Gloria stood up and was crying more. I went over and wrapped my arms around her and put my head on her back. My arms slipped into her soft bread sides. I hated seeing her sad. It was the worst thing ever.

“This is the best place for you to be, ma’am. As hard as that is. In case he comes back. In case he calls.”

With my ear on her back, I could hear Gloria’s insides. They were squirting and thumping and wheezing. As I listened, I felt a pain in my chest. Like someone punched me hard. Right on a rib bone. I knew my middle was hurting because I was so mad at Rowan. For running away into the woods. For letting that terrible Carl grab him up and steal him away on the road in a strange car. For making Gloria cry.

I decided when Rowan came back I was not going to talk to him. I was going to make him disappear for a long, long time.

“Thank you, Maisy-Bids,” she said. She twisted round and hugged me too. “You’re the only thing keeping me sane.”

“Sorry, ma’am. When is your husband due back?”

The clock on the wall was hanging funny. “Soon,” she said.

“We thought, perhaps—”

“He’ll let me know if Rowan showed up there. But Rowan didn’t even know where his dad was staying.”

“Do you have other family?”

Gloria blinked a bunch of times. “No. My father’s dead. And—and my mother, too.” That was Gran that I never met. “I do have a brother. Richard. Rick. But we aren’t close. He’s just not a good person, not stable, you know what I mean?”

“I do,” he said, and he smiled a bit and gulped from his mug. “Family dynamics can be complicated. Especially during times of stress.”

“Yeah, that’s my brother all right. Ratchets the problem right up, and then blames the fallout on me.”

“Is it possible he could have gone there, though?” the man said. “To your brother’s?”

“Zero chance. I don’t even know myself where he lives no more. Couldn’t reach him if I tried.”

“We’ll check in with him just in case, Mrs. Janes. So we can cross it off our list.”

Gloria told him her brother’s name and the place he was staying the last time she knew. The man wrote it all down.

“It’s important to find people who can offer you some support.”

“Telly’s giving me support.”

“That’s good, ma’am. This is a traumatic experience for any parent to go through.” He stood up. “I’ll be outside, Mrs. Janes. Getting things organized. But I’m going to send in one of our staff. She’s a psychologist and I’d like her to chat with Maisy.”