I can hear the recoil in his voice. The revulsion. Because I’m a woman, my filter is different. I live in a woman’s body. Know the vulnerabilities acutely. All the ways you can get put on a table as a victim, or put yourself there. How sex can be weaponized from inside and out. “Go on. What else?”

“When Denny and I spoke with the mother, she couldn’t even remember how many times Shannan has run away. Usually she comes back after a few weeks, thinner and dead broke. This last time she sent a note saying that she was leaving of her own free will and didn’t want anyone searching for her. The postmark was stamped in Ukiah on June tenth. Sometimes Shannan talked about moving to Seattle, so Mom assumes she was headed there.”

“Why call in the absence now?”

“You’ll never guess.” The bitterness in his voice doesn’t suit him, but makes sense given the context.

“What?”

“She got a call from a psychic. A local woman named Tally Hollander. Anyway, this Tally finds Karen Russo in the phone book and calls to basically tell her Shannan’s dead. I mean, who does that?”

I feel cold suddenly. If that’s what happened, it does sound ruthless. “What did she actually say?”

“That Shannan had been murdered. Apparently she had a vision of a forest. She thinks Shannan’s body might be there.”

“What forest?”

“Beyond her extraordinary powers to narrow it down, I guess.” He makes a disgusted sound through his nose. “She called me, too, right after Cameron disappeared and was just as vague.”

“Really? Sometimes these people are legitimate, Will. I’ve had good experiences with a few, who were very helpful, actually. What did she say about Cameron?”

“That she’d been taken and was in some sort of tight space in the dark.”

“Hmm. That’s it?”

“Yep. She might as well have told us to look on Mars.”

My thoughts click rapidly. It’s hard to know what’s next with so little to go on. “Shannan had a car, right? Has someone run the license-plate number?”

“I’m not sure. I could ask Denny, but the note was pretty clear. Shannan wanted to leave.”

“Maybe, but she’s still a minor, Will. We don’t know that she wasn’t in some kind of real trouble, or being coerced somehow. And what if she is dead in the forest?”

His look is sharp. “Tally Hollander is obviously a nutjob. You’re not that gullible, are you?”

“Hey now,” I push back. “This isn’t about me, and you know it. If Shannan’s alive, she needs our help. And if it’s too late, she still deserves to be found. We can’t just give up.”