Page 50 of Her Dying Secret

“An employee?” Hope muttered. “That can’t be…but let me just…I’ll check our student and parent database.”

Josie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out to see a message from Turner.

RR in your email. Tell Parker to get off my ass.

Was he trying to piss Gretchen off more than usual? Nudging Gretchen’s elbow, Josie said softly, “I’ve got it.”

Gretchen rolled her eyes. “All that, and we didn’t even need it.”

Hope wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. Her hands stopped moving. A greenish hue overtook her complexion. Swallowing hard, she turned the laptop toward them. “Mira Summers enrolled her daughter, Rosie Summers, into kindergarten almost four years ago.”

Rosie. Like the flower in the drawing.

THIRTY-SIX

There’s no blood. I feel happy about that, but my heart feels weird and not right because when I touch her, she feels cold. There’s a big bruise across her forehead and her arms are all wrapped up like a mummy. I try to wake her up, but she doesn’t open her eyes.

“Leave her alone,” he says.

“No,” I say.

“Rosie, do what I say.”

“I won’t!”

He steps toward us and I throw myself over her. I am crying so hard that everything looks blurry. She still doesn’t move.

His voice gets nice again. He tries to touch my shoulder, but I slap his hand away.

“It’s going to be okay,” he lies.

“No, it’s not.” It will never be okay again. Not ever. “You killed Mom!”

THIRTY-SEVEN

The student profile that filled the screen showed a school photo of Rosie Summers. Josie took a long moment to study the girl they’d been chasing for what felt like ages even though it had only been a few days. Six-year-old Rosie grinned at them, her bright blue eyes vibrant and intelligent. Brown curls tumbled to her shoulders. Josie could see the resemblance to both Seth and Mira.

Carol had said that Mira often went off with Seth for years at a time, cutting off all contact. It was entirely possible that Mira and Seth had had a baby together without anyone knowing. Josie wasn’t surprised that Mira had never told her mother about Rosie. Carol Summers didn’t strike Josie as grandmother material.

Gretchen tapped the screen with the cap of her pen. “Mira is the only parent listed here as a contact. There’s no address listed in Rosie’s record. Most districts are required to collect a host of documentation when enrolling students. You would have made a copy of Rosie’s birth certificate at the very least, right?”

“Yes,” Hope breathed. “Let me see if I can get that for you. Seth Lee is her father, isn’t he? That’s why he looked familiar. He’s not listed here but he could have been outside the school. Our kindergarten teacher would have only released Rosie to Mira, since she is listed as guardian, but Seth could have picked them both up.”

“Yes,” said Gretchen. “That’s possible.”

Josie said, “Rosie’s kindergarten teacher didn’t say anything to you when the news broke about Seth Lee being a suspect in April’s abduction or murder? Or when Mira was taken? Her photo has been on the news and on social media since last night.”

A frown crossed Hope’s face as her fingers continued to hammer the keys. “Mrs. Roman retired to Florida two years ago. She probably hasn’t even caught wind of this whole mess. It’s also possible that she did hear about it but just doesn’t remember. We have a lot of students and a lot of parents come through the school. We always have some that leave in the middle of the year, and we never hear from them again. I’m not…I’m not seeing anything. I’ll try something else. Just give me a few more minutes. This can’t be right.”

“No worries,” Gretchen told Hope. She turned to Josie and arched a brow. Lowering her voice, she said, “If Seth was Rosie’s father…”

Josie filled in, “It would be within his rights to take Rosie anywhere he wanted. It would have been up to Mira to contact the police if she believed that Rosie was in danger or to petition the courts if she wanted full physical and legal custody of their daughter.”

Gretchen shook her head. “But she didn’t do that.”

“No, but she must have convinced Seth to let her enroll Rosie in school. Maybe her working at the school to keep an eye on Rosie was the condition.”

“And April getting Mira the job there made it all possible,” Gretchen finished.

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