Chapter 81

It was a week before my thirteenth birthday, and Dad was supposed to pick me up from elementary school and drive me to swimming lessons. I'd sat there on the edge of the soccer field until darkness fell and the playground was a nest of shadows, then I shivered all through the walk home, because I hadn't worn a warm enough jacket. My swim gear weighed down my backpack almost as much as the heavy feeling in my gut that deepened with every step.

Talia was cooking dinner. I don't remember what the meal was but I'll never forget the way her smile at seeing me turned to a puzzled frown at my lips that were blue with cold. How she asked me where Dad was and I couldn't answer. The hours that stretched into forever that night when she called everyone she knew with a forced cheerfulness to ask if they'd seen Adam, or the desperation when all that was left were hospitals and police stations.