Page 2 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

ONE

She was loaded in the passenger seat of a department car while her work partner, Trent Stenson, drove them to one such place.

Heroes Memorial Park. A girl’s body had been found on the carousel in the playground and was rumored to be six-year-old Hailey Tanner.

She’d disappeared after her weekly ballet lesson at a local dance studio just three days before.

Something so routine had turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.

Amanda refused to think about where the girl had been all this time and what she had suffered.

If there was any mercy, death would have been swift and painless.

When her boss had called, Amanda had been wrangling her nine-year-old daughter, Zoe, into getting ready for school.

She ended up dropping her off at her aunt Libby’s, but not before squeezing her so tightly that Zoe claimed Amanda was suffocating her.

She let Zoe go with some reluctance. There were parents who would never hug their daughter again.

It was for them and the girl that she was on the move.

Trent turned into the parking lot, free to visitors, and was waved past by a uniformed officer.

He was one of many posted in the area, and several cruisers peppered the lot.

No civilian vehicle was in sight. Earlier guests would have been escorted out and any new arrivals turned away.

No sign of the news media either. Yet, anyway. She didn’t expect that to hold out.

The flashing lights and the police activity played out in stark contrast to the otherwise typical, beautiful May day. The air was warm, and the sky was clear.

Amanda got out of the department car with Trent. She shook her shoulders, willing the tension out. With every step, she braced for what she was about to see.

Two uniformed officers were standing side by side, facing them. They stood in front of a makeshift tent that blocked the view of the scene and eliminated the risk of any potential lookie-loo with a cell phone.

“Hey.” The often exuberant greeting was watered-down and solemn. It had come from Officer Brandt. Officer Wyatt, who was next to him, dipped his head and gestured to the opening.

Amanda stepped inside.

Time slowed down. All the surrounding chaos quieted. Chirping birds fell silent.

While Amanda had seen Hailey’s photograph at the station and in the news, nothing prepared her for this. Here the flesh-and-blood reality smacked against the grim truth that all the public petitions hadn’t worked.

Her small body was set on the carousel, posed loosely in a fetal position.

She was dressed in a pale-pink ballerina’s tutu and slippers.

A chiffon scarf, in a matching shade, adorned her neck.

Her sweet, pale face was turned upward, eyes open.

They were speckled with petechiae, evidence of oxygen starvation.

Mascara was caked on her lashes and a bright-pink lipstick stained her rosebud lips.

“It’s definitely her,” Trent said, sounding dejected.

Amanda found it hard to take her eyes off the girl. The cosmetics made the scene even more unnatural, unsettling. “Hailey Tanner.” Amanda uttered her name, feeling it would be disrespectful otherwise.

The sound of coins jingling together had her stepping out of the tent. She came face to face with a man she hadn’t met before. Salt-and-pepper hair, in his late forties, early fifties. He was dressed in a suit jacket, slacks, and tie.

Amanda blocked the doorway. “This is a crime scene. You’ll need to leave.” How he got this far was unsettling.

In a swift move, the man lifted his jacket to expose the badge clipped to his waistband. “Detective Lloyd McGee with Missing Persons. Stationed at East.” He didn’t wait for Amanda to react, but sidestepped her. He came to a standstill upon seeing the girl and said nothing.

That explained why she didn’t recognize him. While Eastern District Station was also in Woodbridge, she had no reason to go there. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

He turned around, but the movement was slow and appeared painful. “I heard it come over the radio and had to know if it was her. Hailey was my case.”

She couldn’t fault him for wanting to be here, but there was a lot she held against him. Like why Hailey’s case hadn’t been escalated to Homicide. “And now she’s ours. My partner and I will keep you informed.”

“And you are?”

She stiffened. “Detective Steele,” she offered, choosing not to offer her given name.

“Detective Stenson,” Trent piped in.

“Why didn’t you hand this over to Homicide? A little girl was taken, endangered,” she said.

“First of all, I have superiors who I answer to, and they make the decisions.”

So he doesn’t like to shoulder any responsibility…

“And second, the parents are wealthy. Considering the evidence, everything pointed to it being a kidnapping for ransom. That falls within our purview to handle. We never thought that she would be—” He closed his mouth and shook his head.

“Not that I need to explain myself to you. We’re where we are. Nothing we can do about it now.”

“Really? That’s your take on this? Simple acceptance?” she said, thinking he was letting himself off easy.

“Listen, if I knew we’d land here, of course I would have fought for the case to be reassigned. Unfortunately, I wasn’t equipped with a crystal ball.”

Maybe McGee was shielding himself from regret, but his callous sarcasm had her temper flaring.

Crystal ball or not, the PWCPD had failed Hailey.

Herself included. When Amanda had first heard about Hailey Tanner, she never expected a happy ending, but she didn’t insert herself into the investigation.

She could justify this decision because of her heavy caseload.

After all, the other victims she fought for deserved her focus.

But look where that had gotten the girl.

Where it had gotten all of them. They were too late to save her. And now, they had to hunt a killer.