“I don’t know what happened!” He stomped his foot like a little boy.

Oliver was ready to grab him and shake him. He was scaring the baby.

Tess must have read his mind because she stepped close and grabbed his arm. “Focus, Garrett. Tell me what happened to Janie.”

He tried to glare at her and then nearly collapsed into tears. “We had a fight this morning. She took the kids and left.”

Tess released his arm.

He switched the baby to the other side and then wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I figured she’d come home when she cooled off. But then her friend in White City called me, asking when we were going to pick up the boys.”

“Why would she ask you that?”

“Janie asked her to pick them up from school and keep them for a couple of hours. I asked about Anna and her friend didn’t know anything about her. At first, I was mad, thinking Janie was trying to teach me a lesson. I figured she had Anna with her, and she’d go pick up the boys and come home after she’d let me stew long enough.”

He was on the verge of tears and Oliver could see that his small daughter was picking up on the stress and winding up to cry.

“Garrett, let me have little Anna while you speak to the chief.”

He handed the child to Oliver.

“The baby is here now—where was she?” Tess asked.

“That’s what freaked me out. Casey came over with Anna about an hour ago, told me that Janie dropped her off this morning, saying she was going to Walmart to have her hair done and she’d be back in a couple of hours.” The tears fell. “She never came back for her. Casey called her and got her voice mail. Janie is just plain gone!”

Juggling the little girl, Oliver stepped toward the mobile home, happy to see a smile appear on the baby’s face. He could still hear the conversation, and he listened with interest and not a little fear.

“Is there someone she would have gone out—?”

“No! She was mad, yeah, but she wouldn’t have left the baby so long with Casey with no explanation.” Garrett kicked the ground and pounded his fists into his thighs with a kind of whimper.

Oliver glanced at Tess, whose face was unreadable.

Then Tess pulled out her cell phone. She turned to Gabe. “I’m going to call Casey and see if she can tell me any more. Watch him?”

Bender nodded.

Tess stepped aside to make the call.

Garrett leaned back against the mobile and wiped his face with his sleeve.

“We’ll find her,” Gabe said in as soothing a voice as Oliver had ever heard from the man.