I flipped page by page through her journal, searching for anything that stood out to me. All of Vera’s secrets were contained in this book, every clue we needed in order to find her. Of this I was certain. From cover to cover I searched, finding nothing, until I closed it with a heavy heart. Holding it, that’s when I felt the minutest difference. At the very back of the book, against the cover, I felt it more than saw it. A small, telltale lump where something protruded from under a page that had been glued to the back cover. I gently tugged the page free, letting loose a tiny scrap of paper that fluttered to the floor. I picked it up, recognizing the shape of it, the scrawl of numbers and letters.

Seven, to be exact. The license plate number.

“She’s with him! Her biological father!” I screamed, nearly jolting Oliver out of his skin. It was a wonder I didn’t wake the kids. “She must have found a way to trace his license plate number to his name. We can find her, Oliver!”

I was so happy, I broke into a herky-jerky dance to celebrate. I heard Oliver snickering and stopped. “What’s so funny?”

“You dance like Elaine Benes on Seinfeld.”

“Ha ha. You’re no Justin Timberlake yourself. Why the gloomy face? You should be celebrating too.”

“This number is from fifteen years ago. What are the chances it’s still going to belong to the right name and address?”

“There are records, Ollie. We’ll figure it out. Obviously Vera did. At least we have something now! We don’t have to tell the cops what we did. We can bring our girl home!”

“Got any ideas how?” Oliver Naysayer asked.

“How about we call our car insurance company and tell them we had a hit-and-run with a car using this license plate number. Maybe they’ll give us the information?”

“It’s worth a try.”

We headed into the den, where Oliver located our insurance agent’s contact information. I picked up the phone and dialed. I had rehearsed with Oliver all the questions I needed to ask, and exactly how to word it, then crossed my fingers that it would work.

The agent answered on the fifth ring.

“I’m calling because I was involved in a hit-and-run and the other driver took off. But I have their license plate number. Are you able to give me the contact information for the person who hit me?”

The agent wavered. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we can’t give out that information. If you’ll give me the license plate number, we can pull it ourselves and find out if they have insurance and handle it for you.”

“There’s no way I can contact them myself to deal with it?”

“I’m afraid not. It’s private information.”

“Okay, thanks anyway.”