She didn’t text back, even though the school day had ended a while ago.

He turned on the Siriously Sinatra station and listened to a few songs, but his brain refused to focus on the music.

He called Leah again. No answer. Obviously, she was busy. She’d call back when she was free. No reason to overreact.

Except terrible images started to filter into his head, images that explained why she couldn’t answer her phone. Car accident. Injury.

That’s ridiculous, Sebastian. She’s fine.

His instincts, though, were telling him otherwise.

It wouldn’t hurt to check with Dylan. He could do so without sounding like a nervous psycho.

He silenced the music and woke his phone using voice controls. “Call Dylan Montgomery.”

The call connected through Bluetooth, his car’s speakers amplifying the sound of the ringing phone.

“Hey, Dr. Grant,” Dylan said.

“Hey, I’m having a little trouble reaching your sister. Do you know what she’s up to this afternoon?”

“Nope.”

“Any guesses?”

“No, but I can check the app that shows me where she is, if you want.”

“That would be great, thanks.”

“’Kay, hang on.”

Sebastian dug the tip of his thumb into his steering wheel.

“It looks like she’s on the north side of town. Um. On . . . Serene Court. I don’t know what’s over there.”

Fear—cold and raw—pierced Sebastian. He knew exactly what was over there. He’d driven Leah to that street on Saturday to pick up Claire.

It felt as if his lungs were folding in on themselves as he ordered his phone to supply directions to Serene Court.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Leah pressed Claire’s doorbell and listened to its chimes reverberate within. Anxiously, she waited next to the two metal lawn chairs standing guard on the front landing.

No one answered, so she tried the doorbell a second time. After a minute or so, she heard movement on the other side.

She took several steps back.

A forty-something man, big and broad with dark red hair, answered the door. Color flushed his pale skin, and his eyes glittered with adrenaline.

Alarm bolted down her spine. “I’m Leah Montgomery, Claire’s math teacher. I don’t believe we’ve had the opportunity to meet.”

“Wes Dobney.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m here to pick up Claire and her siblings for the outing to the library.”

“What outing to the library?”

“Oh! Well . . . the library recently completed an excellent math exhibit.” Not true. She’d invented this scenario on the drive over. “Very interactive. I told Claire about it, and she seemed interested, so I volunteered to take her and her sisters and brother through the exhibit this evening.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

She feigned surprise and contrition. “My apologies. I set this up with your wife, but I should have emailed you both to confirm. Are . . . the kids available for an hour?”