“No, and we recorded the entire thing. I’m pretty sure I can get Camille to let you watch it.”

“Really?”

“Of course. It’s not like anything on there is a secret.”

I let out a deep sigh. “If Mom left because she wanted to, does this mean nobody is going to get arrested?”

He wrinkled his forehead. “We can’t make an arrest if there hasn’t been a crime, and she hasn’t revealed any.”

“But at the hospital they said it looked like she’d been tortured—that’s a crime.”

“It’s not illegal if it’s done with your consent.”

“She allowed herself to be tortured?”

He nodded like he wished it wasn’t true. “At least during the first month she was with them. It’s all on the video.”

“But she had marks on her back like she’d been whipped. She said that was okay too?”

“She did.”

“She admitted this?” He nodded again, but no matter how many times he said it, I couldn’t wrap my brain around how someone would let themselves be treated so awful. And if whipping was okay, then how bad did things have to get before she said enough was enough?

“Now that doesn’t mean we won’t find out other crimes were committed during her time with them, because there’s an entire decade we don’t know about yet. Our investigation is far from complete, but we are no longer looking at kidnapping charges, which shifts the FBI’s involvement when it’s not a crime that crossed multiple state lines. It changes the threat level and the amount of manpower we devote when the danger is no longer immediate. I know it’s a huge dagger in the heart, but it brings us a step closer to solving the puzzle.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

“Okay, well, the case is moving painstakingly slow, but it at least gives us more important pieces, and those pieces are enough for me to sleep better at night about your safety.”

“What do you think happened to make her leave us?” I asked. It hurt to say the words, but that was what she’d done. I might as well get used to it.

“It’s not a crime for people to go missing. It happens all the time. More than you’d think. Remember when I told you that all those years ago?”

I nodded. It was shortly after I’d stumbled on the Vanished forums. I had been thirteen, and up until then I’d never considered any other possibilities about Mom’s disappearance other than the ones Dad had given me. We had been working on our genealogies in history class, and it had stirred up all these questions and emotions inside me, so I’d googled Mom. Vanished had been my first hit.