Page 30 of The Sleeping Girls

Confidence rang in Bianca’s tone. “You won’t find anything there. If I’d posted those, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to leave them on a device.”

Derrick quickly fired back, “You’d be surprised at what the FBI can recover.”

Mrs. Copenhagen clenched her phone and started stabbing numbers. “Don’t say anything else, darling. I’m calling your father.”

Ellie flattened her hands on the table. “Bianca, listen to me and listen good. If you know where Kelsey is, now is the time to speak up.”

Mrs. Copenhagen glared at Bianca, who rolled her eyes as if she was bored.

Ellie and Derrick left Bianca and her mother in the interview room to stew while she made the call to her husband.

Derrick went to Ellie’s office to request warrants.

Ellie stopped by Deputy Landrum’s office. “I’ll have Bianca Copenhagen’s phone and computer soon so we can search them. I think she posted the locker room, Virgin Pact pics and the meme that upset Kelsey Tiller.”

He gave a nod, and she stepped into her office to call Cord. “Hey. Did you find her?”

“Afraid not,” Cord said. “If she’d jumped or fallen here, El, there’s no way she could have survived. And I’ve looked all around and there’s no body.”

Hope bubbled inside Ellie. “Then she could still be alive.”

“Maybe. The ERT took DNA from the bloody handprint along with a photograph of it. The Tillers confirmed the shoe was Kelsey’s.” Cord’s voice broke in the wind. “It’s starting to storm here. The guys are beat, too. We’re going to have to call off the search team for the night.”

“Fine, we’ll regroup in the morning.” She hesitated, wanting to say more, to ask him about Lola and the baby but that was none of her business.

Ellie’s boss rapped on the door. “Mr. Copenhagen is here.”

Ellie gestured that she’d be there in a minute. “Talk tomorrow, Cord, get some rest.” She hung up and she and Derrick returned to the interview room.

A short, stocky, dark-haired man with an attitude stood in the room, arms folded. Tension filled the air as the family exchanged looks.

“You will not speak to my daughter without my presence,” Mr. Copenhagen stated, an underlying threat in his harsh tone. “If my daughter is under arrest, I’m calling my attorney. If not, I’m taking her home.”

Derrick matched his tone to the lawyer’s. “She’s not under arrest, Mr. Copenhagen, but I will advise you to have her cooperate.”

“Do you know where Kelsey Tiller is?” Ellie asked directly.

“How should I?” Bianca retorted.

“Because we believe you bullied her and made that post to embarrass her.”

“Kids pass pictures along all the time,” Mr. Copenhagen said.

“These were one of the girls in their underwear in the locker room at school, pictures the girls had no idea were taken, ones Bianca did not have permission to post.” Ellie wet her dry lips with her tongue to wipe away the distaste she had for the spoiled girl in the room.

“We are working on warrants for her phone and computer,” Derrick said.

Mrs. Copenhagen gasped, but the father simply straightened. “I’m sure whatever she did was harmless.”

“Not if they pushed Kelsey into running away or drew a predator to her,” Ellie said sharply.

Mr. Copenhagen gestured to the door and his wife and Bianca stood. “You have no proof of any such thing.”

Bianca shot Ellie a victorious smile, although Mrs. Copenhagen looked shaken.

“Not yet, but if she did that, this won’t be the end of it,” Ellie said. “One of my deputies will be out to your house to collectBianca’s cell phone and computer shortly so I suggest you go home. And don’t leave town.”

Ellie didn’t like or trust the Copenhagens. With their wealth, they could book a ticket out of the country and be gone by morning.

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