“I know I shouldn’t be here,” Carl Wills said, “but the police called me about Jamee being missing. ”

Darcy was torn between the small signs of familiarity, the soft brown eyes like tawny velvet, that had been so comforting when he told her bedtime stories, and the bloated face that bore no resemblance to the person he once was.

Darcy had often wondered what she would say to her father if she ever met him again. She had wondered what wild, conflicting emotions would whirl through her heart. But now, in her sorrow and worry over Jamee, there was little emotion over meeting her father. Darcy simply stared at him the way tourists might stare at a monument they were curious about.

Finally, Darcy’s father said in a deep, anguished voice, “It wasn’t over me coming back, was it? That isn’t what made her run, is it? May God strike me dead if I’m the cause of it. ”

Darcy could not speak. She was grateful to Hakeem for standing beside her. He waved to tell Cooper and Tarah to drive away.

“Call me as soon as you know anything,” Tarah called.

“Good luck, Darcy!” Cooper added, before driving off.

Hakeem took Darcy’s hand and said, “Darcy, if you don’t want to talk to your father, I will. I’ll find out if he knows anything about where your sister is. ”

Darcy hesitated for a moment, and Dad finally spoke up. “We could go somewhere and talk,” he suggested. “Me, you, and your friend. There’s a diner not far from here. ”

“What do you want to do?” Hakeem asked Darcy in a gentle voice.

Darcy nodded. “I’ll go,” she said. She and Hakeem squeezed into the front seat of her father’s car. Judging by the clutter on the back seat, he had been living there. Shirts and pants were piled next to stuffed bags and boxes.

Darcy sat there, her mind caught up in memories of birthday parties, rides on roller coasters, trips to the zoo, Dad holding her over his head while she screamed with joy. Of the night when they knew he was gone, Mom sobbing, Jamee screaming. Of the hopes that he would return and the slow, painful way all hope died as time built impenetrable barriers.

Could Jamee have called him of all people and told him where she was going? Could she have betrayed everyone who loved her to get close to a man who had loved only himself?

The three of them found a booth way in the back corner of the diner. Darcy could not bear to look at her father, so she stared into her glass of soda.

“Have you heard anything from Jamee?” Hakeem asked Carl Wills.