Page 49 of My Child is Missing

“Let’s go,” said Noah.

They moved more quickly this time, with Josie in the lead. Her heart galloped in her chest. With every step they took, Josie felt dread envelop her. They were nearly to the spot where Felicia’s phone had last given a signal when a figure emerged from between two black walnut trees ahead of them and to Josie’s left.

Josie saw only a shadow before Brennan started shouting. His weapon was drawn. “Hands up! Denton PD. Get your hands up. Now!”

Dougherty drew his weapon as well and trained it on the figure.

Brennan called, “Step out slowly with your hands up.”

Brody Hicks emerged. He wore a Denton East football hoodie and blue jeans, streaked with blood. His hair was in disarray. A red smudge marred his pale cheek. He lifted his hands. They were slick with blood.

“Oh shit,” said Brennan.

Josie moved closer to him, keeping herself out of range of the other officers’ weapons. “Brody, stop right there.”

From this close, she could see tears streaming down his cheeks and tremors in his hands. He froze in place. His eyes darted from her to his hands, and he thrust them toward her, as if imploring her to look.

“Brody,” Josie said. “Are you hurt?”

He looked down at himself, eyes going wide, as if he was only just realizing that he was covered in blood. “It’s not mine. It’s not mine.”

Noah said, “Brody? Whose blood is that?”

“You have to help,” he said, voice high and squeaky. “You have to help her. I found her—I found her, like…bleeding. I tried to help her but…” His voice dropped to a whisper.

Josie took another step forward, straining to hear him.

Dougherty said, “We need to check him for weapons, Detective.”

“She’s dead. I’m pretty sure she’s dead.”

Josie said, “Who’s dead, Brody?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Hands still extended, his arms shook. “Felicia.”

THIRTY-THREE

A halo of blood circled Felicia Evans’s head, staining her blonde hair and mixing with the dirt beneath her body. Her glassy brown eyes stared upward at the sky, visible in a break between the trees. Aside from all the blood, she looked like she’d simply laid down for a nap. Her legs lay straight. Josie watched from behind a strip of crime scene tape as Officer Hummel took a photo of the bloody palm print on her jeans, above her left knee. One of her hands rested loosely across her stomach and the other was thrown to the side, palm upward. Her phone was inches away. Next, Hummel took a photo of the two bloody fingerprints on her throat, where her pulse would have been. Josie already knew that the ERT wouldn’t find a weapon anywhere near her body.

Behind her, a branch snapped. She turned to see Noah returning from the nearest road where they’d staged various vehicles, including ambulances and the vehicles of the Evidence Response Team, and now, Josie was certain, the press.

“Did you get in touch with her parents?” Josie asked.

Noah nodded, features dark. “They came to the school. I talked with them. Made a tentative ID using her driver’s license.”

Josie felt the sadness rolling off him in waves. Even after so many years on the job, the death notifications never got any easier, especially when the victim was a young person. She moved closer to him, nudging her elbow against his.

He cleared his throat. “Dougherty’s with them. He’ll make sure they get home. Make sure they’ve got someone to be with them.”

“Where’s Brody Hicks right now?”

After calling for backup, Noah and Dougherty had gotten Brody out to the nearest road and into the back of an ambulance while Josie and Brennan located Felicia Evans’s body. It was not far from where they’d encountered Brody. Since it was abundantly clear that Felicia was already deceased, they’d sealed off the scene and waited for the Evidence Response Team to arrive.

“At the hospital,” Noah said. “His mother went with him.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“No. He’s just crying.”

---