Read Online Love You More: A Novel by Lisa Gardner - Free Book Online Page B

impressive stash of first-aid supplies. Lotta Band-Aids, she thought, in a lotta different sizes. A battered wife, stockpiling for inevitable repairs, or just life as an active family? She checked under the sink, found the usual mix of soap, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, and cleaning supplies.
    They moved on.
    The next room clearly belonged to Sophie. Soft pink walls, with stenciled flowers in pale green and baby blue. A flower-shaped rug. A wall of bright white cubbies brimming with dolls, dresses, and glittering ballet shoes. Tessa and Brian lived in a dorm. Little Sophie, on the other hand, inhabited a magical garden complete with bunnies running along the floorboards and butterflies painted around the windows.
    It was beyond obscene, D.D. thought, to stand in the middle of such a space, and start looking for signs of blood.
    Her hand was pressed to her stomach. She didn’t even notice it as she carefully began her first visual inspection of the bed.
    “Luminol?” she murmured.
    “No hits,” Bobby responded.
    Per protocol, the crime-scene techs had sprayed Sophie Leoni’s sheets with luminol, which reacted with bodily fluids such as blood and semen. The lack of hits meant the sheets were clean. Which didn’t mean Sophie Leoni had never been sexually assaulted; just meant she hadn’t been recently assaulted on this set of linens. The crime-scene techs would also check the laundry, even pull bedding out of the washing machine if necessary. Unless someone knew to clean all items in bleach, it was amazing what the luminol could find on “clean” linens.
    More things D.D. didn’t want to know while standing in the middle of a magical garden.
    She wondered who had painted this room. Tessa? Brian? Ormaybe the three of them working together back in the days when the love was still new and the family felt fresh and committed to one another.
    She wondered just how many nights had passed before Sophie woke up to the first sound of a distinct smack, a muffled scream. Or maybe Sophie hadn’t been sleeping at all. Maybe she’d been sitting at the kitchen table, or playing with a doll in the corner.
    Maybe she’d run to her mother the first time. Maybe …
    Ah, Jesus Christ. D.D. did not want to be working this case right now.
    She fisted her hands, turned toward the window, and focused on the weak March daylight.
    Bobby had stilled next to the wall. He was studying her, but didn’t say a word.
    Once more, she was grateful.
    “We should find out if there’s a favorite snuggle toy,” she said at last.
    “Rag doll. Green dress, brown yarn hair, blue button eyes. Named Gertrude.”
    D.D. nodded, scanning the room slowly. She identified a nightlight—
Sophie’s terrified of the dark
—but no snuggle toy. “I don’t see it.”
    “Neither did the first responder. So far, we’re operating under the assumption the doll is missing, too.”
    “Her pajamas?”
    “Trooper Leoni said her daughter was wearing a long-sleeved set, pink with yellow horses. No sign of them.”
    D.D. had a thought. “What about her coat, hat, and snow boots?”
    “Don’t have that in my notes.”
    For the first time, D.D. felt a glimmer of hope. “Missing coat and hat means she was roused out of bed in the middle of the night. Not given the time to change, but the chance to bundle up.”
    “No need to bundle up a corpse,” Bobby remarked.
    They left the room and pounded down the stairs. Inspected the coat closet, then the bin of shoes and winter accessories tucked by the front door. No little kid coat. No little kid hat. No little kid boots.
    “Sophie Leoni was bundled up!” D.D. declared triumphantly.
    “Sophie Leoni left the house alive.”
    “Perfect. Now, all we gotta do is find her before nightfall.”
    T hey returned upstairs long enough to examine the windows for signs of forced entry. Finding none, they headed downstairs for the same drill. Both doors featured relatively new hardware and bolt locks, none of which