Chapter 2
I drove because Audrey’s hands shook too much to hold her keys.
Julian sat in the passenger seat. Richard followed in his truck with Maribel. We left our house with the wedding lights still burning in the yard.
For the first ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Julian said, “Tell me about your father.”
Audrey stared through the back window.
“His name is Daniel Vale.”
I knew the name. Audrey had used it once when we filled out the wedding paperwork, then crossed out the section asking for her father’s details.
“He raised us after Mom died,” she said. “People thought he was devoted. He knew how to look devoted.”
Julian turned in his seat.
“What happened?”
“He controlled Sienna’s money. He controlled where she went. When I tried to help her leave, he said I was filling her head with lies.”
Audrey stopped. I kept my eyes on the road, giving her room to find the next words.
“Sienna has trouble remembering things when she’s frightened,” she said. “After Mom died, Dad took her to doctors and told them she couldn’t make decisions for herself. She was fifteen. I was nineteen, working two jobs, and I believed some of what he said.”
“You don’t believe it now,” I said.
“No. Sienna can tell you what she wants. She needs time, and she needs people who listen. He never let her have either.”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
“Why is she at St. Agnes?”
“Because she asked to be there while we found a place together. They have staff she trusts. She was supposed to move into the apartment near mine after the wedding.”
Julian looked back at her.
“You could have told me.”
“I wanted to. Every time I tried, I heard my father saying I’d lose anyone who knew the whole story.”
The words hit me hard. Julian had spent the last hour proving that fear could come true.
He lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry I cornered you.”
Audrey’s eyes remained on the passing streetlights.
“We can talk about that when Sienna is safe.”
At St. Agnes, Maribel took us to Sienna’s room. A blue sweater hung over the chair. A puzzle lay unfinished on the table, with a space in the middle shaped like a bird.
Audrey picked up one piece and set it down again.
“She hates leaving a puzzle unfinished.”
Maribel showed us a visitor record. Daniel had signed in using his real name. The receptionist had asked him to wait, but he disappeared before she could reach a supervisor. An hour later, Sienna was gone.
“The side gate doesn’t lock until seven,” Maribel said. “She could have walked out herself.”
Julian studied the room.
“Why would she leave the note at our house?”
“She wanted Audrey to find her,” I said.
Maribel nodded. “Sienna knows your address. Audrey told her she could always come here.”
Audrey looked at me.
“I did. I said she could knock, any time.”
We checked the building and the grounds. Richard spoke to the night staff. Julian called the local hospitals. I went with Audrey to the side gate, where the gravel path led toward town.
Near the fence, she stopped.
A strip of white fabric had caught on a branch. She eased it free.
“It’s from her dress,” she said. “The one she wore today.”
The gate opened onto Willow Road. From there, Sienna could have reached the bus stop, the shops, or the little park beside the library.
I called the police. While we waited, Audrey tried Sienna’s phone again. We heard it ring from somewhere close.
Julian followed the sound to a trash can near the bus stop. He pulled out the phone. Its case was scratched, but the screen lit when Audrey touched it.
“She never throws this away,” Audrey said. “I bought it so she could call me.”
An officer arrived and took down everything we knew. He said they would look for Sienna and Daniel. His calm questions helped me think, though I wanted him to move faster.
When he asked for a recent photograph, Audrey showed him the picture from the ceremony. Sienna stood beside her in a pale blue dress, smiling with one hand on Audrey’s arm.
I realized how young she looked.
As the officer walked back to his car, Audrey received a call from an unknown number.
She answered at once.
“Sienna?”
For a moment, I heard only traffic.
Then a small voice said, “Audrey, I tried to get to Clara’s house.”
Audrey pressed the phone close.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. Dad found me.”
Julian reached for the door of the car. Audrey raised her hand, asking him to wait.
“Sienna, look around. Tell me one thing you can see.”
“A sign. A red bird.”
I pictured the painted cardinal outside the bakery on Mill Street.
“I know where that is,” I said.
But Sienna was still speaking.
“He says I have to tell them you took me. I told him I won’t.”
A man’s voice sounded in the background. The call ended.
We reached Mill Street in four minutes. The bakery was closed, its cardinal sign glowing above a dark window. Nobody stood outside.
Julian ran to the corner. Audrey searched the alley. I called the officer back and gave him the location.
Then I saw the silver charm Audrey had been carrying, lying beside the curb.
She picked it up with a gasp.
It wasn’t the same charm. Audrey’s was still around her wrist, caught in the chain she had wound there. This one was a small silver bird with a bent wing.
“Sienna has the other half of the necklace,” she said. “Mom gave us one each.”
She turned it over. A narrow strip of paper had been pushed through the loop.
Julian held his phone light steady while Audrey opened it.
May you like
On it, Sienna had written three words.
He needs the box.
