The Little Grave (Detective Amanda Steele)

The home was a showy display full of centuries-old charm, but it also held a modern, updated feel. It had clearly been renovated properly and in accordance with heritage guidelines.

The Baldwins saw her to a parlor, and Amanda sat on a salmon-pink sofa while the couple perched in wingback chairs.

Shortly after everyone was seated, a woman in a black-and-white maid’s uniform entered the room with a silver tray, holding a tea set and milk and sugar.

“I hope that I was not presumptuous, Detective,” Tanya said, “to assume that you might be interested in a spot of tea.”

“Sounds lovely.” Amanda would do whatever necessary to set the Baldwins at ease. She couldn’t help but feel a knot in the pit of her stomach whenever she really looked at their faces. She couldn’t begin to imagine the horror of what they faced every day.

The maid prepared the tea to order and, once the cups were distributed, she left the room.

Tanya lifted her teacup, her pinkie pointed out, and took a generous draw. “Oh, I should tell you that it’s a perfect drinking temperature.”

Amanda took a drink of her tea and set the cup down. She didn’t handle the china anywhere near as delicately as Mrs. Baldwin—and she wasn’t much of a tea drinker.

“We were pleased to have you reach out to us, Ms. Steele,” Wes began. “Do you have information about our daughter?”

Hope marked his voice and it sliced Amanda’s heart. Malone had ordered her to keep quiet about the murder until she had absolute proof that Casey-Anne Ritter was the couple’s Phoebe. She’d argued him on that point because the Baldwins deserved to know, but he hadn’t budged on his decision. Not even after showing him the photos and the striking similarity between them. He was looking for forensics or other indisputable evidence. Maybe, if she could get a hairbrush or toothbrush—something with DNA. The investigating detectives should have collected such things and/or Phoebe’s prints, but if so, they hadn’t sparked a match when Casey-Anne was murdered.

“I do have some questions,” Amanda put it out there tenderly, then sat back and crossed her legs. She suddenly felt somewhat self-conscious in this formal house in her jeans and sweater.

“Ask us whatever you would like,” Tanya encouraged, “if it brings our little Phoebe back. Though, she will be twenty-four next month.”

Tanya still referred to her daughter in the present tense after all these years, but Amanda could understand her desire to hold out hope.

“I’m sorry for all that you have suffered these years,” Amanda offered.

“It’s our Phoebe we think about,” Wes said firmly. “Just getting some kind of closure would be better than not knowing.”

Curse Malone and his directive to hold back on Phoebe’s fate. It was obvious the Baldwins relived their daughter’s abduction every day. Instead of it tearing them apart though, it seemed to bond them with a purpose. By letting them know Phoebe was dead, it might be the worst thing for their marriage. She’d seen and heard of couples divorcing after the death of a child.

“As I told you on the phone, I’m from the Prince William County Police Department, and during the course of an investigation I was made aware of your daughter’s disappearance.” Amanda felt phrasing it as an abduction might disclose too much.

“And you work with what unit?” Wes asked.

“Homicide.”

Tanya gasped and covered her mouth.

“I apologize for my wife, Detective.”

Amanda noted how she’d gone from Ms. Steele to Detective now that murder had come up.

Wes stiffened and stretched his neck. “How did you come to find out exactly?”

“Before I get into that, I have some questions for you, as I mentioned on the phone.” Amanda put it as delicately as possible, but it still had Wes scowling and his wife frowning. She couldn’t say she blamed them. If she were in their position and some detective from out of town showed up wanting answers and avoided hers, it would be grating, but she’d endure if there was any chance it could bring her daughter back.

Tanya said, “Please go ahead.”

“How well did you know Rhonda Osborne?”

Tanya glanced at her husband and proceeded to answer. “She came with good references. I called all of them myself. She really seemed to love Phoebe, and Phoebe took a shine to her.”

“I understand she only worked with you for a couple of months before Phoebe’s disappearance,” Amanda said.

“That’s right,” Wes interjected. “We hired her because caring for a young child day to day became too much for

my wife.”