Page 52 of Husband Missing

“It’s fine,” Josie said. Sleep was dragging her under fast. “We’ll make it ours. Steal it from Lila the way she stole everything from us.”

Because the days of Lila Jensen taking things from Josie, even from beyond the grave, were over.

THIRTY-SIX

Josie watched Trout sniff his way around the perimeter of Gretchen’s yard, carefully inspecting every inch of ground he’d already smelled and analyzed countless times since their arrival. The morning sun warmed her where she stood. Steam drifted from the mug of coffee in her hand. Voices floated through the screen door that led into the kitchen. The usual suspects. Josie’s family. Noah’s siblings. Paula. Josie had heard Gretchen somewhere in the house but hadn’t seen her yet.

“Any word?” asked Christian.

“Nothing,” Paula replied. “But it’s all over the news.”

“That doesn’t seem to be helping,” complained Noah’s sister, Laura.

“Maybe it will,” his brother, Theo, said. “If the right person sees his photo, maybe they’ll call in a tip.”

Josie sipped at her coffee. She’d slept about four hours and she didn’t feel much more rested than she had when she fell asleep. Despite that, her body clamored for a run, for her to push its limits until she was reduced to a sweaty, boneless heap, until there was only room in her psyche for breathing. Just for a few minutes. Anything to quiet the endless thoughts and questions spinning through her brain like an E5 tornado. To drive out thesense of dread skulking in the dark corners of her mind. To exhaust some of the quiet rage simmering in her blood, bringing her closer to going supernova with each hour that passed without any developments.

Thirty-five hours.

Where was he?

It didn’t matter. She was coming for him. God help anyone who stood in her way. She’d been shut out of the official investigation, and now the Gina Phelan case, but she’d carve out her own path to Noah. Using the Lila connection.

“Psst.” Trinity opened the wooden gate that led to the driveway and stepped into the yard. “You ready to do this?”

The conversation in the kitchen faded, as if everyone had stepped into another room. Josie tapped against where her phone bulged from the back pocket of her jeans. “I talked to the superintendent at Muncy a half hour ago. She agreed to let me meet with Roe Hoyt later this afternoon.”

“Oh my God!” Trinity whisper-shouted. “That’s great. Did she ask for paperwork? A case name?”

Josie shook her head and downed the rest of her coffee. “No.”

Trout waddled over to her sister, wiggling his little body against her shins until she knelt to pet him. “Perfect! Let’s go.”

Josie frowned, appraising Trinity. There was a familiar fire in her eyes. It was the look of a hungry predator just before it went in for the kill—a kill it was going to savor. “It’s too early to leave. What are you not telling me?”

Trinity scratched behind one of Trout’s ears and he leaned in to her touch. “I found Eva Owens. She’s alive and well and can’t wait to talk with us. Even better, she lives close to the prison in Muncy.”

Trinity was already gone when Josie woke up, so this was the first she was hearing about the search for the only approved visitor on Roe Hoyt’s list back in the early seventies.

“Who is she to Roe?” Josie asked.

From inside the house came footsteps, rustling, the sound of cabinets opening and closing. The kitchen was filling back up. People spoke. Josie only caught fragments but could deduce that someone had dropped off some kind of food. Paula said something about plates.

“Probably the best way to describe it is that she’s an advocate for Roe. Eva Owens joined the Pennsylvania Prison Volunteer Association in 1969 as a volunteer. That’s how they met. All she would tell me over the phone was that when she first started volunteering at Muncy, Roe was the only inmate who had absolutely no friends or family to visit or write or check on her. Once Roe’s appeal was denied and her attorney was no longer needed, she didn’t even have him. Roe wasn’t able to speak for herself, so Eva took it upon herself to make sure she received proper medical care and any services available to her.”

“How long did she do that?”

Trinity’s eyes blazed. “Over fifty years. She’s still doing it.”

“What did you tell her about why we want to meet with her?”

“The truth. That we knew Roe’s only surviving child. That she was called Lila Jensen. I told her all the things Lila had done to you, to our family. What she did to us is already out there for public consumption. Eva hadn’t seen theDatelineepisodes. Doesn’t watch much television, evidently. I told her that before Lila died, she wanted you to find Roe Hoyt but you didn’t because you weren’t in a good place emotionally.”

“Did you tell her why I’m interested now?”

“Of course. I also told her that from the standpoint of a journalist, Roe Hoyt’s story was of great interest to me.”

Josie groaned. “Trin, I know you’re interested in this as a story. I don’t blame you, but Noah?—”

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