Page 39 of The Liar's Wife

I nodded, fighting back tears of rage. I knew she was right, somewhere deep, deep down, but the truth was none of them cared about Gray as much as I did. None of them were as emotionally invested as I was. None of them were sure they would quit breathing if this case went cold.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, her tone softer. “I promise I’ll call you the second we have any news.”

“Thank y—” A sob interrupted my words, and I forced myself to walk away, away from the place where my hope died once again, away from the officer whose eyes said she believed this was a lost cause.

All around me, people bustled, in a hurry to start their vacation or make it to a wedding. Their next chapters were starting, but I had the strangest sensation my last chapter was ending.

Chapter Twenty-Three

That evening, the movie was droning on in the background, while Ty, Dannika, and I sat on the couch in pure silence. My mind raced a mile a minute as I tried to come up with something new to do, something new to search. There had to be something. I couldn’t give up. I refused to.

“Maybe we should go back by the girl’s house,” Dannika offered, and I was relieved to see I wasn’t the only one plagued by endless worry.

“Do you think we’d find anything different?” I asked.

“What if we talked to the realtor? Maybe we could ask what happened to the current owners?”

Ty looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth twisted in thought, but he kept quiet.

“Do you think it could work?” I asked.

“Realtors are talkers. They want you to feel at ease. It’s worth a shot,” Dannika said.

“I don’t think she’d tell you specifics. Or that this girl would’ve told her realtor specifics if she was really trying tobe hidden,” Ty pointed out, slowing down his speech when he caught a glimpse of the scowl on Dannika’s face. He added quickly, “But we can’t totally rule it out.”

Dannika picked up her phone from the arm of the couch and looked at me. “What was the address again? We’ll call.”

I told her, the address now burned into my memory. The last place I saw my son alive. The last place I may ever.

She typed it in, and I watched her thumb scroll across her lighted screen. “I’m not finding the realtor listing. Do you remember the name of the company?”

I shook my head, another wave of defeat washing over me. “It was blue and red…” A sigh escaped me, and I rested my elbows on my knees, chin in my palms. How could I have not thought to remember something so potentially important?

“It’s okay,” she said. She stood, grabbing her keys from the basket on the shelf over the fireplace. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, we’re—okay,” Ty said, not bothering to argue. I jumped into action, and he followed suit, flipping off the television and light as the three of us raced out the front door without a second’s hesitation.

The drive to Crestview was a bit shorter than normal, as Dannika lived on that side of Oceanside, but we drove it in complete silence. Everything around me seemed to be silent lately. People just didn’t know what to say. The police, Howie, my parents, Ty and Dannika. Everything had fallen by the wayside. Who cared about menial, everyday things when your family was missing? How could I carry on a conversation about a movie or laundry or dinner when my child was with a stranger?

Somehow, Dannika and Ty’s silence carried less weight than anyone else’s.

We pulled up in front of the house, which looked much the same as the last time, its blinds open, rooms empty. The sign had blown over in the yard, but I read the number aloud as I typed it into my phone.

I left her a voicemail and Ty made a lap around town as we waited for a callback. In the town square, I noticed one sole business open: Sassy Snips.

“Hey, can you stop for a second?” I asked, and Ty immediately slowed, pulling into a parking space across from the salon. I pushed my door open from the back seat. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

They nodded, looking confused, but I didn’t look back as I crossed the street and hurried into the shop. Toshia was washing out a bowl of dye in the back corner of the empty salon while Carolyn swept up.

“Can we help you?” Carolyn asked, squinting her eyes. She was trying to decide how she knew me, but recognition flooded Toshia’s eyes.

“Did you decide to come back for those highlights?” she asked, an uneasy smile on her face.

“I’m sorry, no. I just…I had something come up, and I had to leave in a hurry. I was actually here to see what you could tell me about the client you were helping while I waited. Kat.”

“Kat?” she asked. “Why?”

Carolyn stopped sweeping as I walked past, watching the interaction curiously. Toshia shut off the water and smacked her hands against the side of the sink before drying them off.