The area has been cordoned off. Police and SWAT vehicles line the deserted streets. The area is depressed and ugly as it rises through the early-morning light. Joe and I trot toward a table set up as a command center. A tall man in a SWAT jacket leans over a map that has been weighted down with cop radios, which crackle with chatter.

He introduces himself quickly and outlines the search quadrants where officers are currently scouring. I look down the street. Houses that one hundred years ago would have been filled with families, children on their way to school, men and women on their way to work. The few spindly trees are winter bare and forlorn as they fight to survive in front of the abandoned homes.

Joe and I join up with a team and head down the broken sidewalk. We’d rather take part than stand still and wait. There are blocks of empty houses. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

We clear several decrepit basements, empty save for rats and debris, broken household items, and other remnants of lives lived long ago. I’m working up a sweat despite the cold temperatures and falling snow. And I’m feeling more despondent with every cleared building. Where are you, Molly Bradley?

CHAPTER 70 - Molly

CHAPTER 70

Molly

IT’S MORNING. DIM LIGHT FROM THE LONE WINDOW ILLUMINATES THE basement in dull gray. My fingers throb; the numbness has worn off, and I’m in a lot of pain. I wonder when Cal will be back, and if Laken is okay. If only there were a way I could warn her, but that’s impossible. All I can do is prepare for Cal to come back for me.

I think about Jay. How it would hurt him to see me like this. Fresh tears slip down my cheeks. He was a good person, and he probably wondered about Cal, worried about him, but wanted to talk to him first before going to the police. He would’ve wanted to be sure. He probably held out hope that Cal hadn’t hurt anybody. Annalise was still just a missing person at that point. I heave a deep breath.

My thoughts travel back to my family, too. My parents and how totally ineffectual they were at handling a crisis, how they drew back into their routines and careers, even as my life crashed down around me. I think about Corrine and how she was the only one who really had my back, and I start to cry again. I haven’t always been a good sister.