Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Josie’s driveway was crowded with vehicles. Every first-floor window of her home glowed with welcoming, golden light. Her mind was still with Cleo Tate, but as she trudged up the front steps and heard the muffled sounds of her family’s laughter, some of the tension in her body drained away. Once inside, it became clear that everyone had gathered in the kitchen. No one heard her come in. Even their Boston terrier, Trout, didn’t come racing into the foyer the way he usually did. That could only mean one thing. Food was at stake. Josie and Noah did their best not to feed him table food, but he always held out hope that someone would drop a delicious morsel on the floor.

Trout gave her a cursory look and a momentary butt-wiggle of excitement when she reached the kitchen doorway and then went right back to staring up at Trinity while she cut vegetables at the counter. Every so often she dropped a slice of carrot which he gobbled right up. Even dressed in jeans and one of Drake’s oversized FBI T-shirts, Trinity looked like she’d just stepped from the pages of a magazine. Her black hair had a glossy sheen to it and the light makeup she wore made her look camera-ready.

Over her shoulder, Trinity said, “Mom, show Drake the house you guys just made an offer on. It’s not far from here.”

Their parents, Shannon and Christian Payne, sat with Drake at the kitchen table. Josie leaned against the doorframe and watched them all. The normalcy of the scene, the happy presence of her true family still struck her as incredibly surreal. When she and Trinity were three weeks old, Lila Jensen, a woman employed by Shannon and Christian’s housecleaning service, had snuck into their home while a nanny cared for them. She set the house on fire and abducted Josie. The nanny managed to get Trinity to safety but the authorities in that town—two hours away—believed that Josie perished in the fire.

Shannon rifled through the purse hanging on the back of her chair. “Let me find it on my phone. I’ve got that real estate app.”

Lila had brought Josie back to Denton and used her as a ploy to get back together with her ex-boyfriend, Eli Matson. Back then there weren’t mail-in DNA tests. Eli didn’t even question Lila when she told him she’d given birth to his daughter in the year they’d been apart. He’d taken her back and embraced his role as a father, loving Josie with his whole heart until the day he died. Josie had only been six years old at the time. Left alone with Lila, she had faced the most horrific years of her life. Eli’s mother, Lisette—the only grandmother Josie had ever known—had fought like hell to get custody of Josie and save her from Lila’s abuse. Eventually, she did.

Christian slid on a pair of reading glasses and took out his own phone. “I’ve got it here, Shan.”

Once Lisette had full custody of Josie, Lila disappeared and then, when Josie was thirty years old, came back to wreak havoc on Josie’s life once more. In the process, the complicated web of lies Lila had weaved over so many years unraveled. That was when Josie and Trinity learned they were sisters. Josie had an instant family: a twin sister, parents, and even a younger brother, Patrick. It had been a big adjustment for Josie, learning that everything she thought she knew about her life was wrong, and taking her place as part of the Payne family, but they were one of the best things that had ever happened to her.

Christian handed Drake his phone. “It’s a lot smaller than the place we’ve got now, but we really haven’t needed that kind of space since Patrick left for college.”

Shannon laughed. “We didn’t need that much space even before he left for college.”

For as long as Josie had known them, Shannon and Christian lived two hours away. Now they were retiring and moving to Denton. Patrick had settled here, and they were excited to be closer to Josie, especially since she and Noah were trying to adopt.

Trinity dropped another carrot slice onto the floor and Trout ate it greedily. Without looking up from her task, she said, “Josie, are you going to lurk there all night, or are you going to join us?”

It was still weird having a twin.

Josie walked over to the table and leaned down, giving each of her parents a hug. “You look so tired, honey,” said Shannon, concern pooling in her eyes.

“We saw the news,” Drake said. “No luck finding that mother?”

“Not yet,” said Josie. She crossed the room and leaned her hip against the countertop, watching Trinity toss sliced carrots into a huge salad bowl.

