When I arrived back at our Duluth motel late Monday night, I hoped I’d have a voicemail from Raymond. I could hardly get into my room fast enough to get to the phone and press play. And what an update! Raymond had been to the Mobil gas station where Cally had made several charges. He’d interviewed two employees, and based on what they’d told him, Raymond had scoped out two possible locations where Cally might be hiding. One was a cabin, but it was vacant. The other was a suburban home not far from the Mobil station. I called Raymond’s car phone.

“I’m back, and I got your message,” I said, barely able to hold my excitement.

“Good,” said Raymond.

“Where are you now?”

“I’m outside the home,” he said.

“Oh my God, what have you seen so far?” My heart was pounding with hope, and I wanted to go straight over there. But even if I’d jumped in a taxi right that instant and found Cally there in the flesh, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when I saw her. Was she the same person I’d thought I’d known, the one who held the key to our dreams coming true? “Is she there?” I asked, breathless.

“Yes, Ruth, she’s here. I saw her come out of this address, and I saw her go back in. She is staying with these people.”

“Is she all right? I mean, can you tell if she and the baby are okay?”

“She hasn’t brought the baby outside, but Cally herself looks fine.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this information. Part of me wanted Cally to be sick and crazed with some ailment that had invaded her senses and caused her to take our baby. “Is she with anyone? Is the truck there?” I asked. Perhaps she was under the influence of a cult master or an abusive boyfriend.

“It looks like she’s with a young woman, early twenties, and an older woman and man, sixties or early seventies. No sign of the truck. Does she have family up here, Ru?”

“I don’t know!” I was angry that I didn’t know more about her. Hal and I had believed we’d done sufficient research on her medical and psychological profile, but we hadn’t been able to uncover much about her family history. If these people were her relatives, we knew nothing about them. Who knew what else she might have been covering up?

“Don’t worry about it,” said Raymond. “I’ve already phoned Hal with this address. He’s passing it on to your lawyer.”

“Gosh, that was fast,” I said.

“How did the meeting go? Must have been productive, from the way Hal talked about it.”

“Yes, we liked him,” I said. “And he knows his stuff . . . it’s just that the baby will probably have to go to temporary foster—[beep]—”