The microchip had led them to a woman named Jenna Bennett, thirty-seven, who lived on Cedar Ridge Road with her seventeen-year-old daughter, Chloe, and a second husband, Dale Mercer. Thomas Bennett, Jenna’s first husband and Chloe’s father, had died two years earlier. The dog—Ranger—had been Thomas’s. Chloe was not home.
Neither Jenna nor Dale had reported a missing daughter yet because, according to Jenna, Chloe sometimes spent nights at a friend’s house and had been increasingly withdrawn for months. Jenna knew nothing about a pregnancy. If Chloe was the mother, and that was a very large if, she had hidden it completely.
Ethan sat down hard at the kitchen table while Morales spoke.
They had also found something more. Around six p.m. the day before, staff at the urgent care on Route 9 had treated a young woman under the name “C. Brooks” for heavy bleeding and dizziness before transferring her to county hospital.
She left before formal admission. Security footage was being reviewed. The physical description was consistent with Chloe Bennett.
“We’re trying to locate her now,” Morales said. “Jenna is on her way in to talk to us. Animal Control confirms Ranger was very attached to Chloe. It makes sense he’d stay with the baby if Chloe told him to.”
After the call, Ethan stared at nothing for a long moment.
Ellie, whose ears were better than he ever remembered his own being, asked, “Did they find the dog’s family?” He nodded. “Maybe. They found the house he belongs to.” Ellie chewed her bottom lip. “Can we see him?” she asked. “He was scared too.”
Ordinarily Ethan would have shut that idea down instantly.