A.L. remembered that Troy had been talking to his brother when he and Rena had first entered the classroom that Wednesday evening. But not so that his brother would break the news to Troy’s parents. No, Troy had had to do that later.

He really wanted to rip into Troy and he forced himself to speak calmly. “Let me get this straight, Troy. You’re taking the word of a loan shark on your child’s life?”

“They don’t have Emma. I’m not late yet. They don’t know that I don’t have the money.”

A.L. stared at him.

Troy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh, Christ. You got to make sure that they know that I don’t think they had anything to do with this.”

It wasn’t his job to protect idiots who got involved with loan sharks. But A.L. tried to remember that this man’s daughter was missing. “I’ll do what I can. Names?”

“Marco and Silva Savayanah. Brothers.”

A.L. didn’t think they were local. He’d have heard of them if they were. Maybe they worked out of Milwaukee or Chicago. “You got a contact number?”

“For Marco. He’s the one I always talk to.” Troy pushed some buttons on his cell phone and then held it out for A.L. to see. “He’s the one I met on Wednesday morning.”

He copied down the number. “These guys got an office?”

“If they do, I don’t know where it is. When we set the loan up, they came to my shop.”

“Do your employees know that you’re in trouble?” A.L. asked.

“No. I mean, they know the money is tight. But I haven’t told anybody about this.”

“How much are you in to them?” A.L. asked.

“Eighty grand.”

He didn’t think Troy’s parents would make that as Walmart greeters. “And what do you need to satisfy your loan payments to the bank?”

“Another fifty grand.”

“That’s a lot of money, Troy. And now, suddenly, there is a lot of money coming in your direction in the form of contributions to the fund-raising site that Steven Hanzel set up.”

Troy stood up in outrage. “I wouldn’t touch a dime of that money for this. What kind of father do you think I am?” Now he was waving his arms around. “I’ll spend every cent of that and borrow from anybody if I need more. I want my daughter back. I want her back more than anything. Jesus, I can’t even look into Leah’s eyes anymore. They’re like a goddamn black hole.”

He sucked in a breath of air and then sat again, as if the sudden burst of denial had taken every bit of his energy. His eyes looked bleak. “My fucking world is falling apart. And I can’t do anything to stop it.”