More than anything, Alyssa wanted to believe that Katelyn Phillipson was doing nothing more than pushing teenage boundaries. ‘How long did Katelyn stay mad about the party?’

‘My goodness, not long at all. She was over it before the night was out. Katelyn’s not very good at hiding her true feelings, so if she’d still been angry, I’m sure we would’ve known.’

‘Mr. and Mrs. Phillipson, we’d like to speak to Stephanie. Can you get us her phone number and address? In fact, if you could jot down the contact information for any of her friends whose home you think she might’ve gone to if she needed to, that would be helpful.’

‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Mary said.

Mr. Phillipson pushed to his feet and paced the length of the room, waving his hands in the air as he did. ‘But we told you, we’ve already checked with all her friends. No one’s seen her. Retracing our steps is only wasting time better spent on finding my daughter!’

Mary pressed one palm to her stomach. ‘Jason, please…’

Mr. Phillipson whirled around, his face turning red as tears slipped down his cheeks. ‘No, Mary.’ He pointed to Alyssa and Cord. ‘They’re supposed to find her, not just do the same things we already did.’ He choked on the final words, collapsing into his wife as she stood and cupped her husband’s face in her palms.

‘I know. But we have to allow them to do their job the best way they know how.’

Jason’s eyes bored into Cord’s first, then Alyssa’s. ‘Please, you have to find her.’

‘That’s exactly what we’d like to do, so the sooner you get us those contacts, the sooner we can get started on that.’ Alyssa’s tone was gentle but firm.

Ten minutes later, list in hand, Mary walked them to the door but stopped Alyssa with a surprisingly strong grip on her forearm. ‘Detective, I know it’s human nature for parents to believe their children are innocent of getting themselves into trouble. But—’ Her words fell out in a strangled sob, and she struggled to get the rest out. ‘Please, just bring us back our little girl.’

‘I promise we’ll do all we can to bring your Katelyn home.’

Back in the car, Alyssa called the captain to request an Amber Alert be issued while Cord plugged Stephanie’s address into the navigation system. She didn’t wait to finish her call with Hammond before heading over to speak to Katelyn’s friend, Stephanie. As she drove, something niggled at the back of her mind, and she shifted her eyes left and right trying to figure out what it was about the area that was bothering her.

Chapter Nineteen

Tuesday, May 21

Stephanie’s house, a short five-minute drive away, while still beautiful, came nowhere close to matching the grandeur of Katelyn’s home. Alyssa’s gaze swept up and down the street, turning only when the door behind her opened. A young girl with rainbow-colored hair and wearing a summer dress and flip-flops stood in the doorway, eyes wide and tear-filled. Her hands shook, as did her voice. ‘Are you the detectives looking for Kate? I’m Stephanie. Kate’s my best friend. Mary called to say you were on your way.’