Home from Ever True Cemetery with Troy and Elle, rain-spattered and muddy, Laura had found Maggie meditating in the living room, and Laura had basked in the light of her peace. Until Laura had followed Troy upstairs and discovered her daughter missing, the evidence trail as troubling as her absence. In her haste, Darcy had left her underwear drawer open, revealing a twelve-count box of Trojans with only eleven remaining. To top it off, a lone joint had taken the place of the missing prophylactic. At least Darcy had taken protection. Nick’s phone number had been even easier to find, dangling from Darcy’s fabric memo board, thumbing its nose at Laura. Neener, neener. When Laura had called, Nick’s mother, Hope, said she’d just gotten home. She hadn’t known Darcy was in her son’s bedroom, but she hadn’t seemed all that surprised, either. Laura peered at the driveway through the distortion of antique glass, waiting for Nick to return her daughter. She would’ve driven across town to retrieve her daughter herself, but she wanted the two of them here, on her home turf.
