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“But, Daniel, I can help,” Janice protested. “Let me hand out pictures. It’s the least I can do after all the trouble I caused today.” She flicked a glance back at Lacey who felt a guilty flush creep up her throat.
Janice was taking the blame. “Wait a minute, Janice was here because I roped her into helping me. I’m the one you should be mad at.”
Mason’s fingers curled into fists, attempting to harness his emotions. It was as if Daniel never heard her. He shot a look at Janice and sputtered, “Why would you—” He cut himself off and, with a glance in Lacey’s direction, sighed. “Fine.”
Daniel drove through the streets of town, and Lacey watched through the window, praying for a sighting of her child. It didn’t happen and before she knew it, they’d arrived at the shelter. She grabbed the envelope that contained the flyers and handed one to each of the men and one to Janice.
She couldn’t help noticing that Mason studied his a little longer.
When he lifted his eyes, renewed determination glinted.
One by one, they showed Bethany’s picture to each person they came in contact with. A few residents stated they’d seen her a couple of days ago.
Lacey saw Janice approach a young woman who shook her head. With a sigh, Lacey walked up to a woman who had a baby on her hip. “Have you seen this girl here?”
The baby gnawed on a knuckle while the woman looked at the picture. “Yeah, I’ve seen her. She was real nice. Watched Matthew here for a couple of hours one night for me while I got some sleep. I’ve been sick and she said she didn’t mind.”
Lacey’s heart crimped. “Yes, Bethany loves babies.”
“Well, I owe her one. I sure do hope she’s all right.”
“So do I,” Lacey whispered.
Looking up she saw Janice had moved on to a scraggly looking young man. She showed him the picture and he nodded but shrugged as if to say he’d seen her but didn’t know where she’d gone.
Mason stood talking to another young woman.
Lacey edged closer to hear the conversation. “…last night, but something spooked her and she ran off.”
“What do you mean, ‘spooked’ her?” Mason asked the young woman who appeared to be in her late thirties.
She shrugged. “She got a phone call and…”
“Wait a minute,” Mason interrupted. “She has a cell phone?”
Impatience flickered across the woman’s face. “She did last night. Now do you want to hear this or not?”
“Yes,” Lacey interjected. “Please, continue.”
“So like I was saying, she got a phone call and this guy starts walking toward her. She sees him and takes off, with him right after her.”
Lacey felt some of her hope fade.
“Did he catch her?”
“Nope, she was fast.”
“Did the guy chasing her have a limp?”
The woman’s brow went up. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
Lacey looked at Mason and saw satisfaction glittering. Then he said, “I’ve got a lot of questions for Mr. Howe.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mason gave up trying to convince Lacey to go home and get some rest. She was determined to see this through to the end and he didn’t blame her. If someone told him he had to stay behind, he would have fought just as hard as she. And because he knew she might pull another stupid stunt like the one where she showed up at John Howe’s house, he decided having her close by would be a good thing.
At least he could keep an eye on her.
