“I saw him about a week ago when we were in the King of Prussia mall. We saw him in Friendly’s downstairs and then again upstairs in Space Port.”

“And you say the suspect lives in Pottstown. Did he tell your sister this?”

I hesitated. “I don’t think he told her anything like that. I think we heard it. Me and my older sister heard that there was a guy from Pottstown that fit that exact description.”

“So you did report the incident to some people?”

I had told Mrs. Boucher, who was a member of the legal profession. She hadn’t reported it or even told my mother. Grady Adams was a medical doctor. He knew, and he hadn’t told. Wilson was over eighteen. Even Marie was now an adult. I was going to get so many people in so much trouble.

“No. Not like that. We didn’t tell anyone. Just my older sister knew people, and we heard there might be someone like that in Pottstown.”

“Marie knew?” Thomas looked at me like I was Judas Iscariot. “Libby, stop fucking around. This is serious. Tell them everything.” He knew I was holding back, and he was right. I had to say everything.

The radio broke in then: “Affirmative on the Pennsylvania plate 3F5-727. Camaro. Vehicle registered to Julius Korhonen, Ash Drive, Pottstown, over”—crackle—“Units dispatched, over.” The second squad car reversed and started down the hill, the light spinning but the siren silent.

Officer Day turned to me again. “Are your parents home? We’re going to need them to file a statement to say Ellen is missing.” I shook my head. “Can you give us a number of where they are?” I looked at Thomas. Neither of us knew where Mom was staying.

“Our father isn’t alive,” Thomas said. “Our mom took my youngest sister to camp in North Carolina. My eldest sister Marie’s an adult. She’s in charge. She’s in Philadelphia right now.”

“If you don’t know the number for your mother, can we have your sister’s?”

“It’s at the house,” Thomas said. “I don’t know it.”

“Did this man know Ellen’s name or where she lived?” Officer Day asked me.

“Not her name, but she said she lived on Valley Forge Mountain when she first got into the car, before he did anything. And he could have found out her name because she had on our school uniform.”

“What time did you see his car here?”

“Just after the fireworks, like maybe half an hour ago or forty minutes, but then ten minutes or so later it was gone.”

“Why do you think he came looking for her tonight?”

I was about to say that maybe he’d come looking for others when Officer Day stepped aside to let someone push through. It was Grady Adams.