‘I don’t think so, Sam.’ Madison sighed heavily, unbuttoning the top of her collar so she could breathe more easily now that he wasn’t watching over them. ‘Wherever we are, it’s secluded and he’s obviously gotten away with this before. He called the room next door where he washed us the “fish-kill” room, so I’m thinking this is some kind of fishing or hunting cabin. We drove for about three hours, which I guess would probably put us in the Catskills. My dad used to take us camping in upstate New York and it can get pretty remote. So yeah, it’s not looking good.’

Sam began to cry again, sobbing with big heaves of her chest, snot dripping from her nose. ‘What are we going to do?’

Madison dropped her head and thought, There’s nothing we can do.

CHAPTER 15

I walked up the path to Cris and Rosie’s door, fingering the locket around my neck. The package had come the day of Andie’s admission about the adoption day photo and I hadn’t noticed it in the drama that followed. But I’d found it when I came back from The Beast and quickly tore open the padded envelope and pulled out the jewelry box. Inside was a beautiful old silver locket with a cross etched onto the front and the words ‘2 Years Strong’ on the back. Upon opening the locket, I found a tiny oval photo of Gloria squatting down next to a young Teresa, their arms around each other in an embrace as they smiled at the camera.

The note inside the box explained, ‘Your grandmother, Gloria, gave this locket to your mother for her first communion but it was left behind when Teresa went away to prison. When Teresa came back to us and got clean, Gloria had the locket engraved on her second anniversary of sobriety and gifted it back to her to celebrate. Your mother cherished it and now, we hope you will too.’