As the first call was placed, she watched the scene unfolding in front of her, watched four men hauled outside in cuffs, protesting their innocence the entire way. Her hand squeezed the phone, hurting her fingers, but she didn’t ease her grip because the pain was helping her to focus on the task at hand instead of the burning compulsion to go outside and confront the men herself.

‘Hello?’ A woman’s choked voice answered on the second ring.

‘Natalia? This is Alyssa Wyatt, Holly’s mom…’

‘Oh my God, have you found Jersey?’

Alyssa swallowed past the lump in her throat. ‘We’ve found her, but she’s in rough shape. She’s on her way right now to the Trauma Center at UNMH. If you leave right away, you’ll probably beat her there. Mrs. Andrews, if you give me your husband’s number, I’ll be happy to call him for you to give him the news as well.’

‘Would you? Thank you.’ Ten seconds later, Alyssa was armed with Mr. Andrews’s number, but she chose to call him after she’d contacted Mrs. Phillipson and Nick.

Next, she dialed Mary Phillipson who answered so quickly, it was almost as if her finger had been hovering over the phone.

In a whispered hush, she breathed out Alyssa’s name. ‘Detective Wyatt?’

‘Mrs. Phillipson, is your husband with you?’

A garbled cry escaped, and Alyssa heard Mr. Phillipson’s muffled voice before he took the phone from his wife. ‘Katelyn?’

‘We found her. She’s…’

‘Is she… is she…’

‘She’s alive, and she’s going to need you to be strong for her. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; your daughter’s been through a lifetime of horror in the past few days.’ Like she had with Jersey’s mom, she informed Mary and Jason where Katelyn was being taken, and then, after promising to meet up with them later to answer their questions, she dialed Nick’s number.

‘We’ve got her. We found Rachel,’ she said as soon as he answered.

‘Where? What? How is she? Is she okay? What happened to her?’

‘She’s got a long road of recovery ahead of her, but right now she’s on her way to UNMH.’ She paused. ‘I haven’t contacted your parents yet. I’ll do that next.’

‘I’ll do it. Thank you, Detective. I can’t…’ Nick’s voice broke on a sob. ‘Thank you. Um, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you.’

A second later, the last voice she would’ve expected to hear came on the line. ‘Mom? Was Jersey with Rachel? Did you find her?’

‘What are you doing with Nick Otis?’

‘Later, Mom. I promise. Now – Hold on, my phone’s ringing. It’s Sophie. Mom, I’ll call you back.’

And then she was gone, and Nick was on the line. ‘Detective, I have questions. Will I be able to find you later?’

Alyssa pushed aside the confusion of hearing Holly with Nick. ‘As soon as I can leave here, I’ll be heading to the hospital, though it might be late.’

‘I’ll look for you.’ And then he, too, was gone.