Jo stopped to watch. Claude raced past her, then slowed and doubled back.
“Probably a dog,” she said.
“Maybe.” Jo had to be sure. “Hello?” she called, sending a flock of birds shooting into the sky. “Someone out there?”
“Help!” a frantic girl cried in response. “I’m lost! I can’t find my way out!”
“Don’t panic!” Jo shouted back at her. “Just walk straight for a moment so I know which way you’re facing.” She watched carefully as the grass moved. “Okay, stop! Now turn to your five o’clock. Then start walking forward from there.”
The grass bent in another direction. “Am I doing this right?” the girl shouted. “I can’t see a thing!”
“You’re headed in the right direction! Keep going, you’ve got a few hundred yards till you reach the edge of the marsh.”
Soon a girl with a tear-slicked face emerged from the grass, her pretty gray running shorts and tank stained green and black. Her skin appeared to be speckled with moles, until Jo realized they were moving. The girl shrieked when she noticed the ticks and frantically brushed them away with both hands.
“Breanna?” Jo rushed to greet her. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
“It’s you.” The girl began sobbing.
“Why were you out there?” Jo turned her around and swept the ticks off her back. “What the hell happened?”
“Jordan and I usually run together, but she and Mama slept late this morning. I always come this way when I’m alone. It’s supposed to be safe because all the police live down here by the water. I was crossing the bridge when a cop car pulled up beside me. He said something had happened to my mom, and he’d give me a ride back to the house.”
“No, no, no.” Jo didn’t want to imagine what might have happened to Nessa’s girl if she’d gotten into the car.
“Then I realized it was that cop from Newsnight—the one who lied about you and Mama. I told him I’d run back to the house myself, and he started to get out of the vehicle. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get away if he pulled his gun, so I jumped off the bridge and hid in the grass. I stayed down there until I heard him drive away. But after he was gone, I couldn’t find my way out.”
The story sounded all too familiar. “Was there anything unique about his patrol car that would identify it if we saw it parked in a driveway?” Jo asked.
“Yeah,” Breanna said. “It had a big number one painted on the hood.”
Jo took her phone out.
“What are you going to do?” Claude asked.
“I’m going to get Breanna’s mom out of bed.”
Nessa was already awake and at her computer. While she’d been sleeping, an email had arrived. The author had written “The Girl in Blue” in the subject line. A few days after she found the body by Danskammer Beach, Nessa had posted portraits of the girl on every major missing persons site. A few responses had trickled in at the beginning of the summer, but this was the first email she’d received in weeks.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am certain the Girl in Blue is my niece. Her name is Faith Reid, born March 29, 2004.
I have enclosed a photo. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Dana Reid
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Faith. The name couldn’t be a coincidence. Her heart pounding, Nessa opened the picture Dana Reid had attached and found herself face-to-face with the girl she’d found at Danskammer Beach. She was leaning in for a closer look at the pendant Faith wore around her neck when the call came in from Jo.