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

you forcing me to make this choice? This is an impossible choice. I don’t want to tell, but…’ The rest is just gone, burned away. The page is dark. I can’t make it out.”

“Do you see any names?”

“Nothing, you?”

Josie leaned closer. “I don’t see anything.”

Reed’s booming voice startled them. “Boy, get this van started while I square up the paperwork.”

“Yes, Dad,” replied Pax.

Quickly, Noah placed the page into his pocket. Paxton came around toward the front of the vehicle. His eyes widened when he saw them. “You have to go. My dad is going to flip his lid if he sees you here.”

Josie said, “Pax, you know you can legally talk to us without your dad’s permission.”

“I have to live with him. He’ll kick my ass if he sees me talking to you,” Pax pointed out. “Look, please just go. Don’t make this worse for me.”

Josie held up her hands. “We’re going, Pax. Thank you for this. Where did you find it?”

“The woods. It was near Miss Lorelei’s house. I found it. I knew something bad happened because she didn’t come for her fruit like she always does on Fridays.”

“You were at her house yesterday?” Josie asked.

Pax looked back toward the dock. His fingers rested nervously on the van’s door handle. “My dad was busy with a big order. He was on the phone. I took my bike through the woods like I always do. I smelled fire. Miss Lorelei doesn’t like fire near her house. Someone had been burning something in the greenhouse.”

“Did you go inside?”

He shook his head violently. A tear streaked down his face and he wiped it away quickly. “There was blood on the back porch. I got scared. I got away from there, rode my bike back into the woods.”

“Did you see anyone, Pax?” Josie asked.

“Please,” he said. “You have to go.”

“Just tell us one last thing,” Noah said. “Did you see anyone?”

“Nobody. Just this paper in the woods. I was upset and I got lost. I had to turn around to go back to the market. But I found this. I thought it was important, and I’d give it to Miss Lorelei when I saw her next, but then today when you came to the market, you said she was dead. Holly, too.”

Another tear rolled down his face.

“I’m sorry, Pax,” Josie said.

“Is Emily okay?”

“Yes,” Josie said. “She’s fine. Thank you for this. You did the right thing. Pax, was there ever anyone else at the house with Lorelei, Emily, and Holly when you were there?”

His chin dipped to his chest. “I’m not supposed to say. My dad doesn’t even know.”

They heard Reed hollering goodbye to someone on the loading dock. “Just take the paper and go, okay?”

Noah said, “This paper, do you know who wrote it?”

Reed’s voice boomed from the loading dock. “Boy! Why isn’t this van started! Pax?”

“Miss Lorelei, probably. Looks like her handwriting. She had secrets. All adults have secrets. They’re liars, every one of them, even my dad. You can ask Emily. Ask her what grown-ups do.”

“Pax! Where the hell are you?”

“Now, please, go!”

Josie pressed a business card into his hand. “You call us if you need us or if you think you can talk, okay?”

While Pax walked to the rear of the van to distract Reed, Josie and Noah sprinted around to the front of the building. Once in their car, Noah threw it into gear and took off down the long drive.

Eighteen

Emily had been moved to another area of the Emergency Department. Now she lay on a gurney behind a curtain. Her duffel bag sat at the foot of her bed, and her stuffed dog was clutched tightly to her chest. Someone had turned on the television on the wall and she was transfixed. In the chair beside the bed sat Marcie, tapping away on her phone. When she spotted Josie and Noah, she jumped from her chair. “Oh good,” she said. “I was just texting you. We’re getting close to overstaying our welcome here. I’ve got to get Emily settled in somewhere. I’ve found a spot for her at a nearby group home. Did you get anywhere with next of kin?”

“Yes,” said Josie. “Could we talk privately?”

Noah said, “I’m going to run up to Health and Information Services and get those records. I’ll be right back.”

Josie and Marcie stepped out of earshot of Emily so that Josie could give her a recap of the meeting with Celeste and Adam. “It’s not ideal,” Marcie agreed. “But it sounds like they might be more sensitive to her recent trauma than a stranger. Well, I suppose they are strangers as well, but if they’ve shown interest in taking her for now, I should at least meet with them. The group home I have in mind is run by a lovely woman, but she’s got a lot of kids on her hands.”

“Did Dr. Rosetti come by this morning?” Josie asked.

“For the psych consult? Yes. Other than OCD and some obvious emotional trauma from losing her mother and sister, Emily has no issues.”

“Did Dr. Rosetti happen to ask her about what she saw yesterday?”

“Yes. I was in the room with them. Emily wouldn’t say. Dr. Rosetti said she is obviously still processing everything that happened, and it’s best not to push.”

“Right,” said Josie. “But someone has been making Emily keep secrets. Those secrets may have gotten her family killed.”

“Look, I realize you’re trying to solve a case, but my job is to find a place for this little girl to stay until we can make permanent arrangements. You’re welcome to speak with her again if you think it will help, but I am asking that you do not put any additional stress on her.”

“I won’t,” Josie promised. “Will you meet with Celeste Harper and Adam Long today? They said they’d be available.”

“Do you have their numbers?” Marcie asked.

Josie gave her both Adam and Celeste’s cell phone numbers. Marcie disappeared down the hall. Josie slipped inside the curtained-off area and perched on Emily’s