“Willow went to school this morning—Gateway Middle—like usual,” I explained. “But it was right after first period”—I mentally calculated the time—“maybe around ten o’clock or so, when she disappeared. The teachers and staff looked all over the campus for her but couldn’t find her. That’s when I got a call from her principal, about thirty minutes ago, telling me what happened. No one has seen her since.”

Officer Montgomery scribbled something down, then glanced back up. “Have you checked with her friends to see if any of them have heard anything or know anything?”

“The principal told me they did, and none of her friends are missing from school. As soon as I found out I called Grant and we came straight here.”

“Is it unusual for her to skip school?”

“Willow loves school—she’s a straight-A student, as dedicated as they come,” Grant interjected. “She’s never done anything like this before. She’s perfect.”

Officer Montgomery smirked as if she heard that a lot. “Does she have a cell phone?”

“No, we don’t believe kids that age should have a personal phone,” Grant said. “She uses our home phone for calls.”

“That helps. It eliminates the possibility that she might be connecting with someone you don’t know about—a secret boyfriend, for example.” Officer Montgomery’s glance strayed from Grant’s face to mine, where it stayed. “Anything traumatic happen in your home lately? A fight? Sibling issues?”

I didn’t want to tell the cop about what Willow might have overheard, but what if it mattered? What if it led me to her? But it also might not.

“Um, nothing that would make her run away,” I answered, a second too late. Officer Montgomery searched my face. I had taken too long.

“Well, since she’s only been missing a couple hours, I suggest you call her friends, see if any of them know anything, and have the principal and homeroom teacher contact me so I can take their statements. In most cases with girls this age, they’re skipping school, hitting the mall, doing what rebellious teenage girls do. Let’s give it a couple more hours and see if we can figure out where she might have gone.”

She handed me her card, and a wave of disappointment swept over me.

“That’s it? That’s all you can do? What if she was kid-napped?”

“It’s highly unlikely she was abducted from the school property, Mrs. Thompson. With the security they have, someone would have seen something. Most likely she left on her own to go somewhere to meet someone. She had a specific purpose for leaving the school grounds. We just have to figure out those two details.”