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

dirt or anything to indicate that she’s been dragged along the ground. Other than the hemorrhaging in her eyes and the bruising on her throat, it looks like she just laid down and went to sleep. Poor girl.”

Mettner tapped away at the note-taking app on his phone.

Gretchen said, “We’re going to have to talk to everyone who is or was here today. I’ll call in more back-up for that.”

“What’s that she’s got in her hands?” Josie asked.

Dr. Feist nodded toward Hummel and then moved out of his way so that he could kneel beside the girl. “It’s some kind of crude… doll, I think. Chan, what do you think?”

Chan walked over and peered down. “That’s weird,” she said. “I think you’re right, though. It’s meant to be a doll.”

“I can’t get close in this dress,” Josie said. “Can one of you take a photo and text it to Mett so I can see?”

Chan and Hummel froze, looking at Josie momentarily before turning their gazes toward Chief Chitwood. Josie looked at him as well. He shook his head, wisps of his white hair floating over his balding scalp. With a sigh, he said, “Quinn, Fraley, you’re supposed to be getting married today.” He looked at his wristwatch. “In about an hour, by my calculations. Why don’t you let us take care of this?”

Josie motioned toward Holly Mitchell. “I met that girl. I met her mother and her sister. I can’t walk away from this.”

Gretchen said, “Boss, no one is asking you to walk away. We’re only asking you to wait until after your wedding to get involved.”

Mettner said, “Walking out on your wedding is kind of shitty, boss.”

“Hey,” said Noah. “Watch it, Mett. It’s my wedding, too.”

Mettner shrugged, unfazed. “It’s still shitty.”

Josie said, “Our wedding venue is a crime scene.”

Noah stepped forward, toward Mettner. “If you don’t understand why we need to be here, to be involved, then you really don’t know us at all.”

Josie loved Noah even more than she already did for including himself in that statement. His unflinching and unwavering support, along with his uncanny ability to understand her, were exactly the reasons she was marrying him. She stepped up and slid her hand into his. “Just let me check on Holly’s mother. She lives nearby.”

The Chief said, “We’ll send someone. You two get back to your wedding.”

Josie said, “You won’t be able to find it unless one of us takes you.”

“You two don’t have to do everything, you know. Mettner and Gretchen are perfectly capable of handling this while the two of you get married. This is a huge resort. They could find somewhere else to have the ceremony. Your guests are already here. The band. The kitchen staff are cooking up a storm. You’re going to lose a lot of money if you don’t get back to the hotel and get married.”

Josie glanced toward the body again and blinked back tears. She felt Noah’s hand squeeze hers. Could they get married an hour after the body of a child was found at their wedding venue? At the doorstep to the church in which they were going to exchange vows? She knew the answer to that question, but she knew their colleagues and family would fight them every step of the way. She said, “One of you come with us to Lorelei Mitchell’s house so she can be notified.”

Gretchen said, “Then you’ll come back here and get married?”

“Yes,” said Josie and Noah in unison. The gentle pressure of Noah’s hand told her that he was lying, too.

Three

Josie and Noah piled into Gretchen’s car while Gretchen stood just outside the driver’s side door and used her cell phone to call in more units. Noah sat in the front seat and Josie positioned herself across the entire back seat. Her dress was easy to move around in, but the bustle took up a lot of room. She had desperately wanted to change into comfortable clothes, but going back to the hotel and facing everyone would have taken far too long. There would be too many people for them to convince that what they were doing was acceptable. Josie couldn’t think of a single person, except perhaps her grandmother, Lisette, who would think that walking out on their own wedding to assist in solving a murder was okay. Once the time for the wedding had passed and Josie and Noah were still unmarried, their guests were far less likely to object to them changing clothes.

“You okay?” Noah asked.

Josie looked up to see him turned toward her, staring. “Yeah, you?”

He smiled. “Of course. I’m with you.”

“The wedding—” Josie started.

“Can wait. We’ll work it out. Let’s just check on Lorelei and go from there.”

Josie leaned forward and kissed him. He reached up and cupped her cheek, his warm palm lingering there. His hazel eyes darkened. “You had a bad feeling the day we hit the deer. I didn’t listen.”

Josie leaned into his hand. “I wanted to believe it was true—that we’d had our fill of bad luck. Noah, Lorelei was fiercely protective of her kids. I know I only spent a little over an hour with them, but it was obvious. I can’t see her letting either of them out of her sight.”

What she didn’t say was that she was afraid of what they’d find at Lorelei’s home.

Before he could respond, Gretchen rapped against the driver’s side window. Both of them looked at her. With one hand she spoke into her cell phone, but with the other she signaled toward Griffin Hall. Trinity strode toward the vehicle, a look of fury flashing across her face. Jogging to catch up with her was her boyfriend, Drake Nally. He was an FBI agent with the New York City field office. Josie had worked with him on a case in the past. While he wouldn’t be able to lend any help with local murders, Josie hoped he’d be able to calm Trinity down. But Josie knew that was a tall order, given that Trinity was