“Ben’s at the church looking for you. He said he found a warmer coat and some snow boots you can borrow.”
Jade could barely process Aisha’s words. “What time is it?” she asked.
“Almost two. I know you don’t want to stop, but you need to come in and at least warm up.”
Jade surprised herself by not protesting when her friend put her arm around her and started leading her in the direction of the church. Her legs ached, and everything below her knees was numb from cold and wet from the deep heaves of snow.
Aisha didn’t try to talk while they walked, and Jade was grateful. She was too tired and emotionally drained to carry on any sort of conversation. It was good of Aisha to still be here. Most of the other volunteers had returned to their heated homes, leaving the search to the rescue dogs and professionals. If Dez had wandered outside, she would have been found by now, or at least someone would have stumbled over her tracks.
Which only left one conclusion.
The air inside the church was so hot compared to outside that Jade could hardly breathe. She had to find some way to escape from the feeling of intense heaviness that threatened to crush her under its impossible weight. She turned to head back out.
Ben hurried toward her. “Wait a minute. You need to warm up.”
Jade braced herself against the sternness in his voice. “I need to find my daughter.” The urge was primal, unshakeable. She couldn’t reason it away or depend on common sense at the moment. She had to get Dez back, and she wasn’t going to rest until her daughter was safe.
“We’ve checked on a few of the leads,” Ben told her, holding up his list of suspects. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”
Jade knew he was in no position to make any promises, but she clung to his words nonetheless.
He pointed toward the stairs. “One of the ladies from church brought you heavier clothes. And they’ve got basins of hot water in the kitchen for warming up your feet. Why don’t you head down there now, and I’ll be with you in a few minutes. I have some more questions for you about your old church.”
Jade tried to read between the lines. If Ben was focusing all his attention on Morning Glory, did that mean he was convinced this was a case of kidnapping or intentional foul play?
It was a possibility Jade wasn’t willing to accept. Not yet. Dez was a tiny little wisp, feisty as anything, but small enough she could roll herself into the size of a beach ball. Couple that with her stubbornness and her ability to fall asleep anywhere, and she might be perfectly safe in a cupboard or a drawer in this nice, heated church, somewhere nobody’d thought to look yet.
“Where are you going?” Ben called as Jade headed to the Sunday school rooms.
“I want to check everything one more time,” she answered, thankful he didn’t protest.
Dez was here. Jade knew it. Because if her daughter was outside in the cold or if she’d been abducted and was in danger, Jade would know. Her heart would cleave in two, making it impossible to think, to speak, to function. The fact that Jade was still standing on her own two legs was all the proof she needed that her daughter was alive and safe.
All she had to do now was find her.