“Because I care about him, too? You don’t own him.”

“I damn well do own him. Until he’s eighteen, that boy belongs to me.”

The lady got up then. “I’m at the motel. I’ll be there until Rowan is found. And I want to see him, Gloria. And spend some time with Maisy. Too much time has passed. I should be allowed to do that.”

Then she got into her little blue car and drove away. Gloria unlocked the front door with a key.

“Was that Gran?” I whispered.

“It don’t matter, Maisy.”

“But I thought Gran was dead.”

“Dead to me. That’s all I ever said about her. She’s dead to me.”

Then Gloria went inside. I stayed out on the front step. I looked at Gloria’s chair where the dead-to-me Gran was sitting. I had a bad feeling in my middle, but I didn’t know what it was. It just sat on top of all the other bad feelings. I remember when the school nurse told me to think it was butterflies in there when my middle hurt. But butterflies were too pretty to live in the dark. I think there were spiders and ants and potato bugs and huge centipedes with thousands of feet down there. Nothing I did made them crawl away.

MAISY

The sky turned pink and orange. Some crickets started scritching their legs. Through the open window I could hear Gloria in the kitchen. I went down the steps into the yard and turned to watch the woods. I closed my eyes and counted to ten and I opened them. Still no Rowan. I stayed there and kept trying to give him chances to jump out and surprise me. But he didn’t. That game never worked.

A car came straight down the circle to our driveway. Not a little blue car, a black one with blue and red lights flashing, but the siren wasn’t going. I knew those lights meant something terrible. It looked like the noisiest thing ever, even though it didn’t make no sound at all.

Gloria came outside. She must’ve heard the car doors slam. The lady with the pictures, Susan, and the man with the funny ties were already on the step. He wasn’t wearing a tie this time. I didn’t like that.

I went up behind them.

“Mrs. Janes,” he said. He nodded his head.

“Hi Maisy,” Susan said. I looked at my feet. I didn’t want to say nothing to her. I wanted them to get back in the car with the star on the side and disappear. “Detective Aiken wants to talk with your mom. Do you want to show me some of your toys?”

“No, she does not,” Gloria said.

“Susan is here to help, Mrs. Janes. I’d suggest that Maisy—”

“My daughter’ll be staying right here beside her mother.”