The machine continued. Beep! “Hey, it’s me . . .” said a low male voice. Hal and I looked at each other with wide eyes. I put my finger to my lips as we continued listening. “Um, so you said you needed a ride. Yeah, I guess I could do that, but just let me know when.” The machine stopped.

“Her ex-boyfriend?” I said.

“I thought you said they were broken up?” said Hal.

“They were!” I said, furious. “Cally said they were done for good.”

“Oh, man,” said Hal.

“I’m gonna dial star-six-nine.” I picked up Cally’s phone and motioned for Hal to get me something to write with. I scrawled down the number. “I’m pretty sure this matches one of the numbers I got in her hospital room.”

“Call it,” said Hal, and it felt like we were a team again.

While I listened to the phone ringing, I asked, “What should I say if I get the machine?”

“Say you’re looking for Cally,” said Hal, as if that were obvious.

The phone rang and rang with no answer and no answering machine. “Nothing,” I said, hanging up. “Should we go over there?”

“Over where? Do we know where he lives?” asked Hal.

“No, I guess not,” I said, and it seemed we’d reached the end of this trail.

Hal shrugged and opened the door. I shuffled out into the landing, and we made our way slowly down the wet stairs, as the snow we’d tracked in was melting.

On the drive home, we brainstormed. What were our options? What were our next steps? In terms of calling the police, Hal wanted to wait until after we saw the security footage. We both knew the police would make us wait until Monday night before they’d do squat about anything. I insisted, respectfully, that we consult a surrogacy attorney, and I already had the name of a good one from Kristin’s research. Hal vehemently disagreed with the idea, and I could sense the hurt behind his anger, but I wasn’t backing down.

In addition, and I was on a roll, I informed Hal that I was going to call my brother, Raymond, and ask him for help. Hal had met my brother at our wedding. But I predicted that Hal might be threatened by Raymond’s expertise: he was a detective (and Hal was not).

“Do you really need to drag Ray into this?” he said as we pulled into the tuck-under garage at our condo.

“Yes,” I said without further elaboration.

Hal inhaled deeply. “All right, fine.” He sighed his reluctant acceptance.

At home, there were no messages yet from the hospital, but it was midafternoon on a Saturday, so we weren’t concerned. They’d probably had to call in additional staff who were off for the weekend.