Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“We should also talk to both teams,” Pierce said. “I’ll get a list from the league as soon as I can get ahold of somebody later. For now, you’re probably our best bet for having an idea of where she went.”
I shook my head. “We looked everywhere we thought she’d go.” I hoped she hadn’t headed into Spokane. The city was no longer safe at night. It had been all right when I was a kid, but things had changed. Washington state was kind of a mess in many of the cities right now. Plus, where would she go? “I guess there’s Spokane.”
Aiden nodded. “I sent a couple of my guys to the bus station there and to wander the streets a little bit. They haven’t seen her, and I think she’s smarter than that. I don’t think she’d put herself in deliberate danger.”
Neither did I, but still, I also didn’t think she’d run off in the middle of the basketball game. I tried to think through every second of the game but just couldn’t figure out what had spooked her.
Pierce nodded. “I feel like you’ve done the most you can tonight and should get some sleep. We can all start searching again at first light. Did the rest of the family go home?”
“No,” I said. “Everybody’s still out. Nobody knows where to look, but nobody’s going to stop.”
Yara and Buddy had six boys. Three of them lived in Timber City, one in Silverville, and the other two over the Montana border. All of them had headed home to help search for Violet.
“What about friends?” Pierce asked.
“Yara’s on that,” I said. “She’s trying to track down anybody that goes to school with Violet. Unfortunately, Vi’s only been in Silverville for about a month, so I don’t know how many friends she’s made. It’s also the weekend, so it’s not like you can make an announcement at school.”
“Yeah,” Aiden said. “But it’s Silverville. There are phone trees upon phone trees. I’m sure if Yara activates it...”
“I don’t think Violet went back over to the valley. If she’s running away, she would go in the opposite direction, which means Spokane, which just isn’t smart, but she is smart. My guess is she’s here in town somewhere,” I said, going with my gut.
The panic I felt was one unknown to me. I’d been worried about family members before, but not like this. Violet was a scared teenage girl on her own in the middle of a blizzard. “She’d seek shelter,” I said. “She’s smart. But where?”
“Put yourself in her shoes,” Pierce said tiredly, reaching for a cup of coffee. He took a deep drink and grimaced. “Ugh, this is crap.”
My chest compressed. “We have to find her.”
“I have everybody on duty out looking, but nothing,” Pierce said.
I had already figured out where I’d go. “I’d go back to Silverville, where it’s safe, but my gut feeling is that’s not what she did. She’s not at my office. She’s not at Aiden’s house. We checked Donna’s, and we checked Smiley’s. She’s not anywhere.”
“Okay,” Pierce said. “Once you get about three hours of sleep, when dawn comes, it’ll be a lot easier to look. I’d check by your office again. She doesn’t have a key to get in, does she?”
“No, but we have keypads now. I don’t believe she has the code, though. Plus, we searched the whole building.”
“I would look there again,” Pierce said. “On your way home, and then... I don’t know. I really don’t. But don’t worry, we’ll find her.”
Aiden nodded. “Thanks for the help, Pierce.”
“You’ve got it.” He nodded at me. “Like I said, you need to concentrate on this and get Basanelli another lawyer soon. If nothing else, call Clark.” He brightened. “Hey, did you call Clark? Check his place?”
“Of course,” I said. “I also called Oliver, just in case.”
“Doesn’t he have a little crush on her?” Aiden asked.
I thought about it. “Yeah.”
Aiden nodded grimly. “We’re heading out to Oliver’s on the way home. We’ll check the office, and then his home. If we find anything, we’ll call you, Pierce.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep on it until then. Talk soon.”
Aiden and I left the police station and drove back to my office, where we keyed in the code and searched the entire building. Violet was nowhere to be seen.
We then drove outside of town toward McLerrison’s farm. McLerrison was a widower who’d had Oliver arrested for riding dirt bikes on his property. Once I’d introduced them, I’d figured they were both kind of lost and lonely, so Donny took Oliver in. What Oliver didn’t know was that Donny had also put Oliver in his will, and Oliver would inherit millions someday. Hopefully in the far, far, far future.
The lights were already on, which was suspicious. I knocked on the door, and Donny McLerrison opened it, his overalls worn and his gray hair under a blue cap. “Anna Albertini, what are you doing out at this time of the morning?”