“Guess this means Noah won’t be joining us,” Trinity said as she started slicing a cucumber.

“No,” said Josie. She took out her phone to see if there were any updates even though she’d only left the scene an hour ago. The searches would take time.

“I know this great photographer who’s willing to come here to Denton to take photos of you and Noah for your adoptive parent profile,” said Trinity. “Oh! I got one of my producers and cameramen to agree to come out to help you guys make your video.”

Gently, Drake said, “Trin, maybe Josie and Noah should decide how they want to assemble their profile.”

She waved the knife at him. “I know. I didn’t say they had to use my people. I’m just saying they should.”

“Trinity!” Shannon exclaimed while Josie and Christian laughed.

Trout whined for more carrots.

“I appreciate your help, Trin,” Josie said. “But Noah and I want our profile and video to reflect…us. It has to. We’re asking someone to give us their baby.”

Trinity rolled her eyes. “You’ll still be you. The presentation will just look…”

“Like Josie’s famous journalist sister butt in and made it for her?” said Christian. “Trinity, you should let Josie and Noah do this their way. They’ve gotten this far.”

“Did you know there are actually companies out there who help you create your profile?” Trinity said. “I did a story once, ranking?—”

A collective groan went up in the room. There was no end to the topics that Trinity had done a story on in her career.

Trout whined and lifted one of his paws, pleading for more carrots.

Trinity turned away from the counter and brandished the knife at them. “Complain about my encyclopedic knowledge now, but just wait until the next time one of you needs to know something you can’t find on Google.”

Drake stood and walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and planting a kiss on the top of her head. “I love your encyclopedic knowledge. I haven’t used Google once since we met.”

A delighted smile spread across Trinity’s face.

At their feet, Trout gave a defeated sigh and sauntered off, lying across the threshold of the kitchen.

Josie’s cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Before she could take it out to see if there was an update on the Cleo Tate case, Trout jumped up and started barking. He ran toward the front door so fast that his paws slid across the hardwood of the foyer floor. Josie followed, palming her phone and tapping in her passcode as she went. There was a text from Noah. Before she could read it, another notification popped up on her screen, this one from her security camera app. Turner was on her front stoop.

Trout’s barks grew in intensity as he waited for her to answer the door. Once she reassured him that there were no assassins outside, he backed down to a low growl. Josie swung the door open and frowned at Turner.

“What are you doing here? And how did you get my home address?”

Turner was on the first step below the landing, bringing them nearly eye to eye. Under the exterior light, his face looked drawn. He tugged at his beard, looking from Josie to his vehicle, which was parked across her driveway, then back again.

From behind the storm door, Trout continued to growl.

“Quinn.” For the first time in the months they’d been working together, the annoying sexist bravado she’d grown to know and hate was gone. In its place was a tired man in a rumpled suit, paint on his jacket pocket, shifting his weight nervously from side to side.

“Turner,” Josie said. “You didn’t answer either of my questions.”

Another tug at his beard. “The, uh, K-9 searches didn’t turn anything up.”

“What?” Josie looked back down at her phone, opening the text from Noah. Blue had followed Cleo Tate’s scent across the fifty acres of the lot, onto a residential street, and then lost it.

Which meant that she’d been put into another vehicle.

Josie quickly tapped in, Geofence?

She didn’t know if Turner saw her text or not but he said, “I already got the warrant for the geofence. We’re waiting on the results. But Quinn, listen. I got a…”

His eyes drifted from Josie to the doorway behind her. Trout went quiet. Trinity’s voice floated from inside. “What’s going on? Is that Misty, by any chance? I wanted to talk to her about— Oh.”

Josie turned to see Trinity framed in the doorway, staring at Turner. There was a definite flicker of recognition in her sister’s eyes.

Turner said, “Miss Payne.”

“Kyle,” Trinity replied. “What are you doing here?”

He shook his head, as if to say ‘not now’ and focused on Josie again. “Quinn, I got a real big problem.”