Page 48 of My Child is Missing

“If this is what we think it is,” Noah said, “how would the perpetrator know that these kids were going into the woods? Here, in Montour, in Lenore? Anywhere?”

“I don’t know,” Josie said. “Social media? Stalking? Luck? Some combination of the three? I mean, in this case, if you grew up on this side of the city, you know that kids hang out in the Stacks. All you’d have to do is come from the other direction and lurk.”

“I’m going to call in some more units to help us search,” Noah said.

THIRTY-TWO

Ten minutes later, they had another patrol unit—Brennan and Dougherty—and together, they set off toward the woods. They spread out as they reached the Stacks. Josie hadn’t been there in a few years—not since another case of a missing child—but it looked much the same. Part of the base of the mountain was just a rock face. Slabs of it had broken off and fallen flat, one atop another, almost like pancakes, just as Noah had said. It formed a large platform that teenagers in Denton had been frequenting for ages. The thick canopy of foliage overhead made the space so dark it looked like evening. Even the mid-morning sun didn’t penetrate it. They picked their way through discarded beer cans, liquor bottles, condoms, and food wrappers.

“This place is disgusting,” Noah groused. “When we used to hang back here, we kept it cleaned up.”

“We’ll have to start sending more patrols back here during the night,” Josie said.

Brennan laughed. “That won’t stop ’em.”

Noah knelt next to a natural depression in the stone floor and used a stick to poke at the charred wood and ash where there had clearly been a small fire. “True. It never has before. This is pretty recent. There were kids out here last night. Why would they be out here after what happened to Kayleigh? That damn reporter has done nothing but talk about the Woodsman for over twenty-four hours. There is no way these kids don’t know about that story.”

“’Cause kids are dumb, Lieutenant,” Dougherty offered.

Josie looked around, feeling a chill in spite of the warm May temperature. “We are talking about the same teenagers who do dumb online challenges that get them killed and injured, like eating laundry detergent pods. Why wouldn’t they be out here, hoping to see the mysterious Woodsman? That’s exactly what the kids in Montour and Lenore Counties did.”

Noah stood and shook his head. “It’s a joke to them.”

Josie sighed. “Yes, but also they think they’re invincible.”

Brennan took his hat off and wiped at his brow. “Where did this kid’s phone ping?”

Noah stood and pointed east. “About a mile that way.”

Brennan started to trudge in that direction with Dougherty in tow.

“We’ll have to climb to get to the top of the rock face,” Josie said. “There’s a spot over there with some natural handholds.”

Dougherty groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Josie and Noah walked along the rock face, looking for the break in the stone that was filled with dirt and protruding tree roots. “You could go around,” she said. “But it will take a lot longer.”

Brennan followed them. “Come on, don’t be a wimp. You think this kid we’re looking for took the long way around? He’s on the football team.”

“Here,” Noah said. He reached inside a three-foot-wide crevice and grabbed onto a gnarled tree root. He pulled at it and the two above it. Satisfied they were secure, he hoisted himself up, climbing to the top of the ridge in seconds. Josie followed suit, Brennan at her heels. Moments later, Dougherty appeared, sweating and red-faced.

Noah pulled up the GPS map on his phone, where he’d marked the location that Brody Hicks’s phone had last pinged. He led the way while the rest of them spread out, following slightly behind him, panning the area for any evidence of Brody or his phone. When they reached the area the phone had last pinged, they stopped to catch their breath. Here the foliage overhead was less dense. Sunlight warmed Josie’s neck. She’d taken off her jacket and tied it around her waist, but her polo shirt was soaked with perspiration between her shoulder blades.

“What now?” asked Dougherty.

“We keep looking,” Josie said. “This isn’t an exact science. Plus, if the phone ran out of battery or Brody Hicks turned it off, and he kept going, we wouldn’t find it—or him—here.”

Brennan said, “This kid could literally be anywhere by now. We need a bigger search team. Maybe the K-9 unit. The dog could use the kid’s truck to scent him.”

Noah wiped sweat from his brow. “Yeah, we should call Luke. We tried finding this kid using his phone and he’s not here. At this point, we’re wasting valuable time.”

Josie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and found a message from Officer Conlen. Her breath quickened. “Wait. We’ve got the identity of the second student.”

“What second student?” said Dougherty.

Noah said, “The other student who didn’t turn up at school today but isn’t at home either.”

“Felicia Evans,” Josie said. “A junior. Same class as Brody Hicks and Kayleigh Patchett. She was reported absent today. Her parents usually leave before she gets up for school so they didn’t see her this morning. The mother got the automated call reporting the absence and left Felicia a voicemail, figuring she was just sick in bed. Dad just went home to check on her and she’s not there. Conlen called dispatch to have them ping her phone. I’ve got the coordinates. It’s about a mile and a half from here, closer to the old textile mill.”

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