Page 55 of My Child is Missing

“This is the best photo we have,” Josie said.

“I don’t know him. Who is he?”

Noah said, “Someone named J.J. That name ring a bell?”

“No.”

Josie gave it one last try. “We believe that Kayleigh was dating this guy. Did you ever hear anything around school or at the Stacks about her boyfriend?”

“Nah, no one talked about her till she was taken. I didn’t know she was seeing someone but then again, I didn’t talk to her. Felicia might—” He broke off.

A heavy silence filled the tiny space. Brody choked out, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Pam moved back in to hug him again. Noah said, “I think that’s enough for today. You did great, Brody. Mrs. Hicks, we’ll be in touch about his truck.”

Josie handed Pam a business card. She and Noah turned to leave.

“Hey,” Brody called after them. “Does this mean the Woodsman is real?”

Josie turned back. It seemed like such a meaningless distinction now. What had started out as a stupid story wending its way through area schools was now, for all intents and purposes, real. There was a man in the woods trapping, abducting, and killing kids.

Again, Josie was torn about what to say. She was fairly certain that Brody Hicks was not behind the killings here or in the other counties or Kayleigh’s abduction, although they would still investigate him. What she saw before her was a young man traumatized by finding the body of his crush savagely murdered. She didn’t want to scare him more or say something he’d pass on to his friends that would burn like wildfire through the schools and make it to the press, causing a frenzy. She also didn’t want to lie.

Noah saved her the trouble. “Brody, the Woodsman is just a stupid kids’ story, but the person who killed Felicia is real and we’re going to do everything we can to find him and make sure he pays for what he did.”

THIRTY-FIVE

There have always been rules. Bring as little as possible to each hunt and leave as little as possible at each scene. My arms ache from carrying the stone miles away from where I used it to smash the girl’s head in. However, it’s a good pain. Satisfying. Exhilarating. As I roll the stone down an embankment into a stream, I think of the satisfying sound it made when it hit her skull. Of course, nothing was more satisfying than the look of shock and horror on her face in those final moments. Sometimes those last moments are too messy, too fast for me to enjoy, but I’m getting better at this.

Evolving as my legend grows.

THIRTY-SIX

Denton PD’s impound lot also doubled as their evidence processing station. Most of the evidence they collected was sent off to the state police lab, but there were many things that Hummel and his team were able to do in-house. These things took place in a nondescript cinderblock building located in a remote part of North Denton. It was on a gated lot, and Josie had to show her credentials to the officer in the guard booth before she was admitted. She drove past a row of cars and found a spot next to the Chief’s car. The garage bay doors were closed, as usual, their windows covered with white laminate so that no one could see inside. She walked past them and knocked on the blue door. A moment later, it swung open. Noah smiled at her.

“Everyone’s here,” he said as she stepped past him into a small office area. With no one around, he pulled her in for a quick kiss. “You get any sleep?”

“Yeah,” she lied. Surely, two hours still counted as sleep.

After leaving Brody Hicks and his mother at the hospital the afternoon before, Noah had gone home to rest. Gretchen had replaced him. She and Josie spent the rest of the evening chasing down leads until Noah came back in to send Josie home. Even though it had been late, she’d taken Trout for a lengthy walk and then played with him, hoping that she’d wear them both out. But once in bed, she lay awake, a demonic carousel of thoughts keeping her from sleep. Most had to do with the Kayleigh Patchett case and the new Felicia Evans case and whether they were related, but when she finally did begin drifting off to sleep, memories of Mett’s death crowded her mind, making it impossible to rest.

Noah gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t push it. Releasing her, he said, “Everyone’s back here. Come on.”

They walked through the office and into the larger evidence processing room. Chief Chitwood and Gretchen stood in the center of the room, sipping coffee. On one of the empty stainless-steel tables lining the walls, Josie spied a cupholder from Komorrah’s with one cup of coffee left in it. Noah said, “That’s yours.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Why are we meeting here?”

Across the room sat Officer Chan working at a different table, her gloved hands trying to piece together the trap-like thing they’d found during the line search behind the Patchett home. Several sticks were laid out side by side. Most had vines coiled around them though they were loose and broken. Next to those was a pile of leaves and the sharpened pieces they’d recovered.

The Chief said, “The damn press. Can’t get away from them. They’ve swarmed the stationhouse but they never think to come out here and even if they did, they’d be locked out.”

Gretchen said, “Hummel has some updates. He’s in the garage now. He said he’d be right in.”

Josie took a sip of her coffee and crossed the room so she could peer over Chan’s shoulder. “Getting anywhere?”

Chan sighed. “No. I don’t know what this thing was supposed to be. I’ve looked up every type of trap I could find on the internet and didn’t see anything similar. Most traps are made of metal or use paracord or chains or something.” She flicked a finger against a loose piece of vine. “Whoever made this? I don’t know what they expected to catch with it. From what’s here, it wouldn’t hold a squirrel and the only animal it’s legal to trap right now is coyote. No way is this flimsy thing holding a coyote.”

Gretchen came over and stood next to Josie. “I think we can assume that the person who built it—whatever it is—and put it out in the woods wasn’t concerned with what’s legal.”

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