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FORTY-SIX

Gretchen didn’t press, didn’t ask her to talk about her feelings. Maybe that was why Josie blurted out, “The adoption agency called. Our approval has been revoked. We can’t take care of a baby when one of us has been abducted. This is the second time in the last few months that our home was broken into. I don’t think—” A breath lodged in her chest, causing a strange, high-pitched noise to erupt from her throat, her body fighting more sobs. Once she could speak again, she finished, “I don’t think we’ll get approved again.”

Gretchen watched her intently. Josie braced herself for the “I’m so sorry” that she knew would hit like a nail in a goddamn coffin. Instead, Gretchen said, “There’s more than one way to expand your family.”

She didn’t elaborate and Josie didn’t ask her to because Gretchen had already given her what she needed. A potential life raft, far off in the distance. Maybe she’d reach it, maybe she wouldn’t, but all she needed to get through this moment was that little smudge on the horizon that could be hope. There wasn’t the slightest insinuation that they might not get Noah back, that she and Noah wouldn’t move toward that horizon together.

“I know you’ve been asking that jackass for updates on the Gina Phelan case,” Gretchen said. “Even though you’re off the case.”

This was exactly the distraction and the kind of normalcy Josie needed after the meltdown she’d just had. “Don’t worry. He’s ignoring me.”

Gretchen tore more toilet paper from the roll and handed it to Josie. “He’s been busy. Lots of other cases. The rest of Denton’s criminal element carries on as usual. Also, I think his ass is chapped.”

Josie wiped at her nose. “How come?”

Gretchen laughed. “Besides the fact that Tilly Phelan can barely tolerate him and keeps asking for you?”

Josie said nothing.

“You made him look like the jackass he is—he said you spotted a rideshare in one of the videos.”

“I did,” Josie said.

“Tomorrow on the news there’s going to be an update on the Gina Phelan case.”

Josie’s heart raced. She stayed silent, letting Gretchen continue.

“There was a rideshare that drove down the street around the time Gina Phelan was stabbed. The driver had just dropped someone off. He got another request. He was fiddling with his GPS, trying to find a pickup location, so he didn’t see anything, but as his vehicle passed by, the dash camera picked up a male in a brown hoodie and jeans locked in some kind of struggle with Gina Phelan.”

Josie swallowed, mouth still overproducing saliva. “Trinity has a still from one of my neighbor’s security cameras of a man wearing those same clothes, walking up and down my street about two hours before Noah was abducted.”

Gretchen smiled. “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that. The state police have the same still.”

“What about the blonde?”

“She was behind Gina.” Gretchen’s expression turned serious. “We think Gina was shielding her but like I said, the footage was taken from a moving vehicle and it’s only a few seconds long.”

Had Gina known the woman or had she seen her being assaulted on the sidewalk and intervened? Questions arose in the back of Josie’s mind in rapid fashion, but she kept them to herself. Gretchen was already telling her more than she should.

It physically hurt her to admit it, but the Big Cry had cleared Josie’s head a bit. She felt more like her old self than she had since Noah’s abduction.

“Tomorrow, Paula’s going to suggest that your families start putting up fliers around the city,” Gretchen said. “She’s afraid if we don’t give them something to do, your mother might beat the piss out of your sister-in-law.”

Josie smiled weakly. “I’d kind of like to see that, honestly.”

Gretchen laughed. “Wouldn’t we all.”

Josie tore off a length of toilet paper and blew her nose. Her sinuses were going to be on fire tomorrow. Just what she needed.

Gretchen used her foot to nudge Josie’s leg. “Go get some sleep, if you can.”

“Thank you, Gretchen.”

Her friend merely nodded, staying on the floor as Josie left and headed back to the bedroom she was sharing with Trout and Trinity. Both of them were snoring now, their breathing patterns opposite so that when one went quiet, the other filled the momentary silence. It was a symphony. Josie didn’t think she’d be able to sleep but the moment she climbed into bed, fatigue hit her like a freight train. She reached up and turned off the lamp on the nightstand. Curling on her side, she found Noah’s shirt and held it against her chest. As sleep dragged her under, her brain cycled through everything she knew about Noah’s case, the armed robberies, and now the Phelan case. Clues and leads and questions about all the things she didn’t know because they were being held back from her.

Then there was Lila, wandering into Josie’s disjointed dreamlike state, beckoning her. What did she want Josie to see?

Her mind wanted to stay awake and sift through all the facts again, but her body had taken over tonight, demanding release earlier and demanding rest now.