Obsessed

“Anything?”

Ross shakes his head.

I beat the desk with my fist and kick my chair so that it goes rolling across the room. The team stops what they’re doing to witness my mini-tantrum. “We’re not losing enough time, is that it? You think you’re going to find her faster if you look at me?”

They take the not-so-subtle hint and all turn back to their tasks at the same time.

It’s been twenty-four hours. Emily won’t be considered officially missing until the forty-eighth. So, my office has become the ad hoc headquarters for the search in the meantime, and I’ve crammed my entire team inside.

With each of us assigned to an area of the case, we’re bound to find something. We have to. There’s no other option to get Emily and our baby home in one piece. God, the thought of something happening to her makes me physically sick. Having the work to focus on is saving my life right now.

Denise appears in the doorway. “Chief, I’ve gotten through to Mrs. McAfee. Line two.”

Trish. Finally. I lunge over to my desk and grab the phone. I punch the button that answers the second line.

“Trish, thanks for taking my call,” I say, a little out of breath.

“Thank your assistant for hounding me so much it didn’t leave me any other choice.”

The aggravation in her voice sets me even more on edge. But I have to ignore it for now and just push through.

“Listen, there’s a really urgent matter we’re dealing with or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”

“Can we skip the apologies and get straight to the point, please?”

I take a breath to steel myself. I didn’t really think about the implications of this call. I’m about to tell this woman her daughter’s been taken by a stalker I failed to apprehend. I send up a silent prayer and bite the bullet. “Have you seen or spoken to Emily at all over the past couple days?”

The other end of the line is dead quiet. The silence reaches through the earpiece, seeps down my throat, and strangles my heart.

“What the hell is going on, Peter?” she asks eventually. “What’s happened to Emily?”

And as much of a pain as the woman is sometimes, the love and concern for her daughter is painfully obvious in her voice, I have to grant her that.

“We’re looking for her, Trish. She’s been missing since yesterday.”

“Yesterday? And this is when you decide to tell me about it?”

“I’m—it’s still early days. She went out last night and there was no reason to be concerned.”

Even as I’m saying the words, they sound stupid and empty. Making me feel stupid and empty.

“And where the hell were you through all of this?”

“Look, there’s no time to go through all this with you. I just need to know if you’ve had any contact with—”

“No,” she says. “The last time I saw my daughter she was telling me how great you are. I guess the joke’s on her now, isn’t it?”

I bring my teeth down on the inside of my cheek, biting until the taste of my own blood hits my tongue. I have to keep calm. I can’t let her get to me, not now.

“I love your daughter with everything in me,” I say, my voice trembling. I’m aware that the rest of my team is only pretending to be consumed by their tasks, but I don’t care. “And I’m doing everything I can, using every available resource, to find her.”

There’s a pause, and I can hear Trish breathing. When next she speaks, her tone is softer. “Do you have any idea what happened?”

I shake my head even though I know she can’t see me do it. “It’s a long story that I don’t have the time to get into right now. I will, just not now. Now I need to focus on getting Emily home.”

“Well, from what I hear, you’re the man to do it,” she says.

It’s a small thing, but to me, in this moment, Trish McAfee couldn’t have given me a bigger nod of approval. Silver linings, they say.