“Well, that news report should help. I saw it last night. You all did a wonderful job, Gloria. You too, Maisy.”

Gloria’s fingers stopped poking into her arms. “We did our best. No different from what any other family would do.”

“And surely if they want to see you this morning, there’s some news. Maybe some leads?”

Gloria sniffed, rubbed her eyes.

“Some good news,” Mrs. Murtry said. “It’s only a matter of time, love. Not like a person can just vanish into thin air!” Then she slowed down in front of a building with two glass doors. “Does Maisy want to wait with me? I’ve got time. I’ll park over there and wait, okay?”

“No. Telly’ll be here, too. He’ll run us home.”

“If you’re certain.”

“I am, Belinda. He’s moving back in with us, where he belongs.” Gloria sounded happy again.

“Oh. That’s wonderful news.”

“We just been so close these past two days. Realizing, I guess. What we had and what we lost. I just got this feeling, once he’s home, Rowan’s going to walk through my front door.”

Mrs. Murtry smiled. “Isn’t that always how it works? Good things bring more good things.”

Gloria nodded. We got out and Gloria waved at her as she drove away. I waved too.

“What a windbag,” Gloria said when she was out of sight. “Going on and on and on about that witch’s new car.”

Inside, Gloria had to line up at a tall counter and say who she was. I could tell she didn’t like it when she had to tell about Rowan disappearing. Her cheeks went all pink. A lady in a black skirt said, “Yes, yes, oh my. I’m so sorry. Just this way. Straight through here.” She walked ahead and me and Gloria followed her. We went into a room. There were two chairs and a desk covered in messy piles of papers. The blinds on the window were open and sunlight was shining in. I sneezed two times and Gloria whispered, “Stop it.”

The man who was in our house came in. He was wearing the same clothes, but his tie was different. It was blue and covered in question marks.

“Is your husband joining us?” He sat down in his chair.

“Telly’s not here?”

“Not yet. We can wait a few minutes.”

Gloria took a big deep breath. Her foot tapped.

“No. If you got news, I want to hear it.”

“News. Yes,” the man said. He went back in his chair. He put his hands on his stomach. “The appeal last night, Mrs. Janes. It really helped. We’ve already received a number of calls, and…” He went back further. His chair creaked. He might tip over. “Can we have, um, Maisy, is it? Can we have her wait outside?”

I looked at Gloria, but her eyes were just zoomed in on the man.