Page 63 of Missing

Chase had now been missing for eighteen hours.

Chapter 32

Doug

As Beth showered, I started re-watching the last hour of footage around the park. I had nodded off while reviewing it last night and was afraid I’d missed something.

Don’t let your guilt distract you.

Thank God I did. About ten minutes in, I saw Chase. A woman had her hand on his neck and was leading him away from the park. A few seconds later she turned.

Gotcha!

I didn’t. Her hat and sunglasses obscured her face, so I couldn’t make out any identifying features.AndI can’t run facialrecognition. I grabbed a screenshot and emailed it to everyone at SSI. I summed up what I’d seen and told them Beth and I were heading to the office. I’d go back and look for the woman entering the park after we got there. If we were lucky, I’d find her car.

Beth had just come down, so I called her over to look at my screen. I asked, “does anything about this woman look familiar?”

She gasped and put her hand over her mouth when she saw Chase. Beth brushed away her tears as she shook her head. “I’ve never seen her before. At least I don’t think I have. It’s hard to tell because I can’t really see her face.”

Hope bloomed in Beth’s eyes. I wanted to encourage it, but wouldn’t give her false hope. “I already emailed SSI her photo. Give me two minutes to shower and then we’ll head out.”

“Okay. Should I bring anything?” she asked, clearly needing to do something.

“Maybe some clean clothes for Chase, and his favorite stuffed toy.”

She nodded and headed up to Chase’s room to pack while I showered.

On the ride to the office, I told Beth my plans to look for the woman entering the park, hoping to see her face more clearly and maybe find her car and get a license plate. I stressed that it was a long shot, but worth trying.

Beth picked at her nails and nodded. She was desperately clinging to what little hope I could offer.I wish I could offer more. I reached over and held her hand. I couldn’t offer hope, but I could offer support.

We weren’t the first ones in the office. John was already there and brewing coffee. While he greeted Beth, I pulled up the section of video for him to watch. Then I poured three cups of coffee.

“Do you recognize her?” I asked as I handed him a mug.

“No, but then again it’s hard to tell.”

He said he’d round everyone up as soon as they were in, and we’d create a game plan.

That settled, I went to my office and got back to work. Beth came with me, hoping she might recognize the woman if we got a clear shot of her face.

It didn’t take me long to find her entering the park. Unfortunately, her face wasn’t visible, and there was not footage of her getting into or out of a car.

By that time, everyone else from SSI was in. When we gathered in the lobby for an update, Meg told us Agent Jones was on his way and he was bringing a profiler.

Once again, I saw Beth struggle to control her panic when she heard the FBI was coming to help us. I pulled her into a hug and reminded her we were asking for a favor, not involving the FBI on a professional level. I held her face and forced her to look at me.

“Beth, please tell me you understand?”

She nodded, but I could still see fear in her eyes.Which makes sense, her son is still missing.At least it wasn’t panic.

Jamie, Jack, and AJ had checked all their BOLOs but there was nothing new to report.

While we waited for Agent Jones, Meg printed pictures of Chase for everyone. We’d go to the local businesses around the park, asking if they’d seen him. We’d also ask to see the tapes from any cameras they had.

John called WPD to let them know what we’d found and fill them in on our plans. We didn’t need their permission to run our investigation, but it helped if we all played nice and shared information.

WPD wasn’t happy to hear the FBI was getting involved, so John had to smooth their ruffled feathers by explaining Jones was a friend of the family and helping us out as a personal favor.He promised the FBI wouldn’t take over or interfere with their investigation.

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