“I’m Amanda’s brother, Luke.” Luke lifted his chin toward his mom. “Mom still thinks she’s a baby and calls her Mandy.”
“What’s Matt’s last name?” Jenna took out her notebook and pen. “Have you contacted him to see if Amanda is with him?”
“As if.” Luke snorted. “His name is Matthew Miller, he’s a mechanic at Miller’s Garage in town; his old man owns the gas station.” He shrugged. “Matt only agreed to double-date with me as a favor. My girl’s Amanda’s best friend and they insisted on going to the dance together. Mom’s making out like it’s a big deal. It’s one lousy dance and I’d be with her all night. Matt wasn’t even planning on giving her a ride home.”
Jenna made a note of Matthew Miller’s name and looked from one to the other in dismay. “I’ll need your girlfriend’s name. Have you contacted her about Amanda?”
“Sure, her name is Lucy Mackintosh, I called her first and she hasn’t seen her since they met at Aunt Betty’s yesterday.” Matt scratched his cheek. “She said they chatted on the phone last night and my sister wasn’t planning to run away or nothing. She told Lucy she was going to sleep.”
“But she’s gone.” Mrs. Braxton burst into tears and grasped Jenna’s arm tight. “You gotta find her.”
Trying not to wince at the nails digging through her jacket, Jenna led her to a sofa. “We’ll have search parties out looking for her directly.” She sat beside the distraught woman. “Deputy Kane has already set things in motion and we’ll have help out here very soon.”
“Ma’a
m.” Kane walked into the room. “The team are on their way, ETA fifteen minutes. I told Walters to drop the McLeod case for now and come straight here. He’s bringing the recording equipment.”
Jenna looked up at him. “Roger that. Will you go take a look at Amanda’s room? I’m sure Luke will show you the way.” She glanced over at Luke. The young man snapped to attention and ushered Kane into the hallway.
Jenna cleared her throat. She hated this part of the job, interviewing the family of a missing child and having to ask delicate questions seemed an intrusion into their grief. She drew a deep breath, the questions sat on a list in her memory. The First 24 Hours list, she’d memorized so long ago it had become almost a mantra and she’d hoped to never use it twice in one week. It was the critical time span required to find a missing person, particularly a child, alive. In fact, only twenty-five percent of abducted children survived the first three hours and seventy-five percent of those who’d survived died by the hands of their abductor within the 24-hour timespan. After that period, the chances of finding a child alive diminished considerably and after seventy-two hours, the chances became negligible. If Amanda had been under twelve years old, an FBI team would be on their way by now but as teenagers were prone to run away after an argument, the FBI deemed her disappearance a local matter.
“When did you last see Amanda?”
“About nine last night.” Mrs. Braxton dabbed at her eyes with a balled-up tissue. “I told her to get off her cellphone and go to sleep.”
A chill ran down Jenna’s spine. Amanda had been missing for twelve hours. She could already be dead. She made a note of the time. “We’d like to examine her cellphone to check who she’s been calling, if that’s okay?”
“Yes, I have it here. It’s not locked.” Mrs. Braxton pulled a pink-covered smartphone out her pocket and handed it to her. “She never goes anywhere without it. Why did she leave it behind?”
“At this stage, I’m not sure.” Jenna scrolled down the list of messages then the log of incoming and outgoing calls. No one had contacted Amanda after the call from her friend Lucy and she didn’t find a single message or call from Matthew Miller. She pocketed the cellphone and turned her attention back to Mrs. Braxton. “When did you notice her missing?”
“Nine this morning, I sent Luke up to wake her.” Mrs. Braxton let out a small sob. “I ran upstairs and felt her bed to see if it was still warm but it was cold. We ran around everywhere looking for her, and then I came inside and called her friends. When no one had seen her I called 911.”
“You did the right thing.” Jenna patted the woman’s arm. “Can you remember what she was wearing the last time you saw her?”
“Yes, her PJs are yellow with small white roses on them and her dressing gown is pink with a lace trim around the collar, bright pink buttons and pockets.” Mrs. Braxton stared into space then drew a shuddering breath. “Her slippers are pink, furry with solid soles.”
“Do you have a recent photograph of her?” Jenna made rapid notes. She had to get all the information she could as fast as possible to put out a media release and get a search team out looking for Amanda.
“Yes, on the mantelpiece.” Mrs. Braxton pointed to a picture of a pretty girl with long flowing blonde hair, freckles and an upturned nose.
Jenna got up and used the camera on her cellphone to make a copy. “Thank you. I’ll be making a statement to the media about Amanda. The townsfolk often call in with helpful information.” She explained about setting up a command post in town and the deputies who’d arrive in plain clothes and unmarked cars to monitor all calls. She thought for a moment and had to ask the question: “Has Amanda had any nightmares lately?”
“No, she dreams about her grandma standing at the end of her bed. She figures she’s watching over her.” Mrs. Braxton’s eyes welled with fresh tears. “If she was, she’s not doing a very good job, is she?”
At that moment, Kane came back into the room. “Have you touched anything at all in Amanda’s bedroom, Mrs. Braxton? Picked up anything from the floor or tidied the room?”
“No, I opened the cupboard and looked in the drawers to see if she’d taken any clothes but everything is there.” Mrs. Braxton blinked up at Kane. “Did you find anything?”
“No.” Kane gave her an apologetic look and turned to Jenna. “No sign of a struggle.”
“Okay.” Jenna looked back at Mrs. Braxton. “Do you have a security system?”
“We do.” Mrs. Braxton shook her head. “This is why this is so strange. It was on this morning. If someone kidnapped my daughter, I doubt her abductor would’ve reset the system to activate the alarm. I figure she went out to see that Miller boy.”
“I called him, Mom.” Luke stood in front of the fire. “He hasn’t seen her and said he’d never meet a fifteen-year-old in the middle of the night, he isn’t crazy.”
“What company did you use to install your alarm system?” Kane’s forehead creased into a frown.