Noah said, “With all due respect, Ms. Harper, we’ve got a missing eight-year-old girl last seen here on these premises. She’s vanished only a day after her older sister was found murdered on Harper’s Peak’s grounds.”
Celeste’s voice shook. “I’m well aware of what’s been happening in the last twenty-four hours, but I have a resort to manage. I have guests. They paid for a certain standard of luxury, and police vehicles do not meet that standard.”
Josie said, “Our priority is to find Emily Mitchell. You’ll have to handle any issues relating to your guests.”
Celeste glared at Josie. “This was not my idea. It was my husband’s. Now he’s out there with Tom and half of my staff and the police looking for that girl while I’ve got a business to run. How am I supposed to do this?”
“Emily Mitchell could be in danger,” Noah pointed out.
“That is not my problem or my fault,” Celeste spat. “That girl walked out of here. We spent the entire afternoon trying to make her comfortable and getting her settled in. Do you know what she did?”
Neither Josie nor Noah responded.
Celeste walked past them, toward the coffee table bracketed by couches. Josie noted that several pieces of copy paper were spread across its glossy wooden surface. Some were cut into shapes and others had been used to draw butterflies and what looked like renderings of Emily’s stuffed dog. A pair of scissors rested on one end of the table. There were easily four dozen crayons. These had been lined up precisely according to color. A row of greens, a row of blues, reds, yellows, et cetera. Josie hid her smile.
Noah said, “She colored?”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “No. That was Adam’s idea. We don’t know the first damn thing about children, you know. He got the crayons from a staff member. We made do with printer paper. He thought he’d have craft hour, or something. Well, he left her alone. We have work to do. He was needed in the main building, so he went there. Emily cut almost every tufted button from our couches!”
Now Josie’s eyes traveled the length of each of the Chesterfield sofas, noticing that they looked much puffier than they had this morning. Without the tufted buttons, the couches looked somehow naked and incomplete.
Celeste said, “Who does this?”
When Noah spoke, Josie could tell that he was just barely holding in his laughter. “To be fair, there are a few buttons left on the arms of the couches.”
“Do you know what she told me when I asked her why she would do such a thing?” Celeste went on, ignoring Noah. “She told me that she had to cut them off because she was afraid she would choke on them.”
Josie and Noah stared at her. Noah’s eyebrow kinked. “Are you sure that’s what she said?”
Celeste huffed. “You think I got that wrong? Yes, that’s what she said.”
Josie knew it was an exceptionally odd thing for anyone to say and do but she suspected it had something to do with Emily’s OCD. She’d have to ask Paige or an OCD specialist about it later. Or she could ask Emily, hopefully, when she found her.
“Did you ask her what she meant by that?” Josie asked.
“Why would I? It doesn’t matter. She destroyed our property!”
Before Celeste could continue, Josie changed the subject. “How do you know she walked out of here?”
“When Adam left, I was here with her. I had to take a call. It was… a rather long one, but I was only in the kitchen. She’s not an infant. I thought she’d be fine in here for a little while, so I didn’t worry about it. Except that when I came back, she was gone. The front door was open. She’d taken that ratty old stuffed dog with her, and my tufted buttons!”
“You don’t actually know that she left of her own volition,” Josie pointed out. “You don’t have cameras out front?”
Celeste huffed. “Not out here. This is our private residence. Private being the operative word. In all the years I’ve lived here—my entire life—we’ve never had an issue. Until now. It had to be Lorelei’s little girl, didn’t it?”
Keeping to the task at hand, Josie asked, “Did you look for her when you realized she was no longer in the room and the door had been left open?”
“Of course I did. I’m not a monster. I walked around the perimeter. I called for her. When I couldn’t find her here, I went down to the resort area and searched. I spoke with Tom and the two of us asked several of the staff to help. Once I located Adam, I asked him as well. When we could not find her on the premises, Adam called you.”
“You didn’t actually see her leave though,” Josie clarified.
Celeste returned to the front window, taking a moment to gaze outside. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t. My God. Who knew having children was so fraught? She’s eight years old. It seems like they should be easier to manage. Lorelei came to us when she was nine, and while I always despised her and all that she represented, as a child of that age she was fairly well behaved.”
“How long ago did she go missing?” Noah asked.
Celeste looked up toward the ceiling. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a half hour ago. Forty-five minutes? I spent some time looking for her before Adam called you.”
Josie said, “Do you still have Emily’s duffel bag?”
Without looking at them, Celeste motioned over her shoulder. “Upstairs, third bedroom on the left. She didn’t take that with her.”
Josie nodded to Noah and he disappeared upstairs, returning moments later with one of Emily’s shirts. “I’ll get this to Sandoval,” he said.
“Tell her to prioritize finding Emily,” Josie said. “I’m not even sure if Gretchen found anything of Rory’s for Rini to scent, but even if she did, put her off him for now. I want Emily found safely. We’ll deal with Rory later. Call and ask the
