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Back The Missing American Save as PDF
Chapters (109)
  1. Part One
  2. ONE
  3. One day earlier
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. PART TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EIGHTY-TWO
  86. EIGHTY-THREE
  87. EIGHTY-FOUR
  88. EIGHTY-FIVE
  89. EIGHTY-SIX
  90. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  91. EIGHTY-EIGHT
  92. EIGHTY-NINE
  93. NINETY
  94. NINETY-ONE
  95. NINETY-TWO
  96. NINETY-THREE
  97. NINETY-FOUR
  98. NINETY-FIVE
  99. NINETY-SIX
  100. NINETY-SEVEN
  101. NINETY-EIGHT
  102. NINETY-NINE
  103. GLOSSARY
  104. Acknowledgments
  105. Continue reading
  106. Part One
  107. ONE
  108. TWO
  109. THREE

“I’m fine,” she said, which wasn’t completely true, but she didn’t think a hospital would help. “I can’t thank you enough, Inspector. And you, Constable.” She turned to her new hero and took his hand. He wasn’t much older than Emma, and now, no longer in rescue mode, he was quite bashful.

“Okay, then,” Bawa said to the driver. “Let’s go to the station.”

As Emma wrote out her statement at the police station, another familiar face appeared: Mr. Labram.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked in surprise.

“News travels fast around here,” he said. “Inspector Bawa called to inform me what had happened. Thank God you are okay. When you’re done here, my wife says you must come to stay the night at our house and get some rest.”

EIGHTY-SIX

EIGHTY-SIX

A light tap on the door of the Labrams’ guest room woke Emma in the morning. She sat up, forgetting for a moment where she was.

“Good morning, Emma.” The voice on the other side of the door was Mrs. Labram’s.

“Good morning, please.”

“Sorry to wake you, but someone is here to see you.”

“Okay, thank you. I’m coming.”

Emma looked at her phone. Goodness, it was almost ten. She considered sleeping this long in someone else’s home to be poor form. She got up and realized someone had washed, pressed, and folded her wet clothes from the night before and set them neatly on the chair beside her bed. So nice of them, she thought. She went to the bathroom and washed up quickly. The left side of her face and head were still puffy from the impact of Clifford’s (or Clement’s) blow, and her wrists and ankles still raw and tender.

As she came into the sitting room, Emma couldn’t imagine who might be waiting for her and she least expected Bruno, but there he was chatting with the Labrams. His face, too, was still swollen, but much better than before. He smiled and stood up when he saw her.

“Ei, Emma! So good to see you, sis.”

They embraced. Bruno took a step back and peered at the side of her head. “Ouch. Now we look more alike,” he quipped.

She giggled. “Silly boy.”

They sat next to each other and munched on the cookies with fruit punch that Mrs. Labram had laid out. Emma was still fuzzy about the sequence of events the night before.