Lori and Mac took possession of Sam’s mother’s urn, and, aided by federal authorities on both sides of the border, transported it back to Canada to hold for Sam.

But before Lori, Mac, and Kevin made their agonizing departure from Spiritsburg, they gathered together in the motel’s rear lot at the very spot where Sam had left two canned drinks. Lori searched the glorious horizon, gently crowned with mountains, and brushed at her tears.

“We are not abandoning her,” she said. “We are not giving up hope because we know she is alive.”

On the one-month anniversary of Sam’s disappearance, the Boston Globe published an in-depth feature on the case. In examining her mysterious vanishing, the item raised examples of other chilling cases of people who had gone missing across New England over the years.

The article generated a new wave of leads, and Noble and the other investigators pursued every single one.

Nothing.

The first month became the second month. As Noble worked in his office in Derby Barracks, he felt Sam’s eyes staring back at him from the missing-person flyer he’d posted on the corkboard of his workstation, just above the framed photo of his daughter.

Samantha Moore’s case cried out to be solved. But no matter how challenging it was for Noble, it was devastating for those who loved her. Lori, Mac, and Kevin called or texted Noble almost every day for updates, or to ensure that Sam’s case was not forgotten.

Or just to talk.

Noble had other cases to work on, but Sam’s case occupied most of his thoughts. In the early days, he did everything by the book. Every detail of the case was submitted to local, regional, state, and national crime databases, such as the FBI’s Violent Crime Apprehension Program, or ViCAP. Other potential evidence was processed.

Interviews were conducted with Kevin; with Jonas Seaver, the motel manager; and with the gas station attendant where Kevin got gas. Everyone was reinterviewed, including Cass and Gibby, who’d been located in a Burlington shelter.

The area was searched again and recanvassed. The sparse security footage available to police had yielded little. Every tip had yielded nothing.

The case entered its third month, with Noble again checking for leads, checking the databases for any updates, matches, or flags. And each time, he questioned himself.

“Am I missing something? Have I forgotten something?”

Noble couldn’t explain it, but he began reviewing the unsolved murder files of the Hydra case that reached into New Jersey, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. He knew that he really had nothing to suggest the Moore case was linked.