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

“We have no photos of this girl,” Gretchen remarked. “I didn’t see any in the house, did you?”

Josie shook her head. “No, but Lorelei kept one in her truck. I’ll see if the ERT can find it when they process the truck. For now, let me call and get this process started.”

Gretchen said, “I’ll ask one of them to come out and check inside the truck for the photo now.”

Josie nodded and dialed the front desk at the Denton Police headquarters. Their normal desk sergeant, Dan Lamay was at Josie’s wedding, so another officer was filling in for him. Josie walked him through the process of inputting all of Emily’s known information into the National Crime Information Center database. Gretchen returned midway through to tell her that the ERT officer hadn’t found any photos in the truck. It was up to Josie to provide a description from having met the girl three months ago. She had to estimate the height and weight: roughly four feet tall, approximately fifty to fifty-five pounds. What she knew for sure was that Emily had straight, shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes. In fact, when they’d first met, Emily’s eyes had reminded Josie of Noah’s. She finished that call and then dialed the state police to finalize the process of getting the Amber Alert issued. Several minutes after hanging up, the cell phones of everyone on the scene began to buzz and chirp as the alert went out statewide.

Josie felt only slightly better.

Gretchen said, “Mett is still at Harper’s Peak handling statements from the staff, so I’ll be the lead here. What can you tell me about Lorelei Mitchell and her kids?”

Josie shrugged. “Not much more than I already told you. I was only here for about two hours. My cell phone worked here, so I called Noah and Mett. Lorelei gave me coffee. The girls came into the kitchen from the garden. We all sat at the dining room table together. Lorelei had just made banana bread. The girls seemed excited to meet me.”

Gretchen panned the area. “Being homeschooled out here? I guess they don’t get too many visitors.”

Josie remembered how young Emily had peppered her with questions and had even gone so far as to ask about Josie’s scar. A flush had crept up Lorelei’s face as she scolded Emily for being intrusive. Holly had simply laughed and put an arm across Emily’s shoulders. “I didn’t get to ask Lorelei many questions because I was talking with the girls,” said Josie.

“What about their father?”

“Lorelei said it was just them. None of them brought up the subject, and there didn’t seem to be any evidence of a male presence in the house.”

Gretchen said, “This intense need for privacy makes me wonder if this was a domestic issue.”

It hadn’t occurred to Josie back in January, but now she wondered if Lorelei had escaped from an abusive relationship and was hiding out here in the woods. If that was the case, the girls’ father would be their prime suspect in Holly and Lorelei’s murders and Emily’s disappearance.

Gretchen said, “We’re going to have to find out who their father is when we get back to the station. Do you know what she did for a living?”

Josie shook her head. “No, I don’t know anything about her beyond what I’ve told you.” In most murder investigations, they started with the victim’s inner circle and moved outward, but it appeared that Lorelei Mitchell had no inner circle. Again, Josie thought of domestic violence survivors. Often their abusers systematically isolated them from most or all of their family and friends. Is that what had happened here? By the time Lorelei escaped the relationship with her daughters, did they have no support network? How long had they been out here, Josie wondered? Who did they depend on or look to in emergencies?

Josie mentally retraced their steps through the house earlier. There had been a stunning lack of personal effects. No photographs—or if there had been, they’d been taken and possibly destroyed in the greenhouse. Josie and Noah’s house was filled with photos of their loved ones. Their fridge was covered in drawings from Harris and Noah’s niece as well as invitations they received for birthday parties, weddings, barbecues, and all kinds of social events. Josie hadn’t seen any of that in the Mitchell household. She also hadn’t seen any filing cabinet or desk of any kind. Most people had something in place to hold their important documents like birth certificates, banking information, social security cards and such, even if it was just a box. Lorelei had probably hidden these types of personal effects. If the killer hadn’t taken them, they’d probably be able to find them. “When the ERT is done, we’ll see what kinds of personal effects and documents we can find,” Josie added.

Officer Chan emerged from the house, clad in Tyvek from head to toe and carrying evidence bags. She deposited them into her vehicle and picked up a camera and sketch pad. “I’m going to start in the greenhouse now,” she told them. “The house will be done soon and you two can have a look around if you’d like.”

Josie and Gretchen nodded and watched her walk off. Josie had no idea how much time had passed, but the sun had dropped lower in the sky. She probably should have been walking down the aisle by now, or maybe she and Noah would have already been wed. She nudged Gretchen in the ribs. “Can I use your phone to call Noah?”

“Of course.”

Josie found Noah in Gretchen’s contact list and hit the call icon. He answered after four rings. “Gretchen? What’s going on?”

“It’s me,” Josie said.

“Josie,” he said. “I heard about Lorelei. I’m so sorry. They just took Holly Mitchell to the morgue. Any word on Emily?”

“Not yet,” she said. “The Sheriff is sending a K-9 unit. How are things there?”

Noah laughed. “All of our guests are