For a minute, the three of us sat in what passed for peace, chewing mechanically and not quite meeting each other’s eyes. I could feel the tension in the room, humming just beneath the surface, a wire pulled too taut.
Henry broke first. “You were a cop. What would you do, if this was your case?”
Daniel put his fork down and considered. “Honestly? I’d keep doing what the department is doing. Most missing persons come back in the first forty-eight hours. Usually it’s a misunderstanding. A fight, or a family thing.”
Henry’s mouth twisted. “This isn’t a misunderstanding.”
Daniel nodded, accepting the correction. “So we operate on the assumption she didn’t leave on her own. Which means someone took her, or something happened to her. But there’s no ransom call, no evidence of a struggle, nothing unusual in her stuff here at the house, or in her old room at her parent’s house, except that she’s not in it.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists, his knuckles blanched.
“What would you do next?” I asked.
He looked at me, then at Henry. “You’re not going to like it, but the best thing we can do is stay out of their way. Let them do their job.”
“Bullshit,” Henry said, his voice tight. “She’s out there. She needs us.”
Daniel’s face softened. “I promise you, Henry. We’re going to do everything we can to find her. But you need to let the cops work.”
Henry pushed his plate away and stood. “You can do whatever you want. I’m going to look for her.”
Daniel stood too, meeting him at eye level. “Where? The town’s been searched. Her favorite haunts, her parent’s home, the woods. If you have an idea, say it.”
Henry’s mouth opened, closed. “I don’t know. She had some errands to run. She was working on the wedding plans. She said she’d go to the library and the craft store and then to town for specialty groceries, but after that—” His shoulders sagged. “I should have gone with her.”
I grabbed a notepad from the kitchen drawer and handed it to him, along with the stub of a pencil. “Write down everything she told you. Every place she was supposed to go, everyone she was supposed to see. We’ll check them all.” The cops likely had but it couldn’t hurt. And keeping Henry busy was a good thing.
He stared at the blank page for a moment, handed it back to me, then started listing. “Library. Vale Provisions. The gaming store, because she wanted the new Wicked Widow figurine. She mentioned going to the movies, but I said I wouldn’t go with her, because it isn’t anything like the comic, so she went by herself.” He chewed his lip. “Book club, coffee shop, and she said something about helping Krissy with her collectibles.”
I wrote as he spoke, copying the list onto a clean page, then tore it off and handed it to Daniel.
“We’ll start at the top,” I said. “Divide and conquer.”
Daniel nodded, tucking the list into his pocket. “I’ll handle the police, see if they missed anything. Emma, you take the shops. Henry—” He trailed off, trying to find the right job for my brother, who looked like he might shatter if he lost momentum.
“You know her best,” I said. “Talk to her friends, since they know you, and anyone else you can think of. If Alice left any hint, you’ll catch it.”
Henry nodded, and for the first time that day, his body unclenched, just a little. “She never liked parties,” he said, almost to himself. “She hates crowds, but she wanted to celebrate becoming my wife. If she left, it wasn’t because of the wedding.” He gripped the back of his chair, knuckles whitening again. “She wanted the carrot cake. She wanted the flowers.” He pressed his thumb to his nose, fighting off emotion. “She told me the only thing she worried about was the shoes. She didn’t want to trip walking up the aisle.”
“She’s not going to trip,” I said, hoping I sounded sure. “She’ll be home for the wedding, and she won’t trip.”
He didn’t answer but turned and stalked out of the kitchen. The front door opened and closed behind him, and I waited for the echo of his steps on the porch to fade.
Daniel sat down hard, resting his elbows on the table. “I wish I could do more for him,” he said.
“You’re doing fine,” I said. “We’ll find her.” I surprised myself by believing it, at least for the moment. “If anyone can, it’s Henry. He’s obsessive.”
Daniel snorted. “Runs in the family.”
I smiled, but there wasn’t a lot of humor in it.
The kitchen had finally gone quiet. Even the fridge had shut up. Daniel reached across the table, took my hand in his, and squeezed once, hard. His hand was warm, callused, and I realized how much I’d needed to feel someone else’s certainty.
“Carrot cake and daisies,” he said, as if committing it to memory.
I nodded, then went to clear the plates, scraping the lasagna into the trash. The meal had been a disaster, but we had a plan, and the beginnings of a list.
It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
