Chapter 1
The instant the call came in, a primal, freezing dread anchored itself in the center of my chest.
I was at my desk, halfway through an afternoon spreadsheet, when my husband, David, called. His voice didn’t sound like his own. It was a hollow, breathless rasp. “Emily. Mom lost her. Mom lost Lily.”
My six-year-old daughter.
Eleanor, my mother-in-law, had insisted on taking her four grandchildren to the Crestview Galleria for what she dubbed a “fabulous fall shopping spree.” I had hesitated. Eleanor’s brand of grandmothering was less about affection and more about control, a constant parade of rigid expectations. But Lily had begged. Eleanor had promised a visit to the sprawling toy store on the top floor, and Lily had spent all week talking about the Starlight Princess doll she had been saving her allowance for.
Within ten minutes of David’s call, I had abandoned my car in the office lot and jumped into his passenger seat. He drove like a man possessed, his knuckles white against the steering wheel, his jaw a sharp, rigid line.
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“What exactly did Eleanor say?” I demanded, my hands shaking so violently I had to pin them beneath my thighs.
“She said they were in the main concourse,” David choked out, keeping his eyes fixed on the traffic. “She said she turned around to pay for a pretzel, and Lily was just… gone. She said she looked everywhere. She called mall security. Emily, she said Lily ran away.”
