Page 19 of The Girl in the River

“I’ll text Ellie and tell her we’re on the way with her.” Laney stood, water dripping from the hood of her rain jacket as she followed the medics up the hill.

Cord’s phone rang. He figured it was Ellie but saw Lola’s name instead.

“Hey,” he said.

“I’m leaving. Get a ride with Ellie.”

Thunder clapped and he started to ask her to wait, but Lola hung up. Dammit, she sounded upset with him. Again.

TWENTY-TWO

Tears blurred Pixie’s eyes. She squeezed them shut and hoped when she opened them her mommy would be back.

But when she did, all she saw was the messy room and the rain outside and how the pretty decorations were all torn and ripped away in the storm.

Mr. Liam was slouched in a chair crying. And Mr. Mark was pacing around and running over to Ms. Ellie every time he saw her. Ms. Lola had left and now she was sitting with Ms. Emily. She was Mommy’s friend and Pixie had play dates with Ms. Emily’s little girl, Norah.

“It’s okay, honey,” Ms. Emily said. “Ellie will do everything she can to find your mother.”

Pixie wanted to scream no, it wasn’t okay.

But her throat hurt too much from crying so she bunched herself into a ball like a crybaby.

Ms. Ellie, who she knew was a cop, walked over with a sad face, and Pixie suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe.

“Hey, sweetie,” Ms. Ellie said. “Hi, Emily. I sent the other guests home but need to ask a favor.”

Emily clasped Pixie’s hand. “Of course.”

“Mark offered to carry Pixie home with him, but under the circumstances I wondered if you could let her spend the night with you.”

“Sure,” Ms. Emily said. “She can play with Norah in the morning.” Ms. Emily rubbed her hand. “Is that okay, sweetie?”

Tears caught in Pixie’s throat. Tonight, they were supposed to be dancing and laughing and eating that pretty cake with the pink roses on top. Mommy let her pick the icing and pink was her favorite color. But the people in the black outfits had already wheeled the cake away.

“Pixie?” Ms. Emily said.

“I wants Mommy,” Pixie whispered.

“I know, honey.” Ms. Emily brushed her fingers over Pixie’s cheeks. “But it’s getting late and tonight we have to let Ellie do her job. Let’s have a slumber party at my house and you can have chocolate chip pancakes with Norah and the boys in the morning.”

Pixie didn’t want pancakes. She wanted the cake with the pink roses on it, and Mommy said there was going to be a s’mores table.

Ms. Ellie patted Pixie’s hand. “It’ll be all right, sweetie. Get some sleep tonight, Pixie. I promise I’ll try to find your mom.”

But it wasn’t all right. Nothing was right. The cake was gone and the decorations were torn up in the rain and there was no music or her mommy here dancing.

Grown-ups just saidthatwhen things were bad and they didn’t know what else to say to make you feel better.

TWENTY-THREE

Ellie couldn’t erase Pixie’s little heartbroken face from her mind as she and the teams finished for the night. Mark and Liam had both reluctantly left although she knew neither one of them would get much sleep.

She just hoped she had good news for Mark and Pixie in the morning.

The team gathered to confer before they left.

“Choppers had to hold off until the worst of the lightning passed, but they’ve been at it for nearly an hour now,” Cord said. “So far nothing. But they’ll look again at first light.”

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