Chapter 5
Celia took the phone from my hand before I dropped it.
“Who was that?”
“A child.”
Gideon’s face was blank.
Too blank.
Odette looked away.
Beatrice’s hand tightened around her purse.
Celia noticed all of it.
The call could not be traced immediately.
Blocked number.
Short duration.
But it changed the shape of the case.
Milo was not the only child.
That was the thought I could not escape.
I drove home with Leah beside me because Celia did not want me alone.
Milo was at preschool.
Safe.
For now.
My hands shook on the wheel anyway.
Leah said, “Breathe.”
“I am.”
“No. You are operating.”
She was right.
At home, I opened every document from our divorce.
Every schedule.
Every custody note.
Every mention of Gideon’s house.
Then I remembered something.
A name.
Tessa.
One of Odette’s foster placements.
A quiet seven-year-old girl who had been at the Ashford house the previous Thanksgiving.
She spilled cranberry sauce and disappeared from the table.
When I asked, Beatrice said she was embarrassed and wanted privacy.
Milo had nightmares for a week after that dinner.
I called Leah.
“Can you find out if Odette ever fostered a girl named Tessa?”
There was silence.
Then, “Renata, why?”
“Because someone called me.”
Leah’s voice changed.
“I’ll check what I can legally check.”
By evening, she called back.
“Tessa Ward. Emergency foster placement with Odette Ashford eighteen months ago.”
“Where is she now?”
A pause.
“Returned to the system after alleged behavioral issues.”
My stomach dropped.
“What kind?”
“Lying. Stealing food. Hiding outside.”
Hiding outside.
I sat down on the floor.
Milo came home from preschool with paint on his sleeve and a paper crown.
He ran into my arms.
For one hour, I let him be four.
Snack.
Bath.
Cartoons.
Then he asked, “Do I go to Daddy’s tomorrow?”
“No overnight.”
His whole body relaxed.
That told me more than any testimony.
But then he whispered, “What about the girl?”
I went still.
“What girl?”
Milo looked at the rug.
“The one in the garage room.”
My heart stopped.
“At Daddy’s house?”
He nodded.
“She told me not to cry loud.”
“What is her name?”
May you like
His lips trembled.
“Tessa.”
