Page 65 of Three Girls Gone

And then this morning when she dropped Zoe off at school, she called herMomfor a fourth time.

There was no sweeter sound, and Amanda would be playingit on repeat all day. It would be what carried her through, what gave her the added strength to take down the serial killer who targeted young girls. Anne Harrington was going to pay. Amanda would do it for Julie Gilbert, Hailey Tanner, other victims they might not know about, and to prevent others from coming to harm.Might not know about…And just like that her light mood swerved into the darkness. What if there were other young victims claimed by this monster?

Her phone rang over her car’s system, and the hospital showed on caller ID. She answered formally, though she expected to hear Dr.Paulsen’s voice. She was met with a woman’s voice instead, who identified herself as Lorraine, a nurse, from the hospital.

“I’m calling about a patient by the name of Anne Harrington. She’s in recovery from surgery and doing well. You can come and talk to her whenever you wish. Just check in at the nurses’ station.”

“Thank you.”

“Uh-huh.” The nurse ended the call, and Amanda was curious why the doctor hadn’t called himself. Maybe she and Trent had made a bigger deal out of his wanting her number than it warranted. And maybe that was a good thing.

She was about to call Trent when her phone rang again, andUnknownsplashed on the screen. That wouldn’t stop her from answering since she gave her card out to a lot of people with the job. “Detective Steele.”

“It’s Officer Brandt. I’m here outside Anne Harrington’s hospital room. Wyatt said you wanted to know when her lawyer turned up. Well, he’s with her now, and she’s good to speak with you if you wanted to come over.”

“Thank you, Leo.” Amanda ended the call and selected Trent’s number.

“Good morning,” he answered.

“You have no idea how good it is.” She was thinking about Zoe calling herMom.

“Oh?”

“Mind out of the gutter.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Anne Harrington’s lawyer is with her, and she’s good to talk to us.” She’d stick to business.

“These people are up and at it early, but that news was hardly worth the buildup.”

She debated whether to share the latest between her and Zoe, but decided not to for now. At the start of her partnership with Trent, she was much better at adhering to the line between personal and professional. Somewhere over the years, that line had blurred, curved, and faded into obscurity. “Early is right, but I’m already on my way to Central.”

“I’ll be here waiting.”

“Wait’s over. I’m pulling into the lot now. Meet me outside.” She ended the call, walked to the lot with the department cars, and Trent came out a few minutes later tossing a key fob in the air and catching it.

“You know if you break that it’s going to be a couple hundred bucks to replace,” she told him.

“I won’t break it then.” He smirked at her as he got into the driver’s seat.

He got them on the road and looked over at her. “We okay?”

“Of course we are.” She smiled. The expression, a little too eager, had her pleasant mood oozing from her despite her intention to dial it down.

“Hmm. You seem uncharacteristically chipper this morning. Want to tell me why?”

“It’s a sunny day. We’re going to close this case and get justice for two girls today.”

“Even if we do, I sense there’s more than that.”

She wriggled a pointed finger at him. “Just focus your detective skills on the case.”

“You say everything’s okay between us, but you’re acting weird. I meant what I said last night. I kind of got cut off with Becky turning up, but I was going to add, who you date or even if you do, isn’t any of my business.”

“Zoe called meMom,” she blurted out. Anything to end the agony of Trent’s rambling.

“Wow, that’s a big deal. That’s the first time, isn’t it?”