Her Dying Secret: A completely addictive and heart-racing crime and mystery thriller (Detective Josie Quinn Book 20) by Lisa Regan

Author:Lisa Regan [Regan, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781835254714
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-05-13T18:30:00+00:00

THIRTY-FIVE

As promised, Hope Bailey was waiting for them when they arrived at Hillcrest Elementary nearly an hour later. She stood outside the main entrance of the sprawling brick building beside a towering flagpole. Her posture was straight and tall. Blonde hair brushed her shoulders. Her simple white blouse and black slacks made her look official but also approachable. The last of the students ran to their parents’ vehicles, waving goodbye to her. Josie and Gretchen’s Denton PD polo shirts, and the pistols hanging from their waists, drew a few concerned looks, but Hope only smiled brightly at the stragglers as if to indicate there was nothing to see here. Once all the students were gone, she herded Josie and Gretchen inside the building. Josie adjusted her collar again to cover the bruises marring her throat. Then she focused on Hope, studying her as she led them down a long hallway that was wallpapered with children’s art pieces. Hope was younger than Josie had expected. Teresa Carlson was over seventy whereas Hope looked about fifty.

Hope ushered them into a large office cheerily decorated with motivational posters. One colorful poster announced: Today is a great day to learn something new! How fitting. Carol Summers had dropped quite the bombshell on them when she revealed that Mira and April were half-sisters. Josie hoped they would learn even more before they left Hillcrest, and that it would be something that helped them locate Seth Lee and the child.

Another woman sat behind the desk separating the door from the rest of the space. “I’ll be in my office,” Hope told her. “Not to be disturbed except for my daughter.”

The secretary nodded, staring at Josie and Gretchen as they followed Hope around her desk and through a door marked Principal. Hope’s inner sanctum was less chipper than the rest of the school with a simple desk, two guest chairs, a few filing cabinets, and bookshelves filled with tomes of academic texts. The posters on her walls were geared more toward adults. Your poor planning does not constitute an emergency on my part, read one of them. Another said: Everything is hard before it is easy.

Gretchen stopped in front of that one for a moment. Glancing back at Josie, she muttered under her breath, “No shit.”

Josie suppressed a laugh. Once they were all seated, Josie and Gretchen presented their credentials. Hope gave them a cursory glance and then waved them off. “Teresa vouched for you. As I told you on the phone earlier, I just want to help in any way that I can. It’s been difficult, as I’m sure you can imagine. When April was missing, we could be of use by searching and distributing flyers and posting on social media, but now… I don’t know what to do.”

Gretchen discreetly checked her phone and then looked at Josie, giving a quick shake of her head. Turner hadn’t yet sent over the records request letter. What the hell was he doing?

While Gretchen tapped in a text message

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