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"Full name?" Costa asked

"Wendy Larson"

"Do you mind?"

I slid out of the chair so he could sit He pulled up the national database and logged in I frowned at his list of options, which were farto read over my shoulder?" he asked

"That was the plan"

He stiffened but continued his search A few quick clicks later, he ended on a page with a Skokie address

The wheels squeaked as he rolled the chair out froo meet the parents"

Wendy Larson’s parents lived in one of the wealthier suburbs just north of Chicago With access to the Red Line, one of the trains leading directly to various locations in the city, the neighborhood was desirable for people orked in the city, but who also wanted the slower pace and free space that could only be found outside of the high-rises

Costa parked in front of the quaint white hoe front porch, it would have fit in a small town in the southern part of the country o suburb, and I wondered if her parents actually used the old wooden swing that hung on the porch

I knocked on the door, trying to ignore the sensation of Valerio Costa’s body standing so close behindto his hands when they touchedto his whole body, and I shivered

"Are you cold?" he murmured

"I’m fine, thank you"

Saved frohed in relief at the sight of the woman behind the door

Dark brown hair tucked into a neat bun at the base of her neck, she looked so like Wendy that I would have guessed them to be sisters But Wendy didn’t have a sister, so the tall woman had to be her mother

"Annette Larson?" I asked A quizzical look on her face, she nodded "Yes, I’m Annette"

"My nao Police Departent Costa

We need to talk to you about your daughter"

Her polite sht? Has there been an accident?"

"We hope everything is okay And we don’t know that anything has happened to Wendy, but we need to speak with her, Mrs Larson"

She waved us into the foyer but didn’t invite us farther

"What is this all about?"

"When was the last tihter?"

"I talked to Wendy last week; she was fine"

"Is your husband hoator on this, so as he letting ?

"No Frank is out of town"

"We’d like to speak with him, as well"

"He’s quite unreachable And he hasn’t talked Wendy

They don’t keep in touch" She crossed her arms, and her face hardened "What is this about?"

"Wendy hasn’t been seen since last night when she left the library with another young woht? Do you have reason to believe that soht, as if she spoke through gritted teeth

"No…it’s just…" I struggled with how to explain

"The other young woe, is unlikely to have spent the night away from hoh-pitched laugh "Oh oodness, how silly You cohter er or hurt All because sohter stayed out overnight?"

"That’s n-not--" I stuure out how to explain in a way that wouldn’t sound stupid

Her amusement dropped as suddenly as it appeared