“She could be lying,” Roderick says.
I shake my head. “She’s not.”
I’m in shock, can feel myself going numb, part of me growing distant from other parts of me.
I keep shaking my head in stunned wonder. “What did I miss? How did I not see that she had only taken Magdalene?”
Roderick, Reggie, Merrill, Dad, Jake, and I are standing in the dining room. A deputy has just taken Charis away in handcuffs and the others—apart from Keith, Christopher, and Derinda—have disassembled and wandered off, some to sleep, others to resume searching for the daughter I thought I had found.
“The most important case of my life and I blew it,” I say.
“We gonna find her,” Merrill says. “We just need to regroup. Keep searching. Keep investigating.”
They all nod.
Dad says, “He’s right. We just get back out there and keep knocking on doors, keep looking, keep following up leads. Simple shoe leather. Good old-fashioned police work. We will find her, Son.”
“We’ve got to look at everyone again,” Roderick says. “Our prime suspects have to be Rake Sabin and Hal Raphael.”
Reggie nods.
“I . . . can’t believe I . . . just missed completely that it could be two different criminals. I’m . . . It was a rookie mistake.”
“Listen,” Jake says, “you just got justice for that family in there. They went from knowing nothing to knowing everything thanks to you—and the bitch who did it is in jail. Now we’ll do the same thing for Taylor.”
“I don’t want justice,” I say. “I want her back.”
“That’s what I meant,” he says. “You know I ain’t no good at this shit. All I’m sayin’ is don’t give up. We got this. We’re all gonna help you and we’re gonna find her.”
“I wish y’all’d stop saying that,” I say. “Every time you do it makes it more certain that we won’t.”