Page 27 of The Kidnapped

“I don’t want you to think that I–”

“I don’t,” her mom interrupted. “And I won’t. You came home to me, Hollis. You’ve given up your whole life in Vancouver so that we could have this time together.”

Hollis nodded and said, “Okay. I still have to think about it.”

“Take as long as you want. It’s entirely up to you, okay?”

Hollis nodded again and said, “I’m going to go change out of these clothes for dinner, if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” her mom replied.

Hollis left her in the kitchen and went to the guest room, which had her suitcases and clothes strewn about. She’d need to figure out what to do with her apartment and how to get more of her stuff here since she’d already worn the same clothes multiple times and had to buy new stuff for work. While her mom finished dinner and she changed, she decided to give Raleigh a quick call to ask her Kenna’s question, so she dialed as she kicked off her work shoes.

“Hey,” Raleigh said.

“Hi. Is now an okay time for a quick call?”

“Sure. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. I was just talking to Kenna today, and she asked me to talk to you about something.”

“O-k-a-y,” Raleigh replied, drawing out the word in obvious concern.

“She knows someone who, I guess, is a Lieutenant in another police jurisdiction. Kenna didn’t tell me where exactly, but this woman works cold cases and has some experience with missing persons. Kenna said she could reach out to her for you, if you’d be up for talking to her. She made it clear that there were no promises, but–”

“Yes,” Raleigh interrupted. “When?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She has to call her and ask first, but she wanted to make sure it was okay with you.”

“Yes, it’s more than okay. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“Okay. I’ll tell her tomorrow, and–”

“I have her number. I’ll text her now,” Raleigh replied.

“Sure. That works,” Hollis said.

“If whoever it is agrees to help, Hollis, do you think you’d be able to come with me to meet her? I know I’ve been asking a lot of you, and–”

“I’ll be there,” Hollis told her, taking off her pants. “Just let me know when, okay?”

“Thank you,” Raleigh replied.

Hollis hung up, and after she finished changing, she went back to the kitchen to find her mother plating dinner and humming as she did. She smiled, and tears welled in her eyes.

CHAPTER 11

“I’m nervous,” Raleigh stated. “Why am I nervous?”

“I don’t know,” Hollis replied. “Kenna did say this cop is kind of a prodigy or something, on her way to becoming the youngest captain in her department’s history. She, apparently, built the cold case unit from scratch and now has four detectives underneath her. I did some research on her. Her unit has solved some big cases. Not just in their jurisdiction, either. They help other towns when they can, so you’re basically calling in the specialists when you reach out. I guess she and Kenna go way back. She was actually on an episode of the show years ago.”

“The FBI hasn’t found anything, even with the leads from the show. I don’t expect her to help much. But if she can at least tell me if the FBI is doing their job, I’d be grateful. It’s so hard to tell when you’re on this side of it. To me, it just seems like after a few days, they move you to the back of the line because something else comes up. I know they’re trying, so that’s unfair, but it’s still how it feels. I mean, there are only so many FBI agents… And there are way too many children going missing every day. They can’t possibly put all their focus on one little girl forever.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Hollis replied, taking a drink of her bad diner coffee.

“Why did you order that? You hate it,” Raleigh said, chuckling at her.

“It seemed like the sort of meeting you have coffee with. I don’t know.”

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