She was certain they hadn’t gone any farther than this yesterday. Making a U-turn, she headed back to the original street. Reaching over to the passenger seat where her phone sat faceup, she touched the screen. No text from Amelia.

The rule had always been that Amelia had to respond to her within the hour.

Whitney had been making an exception for her earlier because she thought she’d been sleeping. But now it was after noon.

She pulled over and scooped up her phone. Clicking into the Find My Friends app, Whitney was surprised she hadn’t thought of it sooner. Tracking Amelia was something she did often. She couldn’t help it; it always made her feel better seeing Amelia was safe at school, at Becca’s, at home when Whitney wasn’t. Whitney’s chest expanded.

But the relief didn’t last long.

Amelia’s phone wasn’t showing up. Her location had been turned off.

Whitney’s body went cold.

With a trembling hand, she clicked on Amelia’s name in her contacts, then held the phone to her ear. It only rang once before going to voice mail.

“Amelia, I don’t know what’s going on, but call me back right away. I’m getting worried,” she blurted out in a rush of words after the beep.

As she lowered the phone she envisioned dropping Amelia off yesterday, the way she and Lauren waved at her from the doorway of that home. The one the elderly couple lived in. But it couldn’t be the same house, right? It didn’t make any sense.

The door open. Crib empty. Blanket gone.

A dark figure in the doorway.

“Where is she? My baby, she’s gone.”

She was startled by the phone ringing in her hand. Natalie’s face popped up on the screen.

“Nat?” Whitney answered. “Have you heard from Amelia?”

“No,” Natalie said, sounding startled. “Why? What’s going on?”

There was a pause at the other end of the line when Whitney finished explaining, and she wondered if she’d lost her. But then Natalie spoke. “There has to be a logical explanation. I mean, you clearly went back to the wrong house. That’s easy to do in those neighborhoods, especially if you don’t remember the address. And maybe Amelia just shut off her phone when she went to bed last night and hasn’t turned it back on yet.”

“Yeah,” she responded slowly, waiting for the words to sink in and give her peace. But they didn’t. Something felt off about this whole thing. “That’s probably it. Thanks.”

“No problem. Call me when you find her. I only wanted to tell you—oh, never mind. The photos are up online and look great, that’s all.”