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Her face was streaked with tears. Snot and spit dripped from her chin. Her eyes looked right at Josie and Gretchen but didn’t register their presence.
Dave looked up at them, face pale and imploring. “Can someone help me get her on the couch?”
Josie raced forward and slid an arm around Shelly’s waist. Together, she and Dave lifted her and moved her back to the couch. She slumped as soon as they got her onto it, nearly sliding off. Dave sat next to her and pulled her to him, holding her in place.
Gretchen looked around and spotted a box of tissues on a nearby end table. She grabbed them and offered them to Shelly. She ignored the box, but Dave took several from it and used them to dab at Shelly’s cheeks. This only made her sob harder.
“Babe,” Dave said. “You need to calm down. You have to tell the police what happened.”
Josie knelt in front of her. “Mrs. Patchett, please, can you tell us what happened?”
“He took her!” Shelly shrieked. “The Woodsman took her! You said he wasn’t real, but he is! He took both of my children. You lied to us and now Savannah is gone!”
Dave looked from Josie to Gretchen helplessly. All their gazes were momentarily drawn to the front door as it banged open. The Chief stepped inside and joined them in the living room.
Josie turned back to the couple. “Mr. Patchett, can you tell us what happened?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I went to the store. My wife was here with Savannah. I came home and Shelly was hysterical. Savannah was gone.”
Gretchen said, “Shelly, I know it’s hard but the best thing you can do for Savannah right now is take a few deep breaths, try to calm down and tell us exactly what happened.”
Shelly blinked, awareness coming back into her eyes. Her breathing slowed marginally.
“That’s it,” Josie told her. “That’s great.”
After ten deep breaths, Shelly had calmed enough to speak, although her voice shook as she told them what happened. “Savannah has been cooped up inside this house for days now, except for soccer practice. It’s all been so scary and traumatic. She misses her sister. The practice today made her feel so much better, more normal. When we got home, she still wanted to practice her kicks so I told her she could. The net is out back. I was out there with her but I—I left my phone in the house. I wouldn’t even have gone back for it except that I was worried that we might get some news about Kayleigh. You have no idea how much Savannah misses her. It’s been hell.”
“We understand,” said Gretchen.
Fresh tears spilled down Shelly’s cheeks. “I was only gone a minute. I came in and it wasn’t where I left it. Or maybe it was and I just didn’t remember. But I found it and went back outside and she was gone. Just gone.”
Dave squeezed her. “When I got home, the police were already here, and she was hysterical.”
“I called 911.”
The Chief said, “I instructed dispatch to call me directly with any types of calls like this one instead of putting it out over the radio. I was trying to keep the press away. I was at the mayor’s office, giving her an update when I got the call about Savannah.”
Gretchen said, “Mr. and Mrs. Patchett, did you look for her?”
Dave handed Shelly more tissues and she blew her nose. “I went to the edge of the woods. I called for her. I went into the trees a little bit but I was afraid of getting lost like last time, so I just called 911.”
The report that had come from dispatch was simply that Savannah had gone missing from her backyard. “Mr. and Mrs. Patchett,” Josie said, standing up. “We’ll need to do things that are simply protocol in situations like this, which means the first thing we need to do is search the house and make sure Savannah’s not hiding somewhere inside. Is that okay with you?”
Dave sighed. “I don’t care what the hell you do anymore. Just find my kid.”
Josie, Gretchen, and the Chief set about clearing the house. In the kitchen, out of earshot of the Patchetts, Gretchen said, “Is this Kayleigh or Henry Thomas?”
“I don’t know,” Josie said.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” asked the Chief.
“Chief,” Gretchen said. “Quinn has something to tell you.”
FIFTY-THREE
Less than an hour later, the three of them stood at the foot of Henry Thomas’s driveway, pulling on Kevlar vests and checking their radios. The Chief had asked for two additional marked units as backup. He spread out a piece of paper on the hood of his car and drew a crude map of Henry Thomas’s property. The cabin, the vehicles, the driveway, and the woods all around. “We’re looking for a little girl,” he said. “Remember that. We don’t have a search warrant. We’re going to go knock on this guy’s door and ask him about this girl, ask him if we can have a look around. We don’t believe that he is armed but we know from his history that he is dangerous. There may be another person on the premises, Kayleigh Patchett. I’d like three of you to cover the sides and the rear of the cabin while we talk with Mr. Thomas. Be vigilant.”
The walk up the driveway seemed endless. Sweat pooled at the base of Josie’s spine and slid down the sides of her face. Whether it was from the warm weather or her nerves or both, she didn’t know. Once they reached the top of the driveway and didn’t see anyone in the vehicles, the uniformed officers spread out, walking around the cabin. The Chief waited at the bottom of the steps as Josie and Gretchen walked up and knocked on Henry Thomas’s door.
