Hush Little Girl by Lisa Regan (best chinese ebook reader txt) 📕

Adam saw them first and offered a weak smile. Before he could speak, Celeste ended her call, tucked her cell phone into a hidden pocket of her dress and held up both hands, signaling for them to stop. “Please,” she said. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but everything is going to be fine. We’ve got this under control.”

Adam didn’t look convinced. His fingers worried the stitching of his hat.

Josie said, “We understand the body of a child has been found at the church.”

Celeste frowned, her brow furrowing. “Sadly, yes. But the police are handling it. I assure you, you need not concern yourself with such a terrible thing on your wedding day.”

Josie said, “We are the police.”

Celeste smiled. “I know you are. I only meant that other members of your department are already there. You have no need to worry. It’s being handled by your colleagues as we speak.”

Noah said, “Yes, we need to get over there and speak with them.”

Adam said, “Oh, I don’t think—I mean, this is your wedding day. It would be terrible to see that.”

Celeste nodded along with him. “It’s horribly tragic. We’re not suggesting otherwise, but you shouldn’t let it derail your entire wedding.”

Josie said, “If she was found outside the church, and there was foul play, our Evidence Response Team is going to need a couple of hours, at least, to process the scene. That means our ceremony can’t take place there anyway. We’re just going to take a walk to the church to talk with our colleagues.”

The skin around Celeste’s eyes tightened. “Now? Like that? You’re both already dressed for the ceremony, which we can move. It doesn’t have to be at the church. There are plenty of other lovely areas at the resort we can offer.”

“Yes,” said Adam. “We can adjust everything as needed. Your guests are already in the pre-wedding area. They seem to be having a wonderful time. I wouldn’t recommend—”

Josie tugged at Noah’s hand, moving around Adam and Celeste. “We’ll be back,” she said.

Outside, the spring air was a balmy seventy degrees. A light breeze blew across the grounds as they took the pathway from the entrance of Griffin Hall to the church. Josie’s heels clacked and her gown swished against the asphalt. They strode in silence toward the church on Griffin’s overlook. As they neared, they saw two hotel workers and Tom Booth seated on a stone bench to their right. One staff member had his face in his hands. The man in the middle wept silently, swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. Tom stared straight ahead, eyes vacant, a cigarette between his lips. His iPad lay abandoned on the seat beside him. Up ahead, between two hedgerows, stood Sawyer Hayes, one of Denton city’s Emergency Services workers. Today, he was dressed sharply in a navy suit. His black hair was slicked away from his face, making him look more striking and polished than Josie had ever seen him. He was a guest at their wedding, even though Noah had grown to dislike him. They had only invited him because he was Lisette’s grandson. Her only living blood relative.

The woman who eventually went on to kidnap Josie as an infant, Lila Jensen, had been in a relationship with Lisette’s son, Eli Matson. They broke up for a little over a year and during that time, Eli struck up a relationship with a different woman. That woman became pregnant with Sawyer. Before she could tell Eli about the pregnancy, Lila was back in his life, passing Josie off as his baby, and threatening anyone who might come between them. Sawyer’s mother never spoke to Eli again and had only told Sawyer about his true parentage on her deathbed two years earlier. He sought Lisette out and their DNA tests were a match. Things between him and Josie had always been prickly, but she’d done her best to treat him like family, for Lisette’s sake, at least.

Now his blue eyes locked on her, traveling up and down her body. Ignoring Noah, he said, “You’re choosing this over your own wedding?”

“Hey,” Noah said. “Watch it.”

Josie held up a hand to indicate they should both stop speaking. “I’ve got information that the team needs, Sawyer.”

“Of course you do,” he muttered.

“What are you doing here?” Noah challenged.

For the first time, Sawyer looked at him. “When word first came in to Griffin Hall, Tom said the girl was unresponsive. I came up to see if I could help, but when I got here it was pretty clear that she was already gone.”

“Then you’re no longer needed here,” Noah told him. He moved closer to Josie, putting a hand on her lower back and pressing her forward past Sawyer. “Excuse us.”

Wordlessly, Sawyer turned and started walking back toward Griffin Hall. Just beyond where he’d been standing was a uniformed Denton police officer with a clipboard. His eyes went wide with shock as they approached.

“Detective Quinn, Lieutenant Fraley, what are you—this isn’t—this is a crime scene.”

Josie glanced at his nametag. “Brennan, we’re aware that you’ve got a crime scene here. We’d like to have a look at it.”

He looked them both up and down. “Like… that?”

Josie and Noah looked at one another and then back at Brennan. Noah said, “It’s my understanding that Detectives Mettner and Palmer, Chief Chitwood, and Officer Hummel are already on the scene.”

“Yeah.”

“They were guests at our wedding,” Josie said. “They’re not dressed much differently than us.”

“Log us in,” Noah said, motioning to the clipboard.

Shaking his head, Brennan wrote their names on the clipboard and let them pass. Josie and Noah walked further down the path until they reached a long strip of crime scene tape that had been tied to the various azalea bushes and other flowers that surrounded the open area in front of the church. Standing at the edge of the tape were Gretchen, Mettner, and Chief Chitwood. Mettner talked tersely into his cell phone. Beyond the tape was Officer Hummel, now wearing a