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Josie squeezed her eyes shut. God, what would Dex think? He’d trusted Josie with his daughter. The light and love of his life.

“She wouldn’t go somewhere we would expect her to,” Josie said. “That’s the point. She doesn’t want to be found.”

Except Josie had a feeling that, deep down, Wren did want to be found. She wanted them to come for her. This was a test.

A test she had no intention of failing.

“Let’s call Mom and Dad, Patrick, Erica and Misty,” she said. “We’ll make a list of every place we can think of that she might have gone and then we’ll divide it up and start searching.”

* * *

Sweat soaked Josie’s back and slicked her forearms. After hours of searching for Wren in the August heat, her T-shirt clung to her torso and her limbs felt heavy and sluggish. Their family and friends had mobilized, helping them cover a wider area much faster. Shannon and Christian had driven to Fairfield to check at Dex’s old house but come up empty. Misty and Harris had checked all the places Wren liked to go with them. Drake, Trinity, and Erica had searched the city park. Josie and Trinity’s brother Patrick and his girlfriend Brenna searched the Denton University campus. Wren spent a lot of time in the Butterfly Atrium there.

Now, Josie and Noah trudged through the woods behind Denton East High School toward the Stacks. It was one of the rock formations created when several slabs of stone had fallen from the side of the mountain, stacking on top of one another. Since Josie and Noah were teenagers, students from the high school had been using it as a hangout where they could do whatever they wanted away from the watchful eyes of adults. Wren hadn’t had much opportunity to hang out anywhere without them knowing exactly where she was, but she did know about the Stacks.

They stopped when they reached the stone floor. It was littered with empty beer and liquor bottles and discarded vape cartridges. Josie was certain if they looked more thoroughly they’d find used condoms as well. A small firepit had been fashioned around a natural divot in the stone. The ash was cold.

Noah turned in a slow circle while Josie checked her phone to see if anyone else had found Wren.

“I’m running out of ideas,” Noah said with uncharacteristic panic in his voice. “Josie, what the hell are we going to do?”

She studied the area, thinking it was the least impressive of Denton’s rock formations. She remembered Wren standing in Komorrah’s studying the photos of each one with fascination. “Broken Heart is a half a mile up the mountain,” she said.

Noah’s hazel eyes were dark with worry that bordered on defeat but he said, “Do you think she’d go there?”

“It would be fitting, wouldn’t it?” Josie replied. “She would probably know the location of that one from the kids at school. We’re already here. Might as well check.”

Forty-Nine

By the time they reached Broken Heart, Josie’s hair and shirt were wet with perspiration. In comparison, Noah looked far more unaffected, only sporting a V-shaped sweat stain on the back of his shirt. Josie walked behind him and she knew they’d found Wren when he stopped suddenly. His body quivered for half a second and Josie felt it in her soul. The relief was so great, it almost took her knees out.

Wren’s back was to them. Josie was sure she heard them coming but she didn’t turn around. She sat cross-legged in the center of the stone. Her messenger bag hung from a jagged piece of rock that jutted out of the broken hump. They didn’t speak as they rounded the formation. Wren watched with wide eyes as Josie climbed onto it and plopped down next to her. Noah hopped up next, taking up position on Wren’s other side. Her sketchbook was closed in her lap. She picked it up and hugged it to her chest.

Josie took a moment to catch her breath, giving Wren time to fill the silence. People always felt the need to fill silence. Letting them was an interview tactic she’d used countless times. Noah was on the same page because he didn’t say a word. In fact, despite how high his emotions had been running all day, now he was the picture of casual indifference. The moment stretched into two, then three. Noah admired the forest. Josie wiped sweat from her brow.

Wren looked back and forth between them. “Shouldn’t you guys be at work?”

“Nope,” said Josie. “We’re exactly where we should be.”

Wren laughed bitterly. “Okay, sure.”

More silence.

“I guess you guys want to talk or whatever?” she said finally.

Josie thought about what Noah had said about trying something other than intense face-to-face conversations. Over Wren’s head, she met his eyes, silently pleading with him to think of something.

Clearing his throat, he said, “I want to play a game.”

Wren’s eyes snapped toward him. “A game?”

Relieved to have some structure, Josie took his lead. “Two Truths and a Lie. I’ll go first. One. For most of my adult life, I didn’t want to be a mother because I was afraid it would turn me into a monster since the woman who abducted and raised me was a monster and she was the only mother I knew. Two. I love crying. Love it. It’s almost my favorite pastime. Three. I screwed up the day of the fire. I should have come for you right away. You needed me and I wasn’t there and I’m sorry.”

“The crying thing is obviously the lie.” Wren’s thumb worried the corner of her notebook. “I hate crying, too.”

Noah laughed softly. “You two and Gretchen should start a club. You’re up, kid. Go. Two truths and a lie.”

Wren took some time to think about it. “Okay. One. I was totally cool with my dad giving custody of me to you guys. Two. I’m more afraid of you guys kicking me out than of you dying. Three. I don’t like the way it feels knowing that there’s no one left on the planet who loves me.”