Two five-year-old twins were left on a bench at O’Hare without a kiss, without a goodbye, and without anyone turning back to see if they were crying. Their stepmother thought she could walk onto a plane and disappear—but she didn’t know the man watching from across the terminal had already decided those children would never be abandoned again.

“She abandoned them.”

“Yes. And that is its own matter. But the photograph tells us Claire and Anna were in the same place. It does not tell us why.”

I hated that she was right.

I hated every unanswered question because each one left Lily and Owen suspended over hope.

Elise set the sealed evidence packet on my desk. The flash drive had not yet been opened. Not by us. Not without proper handling. Evan’s note made it clear he wanted me to see it, but my desire to know was not more important than preserving whatever truth might be inside.

“I’ll petition for review under appropriate supervision,” Elise said. “If there’s anything relevant to custody or safety, it needs to be admissible.”

“And if it’s not about custody?”

Her expression tightened. “Then it may be about Evan’s death.”

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

Rain tapped the windows.

Evan Bennett had known numbers told stories. He had hidden a message in his son’s stuffed bear. He had written my name as if I were the harbor he hoped his children might reach.

I had spent years believing I owed him nothing more than respect for an honest man.

Now his children looked at me like a promise.

“Elise,” I said, “find Anna.”

“We are.”

“No. Make it the priority.”

“It already is.”

“Then make it more than that.”

She studied me. “You’re angry.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Be angry in this room. Not in court. Not around the children. Not around Nathan. And especially not around Claire.”

“I don’t plan to see Claire.”

“That may not be up to you.”