An old photograph. In it, two children, a boy and a girl, maybe six or seven years old, stood beside a pond. The boy had his arm slung around the girl’s shoulders. The girl was smiling at the camera, her dark curls catching the sunlight.
Recognition shot through the person holding the photo like an electric current. They stared at the little girl’s face for a long moment, memory flooding back with sharp, painful clarity.
The person pulled out their phone and hit a number.
“Yes?” a voice answered on the other end.
“I think I’ve finally found a lead to finding them,” the person said, their voice low and controlled. “Meet me at the usual place in an hour.”
The line disconnected.
The person turned their arm over and pulled back their sleeve, their eyes narrowing with cold anger as they stared at the nasty scar that ran across their forearm.
Even after all these years, you could still see the teeth imprints where the flesh had been torn.
The person’s jaw tightened.
They slipped the photo into their pocket and stood, moving toward the exit with purpose. Excitement surged through them. After twenty-eight years, the hunt might finally have turned up a clue to the missing family.
16
EVE
Eve kept her eyes on the narrow dirt road ahead, hands steady on the wheel despite the thoughts churning in her mind.
Lila, who was sitting beside her and Brian in the back, was still buzzing about their discovery at the historical society, but Eve’s thoughts kept drifting to Mia.
Mia, who was getting ready for a date.
A real date.
The memory made Eve smile despite everything else swirling in her head.
An hour ago, Mia had rushed into Eve’s room, her face flushed, her eyes bright with something that looked an awful lot like panic mixed with excitement.
“He asked me out,” Mia had said, breathless.
Eve had looked up from where she’d been sorting through her clothes for the barbecue. “Who, Nolan?”
“Yes.” Mia nodded, her eyes glazed. “Like on a date. An actual date.”
“Mom?” Lila had appeared in the doorway, drawn by her mother’s voice. “Nolan asked you on a date?”
“Yes,” Mia nodded again, still looking dazed.
“Did you say yes?” Lila had bounced onto Eve’s bed, her face lit with delight.
“Yes.”
“When are you going?” Eve had asked.
“Tonight.” Mia had snapped out of her trance-like state, reality crashing back. “Oh, I’m sorry... I was supposed to go with both of you to meet David...”
“No!” Eve and Lila had said in unison. “You go on your date. You can meet David another night.”
When Eve and Lila had left to fetch Brian, Mia had still been getting ready, standing in front of her closet with that bewildered look on her face that said she couldn’t quite believe this was happening.
Eve really hoped the night went well for her.
