Trinity didn’t pull a no-show without calling. Ever. She’d called in sick exactly twice since she’d started working for me two years ago, and one other time when she needed extra time to study for a test. She was as reliable as any adult employee I’d ever had.
I called her cell no less than a dozen times before I called her grandmother around three, and learned that Trinity hadn’t come home last night and there was no word from her all day. I thanked her grandmother for the information and immediately started calling hospitals. The woman was used to Trinity coming and going as she pleased, sometimes staying the night with boyfriends, and had basically kept her out of the foster system but hadn’t provided much else in the way of parenting. She’d seen it all and wouldn’t share my fears.
Every possibility ran through my head while I talked to customers throughout the day and sold artwork. When the clock turned to five and I was locking up the gallery by myself, panic set in. Something was wrong. I felt it in my bones.
Trinity had graduated weeks ago, so calling the school wouldn’t be any help. I’d exhausted the hospitals, didn’t have any way to contact her friends or her boyfriend, and a second call to her grandmother returned the same conclusion as the first: Trinity was MIA.
So I was left with only one other option . . . the police.
Was I overreacting? Maybe. But when it came to Trinity, I wasn’t taking any chances. I knew better than anyone what could happen when a girl went missing, and how quickly it could turn bad.
“Ms. Noble, I’m going to need you to calm down. Ms. Rodgers is eighteen years old and therefore no longer a minor.”
Frustrated, I jammed my hand into my hair, and my ring caught. I was trying to free it when Detective Hennessy stepped out of an office and paused. His green eyes were on me, assessing, like always. Seeing my weaknesses, my flaws, my vulnerabilities. Probably remembering the horrific display of last night.
If this were just about me, I would have turned and walked out rather than face him, but my purpose was too damn important. Trinity was too important. And I was not above exploiting my connections to get help tracking her down.
I tugged my hand from my hair as discreetly as possible before raising my chin at Detective Hennessy, who was already walking toward me.
How is it possible I didn’t know his first name? It showed just how little I actually knew about the man. He was taller than my five-foot-four-inch frame and if I stood behind his back, I’d disappear behind his wide shoulders. Every time I saw him, I remembered what it felt like to clutch the scratchy white sheets lining my hospital bed with my broken fingernails and nearly lifeless hands. I shoved the memory back down.
Detective Hennessy’s long stride carried him toward me and the uncooperative officer within seconds.
“Is there something we can help you with, Ms. Noble?”
The officer I was speaking to, the bar on his uniform read L. JENKINS, decided to reply for me.
“She’s trying to file a missing person’s report, and the missing person in question hasn’t been gone for even twenty-four hours yet. I keep explaining that because the girl is eighteen and Ms. Noble here isn’t a close relative, she really needs to get a family member to report the girl missing, and it’d be best if she waited another day or two to make sure the girl is really missing.”
“That’s not acceptable,” I said. “Trinity’s only been eighteen for four days. She’s barely an adult. Her grandmother is her only living relative, and she’s not much for getting out of the house these days. I’ve been the closest adult in Trinity’s life for years, and it’s absolutely ridiculous that you won’t file the damn report.”
My temper was flaring, even though I was trying to keep my cool. This was ridiculous. Trinity was barely out of school, didn’t live on her own, and when something was wrong in her life, she came to me.
“Jenkins, let me speak to Ms. Noble. You can carry on with your duties,” Hennessy told the fresh-faced officer who wouldn’t budge off his asinine rules.
Jenkins smirked at me, clearly pleased to be handing me off to someone else.
Fabulous. Now I’d have to make my plea directly to Hennessy when what I really wanted to do was have him hypnotized and order him to forget every interaction we’d ever had—especially last night.
Hennessy led me to a small room and shut the door behind us. He wasted no time before starting with the dreaded small talk.
“How are you feeling today?”
I swallowed back the urge to wish for some voodoo incantation that would handle the aforementioned memory wipe, and forced a placid smile to my lips. “I’m fine, thank you. I appreciate your assistance. I apologize for . . . everything.”
Hennessy shrugged, as if my personal humiliation was really no big deal. And honestly, compared to my concern over Trinity, my personal issues were nothing.
“You have a missing person to report?” he prompted.
“Yes, one of my employees. She’s the most responsible eighteen-year-old I know, and she’s never done anything like this before. Her grandmother said she didn’t come home last night, and she hasn’t heard from her. She didn’t show up at work today, and she’s not answering her cell. This isn’t like her. I’ve called all the hospitals, and Officer Ever-So-Helpful confirmed she wasn’t in jail.”
Hennessy’s face, handsome in a rough-hewn and stubbled sort of way, didn’t show any indication of his thoughts. “Have you called her friends? Boyfriend? Did she get into an argument with her grandmother or anyone else?”