“Noah Mast is missing. He left the hospital this morning and no one has seen him since.”

“That’s odd. They checked the farmhouse? The tunnel? Sometimes people go back to the places they’re used to, even if those places are unpleasant.”

Tomasetti makes a sound that tells me he’s not convinced. “If he doesn’t turn up in the next hour or so, the sheriff’s office is going to put out an APB.”

“You don’t think he hurt himself, do you?”

“Nothing would surprise me at this point.” He pauses. “Have you talked with Sadie Miller yet?”

“I’m heading out to the farm now. I’ll send my report your way as soon as I get everything typed up.”

I find Esther Miller in the backyard of her farm house, hanging trousers on the clothesline. A wicker basket full of damp clothes sits at her feet. She smiles around the clothespin in her mouth when I approach.

“Guder mariye,” I say, wishing her a good morning.

“Wie bischt du heit?” How are you today?

She looks like a different woman. Her eyes are bright and alive, and I can tell she’s truly happy to see me. Dropping the trousers back into the basket, she crosses to me, throws her arms around me, and clings.

“Gott segen eich.” God bless you. She’s not crying, but I feel her trembling against me. “Thank you for bringing her back to us.”

After a moment, feeling awkward, I ease her to arm’s length and offer a smile. “How is she?”

“Good. Happy, I think.” She blinks back tears. “She’s to be baptized in two weeks.”

“I’m happy for you.” But I feel a pang in my gut. I think of Sadie’s passion for her needlework and the part of her that will be lost when she takes her oath to the church, and I realize something inside me mourns its loss.

“I need to get a final statement from her, Esther. Is she busy?”

“She is in the barn, feeding the new calf.” Bending, she reaches for the trousers, pins them to the clothesline. “Go on, Katie. She’ll be happy to see you. I’ll be out as soon as I get these clothes hung.”

I take the crumbling sidewalk to the hulking red barn. The big sliding door stands open. The smells of fresh-cut hay and horse manure greet me when I enter. An old buggy in need of paint sits in the shadows to my left. I hear Sadie singing an old Annie Lennox song, and I head toward where the sound is coming from.