By the time they were done, it was after five, and Nate drove back to the Young house.

The father, JJ Young, answered the door before Nate knocked. He was a tall, muscular man in his early forties with a military-style haircut and an elaborate tattoo on his right arm, partly visible under his short sleeve.

He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Jill called me and I came home early. Said you wanted to talk to our kids. Before I let you, I’m laying down some ground rules.”

“Of course,” Lucy said, then introduced herself and Nate.

“Sir,” Nate said as they shook hands.

JJ said, “Jill told me what you said. I need to know if Ricky is dead. He and the twins have been friends since the day we moved here, and if he’s dead, I need to tell them first.”

“We don’t know,” Lucy said. “That’s why it’s so important that we retrace his steps the day his family disappeared.”

“Are you sure those bones that were dug up are the Albrights?”

“Yes,” Lucy said. “FBI confirmed through DNA evidence. Denise, Glen, Tori, and Becky.”

“Not Ricky.”

“No. We brought in cadaver dogs to search the area near both the gravesite and the Albright house, but he hasn’t been found, and now we’re concerned about where he might be. Your family is the last to have seen Ricky before he went missing. Ricky might have said something to them. Reached out to them in some way—a text message maybe, or a note.”

“They didn’t have phones three years ago. They were only nine.” He ran his hand over his head and glanced toward the house. “You don’t talk to my kids without either me or my wife present, understand? Not now, not ever.”

Lucy nodded. “Of course we’ll respect your wishes.”

“And I’m telling them about the Albrights. They don’t need to hear it from strangers. So no questions until I say, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Nate said.

JJ continued, but his voice quivered with restrained emotion. “My kids are smart and I don’t sugarcoat the truth around them, but they don’t need to know details, okay?”

Lucy and Nate concurred. Then Lucy said, “Before we go in, your wife said that a detective came to talk to you the week after the Albrights disappeared.”