Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

CHAPTER 18
“Don’t look like that, my girl. The report might have been
filed with civilian authorities.” Stephen suggested.
Josie shook her head. “He checked with Kileen – that’s the
closest town to the base – and with Austin PD. Nothing.”
“Perhaps he used the wrong date. You yourself said it took
your dad three days to get back home. Who was the first
person you told? Perhaps they reported it. Have your man
check from that date and see if he comes up with anything.”
“Archer covered his bases, Stephen,” Josie snapped.
“All right, then.”
Put in his place, Stephen left her to stew, trailing the smell
of bad coffee after him. He was almost through the office door
when he peeked behind to see if she was with him or going to
wallow for a bit on her own.
She wasn’t wallowing but she also wasn’t ready to work.
Josie had paused by the wall of glass in the living room and
was looking out onto a day that had turned windy and cloudy.
The waves would be blown out so the girls wouldn’t be
surfing. Nor would they be coming home. They would go into
Lahaina to do whatever young girls without a care would do.
The fact that they once had great cares caused Stephen to take
a moment and think fondly of them. Josie was no different
than his girls; she needed a soft place to land. Since Stephen
believed he was a most brilliant man when it came to women,
he knew enough not to interrupt Josie Bates’ thoughts.
Hers were not so different from Stephen’s. She was thinking
the girls were simply versions of Hannah. Being around them
made her long for Hannah and Archer and Max. Strangely,
Josie did not long for her mother and it was that knowledge
that grieved her. Outside, the trees bent to the wind, the clouds
skated on it, the waves were brushed by it, and here she was,
standing in the eye of a perfect-storm.