Paradigm Shift
When news of a missing person is airing the broadcast occasionally mimics the sentiments of the people. The news of the missing girl is initially described as a disappearance case rather than a kidnapping. After more information and rumors start spreading, the broadcast handles it as an abduction. Josie notices when things change and the matter is much more sinister:
“She noticed a small group of customers gathered around another television that hung above the lottery kiosk near the front of the store. She wandered over to them, sipping her coffee and watching as the broadcast she’d seen at the gas pump continued. The words “Students and Faculty React to Coleman Abduction” flashed across the bottom of the screen while a montage they’d been looping since last night played. The first time Josie saw it, WYEP had used the word disappearance instead of abduction.”
Relief
The accident at the store leaves Josie with a painful injury to her leg. She barely catches a break after the incident akin to the emotional burden ruling her life now. In her new house, she unwinds feeling the pain of the wound recede and at the same time emotional relief:
“Tucking a pillow beneath her calf to elevate it, she found two ibuprofens in her nightstand and swallowed them dry. Flinging her arms wide, she stared at the ceiling and concentrated on breathing through the pain until it subsided. She listened to cars passing outside and the noises of her house—the hum of the fridge, the roar of the forced-air heating system as it kicked on, and then the deafening silence when it kicked off. She still wasn’t used to the house, having only moved in three months earlier. It was a proud moment for her, finally owning her own house.”
Crime Scene
Due to her suspension, Josie cannot participate in the investigation and therefore has to visit the crime scenes in secret. She approaches one of the crime scenes examined earlier to obtain information and come to her own conclusions. The description offers the unique perspective of a detective analyzing a scene:
“There was nothing remarkable about the clearing at all. It was like a thousand other clearings in the Pennsylvania woods surrounding Denton and its neighboring towns. It wasn’t even necessarily a clearing so much as a slightly larger gap between trees. What had Isabelle been doing this deep in the woods? As Josie picked her way back toward the road, she wondered if the girl had been on the driveway and had run into the woods when she realized she was being pursued. Or perhaps there had been a struggle and she had escaped into the trees.”
Unpaid Suspension
The story begins with Josie on paid suspension following an incident unrelated to the current case. However, this hardly stops her from conducting her own investigation which lands her in trouble. Eventually, the chief decides to put her on unpaid suspension which sends her into a panic:
“The panic rose to her chest and made her heart skip, giving her too many beats in too short a space. All of her savings had gone into her house, she had been living paycheck to paycheck for months now. She had a couple of credit cards, but how long could she live off them? She couldn’t put her utility bills on her cards.”
