Cole got right to the point. “Is Sophie still at school?”
The teacher looked startled. “Why, no. I put Sophie onto the bus myself. She wasn’t feeling very well the last hour of school. Looks like she’s got the sniffles. I was on bus duty, and she walked out there with me. I’m positive she got onto the bus.”
Cole searched for possibilities. “She’s not at home. Can we contact the bus driver? Make sure she didn’t miss her stop. I don’t know . . . if she didn’t feel well, maybe she fell asleep in the back of the bus or something.” Like that was going to happen. Theirs was the first stop.
“By all means.” Mrs. Stanford went to her desk and opened a drawer. Taking out her cell phone, she swiped and tapped the screen and then held it to her ear. Impatient, Cole clenched his jaw.
“Hello, Clara? This is Mavis. Did Sophie Walker get off the bus at her house this afternoon? She did?” A pause while she listened. “Just a minute.”
Taking the phone away from her ear, Mrs. Stanford spoke to Cole. “Sophie got off at the top of your lane and was walking home when the bus driver pulled away.”
“Let me talk to her,” Cole said, reaching for the phone.
Mrs. Stanford gave it to him.
“This is Sophie’s dad,” he said. “Was there anyone waiting in the lane for her? Maybe a white Honda sedan?” He’d described Mrs. Gibbs’s car on the off chance that the housekeeper had returned home early and met Sophie’s bus, although he believed that if Mrs. Gibbs had changed her plans, she would’ve called him.
“No one was waiting, Dr. Walker,” the bus driver said. “Sophie waved to me and started off down the lane.”
Fear circled Cole’s heart and tightened his chest. “Did you see anyone at all turn into the lane?”
“No. What’s going on?”
“You didn’t see someone turn into the lane in your rearview mirror?”
“No. There was no one behind me when I stopped. I always check. There was a silver Jeep-like car coming down the highway in front of me, and the driver slowed down as it approached. I watched my rearview mirror and saw it keep going down the road toward Timber Creek after I pulled my stop sign back in.”
“Did you recognize the Jeep?” Cole asked, his mind filing through his family’s friends, trying to identify someone who might’ve picked up Sophie, taken her for an after-school ice cream or something. No one came to mind.
“No.”
“Did you recognize the driver?”
“I’m not sure I even looked at the driver. I saw that the car was obeying bus safety law, and that’s all I paid attention to,” Clara said, concern evident. “What’s going on, Dr. Walker? Is Sophie okay?”
“She’s not at home, and I’m trying to find her.” Cole noticed that his own voice sounded perfectly calm even as his thoughts jumped to Candace Banks and to his friend’s daughter, Grace Hartman. Both girls now dead.
“Oh, dear. I can assure you that she was well on her way down the lane when I drove away, and I saw no other cars coming or going. I’m sure she’s fine. She must be at your home someplace.”
With a surge of irritation that the woman could sound so sure of something she knew nothing about, Cole ended the conversation and handed the phone back to Mrs. Stanford.
Worry consumed the teacher’s face. “Do you need my help?”
“I’ll go back home and look for her again,” Cole said, not knowing what else to do.
“Call me when you find her,” she said, writing down a number on a sticky note that had red apples stamped on it. “Here’s my cell phone number.”
Cole hurried from the building and got back into his truck. Belle had claimed the front passenger seat, and Bruno stood in the back seat with his paws braced on the forward console, ducking his head so that he could peer out the windshield.
“Get back, Bruno,” Cole said, pushing him out of the way. Bruno settled into the back seat behind Belle and watched out the window while Cole drove the few minutes it took to get back to his turnoff.
He drove down the lane slowly, scanning the open grassy area. Cedars lined both sides of the lane closer to the house, and pine trees and lilac bushes surrounded the backyard. Cole rolled down his window and shouted Sophie’s name, even though he didn’t see any sign of her. After parking in front, he hastened out of the truck, leaving the door open so the dogs could bail out. He jogged to the backyard, Belle and Bruno trotting behind.
“Sophie!” Still no answer.
Taking his house key out of his pocket, he let himself in the back door, the dogs following. Calling Sophie’s name, he searched through the house. His chest felt as hollow and empty as the house appeared to be.
Taking his cell phone from his pocket, he quick-dialed the first person who came to mind. One he knew would do anything she could to help him find Sophie as soon as possible. Now and with no questions asked.
Mattie.
Chapter 15
When Mattie’s cell phone rang, she and Robo had finished searching the premises for more narcotics, and she was starting to bag the evidence. The drug stash had been limited to that inside the credenza, and the rest of the place was clean. Clean of drugs, that is; the house was actually filthy. So much so that she’d taken Robo out and secured him safely in his compartment when he’d finished his work. She didn’t want him to have to lie on that floor in a down-stay to wait for her.
Caller ID told her it was Cole calling, and she swiped the symbol to accept the call. “This is Mattie.”
“Mattie, thank God you answered. I need your help.”
She’d never heard such stress in Cole’s voice. He was usually so calm and in control. “What is it, Cole?”
“Sophie’s missing.”
Her heart stuttered. “Tell me what you mean by missing.”
“She’s not here at the house. I . . . I was late to meet her bus, but I expected she’d be here or in the clinic. She’s not. I can’t find her anywhere.”
“And Mrs. Gibbs? Angela?” While she spoke, Mattie hurried to bag the rest of the evidence. Brody came in from checking on Wolford, who was under arrest and waiting in the cruiser.
“Mrs. Gibbs is in Willow Springs. Angie stayed for a meeting at school.”
The image of Candace Banks laid out peacefully with her hands folded across her chest flashed into Mattie’s mind, and she fought back panic. “She didn’t miss the bus?”
“No. I talked to the bus driver. She said Sophie was walking down the lane as she pulled away.”
“I’m in Hightower. It’ll take me about twenty minutes to get to your place. Hang on, and we’ll see if Robo can follow her tracks.”
“I’ll take Bruno out and try.”
“I don’t want you to do that. It’s important to keep the scent trail as clean as possible. Let me come into the area to search first.” She thought of something else. “Have you called the parents of Sophie’s friends yet?”
“No. I’ll do that right now.” The eagerness in his voice almost broke her heart. He was grasping the lifeline she’d thrown him. She imagined she could take her panicky feeling, multiply it by a hundred, and it wouldn’t come close to what Cole Walker felt.
“Someone’s mom might have come by and taken her home with her or something,” Mattie said. The odds of that were slim, and she might be grasping too. Parents typically called other parents for permission, or at least to keep them informed. “Keep the dogs in the house and stay by the home phone in case someone calls. I’ll be there soon. Call me if she turns up.”