Andrea and Lauren stopped and stared. “Why would someone want to hurt you?” Lauren cried.

Ronnie raised her hood a little, and rain dripped on her face. “Esme isn’t my daughter. She’s my sister’s. I took her out of a bad situation—but I didn’t ask permission. She’s technically a missing child.” She took a breath. “I did what was right. Esme doesn’t know. It’s why I didn’t want to be in the documentary—not because of the Topless Maids thing, not really. I didn’t want Esme’s father to spot me. He was . . .”

Andrea’s gut clenched. Ronnie didn’t have to explain what Esme’s father was. There were various possibilities, but none of them were good.

“. . . I’ve been living in fear that he’s going to find me,” Ronnie said. “So the last thing I would do would be hurt someone and get arrested and attract attention.”

No one spoke. Andrea snuck a peek at Lauren only to see that she looked shattered, too. “So you just . . . took her?” Lauren asked.

Ronnie nodded. “I hit Jerrod. Knocked him out.”

“But you had to,” Andrea urged. “Of course you had to.”

Ronnie put her head in her hands. “But I left my sister. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Lauren took a breath. “And you think that guy followed us into that hallway? Like, he found you . . . and came after you . . . and got Piper by mistake? No offense, Ronnie, but that seems kind of . . . I don’t know. Unlikely?”

“I thought so, too, except this lawyer I spoke to reminded me how I resemble Piper, especially in the dark. And said that maybe Piper’s attack was meant for me. I didn’t want to believe him, but then, when I came home, I got this.”

She turned over what she was holding, a piece of paper that was now half-soaked from the rain. Still, Andrea was able to make out that it was a Missing flyer for a little girl named Taylor Johnson. It took Andrea a moment to make the connection.

“I just got this yesterday, also when I came home from the police. I feel like it’s Jerrod, saying, I know where you are. I’ll find you.”

“Wait a minute,” Lauren said. “If this guy is such a scary dude—and I don’t doubt he is—why would he go to all the trouble? Why follow you to the school and then threaten you with the Missing flyer? I’d think he’d just grab you in a parking lot somewhere, and that would be that.” She noted the horror on Ronnie’s face. “Sorry.”

Andrea agreed. “Not that you don’t need to protect yourself from this guy. And I totally believe you that this Missing poster was timed to send a message. But I wonder if you’re wrong about the message it’s sending.”