Josie hit end call and blew out a breath. She looked up to see Gretchen walking toward her. “I’m sorry. I have to run up to Harris’s school.”
“It’s fine,” Gretchen said. “Naomi told me that her whole family is on the same cell phone plan. I’m going to have Mett email the concierge some consent forms. They’ll print them here at the desk and then one of Nysa’s parents can sign them. This way we don’t have to wait for a warrant to see where her phone pinged on Sunday into Monday. I’ll get the coordinates and then cross-reference those with the home addresses of her past and present professors. If any of their addresses fall into the area where she was during the time she was unaccounted for, then we’ll go have a talk with them.”
“Great idea,” Josie said. She started to walk out the sliding glass doors but stopped and turned. “Gretchen, put the head coach on that list, would you?”
“You got it, boss.”
Twenty-One
At Tiny Tykes, only two cars remained in the parking lot. In one of them sat Cindy Quinn, window rolled down, her sharp features set in an expression of anger. Josie parked beside her and got out, walking up to the window. Cindy said, “I’m not going back in there.”
Josie suppressed a sigh. “I’ll get him and see that you’re put on the list.”
Inside, only Mrs. D remained, sitting at the desk that Miss K normally commanded with Harris in a chair next to it, his large backpack on his back. His legs swung back and forth, not reaching the hardwood floor. When he saw Josie, he jumped up and ran toward her. She caught him expertly and scooped him up, hugging him to her, bulky backpack and all.
“Miss K wouldn’t let me go with Grandma,” he told her immediately, a frown on his face.
Josie laughed. “I know that. It’s okay. Remember how we talked about this place having special rules to keep you safe? Just like your mom and I have special rules to keep you safe?”
“I guess,” he mumbled.
Josie set him down and took his hand, walking toward Mrs. D. “You can only leave here with adults that your mom and I say are okay. We forgot to put Grandma on the list. It was a mistake. But I’m going to tell Mrs. D to put her on and everything will be fine. Got it?”
This seemed to cheer him up. He rocked up on his toes. “Got it!”
Mrs. D stood and shook her head. “I’m very sorry about all this. I thought Miss K explained this to Harris’s mom during registration. We can’t allow anyone to take custody of a child unless they’re approved in our system by the child’s parents or guardians. We don’t know what kinds of custody disputes people have. Terrible things have been known to happen. I can’t put my kids at risk that way.”
“It’s fine,” Josie said. “I’m not upset, and I’m sure Misty won’t be either. But may I add Mrs. Quinn to the pickup list?”
Mrs. D smiled. “Sure. Of course. Let me get Harris’s file.”
She disappeared into her office and returned with a thin folder.
“You still have physical files?” Josie asked.
“Only for our original enrollment paperwork. Most things are in the computer system, but we keep originals of certain forms.”
Josie smiled as Mrs. D opened the file, turned a few pages, and slid it across to Josie. She pointed to a form that had several boxes for parents and guardians to list authorized people for school pickup. “Just fill out the one on the bottom of that page,” Mrs. D said.
Josie was still looking at the top of the form where Misty had filled in the parental information. She had told Misty to put her on as one of the emergency contacts, but Misty had listed her as a guardian. It had no legal standing, of course, but it was obvious that the Tiny Tykes staff were not questioning it since they would allow Josie to put Cindy Quinn on the pickup list.
Mrs. D pointed again to the box at the bottom of the page. “This one.”
Josie went to add Cindy’s name, address, and phone number when the box above it caught her eye. “Mrs. Quinn is already listed here.”
“What?”
Josie tapped her pen against the box that Misty had already filled out, just as Cindy had said, listing her as an authorized person for picking Harris up from school. Mrs. D turned the folder toward her and leaned down, studying it. “Oh dear,” she said. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. This isn’t in the computer. It’s supposed to be entered. I guess Miss K didn’t check the physical file. Things are so hectic here at the end of the day. I’ve told her not to leave her post, so maybe that’s why she didn’t go into the office for the file.”
Josie put the pen back on the table and gave her a tight smile. “I hope this means there won’t be any problems in the future with Mrs. Quinn picking up Harris?”
“Not at all, I promise,” Mrs. D assured her. “I’ll talk with Miss K about it in the morning to make sure there are no issues going forward.”
“Great,” Josie said. She turned to Harris and held out a hand. “Let’s go.”
In the parking lot, Harris wasted no time entertaining his grandmother with tales of Pre-K. He hardly noticed when Josie kissed the top of his head and told him she’d see him soon. Josie explained the error to Cindy, who was satisfied to be proven correct. Josie watched her drive away and then got into her own vehicle, checking the dashboard clock, thinking about how she hadn’t seen Noah all day. It was extremely odd. Longing to hear his voice, she called him, and was relieved when he answered right away.
“Where have you been all day?” she blurted out.
“The Chief has me doing something,” he answered vaguely.
She couldn’t help the annoyance that edged into her tone. “Really? Like what? Because we briefed him this morning on the Somers case, and he didn’t say anything about more pressing assignments.”
“It’s not a big deal, Josie,” Noah said. “I’ll tell you about it tonight.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “I’m headed back to the station now.”
“Yeah, I probably won’t see you till later tonight. At home.” As if he could sense her disappointment through the phone line, he added, “I’ll get takeout. Your favorite.”
Accepting his peace offering, she said, “Okay. I’ll see you then,” and hung up.
She was halfway down the mountain road leading back into the city proper when she smelled smoke. Slowing her vehicle, she searched the trees on either side of the road and looked to the sky to see if there were any signs of fire. Out here, people did sometimes burn their trash in metal barrels or fire rings made from old tire rims. They weren’t supposed to do it within the city limits, but it happened. Josie didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and wasn’t looking to give out any citations, so she sped back up. Moments later, she rounded a bend in the road and saw a large black mailbox beside a tree-lined driveway. Josie couldn’t see where it led due to the thick foliage. Beside the mailbox was a girl with long, dark hair. She was tall and reed thin but as Josie drew closer, she realized that she was probably only ten or eleven. She wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with an anime character on it. Both arms waved wildly over her head. As Josie pulled over, her movements became more frantic. Her feet lifted from the ground, as she jumped in place, then ran over to Josie’s vehicle.