Elaine hesitated.
“I don’t know exactly what happened that afternoon.”
My heart sank.
“But Nora told me enough to understand that she left the beach willingly.”
I stared at her.
“Willingly?”
“She believed she was going to meet Caleb.”
I felt something inside me break.
“She was sixteen.”
“I know.”
“She was a child.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t she come home?”
Elaine looked down.
“Because Caleb convinced her that you were going to have him arrested. He told her that if she went home, everything would get worse.”
Michael stood up.
“He lied to her.”
“Yes.”
“Where did he take her?”
“That’s the part Nora has never been able to explain completely.”
Elaine told us that Nora had been moved from place to place.
At first, Caleb stayed with her.
Then he disappeared.
Nora had no money.
No phone.
No identification.
And she was terrified that going to the police would somehow lead back to him.
