But then, as he stepped into the light, she saw a glimmer of kindness in his eyes. He approached her slowly, his footsteps quiet against the cold concrete floor. She could feel her heart racing, but she forced herself to remain still.

“Are you all right?” he asked softly, his voice gentle as he sat on the edge of the bed beside her. She hesitated before nodding slowly. He reached out and touched her cheek, and she flinched at his touch. But then, something about the warmth of his hand made her relax.

“It’s all right,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you. You can trust me. We are family, remember?”

She looked up at him, searching for any signs of anger, but found none. Slowly, she began to relax.

He touched her hair. “As long as you are a good girl, and do as I tell you, then there is no problem.”

She was small, but she was no dummy, and she had a will as strong as steel. Her green eyes were full of suspicion as she looked up at the imposing figure in front of her. He towered over her, tall and broad, but there was a gentleness in his voice that didn’t fit with his intimidating stature.

He touched her nose with a finger, and she flinched slightly, but he only smiled showing off his white teeth. She used to love seeing him smile. Now it filled her with fear.

“Can we agree to that?”

Slowly, she began to relax. He seemed sincere, and she wanted to trust him. She really wanted to.

“Okay,” she said finally, her voice barely a whisper. She was so thirsty and wanted to ask for some water. And food. She was starving. She would do anything for something to eat.

He smiled again and winked at her.

“That’s my girl.”

Kitty stared at Officer Damian, heart still racing rapidly in her chest, yet feeling oddly comforted. He then smiled and lifted up a bag of McDonald’s.

“I hope you’re hungry. I brought food.”

THIRTY-FOURBILLIE ANN

I called Charlene and left a bunch of messages while driving back to the station. Of course, she wasn’t answering. She was skipping school, probably up to no good with her friends.

This was so not what I needed right now.

And it was unlike her. That was the part that concerned me. She was the good one. She usually always took care of her schoolwork and chores. She always got good grades and never skipped. I left one more message, telling her to call me back NOW. Then I hung up and called her father. It was the first time I had spoken to him since he’d betrayed me and outed me to my mother. I really wasn’t ready to speak to him, as I was still furious, but this was important.

“Joe? Do you know where Charlene is?”

I could hear the noise of construction in the background. He was still at work. He sounded distant. “She’s in school, no?”

I exhaled and rubbed my forehead in frustration. “No, she is not in school, Joe. They called and said she hasn’t been there all day.”

He went quiet.

“Well, that’s not good. Have you tried calling her?”

“Of course, I have. She doesn’t pick up and she turned her location tracker off, so I can’t use Find My Phone to track her.”

He exhaled. “She’s sneaky, huh? You know what? She’s just being a teenager. It happens. We’re just not used to her doing stuff like this.”

It happens. Is that all you have to say?

“Well, it shouldn’t be happening,” I said. “This is not okay. She needs to know this. She can’t just skip school without telling us. Especially not now that we have a killer on the loose. This is terrifying to me. What do we do?” I hadn’t told Joe about the case, but he’d have seen it on the news.

“Listen, it’s Charlene. She’s a smart girl. I’m sure she will be fine. She’ll be home later today pretending like she was in school, and then we’ll have to talk to her, tell her that they called and that we know she is lying. She’ll tell us she’s sorry and that it will never happen again. She’ll probably cry a little. But it will be okay. I promise. Cut her some slack. She’s probably just acting out a little. I’m sure she can sense that something is going on with us.”

“So now it’s my fault?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that.”

“That’s what you meant.”

“You can’t expect our children to not react to this, Billie Ann. Charlene is a smart kid. She probably already knows we’re separating. She could easily have heard us talking. Listen I gotta go. I have a five o’clock meeting later today with the architect. I’ll be home afterward.”

We hung up. I parked in front of the station and turned the engine off. I felt bad. No, I felt absolutely awful. Was Joe right? Was this affecting my children already? I couldn’t bear the thought. How could I do this to them? What kind of a mother was I being to them?

How can I not? They want to see me happy. I’m teaching them that it’s okay to choose happiness.

I took the elevator up to the third floor and got out. Tom and Scott were sitting at their desks as I walked in. Tom lifted his head and saw me.

“Well, you look like sh—”

I lifted my hand. “I’m gonna stop you right there. I do not want to hear it. I don’t have time for it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You seem like you’re in a bad mood or something.”

I looked at them both, deliberately choosing to ignore his comments. Who cared what I looked like? Yeah, I was in a terrible mood. Could you blame me? It wasn’t exactly a good day for me.

“I need to know everything we have on Cassandra’s parents,” I said. “I know we have gone through them before, but I want to dig deeper. Let’s go over everything again. Especially her father. Background checks, do they have priors, where do they work, where did they used to live before they came here, who have they been married to? Heck, I want to know what they had for breakfast this morning. They both seem like they’re hiding something, and I need to know what it is. Tom, you’re on that one.”

He nodded and sat up straight in his chair.

“Scott?”

Scott smiled behind the soft curls. I wanted to tell him he needed a haircut, but this wasn’t the time.

“I need you to find all the information you can on Ashley Wittman, the girlfriend who disappeared. Does she have any connections to any of the others, to the Perezes or Marissa Clemens? If they used to play tennis together or be Girl Scouts together, I want to know, okay? If her sister’s husband works for any of them, I need to know. Okay? Stuff like that. Details. The answer is in the details, you hear me?”

He nodded. “I’m on it. And the pediatrician’s family? Do you want me to run backgrounds on them too? He wasn’t married but his parents and siblings and all that?”

I paused.

“Pediatrician?”

Scott nodded. He snapped his fingers. “Yes, you know—what’s his name—Bryan Henderson.”

“He was a pediatrician? How come I didn’t know that?”

Scott threw out his arms. “I thought you knew.”