Page 79 of Protecting Josie
For some reason, they didn’t seem too concerned about the broken chain and footprint on the door.
It was bullshit, but nothing unexpected. The police were inundated with missing person’s reports, and nine times outof ten, the person wasn’t actually missing. Their phone died, or they needed a break from their life, or they just forgot to tell someone where they were going.
But Blink knew for certain none of those were the case with Josie. She’d had plans for them that night. They’d just shared their feelings for each other. She had no reason to take off and every reason to stay.
So while the police might not be looking for Josie, Blink and his friends were.
“It’sthem,” Blink told Tex in agitation. “There’s no one else it could be. Josie doesn’t have enemies. She hasn’t even met anyone here in Riverton except for our SEAL family.”
“I hear you. If it’s them, they’ve covered their tracks, because I’ve pinged both Gen and Millie’s phones, and they’re both in Vegas at the mother’s house. Have been all day. And all yesterday. In fact, they’ve been sending texts back and forth since this morning. The GPS units in their vehicles show they haven’t left the house all day either,” Tex said in a calm voice that grated on Blink’s nerves. Any other time, he’d be glad for the composure he was showing, but now? He wanted to reach through the phone and shake the man.
“Also, their credit and debit cards show no use. No gas stations, no food. Nothing,” Tex added.
“They could’ve hired someone to do their dirty work, right?” Preacher asked.
“Yeah, but that shoeprint Blink sent me is honestly too small to be a man’s.”
“It wouldn’t take much to overpower her,” Smiley said. “She’s tiny.”
“You aren’t helping,” Safe told his friend in a low tone.
“If it’s not the mother, or a man, who is it?” MacGyver asked no one in particular. “Could they have hired a woman to come get her?”
“It’s her. Or them. There’s literally no one else who hates Josie. They blame her for her ex’s death,” Blink insisted.
“Wait—why are they texting each other if they’re in the same house?” Kevlar asked.
“Yeah. That makes no sense,” MacGyver said.
“It does if they’re trying to make it look like they’re both in Vegas, but one of them was actually here in Riverton,” Preacher growled.
“What about traffic cameras?” Flash asked Tex.
“I’m working on it. But if they aren’t in their own vehicles—which I’m guessing they aren’t, since I already checked the GPS data—it’s like finding a needle in a needlestack to follow every car that drove by any of the roads around Blink’s apartment complex.”
“What about checking the car rental companies in Vegas?” Cookie asked.
“Already did that. Didn’t get any hits on either woman,” Tex said.
Every word out of the computer genius’s mouth pointed toward someone other than either Millie or Genevieve Hitson being the person who broke into his apartment and took Josie, and yet Blink knew without a doubt that one or both were behind her disappearance. Kevlar was right, it made no sense that the women were texting each other all day, while in the same house. To be fair, occasionally he’d send Josie a text while they were both sitting on his couch, just for fun…but not repeatedly.
“It’s her,” Blink said firmly, forcing himself to concentrate on the here and now.
“Right. So I just need to find proof,” Tex said. “I’ll go and see what I can do. I’ll be in touch.” The line went silent.
“I’m going to Vegas,” Blink announced. “No matter what Tex did or didn’t find, or might find in the next few hours, I know down to my soul that’s where she is.”
“I don’t want to be the one to say it…but they could’ve done something to her already. She might not be there,” Kevlar said, the sorrow and unease easy to hear in his tone.
Blink wanted to lash out at his team leader. Shout that he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. But Kevlar didn’t say anything Blink hadn’t already thought. The image of Josie’s broken and bleeding body being discarded somewhere in the vast desert between Riverton and Las Vegas made him want to throw up.
“I know. And don’t think I haven’t already thought about that. But you guys didn’t hear the mother. The hatred in her tone was all-consuming. I don’t think she’d want to simply shoot Josie. That would be too easy. No, I think she has something more sinister in mind. She wants her to suffer.” Blink felt dirty just saying the words.
“So, while Tex does his thing, and the police are waiting for some arbitrary period of time to go by before they decide Josie is truly missing, who’s going to Vegas with Blink?” Wolf asked.
“Kevlar and Safe have to stay here with Remi and Wren. They’d be worried sick about them otherwise, and on the remote chance this isn’t the Hitsons, and has something to dowith our jobs instead, I want them protected,” Blink said firmly.
Kevlar opened his mouth to protest, but Preacher beat him to it. “I’ll go. And Smiley will too. MacGyver and Flash, you guys stay here and see what else you can dig up. Talk to the neighbors, be Tex’s eyes and ears here if he needs anything, and you can liaise with the cops.”
