Her Silent Cry

Three

Fat tears rolled down Amy’s face as she stood next to the jungle gym, phone in hand. Colin paced nearby, his face pale and lined with fear. A dozen parents gathered around as Josie gave them instructions. “Please don’t leave until you’ve given your name and phone number to one of the officers,” she told them. “I’d also ask that you check your cell phones for any photos or video you may have taken in the last hour to see if you’ve captured Lucy Ross in the background.”

Josie catalogued their faces in her mind. She wanted to make sure her team didn’t miss anyone. A man from the back of the crowd said, “Can we help you look?”

“I’d prefer it if you stayed in this area and talked with the officers,” she answered.

There was no evidence that Lucy had been abducted, but the thought had certainly crossed Josie’s mind. She knew it was extremely unlikely that any of the frightened parents before her or their exhausted children had had anything to do with Lucy’s disappearance, but she couldn’t take a risk and allow any of them to be part of the search. What if one of them had done something to Lucy? She might be sending them out into the park to cover up what they’d done. The thought sent a chill through her. Against her shoulder, Harris snored, having fallen asleep in spite of all of the commotion.

“You’re not going to let them help?” Colin asked. “We need to get out there. The sooner we start looking—”

His words were swallowed up by the wail of police sirens as two marked Denton cruisers pulled up outside the play area entrance, followed by Detective Gretchen Palmer’s unmarked car. Relief washed through Josie as her colleagues got out and jogged over. As Josie briefed them, Amy pulled up the photo of Lucy she had been showing the other parents so the officers could have a look at it. Josie assigned two of the officers to work the crowd, taking down names, addresses, phone numbers and getting any cell phone photographs or video footage that existed. Gretchen said, “We’ll need more bodies to search the park.”

Josie sent Hummel and one of the other officers off in separate directions to search the wooded areas that abutted the play area while Gretchen called for more units. Amy tapped her on the shoulder. “I want to look,” she said. “I’m going to look.”

Josie turned to her. “Of course. We just need to ask you some questions first. It won’t take long.”

Colin stepped up behind his wife. One hand still held his cell phone while the other pushed through his graying hair. “I don’t understand what happened,” he muttered.

Gretchen hung up her phone, introduced herself to the Ross parents, and took out her notepad. Josie began, “How old is Lucy?”

“Seven,” the two parents answered in unison.

“Is she in the first grade, then?” Gretchen asked.

“Yes,” Amy said. “She goes to Denton West Elementary. It’s right—it’s only a few blocks from here.”

“How about your home address?” Josie asked.

Amy recited it and Gretchen wrote it down. It was only two blocks away, Josie noted. To the Ross parents, she said, “I think we should have someone take a quick look at your home in case Lucy went there for some reason. Do you think she would know how to get home from here?”

Colin answered, “Yes.”

Simultaneously, Amy answered, “No.”

Colin looked at his wife. “She would know how to get home from the park, Amy.”

Amy wiped away a tear as it streaked down her face. “No, she wouldn’t. She got lost on her way back to her classroom from the nurse’s office at school two weeks ago.”

He looked stricken. “What?”

Amy folded her arms across her chest. “You would know that if you were home more often.”

“I call every day when I’m on the road,” Colin shot back. “One of you could have mentioned it.”

Gretchen cleared her throat to bring their focus back to her. “Mr. and Mrs. Ross,” she said. “Regardless of her age or sense of direction, it just makes sense to check your home, especially since it’s so close.”

As Detective Finn Mettner walked past, Josie flagged him down with her free hand and instructed him to escort Colin to his residence to check for Lucy.

“Does Lucy know her address and phone number by heart? If she got lost and a stranger asked her to tell them, would she be able to?”

“Yes,” Amy answered as Colin followed Mettner out of the park.

“That’s good,” Josie assured her.

Gretchen asked, “Has Lucy ever wandered off before? Here or maybe in a store or anything like that?”

Amy shook her head, more tears spilling down her face. “No, she’s not prone to wandering off. She always stays near me. It’s a rule. She knows how I am about—”

She broke off as a sob rocked her body. “Oh God, my baby. You have to find her. We have to find her!”

Josie’s voice was firm and clear. “Mrs. Ross, look at me.”

Amy’s eyes wandered all around the playground area before landing on Josie’s face.

Josie said, “We’re doing everything we can to find her right now. Tell me, does Lucy have any medical conditions we should be aware of?”

Amy’s eyes drifted once more to the cluster of parents and children in the center of the play area standing before two Denton officers who were busy taking down information. Then her gaze traveled outward to the wooded areas on the periphery of the playground where several other officers threaded through the trees, searching for Lucy and calling out her name.

“Mrs. Ross?” Gretchen prompted.

“No, no medical conditions. She’s very healthy.” She looked at them again. “This is not like her. You don’t understand. She wouldn’t run off.”

“Did you see her leave the carousel?” Josie asked.

Amy shook her head. “No. I was trying to get down off that stupid horse. I got tangled in the strap. She got down before me and she ran off. I lost sight of her in the crowd.”

“So you didn’t see her go to the exit?”

“No, no. I didn’t see her after she got down off her horse and ran off. I looked and looked—oh my God.”

“How often do you come to the park?” Gretchen asked.

“A few times a week. I mean, usually she comes with the nanny.”

“What is the nanny’s name?” Gretchen went on. “Where is she now?”

“Jaclyn. Jaclyn Underwood,” Amy said. “She’s away. Her family is from Colorado. She went home to visit for the weekend.”

“Where in Denton does she live?” Gretchen asked.

She rattled off an address in Denton, close to the college campus. “She’s a student at Denton University. She picks Lucy up from school and spends a few hours with her before dinner. Listen, is this really important? I want to go look for Lucy.”

“Of course,” Gretchen said. “I’ll be here coordinating the investigation.” A business card appeared in Gretchen’s hand, and she gave it to Amy. “My cell phone number is on there.”

Clutching it in her fist, Amy ran off. Josie watched as she followed the perimeter of the play area before disappearing into one of the wooded areas, following behind several of their officers.

Harris stirred, his blue eyes opening, then sighed and turned his head. Josie felt a patch of sweat where his face had rested. She patted his back and looked to Gretchen.

Gretchen tapped her pen against her notepad. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Josie said.

“You don’t think she wandered off?”

Josie shook her head. She had nothing to base this feeling on, no evidence that anything nefarious had happened to Lucy Ross, so she didn’t bother trying to explain herself.

Gretchen sighed and pointed at the carousel. “Let’s start at the beginning.”