I pull back and look at her and her eyes are steady on mine and her chin is taut and she is the most inconvenient person I have encountered in forty years of a life that has not been short on inconvenience.
"Yes," I reply.
She slides off the vanity and smooths her dress with both hands.
"Then I'll go finish my painting," she says, and walks out.
I stand in the bathroom doorway and watch her go and I stay there for a moment after she has rounded the corner and there is nothing left to watch.
My phone rings.
"Talk," I answer.
"Our contact at the NYPD says that someone filed a missing person's report on our girl," comes Renzo's voice.
I straighten. "Who?"
"Anonymous. But it's been kept very low profile. Whoever filed it didn't want noise, just a quiet record." A pause. "We have reason to think it's Keller."
I am quiet for a moment.
"An anonymous report?" I ask.
"He is avoiding making this big. Probably to avoid press attention pre-election," Renzo replies.
"Keep our contact close," I tell him. "I want immediate updates."
"Understood."
I end the call and stand in the empty room and look at the doorway she walked through, at the space where she had been sitting on the vanity with paint on her nose asking me if she was the only one.
"Your father," I say quietly, to the empty room, to no one, "is a real asshole, princess."
* * *
Renzo's text comes in at half four.
Our records show today is the girl's birthday. Thought you should know.
I read it twice. Then I put the phone face down on the desk and look at the window for a moment and think about the fact that she has been in this house for nearly two weeks and has not mentioned it once.
Then again. She has been kidnapped. She is wearing a chain on her ankle and eating meals on a schedule set by someone else and her father has filed an anonymous missing person's report rather than pick up a phone. The birthday, in context, makes a particular kind of sense that sits badly.
I pick the phone back up.
Drop Gloria home and get a cake on your way back.
Three minutes pass.
A cake
Yes
You're asking me to buy a cake
Renzo
I'm getting the cake
