeah,” said Gretchen.

They’d checked every room, every closet, every place a human could possibly hide and found no one. Yet, Josie couldn’t shake the feeling they weren’t alone.

Gretchen said, “They’re living out here in the middle of the woods. Could have been an animal on the roof or something?”

Josie didn’t feel reassured but nodded in agreement. “Let’s see if there’s a basement. Then we’ll check the greenhouse.”

Retracing their steps downstairs, they continued to call out for Emily, but still received no response. They found the basement door in the dining room, and cleared the musty space the same way as they had the rest of the house but found nothing other than a washer and dryer and a cabinet full of jarred food.

Back in the living room, Gretchen wiped sweat from her brow. “Emily’s not here, boss.”

“Neither is the gun,” Josie noted, feeling a tightness in her chest. “Which means that whoever shot Lorelei still has it and may have Emily as well.”

They moved back outside and walked down the steps. The air felt good against Josie’s skin. “Let’s check the greenhouse.”

Wordlessly, Gretchen followed Josie to the back of the house. An expansive back porch stood several feet above a fenced-in vegetable garden. The gate hung open. Josie lifted her weapon as she passed through it, her feet sinking into the soft dirt of the garden. Walking between two rows of fledgling plants, she headed toward the greenhouse with Gretchen in tow. Around them, the only noise they could hear was birdsong.

“You smell that?” Gretchen said.

“Fire,” replied Josie.

The greenhouse door was closed but not locked. The smell of a recent fire stung Josie’s nostrils as she swung the door open and stepped inside. It was at least ten degrees warmer inside the structure. Two of the tables inside had been overturned, soil and seeds strewn everywhere. Josie and Gretchen picked their way through the detritus until they came to the far end of the greenhouse. Overhead, the roof vents were propped open. On the ground near the louvre vent were several large terracotta planters filled with ashes, small pieces of paper, and what looked like remnants of both a laptop and cell phone.

Documents of some kind and Lorelei’s electronics, Josie guessed. What the hell was going on here?

Gretchen said, “We have to go back to the road so we can signal the others. They’ll never find the driveway.”

Josie said, “You go. I’ll stay here and call the Chief to let him know we need search teams. Let’s go back to the car and get your phone.”

Gretchen shook her head. “Boss, I can’t leave you here alone.”

“I can handle myself. The others should be here any second. You go flag them down.”

With a sigh, Gretchen turned and trudged out of the greenhouse. Josie followed her until they reached her car. Gretchen climbed in behind the wheel. Fishing her phone from the console, she handed it to Josie. “Stay alert.”

Josie nodded and watched Gretchen make a three-point turn before heading back to the road. Alone in the large clearing, Josie held the gun at her side with one hand and with the other, dialed Chief Chitwood’s number.

“Palmer,” he answered brusquely. “I’ve got extra officers and ERT headed your way. Dr. Feist said she’d go with them too in case there’s a body. They should all be there now, actually. Where’s Quinn? Things here are getting a little tense. We’ve got a groom, over fifty confused guests, and no bride.”

“It’s me, Chief,” Josie said.

“Dammit, Quinn,” he responded. “I don’t think I’m going to like what you have to say.”

“No,” Josie agreed. “You won’t. Not one bit.”

Five

Gretchen returned with three patrol vehicles in tow. Josie stationed one of the uniformed officers at the front of the house and one at the back to make sure that the scene inside the house and the greenhouse wouldn’t be disturbed. The other patrol officers were sent off to search the woods around the house for Emily or any sign of the killer. Josie itched to get out there and join the search but in her wedding dress, it wasn’t practical. Besides, Chief Chitwood had contacted the Alcott County Sheriff to ask for assistance from their K-9 unit, and Josie wanted to be there when the search and rescue dog arrived. Hummel was still busy at the Harper’s Peak scene, so he had dispatched Officer Chan and two other members of the ERT to process the Mitchell house. They arrived shortly after the patrol vehicles and got to work, followed five minutes later by Dr. Feist.

As everyone set to work, Josie and Gretchen waited outside near Gretchen’s car. The clearing around Lorelei’s house was remarkably quiet. The only noises were the calls of birds flitting through the trees overhead and the light breeze drifting through the leaves. It was so peaceful here, so beautiful. Insulated. What the hell had happened? How had violence found Lorelei and her children? Why? What about the items burned in the greenhouse? Had Lorelei done it, or had her killer? What didn’t they want anyone to know?

Gretchen said, “We need to ask for an Amber Alert for Emily.”

“Yes,” Josie said. “Someone’s going to have to fill out the NCIC form and then we can call it in. I’ll call the