Page 44 of Husband Missing

Then he disappeared into his office.

Josie shook her head, as if that would get rid of her bone-crushing fatigue. Reluctantly, she closed out the open files on her computer.

A gust of air ruffled her hair. Trinity stepped through the door to the stairwell, holding a paper coffee cup from a gas station minimart.

“Miss Payne.” Turner greeted her with that stupid conspiratorial smile.

“Kyle.” Trinity smiled back.

She set the cup in front of Josie and perched her rear against the edge of the desk. The coffee scalded Josie’s tongue, but she gulped it down anyway. It wasn’t the blonde latte she’d become so fond of, but it was exactly what she needed, made the way she liked it. She and Trinity took their coffee the same.

“Anything?” asked Trinity.

“Not sure,” Josie said. “I’ve officially been pulled off?—”

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted. With trembling hands, Josie took it from her pocket, expecting—hoping—to see Heather’s name. It wasn’t Heather. She stared dumbly at the caller ID, shock rooting her in place, icing her skin. There was only one reason this call would come so late, but she alreadyknew it wasn’t that. The other possibility made her hands shake even more.

“No.” The word was barely a whisper.

This wasn’t happening. Not now.

Trinity’s quick intake of breath snapped Josie from her momentary paralysis. She looked at her sister.

“Are you going to answer it?” Trinity whispered, color high in her cheeks.

Turner said something but Josie didn’t hear it. She was only vaguely aware of him pushing away from his desk and sauntering out of the room.

“Josie?” Trinity croaked.

Josie’s finger slashed the decline icon. For several seconds, she held her breath, staring as the screen faded to black. Everything was cold and she could feel herself retreating. Default settings.Dead inside.She could still get there. Sometimes, it was the only setting that kept her from splintering.

Trinity’s palms were warm on her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

THIRTY-ONE

Even after midnight, Gretchen’s house was busy. When this was all over, Josie would have to buy her a really big gift to thank her and Paula for opening their home this way. Noah’s siblings had arrived while Trinity and Josie were out. They’d both gotten hotel rooms but, like Josie, they were too worried, too amped up, to rest. Instead, they joined the steadily growing group gathered in Gretchen’s living room, everyone crammed together, either sitting down or pacing, their nervous energy palpable. Christian, Shannon, and Patrick were there, engaging Laura and Theo Fraley in small talk that seemed wholly inappropriate given the circumstances. What else was there to talk about? None of them were privy to the details of the investigation.

No one wanted to say what they were all thinking. Noah might not come home, or if he did, it would be in a body bag.

Josie’s mind batted the thought away, refused to entertain it for even a millisecond.

Twenty-seven hours.

Paula flitted around, offering food and drinks, the consummate hostess. Trout, who would normally be hot on the trail of any food source or any possible attention from other humans, stayed close to Josie. He whined now and then eventhough he was fed and walked and had relieved himself plenty of times. Just like her, he wanted Noah.

Numbly, she sat in the corner of Gretchen’s loveseat with Trout curled up on her lap, only half listening to the chatter around her. She scrolled through the endless text messages she’d missed through the day. Drake, Misty, Cindy Quinn, Amber. Her former fiancé and Denton PD’s current K-9 handler, Luke Creighton. Some of the patrol officers she knew well had reached out, expressing support and offering anything she needed. Gretchen had checked in several times during the day as well. She and Turner were going to be stretched thin now that they were down two investigators.

Even Sawyer Hayes had messaged her. He was another casualty of Lila’s evil machinations. A local EMT, he’d come into their lives right before Josie’s grandmother Lisette died. A DNA test had proved that he was Lisette’s grandson by blood. Evidently, in the year after Eli Matson dumped Lila, he’d started seeing someone else. That woman had gotten pregnant with Sawyer. When she went to Eli’s trailer to tell him, she was greeted instead by Lila, who had just returned to town with baby Josie.

Whatever Lila said to Sawyer’s mother, it had frightened her enough that she never tried to contact Eli again. Never even told Sawyer who his father was until she was on her deathbed. Poor Sawyer learned of Eli’s identity and then, immediately afterward, learned that he’d died years ago. Lisette had embraced him wholeheartedly, but he’d had precious little time with her before she was murdered. Josie had done everything she could to make Sawyer a part of their lives, part of her found family, and he’d resisted at every turn. He resented her for having the place in the Matson family he never had and then, for a long time, he blamed her for Lisette’s death. They’d madestrides in the past year though. Josie was heartened to see his message. It was the only one she had the energy to answer.

There was a new voicemail from the person who had called while she was at the stationhouse, but Josie couldn’t bring herself to listen to it. Wisely, her sister hadn’t pressed her about it.

“Okay, okay! I hate to break this up but Josie, you really need to get some sleep.” Trinity stood over her as the room went silent.

“But I?—”

Shannon said, “Your sister’s right, Josie. At least try to get some rest. You’ve got your phone, but we’ll wake you if we hear anything.”

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