Page 64 of Husband Missing

The current situation was beyond stressful, and everyone dealt with stress differently. For Noah’s sake, Josie was trying to extend Laura some grace. “She’s hurting, too.”

Trinity made a noise of exasperation, shifting the messenger bag with her laptop in it from one shoulder to the other. “The Josie of ten years ago would have cold-cocked her in the face right in the middle of Gretchen’s living room.”

Josie laughed. Really laughed for the first time since this nightmare began. It felt good and awful and soothing and wrong. “You know,” she said, heading toward the stairs. “If I recall, you were one of the many people who insisted I go to therapy. Well, here I am, a bigger, better, more patient person, and now you’re complaining.”

She could hear Trinity trudging up behind her. “Sometimes I miss that other version of you, that’s all.”

“Yeah, everyone misses the alcohol abuse and hair-trigger temper, I’m sure.”

“Don’t get me wrong. You’re still a badass but all that therapy still isn’t helping you emote properly,” Trinity goaded. “Come on, let’s have a good cry together.”

“No.”

She would cry when Noah was back in her arms. Whatever that looked like.

Dread filled Josie’s stomach as they reached the second floor. The door to their bedroom hung open. More of his clothes were in the hamper. Trinity had made sure no one washed them.

Forty-five hours.

Mentally, Josie smacked the dread down, visualized grinding it into a million tiny pieces with her boot. She wouldn’t sleep in that room again until Noah was with her. Shewouldfind him. Alive.

The universe would just have to bend to her will.

“Come on,” she told Trinity, heading toward the first guest bedroom where she and Noah kept their printer.

On the way back from Muncy, Josie had decided they might have a better chance at finding some link to Noah’s whereabouts if they tracked down some of Lila’s victims. The only viable lead they had for doing so were the newspaper clippings in Lila’s trophy case of terror.

“Don’t bother with the ones about Dex or our family,” said Josie. “We don’t need those.”

Trinity booted up her laptop and used the now-restored Wi-Fi to connect with the printer. “That only leaves two.”

“Forget the one about the house fire that killed a former foster father,” Josie said. “Given the advanced age of that guy, I’m guessing he was one of Lila’s foster parents. He likely abused her and killing him was revenge. It happened right after she left me in Lisette’s custody. I’m not sure that rabbit hole will lead us anywhere.”

“Then we’ll look at the other one.”

Using the picture of the clipping that Josie snapped before Heather’s team took Lila’s entire box into evidence, Trinity used a database to locate the full article. The printer whirred to life.

Five minutes later, they sat side by side, cross-legged on the bed, pages spread before them. The article was from a Williamsport newspaper, dated eight years ago. Together, they scanned it.

“This is fairly recent,” said Trinity. “I mean, this would have been only a year before Lila came back to Denton to try to ruin your life and kill the two of us. But this doesn’t seem like Lila’s work, does it?”

Josie took a moment to read the article more closely.

FORMER HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR PLEADS GUILTY TOFELONY CHARGES AFTER EMBEZZLEMENT SCANDAL

Alec Slater, former director of Williamsport General Community Hospital, pleaded guilty Friday to embezzling more than $200,000 from a charitable account. He was sentenced to five years’ probation with no prison time, according to the Lycoming County District Attorney. Thirty-nine-year-old Slater, a local resident, pled guilty to felony counts of theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, computer trespass, access device fraud, and forgery, according to court dockets.

Slater initially faced over a year in prison for these offenses but given that he had no previous arrests or criminal records, the judge chose to hand down no prison time. He will also be required to pay back all the money he stole to the Williamsport General Community Hospital Charitable Fund.

Slater acted as the hospital’s director for over ten years before embezzling the funds during the last year of histenure. Shortly after taking over the position of director, he was tasked with overseeing the sizable charitable account which had been put in place decades ago by the hospital’s then Medical Executive Board. It was initially created to provide funds for patients in dire need of care who had no insurance and few assets to pay for said care. Donations from private citizens and community leaders funded the account. In the future, it will be managed by a board of directors rather than the hospital administrator.

“It’s just a huge betrayal,” said a coworker who worked closely with Slater for many years. “I never could have imagined Alec doing something like this, stooping so low to take money from a charity. That’s not the Alec I knew. He should have gone to prison.”

Josie rubbed her eyes. “Lila wouldn’t have this in her little trophy box if she didn’t have something to do with it.”

“It doesn’t even mention her, though.”

“Exactly,” Josie said. “She always got away with everything. Notice this article says Slater had to pay back the money but it doesn’t say what he did with it.”

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