In Redmond, she’d widened her eyes and stuck out her bottom lip and found a family willing to take her west. She’d ditched them in Mapleton, twelve miles outside of Seafare, after hearing the adults talking about calling the police. She’d walked the rest of the way until she’d stood on the doorstep of the Green Monstrosity, dirt smudged on her face, hair flat on her head, sweat beading on her top lip.

She’s with Ty in the backyard when I hang up the phone with the hospital. Otter’s sitting at my side at the kitchen table, his hand a heavy weight on my knee. Dom’s leaning against the counter in uniform, his shift starting in another hour or so.

“Her body is still in the morgue,” I say. “Because they couldn’t find anyone to claim it. I don’t even think anyone was looking for Izzie.”

“I’ll make a few phone calls when I get to the station,” Dom says. “See if anyone reported her missing.”

I smile gratefully at him. “Thanks. It’ll help, I think.”

“Any other family?”

I shake my head. “Not for us. Nobody that ever stuck around, anyway. And she says that her dad has been gone for years.”

“We need to call Erica,” Otter says. “Get the ball rolling. And if she can’t help us, Anna will find someone that can.”

“It’s that easy for you?” Dom asks, sounding a little surprised.

I glance at Otter before looking back at Dom. “What is?”

“Izzie,” he says. “Her, being here. Especially with—you’ve got twins coming.”

“So?”

He shakes his head. “It’s that easy for you.” It’s not a question this time.

“She’s our sister. Of course it is.”

He smiles ruefully. “Yeah. You—even after all this time, you still surprise me.”

I squint at him. “What did you think we’d do? Put her out on the streets?”

He shakes his head. “’Course not. But you never thought of anything else. She was always going to stay here.”

“She’s our family,” I tell him. “She’s ours now.”

“You have no idea, do you?” Dom says.

“No.” Otter’s smiling at me. I think I’m missing something. “He doesn’t. It’s one of those things. It’s always been like that.”

I roll my eyes. “If you’re done speaking in code, we have shit to do.”

They both laugh at me.

THREE DAYS later, Otter and I are an hour outside Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. My window’s rolled down, and my arm is outside the window, hand moving up and down with the wind. Izzie’s staying with Ty and Dom while we’re gone. She didn’t want to come. I only asked her once. Ty was the same.

“I’ll stay here,” he told me, averting his eyes. “Someone needs to keep an eye on her.”

“Sure, Kid,” I’d responded easily. “If that’s what you want.”

“Unless, you think—do you need me to go? With you?”

“Nah. I’ve got Otter. And it’s better for her. I think. If you’re still here.”